"Sometimes the Anemone uses the tentacles around the disk to help feed
itself, and it also uses the mouth, lips and disk for the same
purpose. When the Anemone is at rest it expands its disk and draws in
the sea water, and when it is disturbed it contracts, and throws out
the water from its mouth. The Anemones are very sensitive to touch,
and will shrink up like a sensitive plant. They are of all sizes too;
that little blue one over there is only about one-eighth of an inch,
and that big purple fellow stands over a foot from its base.

[Illustration: A COLONY OF SEA ANEMONES]

"You see that the body of the Anemone is shaped like a column, the
flat head, or disk, being at the top, with rows of tentacles, like
petals, fringing the edge. The bottom of the Anemone is also flat, and
with this flat base it holds fast to the rocks to which it attaches
itself. The Sea-Anemones are able to move about from rock to rock, and
in that they differ from their first cousins, the Coral Polyps, for
they are always stationary.

"The Anemone has several curious ways of reproducing itself. Sometimes
one animal will divide itself and become two individuals, and
sometimes pieces from the bottom of the Anemone will become separate
Anemones. Another strange way is by throwing out the young through the
mouth, and it doesn't seem to make much difference whether they come
out in the shape of eggs, or whether they are fully formed, as is
frequently the case.

"Still another process of reproduction is by budding. A small lump
appears on the parent Anemone; this keeps on growing and growing until