412 HOMES 'WITHOUT HANDS. 



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 can 

 not 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 color 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 illusfration 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 Gkeen Astr^a {Astrcea viridis), one of the finest ex- 

 amples of a singular and bfeautiful group of zoophytes. In this 

 genus the animals are 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 num- 

 ber 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 deep- 

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

 well-known glass bottles which are used for holding salad dress- 

 ing, and which make up for lack of contents by profusion of 

 glass. In the very centre of the top is placed the mouth, and 

 round it are grouped a vast number of little tentacles that radiate 

 like the flowerets of a daisy or dandelion. In the present species 

 the animal is about half an inch in length, and the animals are 

 clustered together in masses that are often as large as the fist. 

 They are rather variable in shape, but are always more or less 

 globular. 



The color of this species is simple and pleasing. The body of 

 the animal is pale gray-blue, and the tentacles are bright green. 



