ACTINIA PARASITICA. 275 



reproach, given us a practical example that not only may 

 Comparative Anatomy reveal its marvels to the delighted eye 

 of a poet, but also that the keen glance of the poet may be 

 that of a great discoverer in anatomy ? To Goethe, bones 

 and ligaments were not less beautiful and full of interest 

 than flowers and streams, because he saw in them parts of 

 the mystic scaff'olding of the temple of life. And laborious 

 and delicate as the amatem- may find the dissection of ani- 

 mals to be, he will find his labour well rewarded at the close. 

 When the spring-tide did arrive it was unfortunately a 

 very poor one ; and had Jersey been less wealthy, my hot 

 labours on the rocks would have j)roduced but a meagre re- 

 sult. As it was, I managed to secure an ample sup[)ly of Sea 

 Hares, Eolids, Dorids, Solitary Ascidians, Clavellince, Hy- 

 dractinio}, Pycnogonidce, Actceons, Anemones, and Polypes. 

 In the way of novelty there was only the Hydractinia (a 

 pretty little white polype growing in clusters on the out- 

 side of a whelk shell, inside of which was a hermit-crab) and 

 the Actinia parasitica, hitherto only known to me through 

 pictures, but which I found transcending in beauty all power 

 of painting. This beautiful Anemone is extremely abundant 

 here at low tide, but scarcely merits its name of Parasitica, 

 for I find it almost as frequently on stones and on the sides of 

 the rocks as on the whelk shells ; and in captivity it quits its 

 shell, roaming about the pie-dish, and fixing itself to the side, 

 or to seaweeds, like any other Anemone. The extreme sensi- 

 tiveness of the Parasitica enhances its attractions ; it is for 

 ever expanding and retracting its tentacles, elongating, curv- 

 ing, or retracting its stem : sometimes doubling its length, at 



