214 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



ECHINUS SEA-URCHIN. 



THE subjects of the present chapter are popularly 

 known by the name of Sea-urchins, or Sea-hedgehogs, 

 from the circumstance of their shells being covered 

 with moveable prickles, like the skins of those qua- 

 drupeds ; but when the prickles have fallen off, the 

 shells are more commonly called Sea-eggs, partly 

 from a conformity in figure between the objects com- 

 pared, and more so from a similarity in their cal- 

 careous composition and texture. From their forms, 

 certain genera have been called turbans, diadems, 

 mermaid's skulls, or hearts, or fairy stones ; a nomen- 

 clature doubtless more pleasing to our readers than 

 the Greek compounds of science, and not less poetical 

 than useful, since they aptly convey a portraiture of 

 those varieties of form into which Nature has, with 

 her usual sportiveness, moulded these productions. 



Few objects in the animal creation are better cal- 

 culated to impress the mind of the student of Nature 

 with feelings of reverential awe towards the Divine 

 Artificer, than one of these, at first sight despicable 

 animals. Consider them from whatever point of view 

 we choose, the elegance of their shapes, the elaborate 



