OR, PLAIN TEACHING, 



349 



plant ; while, being able to move 

 their arms, and taking and 

 digesting food, they were held to 

 partake also of an animal nature. 



Attentive observation has 

 shown, however, that they are 

 not permanently fixed to rocks : 

 they have the power of moving 

 from one place to another, and 

 attaching themselves anew, when- 

 ever such a removal is desirable. 



These curious creatures are wonderfully or- 

 ganised animals, feeding chiefly on small mol- 

 luscous insects, shell-fish, shrimps, &c. ; but 

 principally small crabs, which they draw into 

 their mouths with their tentacula, ejecting the 

 shells or other indigestible portions by the same 

 opening ; these tentacula, being tubular, appear 

 to attach themselves by creating a partial 

 vacuum in^each of them. Upon touching them 

 with the finger, the action of suction from the 

 orifices of numerous tentacula will be distinctly 

 felt ; and by dropping a small shell-fish amid 

 the tentacula, the manner in a\ hich they trans- 

 fer it to their common centre may be observed. 

 The whole interior of the body forms but one 

 cavity or sac ; and from the great expansibility 

 of the mouth, large shell-fish may be swallowed 

 without injury ; but when a shell is so situated 

 that it cannot be readily voided by the mouth, 

 it is said to be forced through the body, making 

 a wound which speedily heals.* 



When the animal is left dry 

 by the tide, or is reposing or 

 feeding, the tentacula are drawn 

 in , and the common orifice closed, 

 12 ; when covered with water, 

 and searching for food, the tenta- 

 cula are extended, 13, and move 



13 



1161. 



about with a gentle undulating 

 motion. When the anemone 

 changes its abode, it quits hold 

 of the rock, and reversing its 

 position, uses the tentacula as 



* Partington's Cyclopaedia 



legs. When shells, pieces of 

 raw fish, or meat are offered to 

 them, if not too large, they will 

 be immediately seized and swal- 

 lowed ; and although the .shells 

 of molluscs given to them may 

 be firmly closed, they manage in 

 tome extraordinary way to con- 

 sume the fish, and to eject the 

 shells empty. 



It has been asserted by a careful observer, 

 the Abbe Dicquemarre, that they bring forth 

 their young alive, ejecting them from the 

 mouth. Although no eyes have been dis- 

 covered in them, they are sensitive to light. 

 When two of them happen to seize a part of 

 the same prize, a struggle ensues for sole pos- 

 session, which is gained by the stronger crea- 

 ture. When cut and divided, they grow again 

 into perfect animals. One species, the actinia 

 viridis, possesses the property of stinging, but 

 this belongs to one species only, out of more 

 than thirty, and the stinging power is not 

 formidable. 



That some of them bear their young alive, 

 and in a very curious manner, has been demon- 

 strated by Mr. Lewes, who saw first one, then 

 two, three, four, seven young ones issue from 

 the mouth of their parent, and fix themselves at 

 the bottom of a vase. But he also discovered 

 that gome of the species are viviparous. 



14 



1162. 



The cuttle-fish, 14, is a mol- 

 luscous animal, sometimes called 

 the ink-fish, from its singular 

 power of emitting a black fluid 

 when disturbed or attacked. This 

 curious creature is frequently 

 brought in from the sea by 

 fishermen ; but its eggs are com- 



