HOMOLOGIES. 229 



modifications of the locomotive suckers of the 

 Star-Fishes and Sea-Urchins, but ramifying to 

 such an extent as to assume the form of branch- 

 ing feelers. The little tufts projecting from the 

 oral side in the Sea-Urchins, described as gills, 

 are another form of the same kind of appendage. 

 The Holothurians have not the hard, brittle 

 surface of the other Echinoderms ; on the con- 

 trary, their envelope is tough and leathery, ca- 

 pable of great contraction and dilatation. No 

 idea can be formed of the beauty of these 

 animals either from dried specimens or from 

 those preserved in alcohol. Of course, in either 

 case, they lose their color, become shrunken, and 

 the movable appendages about the mouth shrivel 

 up. One who had seen Holothurians only as 

 preserved in museums would be amazed at the 

 spectacle of the living animal, especially if his first 

 introduction should be to one df the deep^ rich 

 crimson-colored species, such as are found in quan- 

 tities in the Bay of Fundy. I have seen such an 

 animal, when first thrown into a tank of sea-water, 

 remain for a while closely contracted, looking 

 like a soft crimson ball. Slowly, almost imper- 

 ceptibly, as it becomes accustomed to its new 

 position, it begins to elongate ; the fringes creep 

 softly out, spreading gradually all their ramifica- 

 tions, till one end of the animal seems crowned 

 with feathery, crimson sea-weeds of the most 



