206 IHR OCEAN WORLD, 
tenacity, throwing out (according to Gaertner) of their whole surface 
a number of extremely minute suckers, which, sticking fast to the 
small protuberances of the skin, produce the sensation of roughness, 
which is so far from being painful that it even cannot be called 
disagreeable. 
The size of the prey is frequently in unseemly disproportion to 
the preyer, being often equal in bulk to itself. I had once brought 
me a specimen of Actinia crassicornis, that might have been originally, 
two inches in diameter, which had somehow contrived to swallow a 
valve of Pecten maximus of the size of an ordinary saucer. The shell, 
fixed within the stomach, was so placed as to divide it completely 
into two halves, so that the body, stretched tensely over, had become 
thin and flattened like a pancake. All communication between the 
inferior portion of the stomach and the mouth was of course pre- 
vented ; yet, instead of emaciating and dying of atrophy, the animal 
had availed itself of what undoubtedly had been a very untoward 
accident to increase its enjoyment and its chance of double fare. A 
new mouth, furnished with two rows of numerous tentacula, was 
opened up on what had been the base, and led to the under stomach; 
the individual had indeed become a sort of Siamese Twin, but with 
greater intimacy and extent in its unions !” 
The sea anemones pass nearly all their life fixed to some rock, to 
which they seem to take root. There they live a sort of unconscious 
and obtuse existence, gifted with an instinct so obscure that they are 
not even conscious of the prey in their vicinity until it is actually in 
contact, when it seizes it in its mouth and swallows it. Nevertheless, 
though habitually adherent, they can move, gliding and creeping 
slowly by successive contractile and relaxing movements of the body, 
extending one edge of their base and relaxing the opposite one. 
At the approach of cold weather the Actinia are said to descend 
into the deepest water, where they find a more agreeable tem- 
perature. 
We have said that the sea anemones are scarcely possessed of 
vital instinct ; but they are capable of certain voluntary movements. 
Under the influence of light, they expand their tentacles as the daisy 
displays its florets. If the animal is touched, or the water is agitated 
in its neighbourhood, the tentacles close immediately. These 
tentacles appear occasionally to serve the purpose of offensive arms. 
The hand of the man who has touched them becomes red and 
inflamed. M. Hollard has seen small mackerel, two to three inches 
long, perish when touched by the tentacles of the Green Actinia 
(Corynactis viridis, Allman). ‘This is a charming little animal. 
