266 ZOOPHYTES. 



fleshy cone, or they lengthen themselves into a 

 flabby cylinder, with only a small aperture at the 

 summit. The surface of the cone is in some 

 cases smooth, in others covered over with little 

 bead-like prominences. Sometimes it is glossy, 

 like silk, or it may be covered, as with a coat of 

 velvet. Some of these animals encase themselves 

 with bits of broken sand or gravel, or other things 

 within their reach, making for themselves a coat of 

 mail, to compensate for the want of that protection 

 which is given to some polypes by their horny or 

 calcareous polypidoms. It is not easy to detach 

 them from the rock without injury; but, by in- 

 serting the blade of a knife carefully under them, 

 we may unloose them from their hold, and bring 

 them away, and long preserve them. By the 

 next day they will have recovered from the shock, 

 and in the dish of salt water we may see their 

 numerous tentacula, surrounding the central disc 

 in clear and lustrous beauty. By changing the 

 water frequently, they will live for many months 

 in-doors, though, after a time, we perceive that 

 they become more languid. Sometimes we may 

 see these large polypes, these sea-anemones, 

 drawing in water through their tentacles, until 

 they become wonderfully distended, and their 

 rays are thus rendered more clear and beautiful 

 and plump by imbibing the water. Sometimes 

 our sea-anemone becomes so distended as to lose 

 all its symmetry, and the stomach lies like a clear 

 bladder over the sides of its circular form, in large 

 lobes. After a while, the water thus imbibed is 

 projected in jets, or in a stream, from several of 

 the tentacula ; and Dr. Johnston remarks, that if 

 the contraction is sudden and strong, the water 



