A SEA-PUDDING. 237 



oiir vivarium, we encountered an old fisherman, our 

 companion in many a hard day's work. " Fine time 

 for you, sir, after last night's storm. Weel, and what 

 hae ye got ?" " A splendid Holothuria, John," was 

 our reply, at the same time displaying our captive 

 treasure. " Eh ? a what ? a what d'ye call it ? 

 why it J s naught but a sea-pudding \ ' 



Now we are quite aware that with a certain class 

 of naturalists it is laid down as an axiom, that all the 

 productions of the land have their representatives in 

 the ocean ; but, verily, a sea-pudding we could not 

 help thinking to be rather stretching the analogy so 

 pointed out as a law of creation. However, leaving 

 John to chuckle over his superior knowledge, we pro- 

 ceeded forthwith to introduce our Holothuria, for so 

 we must persist in calling it, to its new domicile, 

 wherein we might observe it at leisure. 



The hard name Holothuria, which puzzled our 

 fisherman, is derived from a Greek word of uncer- 

 tain application (oXoOovpwv), and is employed to 

 designate a group of animals very nearly related in 

 their internal structure to the Sea-urchins, although 

 widely differing from them in outward appearance. 

 In common language they are generally known by 

 the appellation of " Sea-cucumbers" or " Sea-gher- 

 kins/' and in fact, to a casual observer, the resem- 

 blance which some of them bear to those productions 

 of the vegetable kingdom is sufficiently striking. 



The exterior integument of the Holothuria is 

 tough and muscular, and constitutes a capacious bag, 

 wherein are contained the respiratory and intestinal 

 organs, and the ovarium. The head is also contracted 



