246 



GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



Studies in Natural History. They say: " In moving, the ani- 

 mal lifts itself on the extreme end of these branches, standing, 



as it were, on tiptoe, so that the 

 ramifications of the arms form a 

 kind of trelliswork all around it, 

 reaching to the ground, while the 

 disk forms a roof. In this living 

 house with latticed walls small 

 fishes and other animals are occa- 

 sionally seen to take shelter ; but 

 woe to the little shrimp or fish 

 who seeks a refuge there, if he be 

 of such a size as to offer his host 

 a tempting mouthful ; he will fare 

 as did the fly who accepted the 

 invitation of the spider." 



THE SEA-LILY 



At the present day we find here 

 and there in the comparatively 

 warm, deep waters of the ocean, 

 animals like that shown in Fig. 

 123 (Pentacri'nus bla'kei). In 

 past geological eras the class -to 

 which the sea-lily belongs was far 

 more widely distributed than it 

 is now. Members of the genus 

 Pentacrinus may be obtained by 

 dredging in the deep waters about 

 Porto Rico, and in the South 

 Pacific and the Indian oceans. 

 The sea-lily is a relative of the starfish and the basket-fish. 

 The central disk and the radial arrangement of the arms make 



FIG. 123. Sea-Lily. Reduced 

 (From Report of H. M. S. Challenger) 



