68 SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 



a continuous fiery crest is apt to mark the action of 

 the breakers. At other times, in a quiet sea, there 

 may be but little luminosity, unless the water is 

 stirred up by the passage of a boat or the dip of 

 an oar, when the scattered golden drops appear as 

 though cast in metal. How much of the phospho- 

 rescence of the sea is produced by these creatures 

 alone still remains to be determined, but that they 

 contribute very largely to the phenomenon there 

 can be no doubt. 



SEA-ANEMONES. 



In her charming description of the animals of 

 Massachusetts Bay Mrs. Agassiz says, "Nothing 

 can be more unprepossessing than a sea-anemone 

 when contracted. A mere lump of brown or whit- 

 ish jelly, it lies like a lifeless thing on the rock to 

 which it clings, and it is difficult to believe that it 

 has an elaborate and exceedingly delicate internal 

 organization, or will ever expand into such grace 

 and beauty as ideally to deserve the name of the 

 flower after which it has been called." And such 

 is the truth. Only when the animal has again ex- 

 panded, and thrown out its crown of delicate feelers 

 or tentacles, are we placed in a position to appre- 

 ciate fully the beauty and grace of the flower of the 

 sea. The rock-bound tidal pools and grottos are 

 the favored haunts of the sea-anemone, whose vari- 

 ously-tinted bodies of orange, purple, pink, and 

 white, placed in relief against the sombre walls, 

 produce an effect rivalling that of the artist's pa- 

 lette. On our shores, unfortunately, the absence 



