52 ECHINODERMATA. 



quite as long as the body, and the same evokitions exhibited by them 

 as in the adult. In minute specimens the cyhnder is perfectly white. 

 Indeed, so far as I can judge, white is the colour of the nascent Holo- 

 thuria, and some never darken. Certainly intensity of colour is not a 

 definite characteristic of an infinity of marine animals, whence naturalists 

 must beware of denying identity from the discrepancy of specimens in 

 this respect. But it is undoubted that the arborescent organization mul- 

 tiplies with the size and age of the specimens, or in proportion to the 

 period of its own subsistence. Hence their true luxuriance, beauty, 

 and symmetry have never been hitherto disclosed by the hand of art. 



The loss and regeneration of such an assemblage of important parts, 

 those whereon the sustenance and safety of the animal apparently de- 

 pend, aftbrds an ample field for the profoundest meditation. That beings 

 so humble are yet so privileged ; that those inferior works of creation, 

 as they are designed by the ignorant arrogance of mankind, should be 

 enabled to bear privations with impunity which would be inevitable 

 death to the strongest tenants of the earth, might argue their superi- 

 ority among the special favourites of Nature. 



The history of this indi\ddual, so prolific of interesting incidents, 

 received various corroboi-ations of the genuine nature of the Holothuria, 

 from other examples witnessed in different specimens, which shall be 

 postponed for the present, that the narrative may not be interrupted. 

 Such corroborations vnll be the more valued, considering the rarity of 

 these products, and the extreme difficulty of obtaiaing them entire. 



Looking back to May 15th, just about six months after the capture 

 of the specimen, for we had advanced above a j^ear beyond that incident, 

 it had altered its form together with its position in the vessel. The ob- 

 tuse anterior, now close, adhered to the side, while the sharper posterior 

 extremity, somewhat lower, projected towards the center of the vessel. 

 From the shortness of the curvature beloAV, together with the unequal 

 height of the two extremities, the whole bore some general resemblance 

 to a bird's fountam. 



During the night a greenish albuminous mass, consisting of at least 

 5000 eggs, had been discharged by the Holothuria, and now lay under the 



