236 SUICIDE OF HOLOTHURI^. 



same, by an oblique cut, as it were, upward and out- 

 ward, close to tlie body ; and perfectly clean, without 

 laceration, and without any perceptible flow of liquid. 



I carefully slit up with scissors one of the separated 

 rays, and found within it the bulbs of the numerous 

 suckers, of course, and the two cceca of the intestine, 

 beautifully arborescent, and of a yellowish olive colour ; 

 so that, in the voluntary throwing off of a limb, these 

 digestive organs are not absorbed or contracted into 

 the body, but cast off also. 



The Starfish continued to walk about, like a Chelsea 

 pensioner, on his one leg, till the afternoon of this 

 second day, when the remaining limb dropped off by 

 its own weight, on my lifting the animal from one 

 vessel to another. I took great care of the body, 

 hoping that it might reproduce the lost limbs while 

 in my possession. But I was disappointed. It never 

 moved after this last amputation, and putrefaction 

 soon made it too manifest that death had ensued. 



The HolotliuricE^ or Sea-Cucumbers — those members 

 of the Class EcJmiodermata, which, to the locomotive 

 suckers and other essential organs of the Starfishes 

 and Sea-Urchins, conjoin some peculiarities, such as 

 the elongate form, and a circle of oral tentacula, which 

 are considered to approximate them to the Worms 

 [Aniielida], or, perhaps more truly, to the Actiniae, — 

 usually commit suicide in a different manner. Accord- 

 ing to the concurrent testimony of observers, they 

 frequently disgorge from the mouth, the stomach, 

 intestines, and ovary, " leaving the body an empty 

 sac ;" and occasionally throwing off even the tentacles, 

 the mouth, and the dental cylinder. But some species 



