80 HOMES UNDER THE SEA. 



only a few very small thin plates round the mouth. To 

 these plates are attached the muscles which enable the 

 creature to lengthen or shorten its body. The ambulacra, 

 however, are retained, and by their presence show that 

 the creature belongs to the same group as the Starfish 

 and Urchin. 



Round the mouth is placed a set of feathery tentacles, 

 which are used in procuring food. 



A few years ago, I think in 1878 or 1879, some fisher- 

 men who were trawling in the Bay of Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia, found in their net a creature which they did not 

 know. At first they dubbed it a Devil Fish, but at last 

 decided that it was a mermaid. They dared not touch 

 it, but towed it into Halifax, where it was publicly 

 exhibited as a living mermaid. A lady actually told me 

 that she had seen it, and that it had a face, arms, and 

 hands like those of a human being. 



I wrote to a friend at Halifax, and then learned, to 

 my great amusement, that the " mermaid " was nothing 

 but a large Holothure which had been brought by the 

 Gulf Stream. 



These Holothures possess a .very singular habit. 



When they are alarmed, or otherwise discomposed, 

 they will throw off their crown of tentacles, and empty 

 their bodies of all the internal organs, including the 

 stomach. They will then lie in a perfectly quiescent 

 state for several months, at the expiration of which time 

 they will have grown a new crown of tentacles and a 

 fresh set of internal organs. Sometimes the creature 



