eEA-UKOHrNS AND SEA-CTTOUMEEES. 351 



of the disk, until the whole forms one uniform struc- 

 ture, and constitutes a series of plates. The mouth is 

 that spot in the centre, orer which the calcareous 

 frame is last extended ; and it is first distinguishable 

 by the appearance of five glassy points, which soon 

 develop themselves into the five converging jaws, 

 which we see forming such a curious apparatus on the 

 inferior side of the Sea-Urchin. 



Actual observation has not traced the infant animal 

 beyond the stage of the development ; but specimens 

 have been taken by Professor Miiller swimming in 

 the sea, in which scarcely a rudiment of the larva re- 

 maiaed. They had the form of round flattened disks, 

 which freely moved their spines and crawled about the 

 sides of the vessel in which they were kept, by means 

 of theii' suckers, exactly ia the manner of the adult 

 Urchin. 



Thus " ends this strange, eventful history ; " and in 

 reviewing it, one can scarcely avoid being impressed 

 with a sense of the majesty of God in these His humble 

 works. By what wonderful, what unexpected roads 

 does He arrive at the completion of His designs ! and 

 if such things as these are only now bursting upon our 

 knowledge, after six thousand years of man's familiar 

 contact with the inferior creatures, how many more 

 wonders may yet remain to be unfolded, as science 

 pursues her investigations into the Divine handiwork ! 

 And yet, how do this and all similar manifestations of 

 power and wisdom, sink into insignificance before the 

 grand marvel, the wonder of wonders, the great mystery 

 of godliness — that God was majstifest in the flesh ! 

 We ai-e surprised and delighted when we see one crea- 

 ture change, as it were, into another, but too often the 



