AND STAB-FISH. 161 



bases are inside the shell, and each tooth has a 

 peculiar loop and plates, by which the muscles are 

 able to work it. These teeth can be taken out 

 altogether after the animal is dead, when they 

 present a very peculiar appearance, all of them 

 adhering together. From their curious form, their 

 combined skeleton was compared by Aristotle to a 

 lantern, and hence naturalists have christened it 

 the "Lantern of Aristotle." Most probably, the 

 visitor will pick up this skeleton separately, in 

 his walks along the shore, as it is by no means 

 an uncommon object, and soon gets loose from 

 the interior of the echinus shell after the animal 

 is dead. The teeth somewhat resemble the front 

 teeth of a rodent, having the same chisel-shaped 

 form ; they have, however, an addition in the shape 

 of a keel, which runs along the back. The micro- 

 scopist is perhaps the most curious and prying 

 individual in the world, and Fi g3 



does not suffer any object 

 to escape his magnified in- 

 spection. Even the teeth of 

 the sea-urchins have had to 

 pay toll, and be subjected to 

 the same severe scrutiny ! In 

 Fig. 83 we have a section of 

 one of these teeth, whence it 

 will be observed by those 

 learned in such matters that 



there is a striking resemblance in the structure to 



M 



