ANIMAL LIFE IN THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 103 



pink color. They are found, however, with a great variety 

 of hues, and may be so chosen as to create increased interest 

 by comparison. The Actinia dianthus (Plumose or Feather- 

 like Sea Anemone) is another with an assortment of colors 

 to suit itself. Some of them are scarlet, some snow-white, 

 some a dull brown, some orange, and some even a light 

 green. The A. clavata (Nailed Sea Anemone) is a brilliant 

 white. The A. anguicoma^ or Snake-haired, looks as if it 

 were shaking a mass of serpents from its conical head. The 

 A. vestita (Clothed Sea Anemone) constructs a shell for 

 itself, into which it retires when disturbed, or when for- 

 saken by the tide, thus metamorphosing itself into an 

 article too common to attract attention. The A, margi- 

 nata make its home on the rocks, at low water-mark, 

 about our eastern coasts. The A, carneola belongs to 

 the coast of Maine, and is only about half an inch in 

 diameter. It may be known by its mouth, which pro- 

 trudes far upwards on the disk, on the edge of which are 

 the tentaculge. These alternate in two rows of eighteen 

 each. The A, oUruncata has a short body, and a broad, 

 flat disk. The. tentaculse are placed between the mouth 

 and the margin. They are short, and very bluut at the 

 extremities, as if cut off. They are indistinct, and not 

 numerous, and arranged alternately in rows of four or 

 five. The A. rapiformis dwells in the sand on the coast 

 of New Jersey. You may find them washed up some- 

 times on the sand, by the waves, when a careless observer 

 would mistake one of them for an onion, or something of 



