1 410 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 28, 1858. 
pearanec when full grown, and mounted high on a block of 
granite in the middle of the tank, know, that to do justice to 
its graceful majesty of form, its frequent changes and shifting 
motions, and, above all, its exquisite delicacy of colouring, 
and translucency, is altogether impossible, either by pen or 
pencil. Six inches high, and nearly four in diameter, erect 
and queen-like in its attitude, with an immense head of count¬ 
less tentacles, so densely crowded and puckered as to form a 
profuse fringe, which falls over into puckered and irregular 
masses, like the handiwork of fairy fingers, that excel in 
weaving the sea foam into textile wonders. The colour pale 
amber, soft orange, or alabaster; the column streaked with 
vertical lines, and so translucent, that, when against the light, 
we see almost through the creature, and can hardly take our 
eyes off when it is in one of its fits of transformation,—be¬ 
coming now a balloon, and next a pair of oblate spheroids, 
set one upon the other, and the fringes of waving tentacles all 
the while agitated and moving as if a Peri were breathing 
amongst them. An indescribable sea flower, animated by the 
soul of beauty ! And, with all its lustre and magnificence, it 
is long-lived, feeds freely, soon gets familiar, so as not to 
shrink either from the footfall or the passage of the hand 
over the glass, and so takes precedence of every one of the 
curious and beautiful creatures committed to the ocean 
garden. Mr. Gosse says, “ it is excelled in beauty by Crassi¬ 
cornis .” No, Mr. Gosse, it is not. Crassicornis is dazzling 
in his colours, but here is grace, delicacy, easy-flowing outlines, 
and incessant change of form, such as Crassicornis never 
attempted, for his grandest feat is to turn his stomach inside 
out, and become defunctibus next morning. But Mr. Gosse 
does justice to this beauty, both in description and represen¬ 
tation. Plate Y. of “ The Aquarium ” vindicates the claim 
of Dianthus to a regal place in the deep, though it is still 
short of the mark, and must have been sketched from a spe¬ 
cimen not so densely frilled as usual. Mr. Sowerby devotes 
twelve lines to it, in a book of 320 pages, and both he and 
Mr. Humphreys have altogether failed in drawing it. The 
wdiole subject, however, was new to Mr. Sowerby; and I defy 
anyone either to describe or figure Dianthus decently, without 
first acquiring an ancient acquaintanceship with it. I claim 
the merit of giving the best representations of it on wood yet 
accomplished. In the “Book of the Aquarium,” the cha- 
l’acter is admirably rendered by Mr. Voyez, and, in the cut 
here presented to the reader, I think The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener need not be ashamed of Mr. Saunders’s attempt at a 
most difficult subject. 
But about the structure of this wonder of marine life. 
The column is entirely free from sucking glands, and the 
summit is crowned with a thick, fleshy rim, within which is a 
deep groove. The disc is puckered into numerous foldings, 
and the tentacles are confusedly crowded, so that it requires 
j frequent and patient observation to detect the nature of their 
i arrangement. Those next the mouth are stouter in sub- 
| stance than those forming the outer fringes; and from the 
first ring, which is about a third of an inch from the de¬ 
licately- chiselled lips, they succeed in greater and greater 
numbers, till towards the exterior they form so close and rich 
a fringe, that it is difficult to separate them by the eye, and 
quite impossible to count them. This species is very abun¬ 
dant, and large specimens on shells and stones are frequently 
surrounded by crowds of little ones, over which they seem to 
keep guard. It frequently produces young in the tank. The 
young are beautiful objects, and as eccentric as them parents, 
in puffing themselves out with water, and again contracting 
either to slender columns, or to flat, button - like discs. 
Dianthus is best kept by itself, owing to its habit of fre¬ 
quently throwing off a gelatinous film, which collects at the 
bottom, unless regularly removed by means of a dipping 
tube. All the Actinice do this, but Dianthus more than any, 
and the process is simply the sloughing off of the outer skin 
in a manner similar to toads and snakes. The water in 
which Dianthus is kept should be always bright and pure, 
and well aerated ; and the creatures do not keep their beauty 
long, unless occasionally fed. It throws out a profusion of 
white threads if irritated, and should be touched as little as 
possible. 
