Z()()i.(k;ical soc'ikty bulletin 



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CllAKT OK .MOVKMKNTS OH' WHITE ARMEU ANEMONE 



to remain quiet, is a i)roblem for whieh no so- 

 lution suggests itself. The particular specimen 

 forming the subject of this article was a good 

 sized, white-armed anemone {Sagartia leuco- 

 lena) which, with others of its kind, was kept 

 in a balanced aquarium at the New York Aqua- 

 rium. The receptacle was a twelve-gallon, 

 straightsided, cA'lindrical glass jar about thir- 

 teen inches in height. The specimen was under 

 observation for about twenty-four weeks alto- 

 gether, during which time it pursued a very 

 devious course about the dark side of the jar, 

 often resting for days at a time, seldom con- 

 tinuing long in one direction, and getting no- 

 where in particular at the end. 



The writer had often noticed that the speci- 

 mens in the jars would occasionally change 

 their positions, but it first occurred to him to 

 study and plot their movements when it was 

 noticed that this particular anemone had, from 

 one day to the ne.xt, removed from the bottom 

 of the jar, where it had been quietly reposing 

 for some weeks (see No. 1 in the accompany- 

 ing chart), and had crept a couple of inches 

 up the side of the jar. This position was at 

 once marked (No. 2). The desire for change 

 was apparently satisfied for a time and the 

 animal remained here for two weeks. About 

 when the observer began to conclude that it 

 would take at least the remainder of liis natural 

 life to get aiivthiilg out of sueli a studv. tlu' 



anemone moved again .about two inches, con- 

 suming two whole days on the road (No. 3). 

 Here it again remained for twelve days. It 

 then moved to No 4 — less than the width of its 

 base — in one day and spent two more days at 

 rest. For some unaccountable reason it then 

 retraced its journey to the e.\act position of 

 the previous starting place (Nos. 3 and 5), 

 where it spent two more d.iys. 



The little animal now covered .ibout five 

 inches in two days of .apparently continuous 

 travel to position No. (i. Three days of rest 

 followed this and the wanderer again set out 

 in a new direction and in one day of verj' act- 

 ive travel made about three inches to No. 7. 

 Here it rested for a day and then moved a little 

 more than five inches in two days to No. 8. 

 After a day of rest at this point it travelled 

 three inches further in one day to No. 9. Ap- 

 parently exhausted by this unprecedented burst 

 of speed it remained at this place for two days 

 to recuperate when it again siiifted its position 

 one inch to No. 10. 



The base now rounded up as though the 

 animal intended to remain in this position, but 

 at the end of a week an attack of unusual ac- 

 tivity seized it. Three and a half inches of 

 travel in one day brought it to No. 1 1 . The 

 next day it set out again, in a new direction, 

 and arrived at No. 12. one .and .i half inches. 

 Remaining here two d.iys. it ag.iiii altered its 



