78 ECHINODERMATA. 



obvious condition. Separation frequently ensues in the night, Avithout 

 previous indication. In one specimen it was observed advancing during 

 four days, and then accompUshed. 



The animal seems Uterally rent asunder by separation of the parts ; 

 and the intestinal organs, occupying a large portion of the cavity of the 

 body, are undoubtedly also rent asunder. The wounded portion closes 

 speedily over them. If this be not the case, a wonderful internal repro- 

 duction ensues, as the external reproduction of the arborescent apparatus 

 is perfected. 



^'iliatever be the colour of the original animal, though of the dark- 

 est hue, the renovated tentacula are of the purest white. Thence it may 

 be conjectured that fig. 3 was only a fragment. 



Though specimens have survived seven, nine, or even above twelve 

 months, in my possession, nothing has indicated any other mode of mul- 

 tiplication. It is very embarrassing when first observed, and until the 

 naturalist sees how it is accomphshed. I am not aware of its extent or 

 its limits. It is often sudden — often unexpected. Five specimens hav- 

 ing been committed to a vessel, on the eleventh of August, their number 

 had doubled on the nineteenth, and it had augmented to fourteen on the 

 twenty-seventh. But it must be remembered that, at first, the accessions 

 are only in number, not in perfection ; for the generation or evolution of 

 the defective organs, depends on the lapse of time. 



The food of the animal is yet undiscovered. Specimens generally 

 remain affixed to the side of their vessels, without shifting their place, 

 where they at length pine away. 



The species is not rare. Many individuals have afforded the sub- 

 stance of the preceding observations. 



Plate XIV. — Hohthuria Bodotrice — Forth Holothuria. — Holothuria 

 (Earns, Professor Edward Forbes. 



Fig. 1. Specimen quiescent. 



2. White specimen, active. 



3. Brown specimen. 



