AN ANCIENT FAMILY. 113 
cucumber is rudimentary calcareous matter ar- 
ranged on the same plan as in the skeleton of 
its more attractive relatives. 
“Tn color it is green, brown, or red, and 
its delicate tentacles are arranged over its sur- 
face, corresponding to the tiny points mark- 
ing the vegetable which it so strongly resem- 
bles as to have received its name. In deep-sea 
dredgmgs specimens are often brought up 
about the size of a marketable cucumber. 
“ Although these strange creatures eat and. 
drink they appear to attach very little impor- 
tance to their stomachs, sometimes actually 
vomiting up their whole internal structure, 
and yet live on undisturbed ; in a few months 
the organs are reproduced. 
“The sea cucumbers are found in many 
seas, but gain their greatest distinction on the 
coasts of China and Africa, where they are 
highly appreciated as articles of diet. In 
China they are prepared for market under the 
name of ‘ trepang.’ 
“Although upon first acquaintance these 
flowerlike animals do not appear to resemble 
each other, nevertheless we find they preserve 
the family characteristics of their distinguished 
progenitors, the stone lilies, so abundant in 
past ages that whole beds of marble have been 
