16 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 



boast of protusile suckers and the complicated muscular and 



vascular systems associated with such organs. But it is never- 

 theless evident that (in defiance of the obstacles enumerated) 

 circulation of sea-water, if of no special fluid, over the peritoneal 

 lining of their cavities, digestion, assimilation, and reproduction 

 are carried on unrestrictedly, in addition to the somewhat sim- 

 pler but no less essential operations of locomotion and capture 

 of food. 



" The Ophiurida are strictly carnivorous. The specimen dis- 

 sected by me was found to differ in no respect, as regards internal 

 anatomy, from the species inhabiting shallow water. In the 

 alimentary cavity numerous Globigerina shells occurred more or 

 less completely freed of their soft contents. 



" The distance of the position at which they were obtained 

 from the nearest land of Greenland, namely, Cape Farewell, is 

 500 miles. Erom the nearest point of Iceland, namely, the Blinde 

 Skier rocks, 250 miles. It is necessary to mention this, lest it 

 be deemed possible that the starfishes could have been drifted by 

 currents or borne by any other means from any other country. 



"In the Opliiuridce motion is performed altogether by the 

 spine-covered arms, from which they derive their name of 

 1 Spinigrada.' The spines are all articulated to the arms, and, by 

 means of the rowing-like motion of which they are susceptible, 

 enable the creature to travel along its course, — the weight of the 

 body and arms chiefly made up of calcareous matter, entirely 

 precluding it from floating, or even raising itself off the bottom. 



" All former opinions as to the limits of life in the deep sea 

 must give place under such a startling fact. # * # * * 

 "We may, therefore, look forward to no very distant period, to the 

 discovery of a new submarine fauna, frequenting the deeper fast- 

 nesses of the ocean, which, whilst furnishing a new field for those 

 who are content to seek after novelty, shall also throw a gleam of 

 light on the Geology and Palaeontology of the globe." (p. 25.) 



Again — " One of the most powerful collateral proofs of the 

 OJolijerinco being able to live at great depths is derived from the 



