IHM.nTIIURIA. 



like, but 1 have never found any solid substance whatever in the intea- 

 ther animal or vegetable : Nor has any specimen ever teetili.il 

 tin- l'M-t 'Imposition to feed in my possession. 



lar^e specimen of tin- [->itin-t?s watt obtained al>out a year 

 ago, distended liy sou water, so as to be ten inched in length, and six in 

 thickness, the tentacula being contracted to three-fourths of their 

 diameter. Next day it hail emptied itself ; it lay motionless, extending 

 1> or 17 inches. The inte>tines occupied the whole cavity of the body, 

 but they contained nothing except a dark thick iluid matter. 



The natural form and position of the Holothuria prntaetr* iw a 

 crescent, so that while quiescent it does in fact bear considerable re- 

 semblance to a cucumber, whence its name. The body remains affixed 

 by the suckers to the ride of a vessel, the head or the portion compre- 

 hending its tentacula remaining free for their evolutions, and the j> 

 rior extremity likewise disengaged for the play of the fountain. 



In general habits the //<>l<>tJiuria petilactet resembles the following 

 subject, but here, the tentacula being formed by a prolongation and 

 adaptation of the integument of the shoulder, they are not immediately 

 connected with the intestines like the tentacula of the Holothuria fvnu. 

 All the former, that is those of the pcntactct, being a continuation of the 

 cylindrical neck, are protruded with its unfolding skin as it extends alter 

 having been withdrawn into the body when closed up. Plate II.. fig. 1. 

 The tentacula of the/w*t are immediately connected with the intestines 

 by a peculiar receptacle, wherein the whole can be retracted. Herein. 

 any single tentaculum, or the whole, may be retracted when the ap- 

 paratus constituting the receptacle sinks within the body which close* 

 over it. 



lit appears the chief season of the enjo\nient and activity of 

 these creatures. Whatever be their contracted state through the <la_\ 

 thev then expand themselves, and dinplay their U-autiful arborescent 

 tentacula at the utmost dimensions. Nevertheless many remain 

 jMinded through the day, and, whether or not it be from the momentary 

 stimulus, some seem to become more erect on the approach of light. 

 which is certainly an exception to the general rule, for both lijrht and 



