THIRD WEEK] August 223 



It was for a long time supposed that these wonderful 

 creatures were extinct, but dredges have brought up from 

 the dark depths of the sea actual living stone lilies, or 

 crinoids, this being their real name. Few of us will prob- 

 ably ever have an opportunity of studying a crinoid 

 alive, although in our museums we may see them pre- 

 served in glass jars. That, however, detracts nothing from 

 the marvel of their history and relationships. They send 

 root-like organs deep into the mud, where they coil about 

 some shell and there cling fast. Then the stem grows tall 

 and slender, and upon the summit blooms or is developed 

 the animal-flower. Its nourishment is not drawn from 

 the roots and the air, as is that of the daisy; but is pro- 

 vided by the tiny creatures which swim to its tentacles, or 

 are borne thither by the ocean currents. Some of these 

 crinoids, as if impatient of their plant-like life and assert- 

 ing their animal kinship, at last tear themselves free from 

 their stem and float off, turn over, and thereafter live 

 happily upon the bottom of the sea, roaming where they 

 will, creeping slowly along and fulfilling the destiny of our 

 imaginary daisy. 



And here a comparison comes suddenly to mind. How 

 like to a many-rayed starfish is our creeping crinoid! Few 

 of us, unless we had studied about these creatures, could 

 distinguish between a crinoid and one of the frisky little 

 dancing stars, or serpent stars, which are so common in 

 the rocky caves along our coast. This relationship is no 

 less real than apparent. The hard-skinned " five finger," 

 or common starfish, which we may pick up on any beach, 

 while it never grew upon a stem, yet still preserves the 



