covering of cilia, except around the mouth, but 

 also their spicular skeletons; while their bodies 

 remained stinted in substance, and their forms 

 became urn-like, completely aborted in shape. 



Now, strange to say, these odd abortions were in 

 some respects nearer to a resemblance of the an- 

 cient echinoderm type than the normal larvae : the 

 mouth was near the end, or pole; likewise was the 

 fringe of cilia, which hair-like processes were the 

 only sensory organs retained. Nor would the urn- 

 shaped body require much further modification to 

 liken it to a pear. 



Here was a devastating discovery! A previously 

 conceived opinion which I had formed was rudely 

 shattered. I shall not deny that I had to some ex- 

 tent foreseen the result of rearing the larval ser- 

 pent-stars in water without lime-salts; that is to 

 say, I anticipated that no skeletal structure would 

 be formed. And I had held that fresh-water was 

 inimical to the development of the entire group 

 because of its insufficiency in these needed com- 

 pounds. If this could be shown in the present ex- 

 periment, what proof could be more convincing 

 that my theory was indeed a fact? It is true, they 

 lost their modern aspect, but they regained their 



[103] 



