246 EFFUSION OF COLOUR. 



ing the animals I might ■witness the development of the 

 eggs and young, especially after what Sir John Dalyell 

 and others have observed in the Halothurice. But I 

 found that the self-divided animals very soon became 

 offensive and evidently putrescent, an infallible evidence 

 that death had ensued ; and that not only was this the 

 case with the posterior portions separated from the 

 main body, hut with the latter also, or that to which 

 the head was attached. It is possible that the whole 

 process was caused by morbid muscular contraction, 

 arising from the stimulus of unnatural circumstances. 

 Mr. Kingsley suggests to me that " the animal breaks 

 itself up from the irritation of light," a suggestion 

 highly probable ; and that we " must keep it in the 

 shade if we obtain it again." 



One which I put into fresh water, in order to kill it 

 for preservation, immediately began to contract, and 

 continued the process (not rapidly) to rigidity. It 

 then lengthened again, distended the posterior extre- 

 mity, and then divided by constriction near the mid- 

 dle, protruding the intestine, but no ovigerous threads. 

 The body, after lying a while, discharged a stain, 

 which diffused itself to some distance through the 

 water, and precipitated a subtle sediment of a brilliant 

 gamboge hue," which increased to saffron. The whole 

 water in the saucer was, besides^ slightly tinged with 

 pink. The specimen, on being immersed in a preserv- 

 ative fluid — a solution of acetate of alumina and sul- 

 phate of potash, — tinged the lower parts of it with a 

 rich transparent crimson, a little inclined to purple, 

 the hue of which was deepest near the bottom. 



The vermiform figure of this animal, its swollen 



