OPELET. 'Anthea ceretw 

 PUFFLET. Edwdrdsia vestita. 



Luctrndria auricula. 

 SCOTTISH P1CAKLET. Ilyanthus scoticus 



Mr. Gosse, in his " British Sea- Anemones and Corals," remarks that the Lucernariadje 

 have closer affinities with the Medusae than with the Actinias, on account of several 

 structural peculiarities, among which may be mentioned the gelatinous texture, the 

 expanded umbrella, the egg-sacs in the substance of the umbrella, and the squared 

 mouth at the end of a free footstalk. I have, therefore, departed a little from the 

 ordinary arrangement, and placed the Lucernariadae immediately after the Acalephs, 

 forming a kind of intermediate link between them. 



THE highest form of true Zoophyte is, undoubtedly, that which is so familiar under 

 the name of Sea- Anemone a name singularly inappropriate, inasmuch as the resemblance 

 to an anemone is very farfetched ; while that to the chrysanthemum, daisy, or dandelion 

 is very close. These creatures are called Actinoida, and are easily distinguished by 

 having the stomach inclosed in a sac divided into compartments by radiating partitions. 

 For convenience sake, this group is divided into two sub-orders, the first of which is the 

 Actinaria, known by the number of tentacles (twelve or more), perforated above, and the 

 radiating partitions sometimes depositing solid chalky plates, commonly called " coral." 

 The tribe Astraeacea is known by the imperfect series of tentacles, and the family 

 Actiniadae by their circular arrangement. 



The beautiful OPELET may easily be recognised by the great length of its many 

 tentacles, which wave, and twist, and twine, and curl like so many snakes. It has but 

 little power of retracting the tentacles, and is, therefore, more conspicuous than many 

 other species. It is tolerably hardy, endtiring confinement well, but requiring food more 

 often than is the case with the other British Actiniae. Like all other members of this 

 order, the Opelet is able to arrest passing objects by means of the tentacles, and does so 

 by the aid of a wonderful array of weapons unexampled in the animal kingdom. 



