122 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



portant part of the body out of the treacher- 

 ous, smothering ooze. This is very well illus- 

 trated by the sea-lilies or Crinoids, distant 

 relatives of star-fishes, which occur in great 

 beds like daffodils by the lake-side. Another 

 very good example is to be found in the 

 Umbellulas, near relatives of the sea-pens, 

 where the stalk is sometimes a yard long, and 

 bears at the top a pendent cluster of polyps, 

 often of a beautiful blue colour. 



As intelligible as the long stalks of many 

 sedentary animals are the long legs of many 

 of the wanderers. Some of the deep-sea 

 prawns are the lankiest animals in existence. 

 Some of the sea-spiders move about on long 

 legs like stilts. This is well suited for prowl- 

 ing about on the surface of the abyssal ooze. 



Then there is the exquisite tactility of many. 

 In a world of darkness, where sight counts for 

 little, touch becomes the important sense. Some 

 of the deep-sea prawns have feelers several 

 times longer than their body. One crustacean 

 has antennae fully a yard long. The deep- 

 water fish called Lamprotoxus, captured off 

 the west coast of Ireland, has a barbule several 

 times its own length, and yet this long probing 

 feeler is just an exaggeration of the little 



