THE BLOOD OF ANEMONES. 255 



by facts to say that lower even than this is the earliest state 

 of the nutritive fluid : namely, sea-water carrying certain gases 

 and organic particles, but without definite chyle-corpuscles, 

 such as Dr Williams figures — without even albumen in solu- 

 tion, at least as a constant element. This is the case with all the 

 Sponges. They simply suck in sea- water and expel it. The 

 reader will, however, learn with surprise that this also is the 

 case with the far more highly organised ylc^zm'ce; a fact which, 

 when coupled with what was said in the preceding Chapter 

 respecting the non-digestive powers of these animals, may 

 lead to many interesting speculations. 



If you have ever kept Sea Anemones, or have even paid 

 casual attention to them in the vases of your friends, you 

 must have noticed their remarkable variations in size. The 

 Grassicornis which excited your cupidity by his magnificent 

 proportions, as the eye first beheld him in the rock-pool, has 

 collapsed to a fourth of the size before you have chiselled 

 him off; and in collapsing he squirted continuous streams 

 of water from his pores and tentacle-tips.* That Gem, 

 which an hour ago was expanded to the height of an inch, is 

 now a mere button. The ordinary explanation of this pheno- 

 menon is that the animal swells itself with water, which it 

 violently ejects on being " irritated " or " alarmed." But as 

 we are just now looking with scientific seriousness at our 

 animals, we will discard all anthropomorphic intei3)retations, 

 such as point to " alarm," because they not only confuse the 

 question, but lead to awkward issues ; among others, that the 



* Those anatomists who still deny the existence of openings at the tips of the 

 tentacles, need only "irritate" a Crassicornis to be convinced of the fact. 



