BY THE SEASIDE—ANIMAL LIFE 



vary in shape according to the kind of Anemone, 

 as we shall find if we try this experiment with 

 various Anemones. Some of them are straight with 

 stiff bristles at their bases; some have backwardly 

 directed barbs at their tips; others are apparently 

 jointed, forming a zigzag, with a short length of the 

 dart going from left to right, the next short length 

 from right to left, and so on to the tip. It is mar- 

 vellous how the darts can be accommodated within 

 the capsule, for the average length of the latter is 

 but 1/300 inch whereas its dart may measure 1/8 

 inch. These little threads contain a poison capable 

 of paralyzing any moderate-sized fishes which they 

 touch. 



Have you ever seen a " comb bearer " or as it 

 is often called, a " marble bleb ? Probably you have 

 though you may not know its name. Sometimes 

 it occurs in rock pools, though more often it is 

 found in one's shrimping net and occasionally it is 

 washed up by the tide, but it does not live long out 

 of water. The " marble bleb," as its name denotes, 

 is an almost globular mass of soft, transparent 

 jelly. It is practically colourless, with the excep- 

 tion of eight bright coloured bands which run 

 from end to end of the animal. To the 

 naked eye, this little denizen of the sea is of 

 rare beauty : as an object for low-power micro- 

 scopy it is entrancing. 



When magnified, the bright bands are seen to be 

 composed of rows of flattened outgrowths. If our 

 specimen is small enough to be examined in water, 



210 



