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1
164
Glaucus; Or, The Wonders of the Shore
·
Charles Kingsley
158
PLATE
V.
CORALS
AND
SEA
ANEMONES.
CARYOPHYLLÆA
SMITHII.
Pl.
V.
fig.
2.
Pl.
VI.
fig.
3.
THE
connection
between
Brainstones,
Mushroom
Corals,
and
other
Madrepores
abounding
on
Polynesian
reefs,
and
the
“Sea
Anemones,”
which
have
lately
become
so
familiar
to
us
all,
can
be
seen
by
comparing
our
comparatively
insignificant
C.
Smithii
with
our
commonest
species
of
Actinia
and
Sagartia.
The
former
is
a
beautiful
object
when
the
fleshy
part
and
tentacles
are
wholly
or
partially
expanded.
Like
Actinia,
it
has
a
membranous
covering,
a
simple
sac-like
stomach,
a
central
mouth,
a
disk
surrounded
by
contractile
and
adhesive
tentacles.
Unlike
Actinia,
it
is
fixed
to
submarine
bodies,
to
which
it
is
glued
in
very
early
life,
and
cannot
change
its
place.
Unlike
Actinia,
its
body
is
supported
by
a
stony
skeleton
of
calcareous
plates
arranged
edgewise
so
as
to
radiate
from
the
centre.
But
as
we
find
some
Molluscs
furnished
with
a
shell,
and
others
even
of
the
same
character
and
habits
without
one,
so
we
find
that
in
spite
of
this
seemingly
important
difference,
the
animals
are
very
similar
in
their
nature.
Since
the
introduction
of
glass
tanks
we
have
opportunities
of
seeing
anemones
crawling
up
the
sides,
so
as
to
exhibit
their
entire
basal
disk,
and
then
we
may
observe
lightly
coloured
lines
of
a
less
transparent
substance
than
the
interstices,
radiating
from
the
margin
to
the
centre,
some
short,
others
reaching
the
entire
distance,
and
arranged
in
exactly
the
same
manner
as
the
plates
of
Caryophyllæa.
These
are
doubtless
flexible
walls
of
compartments
dividing
the
fleshy
parts
of
the
softer
animals,
and
corresponding
with
the
septa
of
the
coral.
Fig.
2
a
represents
a
section
of
the
latter,
to
be
compared
with
the
basal
disk
of
Sagartia.
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