300 THE OCEAN WOELD. 



marvels were revealed ! In this body, the walls of which scarcely 

 reach the sixteenth part of an inch in thickness, I could distinguish 

 seven distinct layers of tissue, with a skin, muscles, and membranes. 

 Upon the petaloid tentacles I could trace terminal suckers, which 

 enabled the Synapta to crawl up the side of a most highly polished 

 vase. In short, this creature, denuded to all appearance of every 

 means of attack or defence, showed itself to be protected by a species 

 of mosaic, formed of small calcareous shield-like defences, bristling 

 with double hooks, the points of which, dentated like the arrows of 

 the Caribbeans, had taken hold of my hands." 



If one of these Synapta is preserved alive in sea-water for a short 

 time, and subjected to a forced fast, a very strange phenomenon will 

 be observed. The animal, being unable to feed itself, successively 

 detaches various parts of its own body, which it amputates spon- 

 taneously. A great compression or ring is first formed, and then 

 the separation of the condemned part takes place quite suddenly. 

 " It would appear," says M. Quatrefages, " that the animal, feeling 

 that it had not sufficient food to support its whole body, was able 

 successively to abridge its dimensions, by suppressing the parts which 

 it would be most difficult to support, just as we should dismiss the 

 most useless mouths from a besieged city." 



This singular mode of meeting a famine is employed by the Synapta 

 up to the last moment. After a few days, in fact, all that remains of 

 the animal is a round ball, surmounted by its tentacles. In order to 

 preserve life in the head, the animal has sacrificed all the other parts 

 of its body. 



In order to find natural novelties to find unforeseen subjects of 

 study and reflection, it is not necessary to run over the world or travel 

 great distances. It is only necessary to visit the banks of the nearest 

 river, or descend to the sea shore, and leave the sea to reveal a frag- 

 ment of the marvels which it conceals in its bosom. 



