THE WEYMOUTH ANEMONE. 35 



rooks. fSee Plate Uj. Here the teeth are long 

 overarching glassy plates finely pointed, and minutely 

 saw-toothed along their edges, while the lateral comhs 

 are composed of curved teeth, gradually diminishing 

 in thickness. 



Perhaps every variety is accompanied hy some vari' 

 ation in food or mode of feeding. The Periwinkle, I 

 see, has a manner of his own, which diifers slightly 

 from that of the Trochus. When he eats, he separates 

 two little fleshy lips, and the glistering glass-like 

 tongue is seen, or rather the rounded extremity of a 

 bend of it, rapidly running round like an endless band 

 in some piece of machinery, only that the tooth- 

 points, as they run by, remind one rather of a watch- 

 wheel. For an instant this appears, then the lips 

 close again, and presently re-open and the tongue 

 again performs its rasping. It is wonderful to see ; — 

 perhaps not more wonderful than any other of , God's 

 great works, never less great than when minutely 

 great ; but the action and the instrument, the perfect 

 way in which it works, and and the effectiveness with 

 which the vegetation is cleared away before it, all 

 strike the mind as both wonderful and beautiful. 



There are other things, however, besides Periwinkles 

 and Tops to be found on these cleft and weed-draped 

 ledges. The very first hour I spent in searching 

 them, I found several animals that were new to me, 

 and some that are marked as rare in zoological works. 

 Among them was an Actinia of much beauty, which 

 was known hitherto only by a single specimen found 

 here by Mr. W. Thompson, and described by him 

 under the name of A. clavata. I afterwards found 



