_A. dianthus_ (Plumose anemone), is one of the most delicately beautiful of all the Actiniæ; it can, moreover, be very readily identified in its native haunts. Its colour is milky-white,--body, base, and tentacula, all present the same chaste hue. Specimens, however, are sometimes found lemon-coloured, and occasionally of a deep orange tint. Various are the forms which this zoophyte assumes, yet each one is graceful and elegant. The most remarkable as well as the most common shape, according to my experience, is that of a lady's corset, such as may often be seen displayed in fashionable milliners' windows. Even to the slender waist, the interior filled with a mass of lace-work, the rib-like streaks, and the general contour, suggestive of the Hogarthian line of beauty, the likeness is sustained. When entirely closed, this anemone, unlike many others, is extremely flat, being scarcely more than a quarter of an inch in thickness; indeed, so extraordinary is the peculiarity to which I allude, that a novice would have great difficulty in believing that the object before him was possessed of expansive powers at all, whereas, in point of fact, it is even more highly gifted in this respect than any other species of Actiniæ. CHAPTER IV. Edible Crab, Shore-Crab, Spider-Crab, &c. 'With a smart rattle, something fell from the bed to the floor; and disentangling itself from the death drapery, displayed a large pound _Crab_.... Creel Katie made a dexterous snatch at a hind claw, and, before the Crab was at all aware, deposited him in her patch-work apron, with a "_Hech, sirs, what for are ye gaun to let gang siccan a braw partane?_"'--T. HOOD [Illustration: 1 EDIBLE CRAB 2 EDIBLE CRAB, casting its shell, from Nature 3 SPIDER CRAB 4 COMMON SHORE-CRAB 5 MINUTE PORCELAIN-CRAB] IV. The foregoing motto, extracted from a humorous tale by 'dear Tom Hood,' which appeared in one of his comic annuals,--or volumes of 'Laughter from _year_ to _year_,' as he delighted to call them,--may not inaptly introduce the subject of this chapter. The term _partane_ is generally applied in Scotland to all the true crabs (_Brachyura_). An esteemed friend, however, informs me that in some parts it is more particularly used to denote the Edible Crab _(Cancer pagurus_), which is sold so extensively in the fishmongers' shops. However that may be, there is no doubt it was a specimen of this genus that Creel Katie so boldly captured.