<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> <a name="fig94" id="fig94"></a> <img src="images/i_167.jpg" width="500" height="567" alt="" /> FIG. 94.--THE TRUMPET ANEMONE (_Aiptasia Couchii_), CORNWALL; DEEP WATER </div> The ‘Dahlia’ is not so frequently seen by sea-side collectors as its abundance would lead one to expect, and this is principally due to the fact that it not only conceals itself in narrow and out-of-the-way crevices and angles of rocks, but also that, on the retreat of the tide, it generally covers itself with small stones, fragments of shells, &c., held fast to its body by means of its numerous suckers. In this manner it conceals its beauty so well that the sense of touch, as well as that of sight, is necessary in determining its whereabouts. As a rule, however, it does not resort to this method of concealment when it inhabits deep water, or even a permanent rock pool between the tide-marks, and thus it is in the latter home where one may expect to see this sea flower in all its glory, for when permanently covered with water it will seldom hide its crown, except when alarmed, or when in the act of swallowing its food. [Illustration: FIG. 95.--_Peachia hastata_, S. DEVON] It should be noted, too, that the rock pool is the right place in which to study the habits of this anemone, for it is not nearly so easy to rear in the artificial aquarium as the species previously described, and, moreover, it requires a great deal of food. We have found it live longest in running water, kept cool, and frequently renewed by supplies fresh from the sea. It may be fed on almost any, if not every, form of animal life inhabiting a rock pool. A small fish or a prawn is perfectly helpless when once it is seized by the creature’s tentacles. Mussels, winkles, limpets, &c., are eagerly swallowed, and the indigestible shells disgorged after the animal substance has been dissolved by the digestive fluid. Even the active shore crab, armed as it is with a coat of mail and powerful pincers, is no match for its powerfully adhesive tentacles; nor do the sharp spines of the prickly urchin preserve it from so voracious a creature. The rocky coasts of Devon and Cornwall are the chief haunts of the pretty ‘Daisy Anemone’ (_Sagartia bellis_), and here it is very abundant in places. This species lives in holes and crevices of the rocks, its body usually entirely hidden from view, but its dark brown disc, intersected by bright red radiating lines, and fringed with numerous small tentacles, fully exposed to view as long as it is submerged. The length of its body is always adapted to the depth of the hole or crevice in which the animal lives, and may vary from half an inch to two or three inches, the diameter of the columns being greatest where the length is least. [Illustration: FIG. 96.--_Sagartia pallida_, DEVON AND CORNWALL]