SEA-CUCUMBERS. 123 



that all the manifold productions of the land have their counter 

 parts in those of the mighty deep. In proof, here, we have the 

 tiea-cucumler, which, though, grown upon no hot-bed, and un- 

 recognized in Covent Garden, is yet, if Chinese epicures and 

 needy Neapolitans may be permitted to decide, not unfit to eat 

 The name is not inaptly chosen, for the larger species of these 

 animals the great Sea-cucumber (Cucumaria f random) of our 

 northern coast, for example closely resemble cucumbers in form ; 

 and yet, furnished at one extremity with a gaping mouth, sur- 

 rounded by plumed tentacula which however can be swallowed 

 out of sight at pleasure and dull and disagreeable in colour, 

 they cuuld hardly be mistaken for those cool delicacies, and it 

 would certainly tax the skill of the most accomplished chef do 

 cuisine to make them acceptable to a British palate. 



No one unversed in the classification of animals would suspect 

 for a moment that these elongated flabby creatures belonged to 

 the class of prickly skins ; and yet it is, unquestionably, with 

 that division of the animal world that they are properly to be 

 ranked. The affinity of these animals to the Echinodermata is 

 to be found, however, not so much in the character of the skin, 

 which is only sparingly furnished with calcareous matter, and 

 never in the form of spines, as in that of the organs of locomotion, 

 which are delicate worm-like suckers, similar to those of the 

 Star-fish and Sea-urchins. In the more typical species of the 

 Sea-cucumbers, moreover, these locomotive suckers are so dis- 

 posed as to divide the body into five longitudinal segments, thus 

 affording another indication of the true affinities of these singular 

 creatures. 



The Sea-cucumbers, or the Ifolothuricc, as they are termed by 

 the zoologist, are not uncommon around our coasts, and speci- 

 mens of the smaller species may readily be found at the time of 

 extreme low water, attached by their suckers to the under 

 surface of projecting rocks, and blocks of stone. The species 

 most commonly met with in such situations is the Angular Sea- 

 cucumbers (Cucumaria pentactes), which delights in dark crevices 

 and other obscure retreats close to the low-water mark, where 

 it sometimes occurs in considerable numbers. It is extremely 

 variable in colour, ranging from nearly a pure white to dark pur- 

 ple, or black, the same animal assuming a variety of shades in 

 the course of a few months. Of all the Sea-cucumbers this is by 



