60 ECHINODEEMATA. 



the animal, a clear gelatinous flesh, forming a sort 

 of semi-oval tunic around it, from the summit to 

 the middle ; but thence downward the rods indi- 

 vidually are merely encased in the flesh, without 

 mutual connexion. The interior of the body dis- 

 plays a large cavity, into which a sort of mouth 

 ever and anon admits a gulp of water. Delicate 

 cilia cover the whole integument, and are particu- 

 larly large and strong on the flesh of the projecting 

 rods. 



The appearance of this most singular animal 

 is very beautiful ; its colour pellucid- white, except 

 the summit of the apical knob, and the extremities 

 of the greater rods, which are of a lovely rose- 

 colour. It swims in an upright position, with a 

 calm and deliberate progression. The specimens 

 which I have seen were not more than one-fortieth 

 of an inch in length. 



From this form the Brittle-star is developed, but 

 in a manner unparalleled in any other class of 

 animals. The exterior figure is not gradually 

 changed, but the star is constructed within a 

 particular part of the body of the larva, " like a 

 picture upon its canvas, or a piece of embroidery 

 in its frame, and then takes up into itself the 

 digestive organs of the larva." The plane of the 

 future Star-fish is not even the plane of the larva, 

 but one quite independent of, and oblique to it. 

 Strange to tell, the young Star does not absorb 

 into itself the body of the larva, which has acted 

 as a nidus for it, but throws it off as so much use- 

 less lumber; — flesh, rods, and all!* 



Localities. — The majority of the Class affect 



* See Muller, in Trans. Berl. Acad., 1846—1852, and his 

 Archiv, for 1850 and 1851. 





