THE INDIAN OCEAN. 855 
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cucumber, whence they are sometimes termed Sea- 
cucumbers; in the water, however, the body is often 
Sza-cucumsers (Holothuric). 
greatly lengthened, and, on being touched, is sud- 
denly contracted so as completely to alter the form. 
The mouth is at one end of the animal, furnished 
with shelly teeth converging to a centre, as in the 
Star-fishes, and surrounded by numerous tentacles. 
Mr. Crawfurd describes it as “an unseemly-look- 
ing substance, of a dirty-brown colour, hard, rigid, 
scarcely possessing any power of locomotion, nor 
appearance of animation.” The usual length is 
eight or nine inches, the diameter about an inch, 
but some are two feet in length, and seven or eight 
inches in girth. They frequent the shallow waters, 
on reefs and in lagoons; often exposed on the rock, 
but sometimes nearly buried in the coral-sand, their 
feathered tentacles alone appearing and floating 
‘loosely in the water. The large kinds are often 
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