134 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



him. I then gave him to another Crass, who swallowed 

 him, but in a little while sloAvly unclosed his tentacles and let 

 him escape ; being apparently of the Cyclopean opinion that 

 the capering antics would produce a gastric fever. Now, 

 it is quite possible that the Anemone, having clutched the 

 carcass of a dead crab washed on to its tentacles, and having 

 swallowed it, as it swallows most objects once clutched, may 

 retain the carcass in its stomach, and quietly digest the flesh 

 thereof, as far as digestion is possible, * yet be unwilling to 

 retain the live crab under similar circumstances, because of 

 the incessant struggles of the victim ; and I direct the atten- 

 tion of students to the point, because if any one w-itnesses 

 the capture and digestion, it will be enough to destroy all 

 negative evidence. 



On the question of food we may withhold our opinion till 

 some more decisive evidence is adduced ; but on the question 

 of the paralysing power said to reside in the tentacles, these 

 experiments surely determine a negative. In spite of the 

 beetle, ."^o completely vanquished, there is the evidence of 

 crabs and shrimps being in repeated contact with the tenta- 

 cles, and in nowise affected. 



While preparing these notes for the press, I have been led 

 to extend the experiments ; because, although it would by no 

 means necessarily follow that whatever was true of the Hy- 

 droid Polypes must also be true of the Anemones, yet a very 

 plausible suspicion might arise — and did indeed arise in my 

 mind — throwing doubt on results which were in contradic- 



* In Part III., Chap. I., the reader will see that digestion, in the strict sense 

 of the word, is not possible. 



