14 The Under-Water World 



lilies (Crinoids) that once formed veri- 

 table forests in all the seas now hide in 

 the depths of the ocean. A ten-foot 

 sea-lily, planted in mid-Channel to-day, 

 would be rased to a stump in a few 

 minutes by such modern upstarts as the 

 wrasse. The primitive animal survives 

 to-day in retirement, and is seldom seen 

 save by the deep-sea fishermen. The 

 large King Crab, or Horse-Shoe Crab, 

 is another dethroned monarch, and is 

 generally introduced to the public as a 

 " living fossil." Actually it is an animal 

 that has survived for the strange reason 

 that it has literally no competitors. 

 Secure beneath its roof of armour, the 

 King Crab, in his thousands, ploughs 

 the sands of the Atlantic coast of North 

 America and the Pacific coast of North- 

 east Asia. He is useless to man and too 

 big or too unpalatable to suit the tastes 

 of most fishes. He is interesting as a 

 survival from the time when arthropods 



