HOW TO PROCURE SEA-ANEMONES. 151 



We must, however, for the present, lay poetry 

 aside, and, entering at once upon the practical part of 

 our duties, proceed to give a few instructions relative 

 to the best modes of procuring and preserving these 

 roses of the Zoophyte creation. 



On an excursion in search of Sea-Anemones, the 

 sea-side naturalist will find it advisable to be pro- 

 vided with a double-headed hammer, a long iron 

 chisel, an oyster-knife, an old ivory paper-knife, and 

 a small net made by twisting a piece of strong wire 

 into the shape of a circle with a tail to it, and fasten- 

 ing a bag of muslin round the edge of the ring. As 

 to the hammer and chisel, these are indispensable. 

 A great number of the Actiniae delight in rock-holes, 

 and it is impossible to get them out without chiseling 

 away a portion of the rock to which they adhere. It 

 is necessary, moreover, to be very careful in separating 

 them from the rock ; for, as a general rule, if they 

 are at all lacerated, they mortify, corrupt the water in 

 which they are placed, and finally die. 



It is also desirable to be provided with a stout iron 

 crow-bar, with which to turn over the large weed- 

 covered angular rocks that lie at the verge of the ebb- 

 tide those stones which are never moved, even in the 

 roughest weather, and under whose sure protection 

 lie all the rarest and most delicate specimens*. 



The difficulty of removing specimens from their 

 native site is a great obstruction to the study of many, 

 which the observer would select in preference. In 



* Vide a Manual of Sea- Anemones commonly found on the 

 English Coast, by the Kev. George Tugwell, Oriel College, 

 Oxford. Van Voorst. 



