THE SECRETS OF THE SEA 323 



are two quite distinct groups of them existing in 

 our seas; the Comatulids or feather stars, in which 

 there is a lily-like head that is attached by a stem 

 to the bottom while the animal is young, the head 

 being severed in later life and swimming free. 

 The dorsal part of the body carries a number of 

 jointed, flexible processes by means of which the 

 animal can attach itself to any firm object. In 

 the other group, the true crinoids, the body re- 

 mains fastened by the long, flexible stem through- 

 out life. The former may be likened to a vessel 

 moored to a buoy and the latter to one that is 

 anchored. 



No description can give an idea of the grace and 

 attractiveness of these animals, which retain much 

 of their beauty even when they have been torn 

 loose from the bottom and brought to the surface. 

 In life their long, elegantly jointed arms wave 

 freely in the water as the currents move over them, 

 and their resemblance to a bed of long-stemmed 

 lilies is no doubt striking. In the dredge were 

 many beautiful, strange, even grotesque crabs in 

 great variety, green, brown, red, bluish white, and 

 gray; there were equally interesting and curious 

 sea urchins with spines of strange and fantastic 



