302 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
A specimen of this species collected by Sir J. Graham Dalyell 
(1848, p. 203) at North Berwick in August 1828 reached the age 
of about sixty-six years. So far as we can ascertain, this is the 
only recorded example of longevity in anemones, and is quoted by 
Gosse (1860, p. 182), M‘Bain (1878, p. 280), Weismann (1891, 
pp. 6, 55), and others. 
Dalyell computed, after comparison of the size of this specimen 
with that of others which had been bred in his aquaria, that it 
must have been at least seven years old at the time of its capture. 
After Daly ell’s death in 1851 this anemone was placed successively 
under the care of several naturalists, and died in August 1887, 
being then about sixty-six years old. Unfortunately, nothing is 
known with certainty as to the cause of its death. The obituary 
notice which appeared in The Scotsman states that the anemone 
“ appeared to be in excellent health up to a few weeks ago, when 
it was attacked by a parasitic disease, which finally proved fatal.” 
Mr R. Lindsay, who had charge of this anemone during the last 
five years of its life, informs us that this report is unfounded, and 
that “the death of the anemone was not due to any parasitic 
disease,” but was apparently “ natural.” There is also a footnote * 
to this effect on p. 55 of Weismann’s Essays (1891, vol. i.). It 
was kept in a comparatively small volume of water (the vessel in 
which it lived is described as a large tumbler), was fed on half 
a mussel once a fortnight, and the sea- water was changed soon 
afterwards. 
During the first twenty years of its life it produced 334 young 
(Dalyell, 1848, p. 213), and then remained unproductive for some 
years, but during the spring of 1857 it gave birth to 230 young 
during the course of a single night (M‘Bain, 1878, p. 286). For 
the next fifteen years it was unproductive, but in August 1872 it 
produced a brood of 30, and in December of the same year one 
of 9. It continued to reproduce each year, the number of its 
young being from 5 to 20 at a birth. During the seven 
years beginning August 1872, over 150 living young were born. 
Two of these were isolated and regularly fed, and at the age of 
* “It died, by a natural death, on August 4th, 1887, after having appeared 
to become gradually weaker for some months previous to this date.” —Foot- 
note by Professor Poulton, from information obtained by Mr J. S. Haldane. 
