74 8 



THE OPELET. 



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

 riadse 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 resem- 

 blance to an anemone is very far-fetched ; while that to the chrysanthemum, daisy, or 



OPELET.' Anthea cereus. 

 PUFFLET.Edwardsla vestlta. 



Lucernarla auricula. 

 SCOTTISH PEARLET. llyanthus scotlcus. 



dandelion is very close. These creatures are called Actinoida, and are easily distin- 

 guished by having the stomach inclosed in a sac divided into compartments by radiat- 

 ing 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 recognized 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, enduring 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. 



