328 THE GREAT SEA-CUCUMBER. CHAP. xvi. 



alive, one only in the British seas, and that but 

 rarely met with. Well, I am proud to be able to 

 record its occurrence on the Banffshire coast. The 

 specimen I allude to, was taken from the stomach of 

 a cod." 



. But still more wonderful is that rare species, the 

 Great Sea-Cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa), the king 

 of the Holothuriadse family, found on the Banff- 

 shire coast. Edward's specimen was brought up on 

 the fishermen's lines. " When at rest," he says, " it 

 is fully sixteen inches long. It is of a very deep 

 purple on all except the under side, which is greyish. 

 It is a most wonderful, and at the same time a most 

 interesting animal. What strange forms and curious 

 shapes it assumes at will ! Now it seems like a pear, 

 and again like a large purse or long pudding. Some- 

 times it has the appearance of two monster potatoes 

 joined endways, from which it diverges into a single 

 bulb, with no suckers visible ; and again it looks as 

 long as my arm, rough and warty-looking. Its ten- 

 tacula too, how curious they are ! Simple to appear- 

 ance, yet how complete and how beautiful withal. 

 What strange forms and what beauteous creatures 

 and inconceivable things there are in the ocean's 

 depths ! What a pity it is that we cannot traverse 

 its hidden fields and explore its untrodden caverns ! " 

 Edward found numerous Zoophytes along the 

 coast, which excited his admiration almost as much 

 as the Star-fish. Of one species, called " dead-men's 



