204 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



the one increasing, the others getting smaller, in the direction of the 

 centre. Moreover, they have many kinds of cells, which dispose 

 themselves in their different relations with great regularity — their 

 tentacula, which correspond with them, being arranged in circles 

 radiating more or less from the centre. 



The stomach of the sea anemones fulfils a multitude of functions. 

 At first, it is the digestive organ, and is unceasingly moistened by 

 the water which it passes through it, takes what nourishment is in it, 

 and ejects. The general cavity of the body corresponds with the 

 visceral cavity, but is separated from it by a thin partition, and in the 

 general cavity, which is divided into compartments by perpendicular 

 partitions of membrane, the reproductive organs, the eggs, and the 

 young, are lodged, and are all connected with the tentacles or arms. 

 In the month of September the eggs are fecundated, and the larva 

 or embryos developed. As Fre'dol says in " La Monde de la Mer," 

 " These animals bear their young, not upon their arms, but in their 

 arms. The larva generally pass from the tentacula (/>., from the 

 general cavity) into the stomach, and are afterwards ejected from the 

 mouth along with the rejecta of their food, a most singular fact — the 

 mouth serving the purposes of accouchement — a fact which it would 

 be difficult to believe on other than the most positive evidence." 



" The Daisy-like Anemone {Sagartia bcilis, Gosse), in the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens of Paris," says Fredol, " frequently throws up young 

 ones, which are dispersed, and attach themselves to various parts ot 

 the aquarium, and finally become miniature anemones exactly like the 

 parent. An actinia which had taken a very copious repast ejected a 

 portion of it about twenty-four hours later, and in the middle of the 

 ejected food were found thirty-eight young individuals." According 

 to Dalyell, an accouchement is here a fit of indigestion. 



The lower class of animals have, in fact, as the general basis of 

 their organisation, a sac with a single opening, which is applied, as 

 we have seen, to a great variety of uses. It receives and rejects ; it 

 swallows and it vomits. The vomiting becomes necessary and habi- 

 tual — the normal condition, in short, of the animal — and is perhaps 

 a source of pleasure to it, for it is not a malady, but a function. 



The sea anemones are also developed in another manner. On 

 the edge of their base certain bud-like excrescences may often be 

 observed. These buds are by-and-by transformed into embryos, 

 which detach themselves from the parent form, and soon become 

 individuals in all respects resembling it. This mode of reproduction 

 greatly resembles some of the vegetative processes. Another and very 

 singular mode of reproduction has been noted by Mr. Hogg in the 



