98 URASTERI/E. 



grasp it with considerable force. The particular use of 

 these prehensile organs is not apparent ; their stem, it may 

 be remarked, is quite impervious." I have examined them 

 very carefully in the same species. Those on the body 

 and upper spines differ in shape from those on the spines 

 immediately bordering the avenues. The former are much 

 shorter and blunter in the blades than the latter. The 

 calcareous forceps, of which their heads consist, are im- 

 bedded in an integument of a soft granular tissue, which 

 envelopes the forceps when closed ; and this apparatus is 

 mounted on a bulging body of a similar substance, which 

 crowns the round flexible and contractile peduncle, some- 

 times simple, sometimes branched, each branch having a 

 similar termination. I could detect no evidence of vibra- 

 tile cilia on their stalks ; but there appeared to be ciliary 

 motions within the blades. When the Starfish is alive, 

 the Pedicellarite are continually in motion, opening and 

 shutting their blades with great activity ; but when cut 

 off they seem to lose that power. If they be not distinct 

 animals, as Muller fancied, for what purpose can they serve 

 in the economy of the Starfish ? If they be parasites, to 

 what class or order do they belong ? — what is their nature, 

 what their food? Truly these are puzzling questions. 

 These organs or creatures have now been known for many 

 years — have been examined and admired by many natural- 

 ists and anatomists — have been carefully studied and accu- 

 rately delineated, and yet we know not what they are. 

 This is but one of the many mysteries of natural history — 

 one of those unaccountable things which we know and 

 know not — of those many facts in nature which teach us 

 how little is man's knowledge, and how wondrous and un- 

 searchable is God's wisdom. It is folly and vanity to 

 attempt to account for all facts in nature, or to pretend to 



