THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 21, 1858. 397 
stretch (if fancy, be likened to a chevaux de frise. It is usually 
of a cylindrical form, but is eccentric in its habits, and under¬ 
goes many and curious changes, 
i Sagartia parasitica. — This popular Anemone is very 
distinct in character, and has fine outlines, colours, and pro¬ 
portions. It is rarely met with, except on shells tenanted 
! within by the hermit crab ; and it is borne hither and thither 
; oy tile restless Pagurus; and submits patiently, and without 
hurt, to all the hard knocks against the glass, and the smart 
grindings against the rough stones which happen to lie in the 
way of the hermit’s march. In a shallow tank, fitted ex- 
• pressly for crabs, the specimen here figured led a merry life, 
and the disc partaking of the same arrangement when fully 
expanded,—as it almost always is, in spite of being frequently 
jolted hard against the rockwork,—the fringes overlap the 
column, and form a most perfect star with half a thousand 
rays. There are seven rows of tentacles, each large!* than tho 
last, from the centre to the circumference, and these are all 
set firm, and have little motion. 
That the Parasite Anemone should bear the ill-treatment 
to which the hermit subjects it, as he travels about the tank, 
like a wandering showman, is easily understood, when we 
come to dissect it; for its outer coat is almost as hard as horn, 
and the mouth and tentacles are leathery and tough, despite 
their pellucid appearance, and the readiness with 
which they are distended with Water. This species 
throws out an immense number of the filamentous 
threads when annoyed ; and, though it has the 
power to withdraw them again into the body, if 
frequently irritated, so as to provoke then* dis¬ 
charge, it leaves its foothold, and perishes in a few 
days. 
When carefully kept, however, the Parasitica is 
as hardy as it is noble. In water frequently agi¬ 
tated, and kept to the standard of density, it 
holds tight to the shell; and is carried about into 
every corner of the tank, and is sometimes lifted 
out of water, when Pagurus chooses to mount a 
stone that is only slightly submerged; and this 
seems in no way injurious to it. It is a voracious 
feeder, and will take a shred of mutton or oyster 
every other day, if it is offered when the tentacles 
arc fully expanded, and the creature in vigorous 
health. But if the water gets foul or too dense, 
or if fresh water is added too suddenly, or if 
oxygen begins to fail, Parasitica will be the first 
to drop ofi' her perch, and, though things may be 
quickly restored to statu quo , Pagurus will not 
long survive her. What has a showman to live 
for, if the exhibition Amazon is numbered with 
the dead?— Shirley Hibberd. 
Hermit Crab in shell of Buccinum, with Sagartia; parasitica. 
in conipahy with a lively lot of hermits, soldiers, and spiders, 
that were fighting all day and all night, and yet never to the 
injury of the pretty pair of Parasitica our favourite 
Diogenes carried about on his tub. I had it sketched, be¬ 
cause there chanced to be two full-grown specimens on the 
same shell,—we rarely meet with more than one,—and I have 
] since regretted that the sketch should have been reduced, 
i because this was the finest hermit I ever possessed, and he 
ought to have had full space to show his sprawling legs and 
formidable foot jaws. 
S. Parasitica is a large species, frequently attaining to a 
| height of four inches, with a diameter of nearly three inches, 
i The column is regular and symmetrical, slightly spreading at 
the base, w r here it takes a firm grip of the shell to which it is 
attached. The ground colour of the column is generally drab, 
very regularly marked, with longitudinal lines of dark brown, 
or purplish brown; and those towards tho base break into 
yellow, sometimes very rich and warm, at others pale, and 
mixed with subdivisions of white lines. Just before it fairly 
expands, the upper rim is seen to be thickened, but this dis¬ 
appears when the tentacles are spread out. The tentacles 
are most elegantly marked, and, though possessing no striking 
colours, arrest attention by their number and regularity. 
They are very pellucid, and variously tinged with yellow, 
cream, or purple, but always reticulated with precise markings ; 
and, in some specimens, there are regular alternation^ . of 
colour all round, a patch of white, then a patch of purple on 
the marginal fringe; six groups of each usually in the circle. 
Our woodcut cannot do justice to the specimens from which 
the sketch was made. The prevailing tint w r as dark brown, 
with snowy lateral lines, blotched round the base with upright 
streaks of orange and white. In one specimen, the inner¬ 
most rows of tentacles were of a similar tone of brown, 
broken by a precise arrangement of white lines; and these 
w r ere surrounded with a ring of the purest ivory white, and 
beyond it was another fringe, coloured to match the centre. 
In the other and larger specimen the same tones of white and 
brown were varied in arrangement, so as to form a broad 
brown cross on a snow-white ground ; there being four 
divisions of brown and four of white, meeting across the lips ; 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
PRICES OF TRITOMA UYARIA AND 
TRITONIA AUREA. 
“In your number for September 7th, Mr. D. Beaton tells 
us cottagers to ‘ make a memorandum for a beautiful autumn 
bed, — six Tritoma uvarias encircled by eighteen Tritonia 
aureas , —which ornament to our gardens we are to acquire 
for 10s. Now, if after making such a memorandum, I send it 
as an order to my nurseryman, he will return me plants in 
good time, plus his memorandum, to wit— 
“ A. Greeniiand, Esq. 
“ To Prunem & Graft. 
6 Tritoma uvarias, @ 2s. 6d. each . £0 15 0 
18 Tritonia aureas, @ Is. each . . 0 18 0 
1 13 0 
I speak experimentally, having bought both plants, after 
inquiry as to their prices at various nurseries. Will you 
kindly ask our good friend to tell us how to do as he says, at 
the cost he lays down ; otherwise some member of my family 
(the Greenliands of Soft Hall) may ask his nurseryman to 
alter the form of memorandum, and to book ‘ 10s. to me, and 
the rest to Mr. D. Beaton.’ A Greenhand. 
[My credit is mortgaged for the next three years against 
that of the Judges of florists’ flowers at the Crystal Palace, 
and “ A Greenhand ” must wait his turn. I did not mean, 
however, to impute roguery to them, or to any one, as might 
be inferred from the first part of my report. But I have 
heard of roguery at our own Show, at Kingston, for the last 
two years,—great roguery,—and in two years that roguery 
broke up the Society. Therefore, it is quite true, that roguery, 
in any department of a Show, will soon put it to the wall. 
But “A Greeniiand” owes me five guineas, minus the 
difference in his bill against me. I live by experimental 
philosophy, and my terms have been long before the world; 
