404 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



the tide it habitually protrudes its mouth, the purplish oesophagus 

 marked with the pale lines being then very conspicuous. Some- 

 times when it projects perpendicularly out of the hole it encircles 

 itself with a collar about one inch in depth of slime set thickly 

 with particles of sand. It rarely projects much except at night, 

 generally sinking down if exposed to a strong light. It can make 

 a burrow in the sand with considerable ease. Mr. Holdsworth has 

 made an interesting observation on this process: — "After it had 

 selected a suitable place for burrowing, in the darkest part of the 

 vase, the posterior extremity became tapered to a fine point by a 

 partial expulsion of the contained water, and at the same time 

 turned downwards and pressed slightly into the ground ; the fluid 

 contents of the animal were then forced back until the base was 

 completely distended, and by this means a shallow depression in 

 the sand produced; the tail then resumed its conical shape, was 

 again thrust into the ground, and swelled out ; and these proceed- 

 ings were continued until a hole was made sufficiently large to 

 admit the animal. Its first efforts in burrowing had but little 

 effect, and it was only after an hour's labour, when the cavity 

 had become large enough to allow the polype to work in an up- 

 right position, and with the assistance of its whole weight, that 

 rapid progress was made." ^ (See PL XVIII., fig. 7.) 



This anemone can swallow a good-sized piece of food if it is 

 placed on its disc. It opens its mouth slowly to the size required, 

 and as soon as the lip grasps the food all round, it suddenly closes 

 in upon it, swallowing down the food with more ease and rapidity 

 than most other anemones, and often without the aid of its ten- 

 tacles at all. In a few hours afterwards the digested food is 

 vomited up by the mouth ; but this is not the only mode of 

 getting rid of its food after digestion which P. hastata possesses, 

 as small portions of excrement, moulded apparently by passing 

 through the tube, are often ejected through the conchula. When 

 the animal is irritated, or contracts itself suddenly, three or four 

 such pieces are sometimes ejected; but otherwise they come up at 

 intervals, and generally a day or two after feeding. The conchula 

 is often covered with a glairy slime which it seems to exude. 



The tentacles are capable of a great amount of individual 



1 Holds^'orth, Annals, N. H., for Jan. 1859, p. 78. 



