ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Onfcr-NANTES, or SWIMMERS. 

 Gfoiws-ECHINUS MARINUS, or SEA HEDGE- 

 HOG. Species— ECUmVS STELLARIS. 



Generic Character — Fisli inhabiting a molluscous sliell or 

 covering, circular or oval, invested with spines 

 placed in a radiated position and answering for the 

 purpose of legs, by a rotatory motion ; an opening 

 placed on the underside of the shell, geometrically 

 formed, in some of the species another opening 

 on the top. 



OF the various families of animated nature, "which by 

 their natural situation are more abstruse and hid from human 

 investigation, may be classed the Echinus, of which we have 

 already described one species (the Club Echinus) in a former 

 number of the Arcaxa. The present elegant specimen of 

 that curious and interesting genus is delineated from a very 

 perfectly preserved one brought from the South Seas, and 

 now deposited in Mr. Bullock's Museum. The centre of 

 the animal is circular and flat, having an opening at the 

 top and bottom, geometrically dividid into six partitions, 

 resembling a piece of basket-work interwoven with the 

 young spines, shooting from the sides and the top. The 

 body of the animal is of an orange or flesh-colour, the lesser 

 spines arc of a colour inclining to a pale red, and seem as if 

 bursting their way through the crevices of the external 

 surface. The largest spines are more remote from the centre, 

 of a dark purple brown, inclining in some of them to a grey 

 colour, and the opening both above and below is furnished 

 with an hexagonal lid, having several small openings, 

 through which it is supposed the animal breaths. The 

 form of the whole is both interesting and singular, as the 



