1366 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



the skeleton; and though it is a very pretty ob- 

 ject, those who are acquainted with it alone can 

 form but a very poor idea of the beauty of 

 the living animal. . . . Let it, after being torn 

 from the rock, recover its equanimity; then you 

 will see a pellucid gelatinous flesh emerging from 

 between the plates, and little exquisitely formed 

 and colored tentacula, with white clubbed tips 

 fringing the sides of the cup-shaped cavity in the 

 centre, across which stretches the oval disk marked 

 with a star of some rich and brilliant color, sur- 

 rounding the central mouth, a slit with white cre- 

 nated lips, like the orifice of one of those elegant 

 cowry shells which we put upon out mantel-pieces. 

 The mouth is always more or less prominent, and can 

 be protruded and expanded to an astonishing extent. 

 The space surrounding the lips is commonly fawn 

 color, or rich chestnut-brown, the star or vandyked 

 circle rich red, pale vermilion, and sometimes the 

 most brilliant emerald green, as brilliant as the 

 gorget of a humming bird."* 



And what does this exquisitely delicate creature 

 do with its pretty mouth? Alas for fact! It sips no 

 honey-dew, or fruits from paradise. "I put a minute 

 spider, as large as a pin's head, into the water, push- 

 ing it down to the coral. The instant it touched the 

 tip of a tentacle it adhered, and was drawn in with 

 the surrounding tentacles between the plates. With 

 a lens I saw the small mouth slowly open and move 

 over to that side, the lips gaping unsymmetrically; 



* Gosse, "A Naturalist's Rambles on the Devonshire 

 Coast." 



