IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 
321 
Another is called the Beadlet, because it has what looks like a 
circle of beads at the base of its arms. These beads are rich blue, 
looking like turquoises, while the arms are of all bright colors. 
This little fellow is a very pretty object for the aquarium. He has 
a fashion of crawling up the glass till he reaches the surface of the 
water, when he will turn himself over with his arms down, make 
his base hollow like a sort of a boat, and float off on the top. 
Not all Sea Anemones have the base attached to something. 
Here is a picture of 
one of the free ones. 
It has rather a worm- 
like body you see. 
These creatures 
are said to be good to 
eat. 
On the next page 
is another odd little 
fellow who builds — or 
rathe r burrows — his 
own house. Nature 
provides him with a 
shell, and one would suppose that house enough for one unaspiring 
little sea creature. But the shell is very delicate, and would easily 
crush between the horny jaws of his enemies, so he just makes 
himself a safe retreat in a rock. 
You see two of the family in the picture. One is turned so as 
to show you the hinge of the two shells he wears, while the other 
shows you the animal himself as he usually lies, and displays his 
curious little white foot. Of course, in life the front of the rock is 
solid and nothing can be seen but that part of his body which he 
thrusts out of the house. The empty hole which you see between 
the two, shows how the house looks when seen on the rocks. 
This curious little digger is called the P kolas, or to give you 
his whole name, as it is in the wise books— the P kolas Dactylns. 
He has been known for a long time, but his observers could not 
readily agree about how his house was made. Some thought he 
bored it out by means of his little feet ; others contended that the 
creature secreted a sort of acid which made the rock soft and easy 
to scrape out. And still others would have him gifted with a gal- 
vanic batterv with which to make himself a home. But all these 
