NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 



279 



arrangement in pairs, it seems most probable that they use them in the same manner M 

 the more highly organised animals commonly do their limbs. Besides, there is no doubt 

 that these animals, with their large and powerful pedicels, are able to move more rapidly 

 and to dig easily into the soft ooze or clay of the bottom of the deep sea. 



" What is the use of the very large and characteristic processes or lobes situated on the 

 dorsal surface ? The correct answer to this question is very difficult to give, but many 

 things — especially the unusual abundance of nerves in them — seem to prove that they 

 perform the function of tactile organs. There is much reason to believe that these organs 

 are particularly suited to bring the animals into relation with surrounding bodies. 



" The tentacles, like those in the Aspidochirotse, are so slightly modified as to constitute 



Fig. 111. — Scotoplanes globosa, Tlieel. 



a disk with some larger or smaller processes, supported by a stem ; thus, their shape in 

 general proves that they do not perform the function of prehensile organs in the same 

 manner as, for instance, those in the Dendrochirotse, which use their thread-like branched 

 tentacles to collect the proper food, and to bring it into the mouth. It seems most 

 probable that the Elasipoda move along the bottom of the ocean with the mouth open, 

 thus perpetually filling the alimentary canal with Globigerina ooze, Diatom ooze, clay or 

 mud, in which operation the tentacles assist. The whole alimentary canal, from mouth to 

 anus, is always filled up and highly distended by such matters, of which only a small 

 portion can be used as food, while the rest must be pressed out through the posterior 

 aperture at the same time as new materials are taken in. 



" It is an already well known fact that the various tissues composing the body 



