ACTINIARIA. 
187 
a tle tenacity, throwing out, according to Gaertner, of their whole 
Sl »face a number of extremely minute suckers, which, sticking fast to 
^e small protuberances of the skin, produce the sensation of roughness, 
uduch is so far from being painful that it even cannot be called dis- 
a greeable. 
“ The size of the prey is frequently in unseemly disproportion to 
preyer, being often equal in bulk to itself. I had once brought 
a specimen of A. crassicornis, that might have been originally two' 
Riches in diameter, which had somehow contrived to swallow a valve 
°f Pectin maximus of tho size of an ordinary saucer. The shell, 
fixed within the stomach, was so placed as to divide it completely into 
tw o halves, so that the body, stretched tensely over, had become 
and flattened like a pancake. All communication between the 
inferior portion of the stomach and the mouth was of course prevented ; 
yet, instead of emaciating and dying of atrophy, the animal had availed 
its elf of what undoubtedly had been a very untoward accident to in- 
Cre ase its enjoyment and its chance of double fare. A new mouth, 
furnished with two rows of numerous tcntacula, was opened up on 
wlla t had been the base, and led to the under stomach ; the individual 
lla,] indeed become a sort of Siamese twin, but with greater intimacy 
a ud extent in its unions !” 
file sea anemones pass nearly all their life fixed to some rock, to 
udiich they seem to have. taken root, 'there they live a sort of un- 
c °Usci ous and obtuse existence, gifted with an instinct so obscure 
ffi'd they are not even conscious of the prey in their vicinity until it 
'f 'U-t Hid I y j n contact, when it seizes it in its mouth and swallows it. 
Nevertheless, though habitually adherent, they can move, gliding and 
peeping slowly by successive contractile and relaxing movements of the 
)0< fy> extending one edge of their base and relaxing the opposite one. 
Nt the approach of cold weather tho Actiniadai descend into the 
c ee pest water, where they find a more agreeable temperature. 
. We have said that the sea anemones are scarcely possessed of vital 
Ristinct ; but they are capable of certain voluntary movements. 
uder the influence of Hght, they expand their tentacles as the daisy 
. Splays its florets. If the animal is touched, or the water is agitated 
lla its neighbourhood, the tentacles close immediately. These tenta- 
? es a Ppear occasionally to serve the purpose of offensive arms. The 
uand of the man who has touched them becomes red and inflamed. 
