ARE ANEMONES OVIPAROUS? 141 



the contrary ? It stcartled ine, however, when, on opening 

 an Anemone, I for the first time saw a young one drop out, 

 and immediately expand its tentacles ; and some days after- 

 wards, as I was carrying home a lovely " Gem," I saw first 

 one, then two, three, four, seven young ones issue from its 

 mouth, fix themselves at the bottom of the vase, and make 

 themselves at home ; they were of various sizes, and in 

 various stages of development. Since then, I have repeatedly 

 witnessed this mode of birth ; and one day, seeing some- 

 thing in the inside of the tentacle of a Daisy, I snipped the 

 tentacle off, and found a young Daisy there. Some writers 

 imagine that the young issue through orifices at the tips of 

 the tentacles — a supposition not very credible. The truth 

 is, that at the bottom of the stomach there is a large open- 

 ing — not several minute openings as we see figured in books — 

 through which the young pass from the general cavity into 

 the water; and this appears to me the only exit for the 

 young. Without absolutely denying that the ova are ex- 

 truded, and their early development carried on out of the 

 parent's body, I have never been able to detect ova, except 

 within the parent. 



I leave this passage as it originally appeared, although, at 

 Jersey, I was subsequently convinced that with respect to 

 one species, at least, the doubt expressed should be with- 

 drawn. In the water of a pan containing, among other 

 animals, specimens of Actinia parasitica, I twice noticed 

 abundance of light-purple ova floating at the surface. Some 

 of these were placed in a vase by themselves, and others left 

 in the pan; but no fiu-ther development took place. One 



