94 



SMOOTH ANEMONE. 



and all its tentacles expanded in search of prey ; 

 and the other, as it appears when closed, and 

 at rest. I regret to say that it has an exceed- 

 ingly long title, and one which takes some time 

 to say as well as to write, Actinia mesemhryan- 

 themum,'' and which is generally curtailed in 

 conversation or notes to Mes," just as Mephis- 

 topheles was contracted to Mesty, by Mr. Easy, 

 junior. Its popular name is the Smooth Ane- 

 mone, it being so called from the smooth and 

 slippery surface of its skin. When I say the 

 " popular" name, I must be understood to mean 

 the name popular among naturalists j for as to 

 the people who live in close vicinity to it, they 

 have no name for it at all. Very often, the 

 fisherman has never seen such a thing as an 

 actinia, or if he has been sufi&ciently observant 

 to note it, he has no name by which he could 

 describe it to another fisherman. Now, indeed, 

 that so many enthusiasts crowd the sea-shores in 

 their search after these actiniae, and press fisher- 

 men into their service, a little knowledge on the 

 subject is being gradually difiused ; but some six 

 or seven years ago, no one troubled himself about 

 creatures which he did not catch with a net or 

 line, and which he could not take to market. 

 The Smooth Anemone is generally the first 



