38 C0BAL8 AND COMAL ISLANDS. 



sume tie was somewhat sharp-set. He marked the Anthea 

 falling, and before it could reach the bottom, opened his cav- 

 ern of a mouth and sucked in the bonne bouche. It was not 

 to his taste, however, for as instantly he shot it out again. Not 

 discouraged, he returned to the attack, and once more sucked 

 it in, but with no better success ; for, after a moment's rolling 

 of the morsel around his mouth, out it shot once more ; and 

 now the Bullhead, acknowledging his master, turned tail, and 

 darted into a hole on the opposite side of the tank in manifest 

 discomfiture. " 



He adds : " But if you, my gentle reader, be disposed for 

 exploits in gastronomy, do not be alarmed at the Bullhead's 

 failure : only take the precaution to " cook your hare." Risso 

 calls this species " edulis" and says of it, — " On le mange en 

 fniture" and I can say, " probatum est." No squeamishness 

 of stomach prevents our volatile friends, the French, from 

 appreciating its excellence; for the dish called Rastegna, 

 which is a great favorite in Provence, is mainly prepared from 

 Anthea cereus. I would not dare to say that an Opelet is as 

 good as an Omelet; but chacun a son gout — try for your- 

 selves. The dish is readily achieved." 



The stomach, although without a proper sphincter muscle 

 at its inner extremity, appears to be closed below during the 

 process of digestion. When digestion is complete, the refuse 

 from the food is pushed out through the mouth, the only ex- 

 ternal opening to the alimentary cavity, and the digested ma- 

 terial passes downward, into the interior cavity ; and there, 

 mixed with sea-water from without, it is distributed through 

 all the interior cavities of the polyp for its nutrition. The 

 polyp has no circulating fluid but the results of digestion 

 mixed with salt water, no blood-vessels but the vacuities among 

 the tissues, and no passage-way for excrements excepting the 



