MARINE ZOOLOGY OF ARRAN. 255 



and yet deeper still, into the very stomach of the animal. He 

 has actually got possession of every particle that had been 

 swallowed ; and now he is off with all possible speed lest his 

 ill-gotten booty should be snatched from him by a prawn 

 more valiant than himself. 



This colony of plundered zoophytes is formed by a species 

 of anemone common only on certain parts of the coast it is 

 the Actinia bellis, described by naturalists. It sometimes 

 escapes detection, from the fact that almost the whole body 

 is often concealed within the chink of a rock, whilst the 

 expended disc and the surrounding tentacula are partially 

 obscured by the shade of adjacent sea weeds. It assumes a 

 variety of shapes ; it can change its locality at pleasure ; 

 and, having apparently an aversion to the solitary life, it is 

 usually found in clusters of perhaps a dozen or more in- 

 dividuals huddled together in close compact. The species 

 can scarcely be mistaken. In the same pool are other 

 species of the same genus. The most abundant of all the 

 anemones Actinia mesembryantJiemum is seen on all sides. 

 It inhabits nearly every place at the sea side, adhering to 

 stones or to the sides of piers, and is easily recognized, either 

 as a gelatinous rounded body, not unlike a ripe cherry, when 

 closed during the recess of the tide, or, when in the full 

 enjoyment of the returning waters, it exhibits the form of 

 the flower from which its name has been derived. A care- 

 ful examination of some of the deeper pools in this neigh- 

 bourhood will probably expose to view very fine specimens of 

 the larger species Actinia coriacea and Actinia crassicornis. 

 The former of these is abundant on many parts of the shore, 

 sometimes buried in the sand, and gregarious, or hidden 

 under fragments of rock between the tide marks, or in the 

 possession of a luxuriant pool. It may be known by the 

 following characters : Body conoid, or wider at the base 

 than above ; skin opaque, coriaceous or leathery, covered 

 with warts, variously coloured, but usually dull red ; tenta- 

 cula numerous, in three or four series, aud, when expanded, 



