122 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
portant part of the body out of the treacher- 
ous, smothering ooze. This is very well illus- 
trated by the sea-lilies or Crinoids, distant 
relatives of star-fishes, which occur in great 
beds like daffodils by the lake-side. Another 
very good example is to be found in the 
Umbellulas, near relatives of the sea-pens, 
where the stalk is sometimes a yard long, and 
bears at the top a pendent cluster of polyps, 
often of a beautiful blue colour. 
As intelligible as the long stalks of many 
sedentary animals are the long legs of many 
of the wanderers. Some of the deep-sea 
prawns are the lankiest animals in existence. 
Some of the sea-spiders move about on long 
legs like stilts. This is well suited for prowl- 
ing about on the surface of the abyssal ooze. 
Then there is the exquisite tactility of many. 
In a world of darkness, where sight counts for 
little, touch becomes the important sense. Some 
of the deep-sea prawns have feelers several 
times longer than their body. One crustacean 
has antenne fully a yard long. ‘The deep- 
water fish called Lamprotoxus, captured off 
the west coast of Ireland, has a barbule several 
times its own length, and yet this long probing 
feeler is just an exaggeration of the little 
