THE ANIMAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. 491 



The common blue-black brittle-star,^^ known to the Hawaiians as pea, is 

 sure to give the unsuspecting person a start as it scrambles out of some hole in 

 a dead block of coral lifted from the water and held in the hands for closer 

 inspection. Like the true starfisli, the brittle-stars are inclined to be gre- 

 garious. Often a dozen or two will be gathered under a single head of coral, 

 or a stone half buried in sand in a hole in the coral reef. As they go scurry- 

 ing off in all directions they look so weird and snake-like that one instinctively 

 shrinks from taking them up in the hand, though they are known to be per- 

 fectly harmless. 



They can be kept for a short time in an aquarium, where their habits can 

 be studied to advantage. Their food, however, is difficult to provide, since it 

 consists of marine organisms and decaying organic matter lying on the mixd 

 and sand on the sea bottom. It is scooped into the mouth by special tube-feet, 

 two pairs for each arm. The stomach is a simple sac that cannot be pushed out 

 of the mouth. A small pink species ^^ with remarkably long, slender arms, 

 with short bristle-like spines, is occasionally found in holes in coral rock, but 

 is exceedingly difficult to secure, owing to the arms being very easily broken. 



The term "brittle-star" is derived from the habit of these animals of 

 breaking off their arms on the slightest provocation. By so doing they can 

 readily escape from their enemies. The loss of two or three arms is of no 

 serious consequence, since new arms are speedily regenerated. The new 

 growth, however, may be easily recognized, as it seldom is as large as the 

 portion it replaces. This remarkable power of regenerating lost members is 

 a common one in the animal kingdom, worms, crabs, lizards and the like fur- 

 nishing interesting examples. 



Zoologists include the basket-stars,^'-* with branching arms, in the same 

 class with the brittle-stars, but they have never been taken by naturalists on 

 the Hawaiian reefs. 



Se.\.-Cucumbebs. 



Every Hawaiian child is familiar with the loli, and most of them can tell 

 at a glance the species that are used as food and those that are to be left lying 

 on the reef or unmolested in the holes in the coral rock where they commonly 

 seek attachment or shelter. They are known to Europeans by various names, 

 as sea-cucumbers, trepang or beche-de-mer, but whatever the name, whether 

 they are fresh from the sea or dead, or for sale in the markets, the.v are the 

 same repulsive, uninteresting-looking objects. 



They are all included by zoologists in one classic of sausage-shaped. 



• Cladiopfiiurce. -° Holoth-uroidea. 



(Description of Plate Continued from Opposite Page,) 



rea) from the dead coral. 9. A Coelenterate (sp. indet.) from Honolulu harbor. 10. Sea- 

 squirt (Tunicate). 11. Marine worm from a piling in Honolulu harbor. 1-. Portion of the 

 tube of a ship worm (Teredo) in a piece of timber. 13. Hue. 14. Sea-anenionie. 1.5. Sea- 

 squirt. 16. Seaanemonie. 



