and dead is being made, or has been made by polyps.

"You see that bed of pink flowers over there, and those green rushes,
and those fern-like plants? Well, they are all living polyps, or
colonies of polyps, some kinds of which leave coral when they die,
like the coral polyps proper.

"As for the Anemones; those innocent looking flowers really possess
powerful weapons in the shape of tiny lassos, which are concealed in
lasso-cells. These lasso-cells, which are very small, are carefully
hidden in the walls of those petal-like tentacles, or feelers of the
Anemone. Still other lasso-cells are hidden in the mouth of the
Anemone, and inside its stomach. In the cells the long, slender,
thread-like lassos lie coiled up ready for use. The lassos escape from
the cells by turning themselves inside out with lightning-like
swiftness, and woe to the crab, or small water animal that comes in
contact with this lovely flower! It is immediately pierced by the
lassos, and poisoned by the deadly fluid hidden in the cells. Even big
fish have been known to die in great agony when touched by the
Sea-Anemone.

"The Anemone frequently swallows a whole crab (if it is a good size
itself) and is particularly fond of gulping down its food in this
manner, keeping it for awhile in its stomach to squeeze out the juice;
after which what is left is thrown out through its mouth.

"All Anemones have mouths and stomachs, and some have rows of eyes
like a necklace around the body. The mouth is a small opening in the
centre of the disk, or head of the Anemone, and this leads into the
stomach below.