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 mesembryan- 

 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 ; for as to 

 the people who live in close vicinity to it, they 

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

 fisherman has never seen such a thing as an 

 actinia, or if he has been sufficiently 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 



