OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. 



being formed of the Greek word, Zoon {^^ov)^ sig- 

 nifying a thing possessed of animal life, and phyton 

 (^^vTov)^ a plant. This general term is applied to 

 all the creatures — some of very distinct character — 

 that belong to this class, which forms a separate 

 division of natm^al science, known as Zpoohytology. 



The species oiLucernaria^ which has received the 

 specific denomination of auricula^ from its slight 

 resemblance in form to the flower of that name, is de- 

 lineated in Plate VIII., attached to a slender branch 

 of sea-weed, just above the two large Sea-Anemonies. 

 This species of Lucernaria is generally of a light 

 pinkish colour, and is, in general form, perhaps 

 more like a Convolvulus than an Auricula. Two 

 species have been most beautifully delineated in all 

 their details by Mrs. Johnston, in her husband's 

 magnificent work on British Zoophytes. These 

 drawings are, in fact, so charmingly and, at the 

 same time, accurately executed, that it would seem 

 that the pencil ought to be guided by delicate female 

 fingers when portraying these minutely-intricate 

 and unusual forms of animal life. The exquisite 

 drawings by Mrs. J. E. Gray, in her work on the 

 curious molluscous animals, whose habitations alone, 

 the beautiful sea-shells of our cabinets, were, till 

 recently, all that was known of them, afford further 



59 



