Death of a Nondescript Celebrity

Southland Times, Issue 9711, 28 December 1887, Page 4

Death of a Nondescript Celebrity

A famous object of curiosity to the sig«tseers who visit the Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh has (says a London contemporary; iust passed away in the person— if the term is admisaible-of the old sea anemone, popularly known by the affectionate nickname of • Granny,' This venerable specimen of the curious class of zoophytes which belong to the very borderland that separates the animal from the vegetable world was certainly sixty years old, and it may be that it was considerably older- It was found in IS2B by Sir John Daizell,the wellknown antiquary, among the rocks not very far from the promontory known as St. Abba'e HeaJ, upon the coast of (Berwick ; and was described in one of thone two sumptuous quartos devoted by him to ' Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland,' which were published by Mr Van Voorst, of Paternoster Row, some forty years Biuce. It waa we believe on the death of Sir John, in 1854, that this remarkable specimen of the Actinozo* passed into the possession of Profes«or FkmmiDg, aod hence found v permanent home in the beautiful gardens in which it bas just emkd its honoured career. • Granny,' so called on account of its numerous offsprinp, said to be over 6.0 in number, can hardly be reproached with gluttony, since its food was dimply half a mu«?el dropped regularly once a fortnight into the membrinouß Eeiophagal tube which does duty for a month. Whether it possessed anything which could be said to approach to the nature of breathing apparatus is, we believe, a point on which the learned ure not quite decided ; but it is certain that ,,' Granny 1 appeared to thrive on her fortnightly half mussel, with its accompanying draught of fresh water. ' Granny's' album, in which visitors have long been accustomed to enter their names, is etited to be enriched with more than a thousand autographs of distinguished travellers and scientific pereona. It appeared to be in excellent healtb up to a few weeka ago, when it was attacked with the parasitic disease which finally proved fata l . It is satigfactoiy to know that ' Granny's' portrait is preserved in the costly work already referred to, and also in MrGosse's ' History'of the British Sea Anemones,' where it is carefully drawn and coloured after nature.