564 



Marvels of the Universe 



^ 



t 



Cf 



IBy Theo. Carreras. 

 The ^\ onderful polyps. 



into their lungs. As a rule, however, the gills suffice 

 for their respiration ; and when specimens are kept in 

 a glass vessel, it is interesting to notice how the 

 colour of the gills changes as they are alternately 

 filled with pure and impure blood, Reproduction is 

 effected by means of eggs ; and the tadpoles resemble 

 their parents, with the exception that the tail-fin ex-' 

 tends fonvards on to the body, and that the eyes are 

 relatively" larger. 



For a long time the 01m was believed to represent 

 an isolated t\-pe ; but towards the close of Icist 

 century a very similar creature was brought up in 

 the water of an artesian well from a depth of one 

 hundred and eighty-eight feet, near San Marcos, 

 Texas. 



THE SEA-PENS 



BY EDWARD A. MARTIN, F.G.S. 



A GLA^"CE at our illustrations will at once show how 

 appropriate is the popular title of " Sea-pens " as 

 applied to this family' of animals, Thej^are just as 

 much members of the animal kingdom as are the 

 corals, or the " Sea-fans," already dealt with in 

 previous chapters. We are all, perhaps, too much 

 in the habit of regarding an animal as a creature 

 which of necessity has at least four legs, entirely over- 

 looking the fact that any form of hfe must of 

 necessity be animal or vegetable ; and we know quite 

 well that a Sea-pen is certainly not a vegetable. 

 Maybe it looks like one, but we must not judge by 

 appearances ; and all who have read our previous 

 articles will have come to recognize that many 

 marine growths, although at first mistaken for vege- 

 tables by early investigators, have turned out after 

 all to belong to the animalia. But the appropriate- 

 ness of the title " Sea-pens " none will gainsay, for 

 they were so named when people were in the habit 

 of writing with quill-pens much more than they do 

 now ; and here we have veritable living quill-pens, 

 so far, at any rate, as appearances go. It must be 

 confessed that most of them would be but clumsy 

 quills if one had to hold them in the hand ; but 

 one must not expect too detailed a resemblance 

 where popular nomenclature is concerned. 



In the common tj'pe of Sea-pen — and here perhaps 

 it would be well to give a word of warning against 

 comparing these with the " pens " found in 

 certain molluscs of ?' the cuttle-fish tribe — the 



[ijtf Theo. Carreras, 

 AnotKer type of polyps. 