Bun odes Crassicornis.— -This, the Thickhorned Anemone^ 
may, if you are fancifully disposed, bo called the king of the 
tank. But his majesty is like an Indian prince, extravagant, 
luxurious) aiid short-lived, and hence it is not often kept j 
and there are few' who can manage it with any degree of cer¬ 
tainty* One of immense size, which I brought from the i 
south coast two years since, I fitted up a small vessel of four 
gallons expressly for ; and, by feeding and aerating, kept him 
four months, and then lost him through having to leave 
home on a tour northwards, so that he was neglected for a 
fortnight, and, though alive on my return, had set out for the 
grave, and refused to be called back. I have kept a great j 
many, and have had young produced, but the possession was 
always temporary ; and this summer, having too much on my 
hands to give the attention requisite in hot weather, I got rid 
of my last two, and will not be bothered with them again till ; 
spring, when, from February to the end of May, one may 
expect to keep anything. 
Crassicornis attains immense size, but it never reaches a 
tall column. The tentacles are thick, and boldly set out in the 
form of a huge star; and the most common colour is a 
fulvous red, blotched with bold dashes of green, orange, and 
white. But, in truth, this species occurs of all colours, and 
is as showy as a harlequin, and as gaily spotted. "When first 
taken up, it is generally covered with grit, which must not be 
washed off. In a few days the creature drops the pebbles, 
and stands up smartly in its showy dress, and you may see 
that the bits of sand and shell were held by the wart-like 
glands, which are now conspicuous all over the body, and, 
which have a power of suction. The tentacles are so plump 
and blunt, that having only once seen a specimen, or a good 
representation of one, you would know it again directly. 
The plumpness results from its free absorption of water, and 
when lifted out of it, it frequently squirts the water from the 
tentacles insultingly in your face, and in a manner that alarms 
people not used to such things. It never emits filiferous 
threads. It is of immense strength, and indescribable 
voracity. I have seen specimens seize a stickleback or goby, 
and double him up in the grasp in an instant; and, before the 
writhings of the poor fish were over, he would be tucked into 
the vast mouth, and go kicking to his gastric tomb. Even j 
there he may kick once more, but he is soon converted into 
Actinia. To have a fair chance of keeping this capricious 
creature, it must have abundance of oxygen, never be handled 
or disturbed, and be fed as often as it will take food, and 
every scrap not taken immediately removed. A powerful 
light, a hot day, or a little neglect, may induce in it a suicidal 
fit, when out come the beautifully-striped lobes of the stomach, 
and you may make up your mind that its reign of glory is 
coming to a speedy close. 
Brnodes gemmacea. —Though it is rather fatiguing both 
to writer and reader, when each succeeding object has to be 
described as more beautiful than the last; still I think we 
must allow “the gem” to be, in its way, the most beautiful 
Anemone we are at present acquainted with. It does not 
compete with Dianthus or Crassicornis , in size or gorgeous¬ 
ness, but bears such relationship to them as Auriculas do to 
Roses and Dahlias. It is an exquisitely beautiful creature, 
and once identified will never be forgotten. The most 
striking feature of the gem is its regular arrangement of gem¬ 
like warts, which run in lines from the top to the bottom of 
the column; and the tentacles are beautifully banded from 
base to tip with gay colours on a pearl-white ground. It is 
as beautiful when closed as when open, “and it frequently 
closes for several days together. The lines of warts radiate 
regularly from the top of the closed disc ; usually three lines 
of faint dots and then a broad and conspicuous one of larger 
dots, and of a lighter colour. There are generally six rows of 
principal dots, with three of the fainter rows between them, 
so that it is a perfect Mosaic of gems. The colours vary 
considerably, and those of a pearly white are as lovely as 
those more richly coloured. All the colours of the rainbow, 
and some not in the rainbow, are exhibited by this sparkling 
gem of the sea; hut rosy pink, violet green, and grey, are the 
most common; and, in some specimens, all the several colour 
effects arc combined; and when expanded, the tentacles being 
few in number, and very distinct, take the form of a star, in 
which rubies, emeralds, turquoises, and splinters of amber, are 
all worked into the pattern elaborately, and with precision. 
It is delicate, will not exist in foul watei*, requires an abun¬ 
dance of oxygen, and must not be in a strong light. When 
once acclimatised, however, it often proves long-lived, and occa- 
