258 MARINE ZOOLOGY OP ARBAX. 



though impatient of ill-treatment under certain conditions, 

 as when torn abruptly from their attachment to the rock, or 

 when confined in water not sufficiently pure, they are almost 

 indestructible by the usual methods of destruction. " They 

 may be immersed in water, hot enough," says Dr. Johnston, 

 " to blister their skin, or frozen in a mass of ice and again 

 thawed; and they may be placed within the exhausted 

 receiver of the air-pump, without being deprived of life, or 

 disabled from resuming their usual functions when placed in 

 a favourable situation. If the tentacula are clipped off they 

 soon begin to bud anew, and if again cut away they grow 

 again." * The finer specimens of these two species, as found 

 in this locality, will occasionally measure from four to six 

 inches across. 



112. "With the exception of the above examples, the coast 

 line of Arran is not prolific in a variety of zoophytes. A few 

 other forms may be procured in deep water by means of the 

 naturalist's dredge. There are, however, two more species 

 that will possibly attract the attention of the inquisitive 

 rambler along the shore : they belong to genera closely allied 

 to Actiniw namely, Anthea cereus, and Adamsia palliata. 

 The former frequently chooses for its position the leaves of 

 the grass wrack, or sea grass (Zostera marina), extensive beds 

 of which constitute submarine meadows in sandy districts. 

 This wrack (including the other species, Z. nana) is the only 

 instance of a British flowering plant that lives in the sea. 

 Now, wherever there is a bed of this plant, the student of 

 marine zoology (and also the algologist, or marine botanist) 

 may pause and examine ; and if he does not object to wade 

 knee-deep, at ebb-tide, he will almost to a certainty be repaid 

 for his trouble. Large numbers of creatures revel and thrive 

 in this forest fish, crabs, shell-fish, annelids or sea-worms, 

 and zoophytes ; and here, dependent from the long ribband- 

 like leaves of the zostera, you may often discover Ant/tea 

 cereus, with his lengthened tentacula, on the look-out for his 



* Johnston's British Zoophytes, vol. i. p. 239. 



