LIFE IN THE AQUAEITjM. 



Ill 



been corrected too suddenly. The animal was 

 in a large vase of sea- water, which necessarily 

 presented a wide surface to the air; and so the 

 water rapidly evaporated, leaving all its salts 

 behind, and rendering the remaining water much 

 too dense. In the correction of this evil the fresh 

 water was added too rapidly, and inflicted on 

 the nervous system of my poor crass a shock 

 from which it never recovered. 



In such a case the tentacles begin to droop, 

 they then lose their beautiful transparent colour- 

 ing, and become dull, opaque, flaccid, and exceed- 

 ingly small. Whenever the creature is in this 

 state it is not easily restored to health and 

 brilliancy. 



This species does not travel in wet sea-weed 

 nearly so well as the smooth anemone, and besides, 

 pours out a vast amount of mucus, which makes 

 the whole of its neighbourhood exceedingly un- 

 pleasant. In order to transport it in perfection 

 it should be indulged with a jar of sea- water, 

 and have no travelling companions. Its tentacles 

 are so strong, and the animal is so voracious, 

 that it will frequently destroy any other creature 

 that happens to be placed in the same vessel. 

 The very specimen which I have described, 

 killed, during the few hours of its journey, a 



