130 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



Anemone ; and the writer was amused by observing how 

 variously they were affected, some being only slightly tingled, 

 while others started back as if stung by a nettle." I think, 

 in the face of testimony so precise as this, we may waive 

 all negative evidence, and accept the fact of stinging as 

 proven.* 



But now comes the question : Is this stinging produced 

 by poison-vesicles and spicula, as the great majority of 

 writers maintain ; or is it no more poisonous than the 

 pricking of a thorn? Those who maintain the former 

 opinion, explain by it the alleged cases of paralysis exhibited 

 by the animals which have escaped in the struggle ; and the 

 incident just related of the beetle killed, but not swallowed, 

 seems entirely to favour such a conclusion. Nevertheless, 

 from subsequent investigations, I am led to oppose the 

 opinion in toto. Sir John Dalyell — one of the best 

 authorities — thinks that the Anemone conquers its prey by 

 mere strength, and not by any poisonous fluid. He is some- 

 what exaggerated, however, in the statement of his opinion. 

 " Nothing," he says, " can escape their deadly touch. Eveiy 

 animated being that comes in slightest contact is instantly 

 caught, retained, and mercilessly devoured." This is mere 

 rhetoric : animals, even such as form their natural prey, con- 

 stantly touch the tentacles — nay, are even caught, and yet 

 escape. "Neither strength nor size, nor the resistance of 

 the victim, can daunt the ravenous captor. It will readily 

 grasp an animal which, if endowed with similar strength, 



* AniSTOTLE, lib, iv. c. vi. 4., mentions tbcir stinging, oCt*; urn rr.v <rti(»a 



