Page:The Book of the Aquarium and Water Cabinet.djvu/89

Rh specimens. Violet and amber shades frequently predominate in the tentacles. Sometimes the disk is of a pearly white, at others of a warm fawn or bright orange and scarlet, sometimes a deep crimson or a dull chocolate; while the tentacles vary from pure white to dark brown, dingy fawn, and brick-dust red. The latter organs are very numerous and tubular. When irritated, the creature has the power of attaching the tentacles to the object which annoys it, and in this way it frequently clings to the fingers when handled, and at the same time squirts out numerous jets of water, until it is quite empty and collapsed.

Actinia Parasitica.—This is a good aquarium species, on account of the ease with which it may be kept. It is a species that the rambler on the sea-beach will not be at all likely to meet with, for it is truly pelagic in its habit. It is only to be obtained in a state fit for the aquarium by means of the dredge, and when so obtained it lives a long while in confinement.

The most interesting feature in the history of this zoophyte is that of its usually inhabiting the shell of some defunct univalve mollusk, such as the Trochus, or the great whelk, Buccinum undatum. This is not the most curious part of its history. The anemone loves company, and in the same shell as that on which it extends itself, we usually find a pretty but pugnacious crab, Pagurus bernhardus. To the anemone the crab acts as porter; he drags the shell about with him as if it were a palanquin, on which sits enthroned a very bloated but gaily-dressed potentate, destitute of power to move it for