390 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



long, tendril-like appendages, each tipped with a radiating 

 beard. This zoophyte is known by the title of Xenia elongata, 

 and on account of its singular form, is a very conspicuous 

 species. 



Examples of this genus are spread over many of the hotter 

 parts of the world, some being found in the Eed Sea, and all 

 notable for the remarkable form of the animal and its submarine 

 home. The present species has been chosen more for the singu- 

 larity of its form, than the beauty of its colours, which cannot 

 be expressed in the simple black and white of a woodcut. Some 

 species of this genus have the star-like tentacles coloured with 

 blue of various shades, some with rose, and some with lilac, and as 

 in many cases the expanded tentacles are an inch in diameter, the 

 effect of a large mass of these animals in full health is very fine. 



Except, however, in their native state, they never can be seen 

 in full health, their constitutions being so delicate that they cannot 

 endure removal from the spot whereon they were developed. If 

 removed from the water, they immediately shrink to half their 

 size, and do not assume their former dimensions, no matter how 

 carefully they are tended. The present species is found on the 

 shores of the Feejee Islands, and in form is certainly the most 

 singular of its genus, the enormously long and slender body at 

 once distinguishing it from any other species. Its colour is 

 simple brown, and the diameter of the tentacles is rather more 

 than three-quarters of an inch. 



In the left-hand lower corner of the illustration is a curious 

 globular object, covered with circular and radiated marks, and 

 having a number of flower-headed projections upon the top. 

 This is the Geeen Astr^ea (Astrcea viridii), one of the finest 

 examples of a singular and beautiful group of zoophytes. In 

 this genus the animals Jire shaped something like the well-known 

 sea anemone, and rather short, having a great number of very 

 small tentacles, which are gathered round a central mouth. The 

 " cups " which these animals form, and in which they live, are 

 rather deep and conical, and their inner surfaces are corrugated 

 into a number of thin walls with beautifully serrated edges. 



The animal is rather oddly formed. The body is not quite 

 cylindrical, but is broader at the base than at the top, and is 

 deeply ridged with circular furrows, so that it looks very like the 



