124 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



hair upon his body less necessary, and it became irk- 

 some to him and in time came to be looked upon as 

 not ornamental ; the bold and handsome contour of 

 the limbs showed with a greater attraction to the 

 gentle sex when less covered by hair ; hence, by a 

 process of " natural selection," he has lost it. The 

 tail disappeared from the same cause doubtless, as 

 a useless, unornamental, and unnecessary appendage. 

 Verily, N. F. L., we must not be arrogant. The 

 loving student stands at the portals of a palace whose 

 beauties and marvels awe him into humbleness. 

 Rather may he say, "how great am I and yet how 

 small ! " how much am I indebted to these my kins- 

 men in the great kosmos for that I possess, yet how 

 little do I comprehend the complex laws and diverse 

 capacities which enable them to maintain their ex- 

 istence, equally with me, against the adverse elements 

 which war continually against us ; and while reverently 

 enjoying the feast of intellectuality which my higher 

 mental development enables me to enjoy, let me 

 give to each its due, and not pharisaically cast aside 

 as of less import than myself the grand evolutions 

 brought about by the travail of the ages. T. 



A CURIOUS CREATURE. 

 B ALA NO GLOSS US SARNIENSIS. 



THE following notes on this, the largest known 

 representative of its curious genus, may be of 

 interest to the readers of Science-Gossip. 



This species is at the very least a score of times 

 larger than any of its brethren, and possesses the 

 additional interest of being an inhabitant of the 

 English Channel. 



It was first recorded by my friend Dr. Rene Kcehler 

 of the " Faculte des Sciences" of Nancy, from por- 

 tions found by him on the shores of the Island of 

 Herm, in the autumn of 1885 ; and his notes on it 

 as well as a figure, are published in the " Annales des 

 Sciences Naturelles " of that year. But the figure, I 

 am sony to say is not perfect, he not having had 

 the good fortune to find the posterior portion of the 

 animal, and having spirited his specimens before 

 sketching them some of the structural detail is lost. 



Since his discovery, I have frequently, in the same 

 locality, unearthed portions of this animal from four 

 to eight inches long, and, on one occasion only, an 

 entire specimen. It is from this last that my figure 

 and the following description are taken. This was a 

 large specimen, but judging from some fragments that 

 I have come across not exceptionally so. 



Its length when fully extended was thirty-five inches, 

 and its diameter, that shown in the figure, i.e., about 

 three-eighths of an inch. 



Its colouring was as follows. The anterior portion 

 or "branchio-genital region," extending for about 

 eight inches, of a beautiful orange yellow ; then on 

 the "hepatic region," a space of about four or five 



inches, this gave place rather abruptly to a rich 

 chestnut brown ; this now passing through shades 

 of olive to a deep green for the whole length of the 

 digestive canal ("Tube digestif," Kceh.), beyond this 

 a creamy, and finally almost transparent white. 



The texture of the animal is rather difficult to 

 define in terms usually applied to tissues, that of the 

 "branchio-genital" part being of a consistency not 

 unlike soaked bread, and might be called *• pulpy 

 friable." The hepatic region rather more gelatinous. 



The next part, the green "tube digestif," is little 

 more than a roll of the sand which the animal has 



1 1 



WiiP'^m 



m 



a 



zJm 



ffl 



i 



*s 





^ 



\ 



f~~) 



Fig. 49.— Middle and posterior parts of Balanoglossus sar- 

 niensis, Kceh. (not continuous). Drawn from living specimens 

 by J. Sinel. 



swallowed invested with a skin and membrane so thin 

 and delicate that a portion, say four inches long, 

 has not sufficient cohesion to maintain its weight if 

 lifted by one end. 



The last six or seven inches are free from sand and 

 gelatinous. 



The animal exudes a thick mucus which invests it 

 in a kind of web, especially around the anterior part, 

 and from which it may be drawn as from an incipient 

 tube. So rapidly is this mucus exuded, that during 

 the brief time that my specimen posed as model in a 

 dinner plate of sea-water I had to clear it at least a 

 dozen times. The animal emits a peculiar and by 



