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254 OUR SEA-ANEMONES. 
a very graceful form, which cannot fail to please any one 
who has a taste for the symmetry and beauty of natural 
objects. From the slightly expanded base the body arises 
in the form of a tall, smooth column, sometimes cylindrical, 
sometimes tapering slightly to the middle, and then enlarg- 
ing to the summit. Towards the top the column is sum 
rounded by a circular, thickened fold, above which the 
‘character of the surface suddenly changes, the skin becoming 
thinner and translucent, so that the internal radiating par 
titions are visible through it. This part expands upward 
toward the margin, which is folded into several deep undu- 
lations or frills, and these edges are covered everywhere by 
an immense number of fine, slender, crowded tentacles, 
which also occupy about half the width of the oral disk, but 
increase in size and diminish in number toward the mouth, 
which occupies the centre of the disk. The mouth is oval, 
and its lips have numerous folds. It opens directly into the 
stomach, which is a simple sac suspended in the centre of 
the body, having a small opening in its lower end, through 
which the products of digestion are poured into the mat- 
cavity of the body, while the hard or undigested parts of 
the food, such as shells, bones, etc., are cast out from the 
mouth. The whole interior of the body, between the stom | 
ach and exterior, is divided up into an immense number 0 
narrow chambers, by thin muscular partitions, which rad 
from the centre toward the exterior, and are of var 
widths, some reaching from the wall to the stomach 
serving to support it, while others extend only a little 
inward from the outer wall; each tentacle is hollow and! 
direct continuation of the radiating chamber below it, 
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there are as many chambers as tentacles, and, of : 
twice as many radiating partitions as chambers. ° eo 
gested food, mingled with sea-water, serves for blood 
fills all the chambers and the main cavity of the body 
the stomach; and, as there is no heart, this fluid? 
in motion and circulated through every part by mar 
