142 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



Jay dissecting a Parasitica, I found in its ovaries these very 

 purple ova which had occupied my attention. This seems 

 very like evidence that the Parasitica, if no other species, is 

 oviparous ; and it is strengthened by the fact that, as far as 

 my experience extends — and I have had scores of specimens 

 — the Parasitica is not viviparous. The point needs eluci- 

 dation, and the student may amuse himself with it — first by 

 endeavouring to prove the other species to be really ovi- 

 parous, as well as viviparous ; secondly, by ascertaining 

 whether the Parasitica is viviparous. 



In the visceral cavity of a smooth Anemone a young one 

 as large as a cherry was found ; and to complete the marvel, 

 it was faintly striped with green, like the well-known "green- 

 striped variety," although its parent was of a dark-brown 

 hue. Could the old one have swallowed an errant youth by 

 mistake? No. It had been many weeks in captivitj'', 

 where no such errant youths were within reach : besides, 

 Anemones do not swallow each other, or if they should, par 

 distraction, make a mouthful of a friend, they would quickly 

 throw him up again : cannibalism belongs to a higher grade 

 of social development. Apropos of this peculiarity of colour, 

 I may remark on the great variations obsei-vable in the colour 

 of Anemones, and the impropriety of making colour the 

 distinguishing mark of species. Thus, to select a striking 

 example, Mr Gosse makes two distinct species of the Orann-e- 

 disked and Orange-tentacled Anemones, naming them Ve- 

 nusta and Aurora ; but as if to prove the indifference of all 

 such characteristics, I brought witli me from Tenby an 

 Orange- disked— and only one— which, before it had been 



