THE WEB OF LIFE 293 



A vivid description of the partnership between the giant 

 sea-anemone and the ' painted fish ' (Amphvprion) is 

 given by E. J. Banfield in his deUghtful book My Tropic 

 Isle (1910). The dainty fish, only an inch and a half long, 

 is ' resplendent in carmine, with a broad collar and waist- 

 band of silvery lavender (or rather silver shot with laven- 

 der) and outlined with purple '. On the least alarm the 

 fish 'retires within the many folds of its host, entirely 

 disappearing, presently to peep out again shyly at the 

 intruder. It is almost as elusive as a sunbeam, and most 

 difficult to catch, for if the anemone is disturbed it contracts 

 its folds and shrinks away, ofEering inviolable sanctuary. 

 If the fish be dissociated from its host, it soon dies. It 

 cannot Kve apart, though the anemone, as far as can be 

 judged from outward appearances, endures the separa- 

 tion without a pang '. What the fish does for the anemone 

 is uncertain — perhaps it attracts small food. But other 

 anemones greedily seize inquisitive fishes. 



Many crabs and hermit-crabs form an external partner- 

 ship with sea-anemones, which grow on the carapace, or 

 sometimes on the forceps, or, in the case of some hermit- 

 crabs, on the borrowed Gasteropod shell. The benefit is 

 clearly two-sided, and a Crustacean bereft of its partner 

 anemone has been known to search for it dihgently. A 

 hermit-crab shifting from its Gasteropod shell to a larger 

 one has been seen trying to flit its partner as well. To 

 the Crustacean the benefit is that the sea-anemone can 

 sting, and that it also serves as a ma-,king cloak. To the 

 anemone there is the advantage of transport and of crumbs 

 from its companion's table. Prof. Weber refers to cases 

 like the crabs Polydectus and Meha, where the anemone 

 is carried about on the forceps in a highly aggressive 



