ACTINIA El A. 
189 
Was it slow to reject these hard parts, by turning its stomach inside 
<ni b as one might turn out one’s pocket, in order to empty it of its 
c °ntents. We have seen in Dr. Johnston’s account of A. crassieomis 
that when threatened with death by hunger, from having swallowed a 
s Wl which separated it into two halves, at the end of eleven days it 
Wl opened a new mouth, provided with separate rows of tentacula. 
Ihe accident which, in ordinary animals, would have left it to perish 
01 hunger, became, in the sea anemone, the source of redoubled gas- 
h onomical enjoyment. 
“ The anemones,” Fredol tells us, “ are voracious, and full of energy ; 
Nothing escapes their gluttony; every creature which approaches 
fhem is seized, engulfed, and devoured. Nevertheless, with all the 
I ,0 Wer of their month, their insatiable stomachs cannot retain the prey 
tll6 y have swallowed. In certain circumstances it contrives to escape, 
111 others it is adroitly snatched away by some neighbouring marauder 
0l ' e canning and more active than the anemone, 
hi Pl. IY. are represented the principal species of Anemone usually 
served in the aquarium. Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A. sulcata , is surmised 
y Johnston to be the young of A. effoeta (Linn.) It is also quoted as 
a s ynonyme of Anthec t cereus, from Drayton’s stanza : 
“ Anthea of the flowers, that hath a general charge, 
And Syrinx of the weeds, that grow upon the marge.” 
I) Phymadis Sanctee Jldenm (Edw.) ; Fig. 5, A. capensis 
■ e *on) ; Fig. 6, A. Peruviana (Lesson) ; Fig. 7, A. Sandw Oathe- 
Fig. 8, A. amethystina (Quoy); Fig. 9, Comadis viridis 
^ ne Edwards). 
, ‘It is sometimes observed in aquariums that a shrimp, which 
as seen the prey devoured from a distance, will throw itself upon the 
r avi s h.... ’ ’ • ’ ■ - - ’• 
ol: 
his 
er, and audaciously wrest the prey from him and devour it before 
, e yes, to his great disappointment. Even when the savoury morsel 
las been swallowed, the. shrimp, by great exertions, succeeds in ex- 
acting it f rom the stomach. Seating itself upon the extended 
ls k of the anemone, with its small feet it prevents the approach of 
le tentacles, at the same time that it inserts its claws into the 
c rgestive cavity and seizes the food. In vain the anemone tries to 
°°ritract its gills and close its mouth. Sometimes the conflict between 
10 sedentary zoophyte and the vagrant crustacean becomes serious. 
