168 A CRUISE IN THE LACCADIVE SEA 



fishes and prawns would be seen cautiously feeling 

 their way. 



Intrinsically attractive as this fauna of the Lacca- 

 dive deeps is, it excites our interest still more when 

 we discover that many of its most striking species are 

 also inhabitants of the Atlantic, and in particular of 

 that part of the Atlantic in which the West Indian 

 Islands lie. Two of the most remarkable of the Lac- 

 cadi vean crustaceans, namely, the huge Isopod (Bathy- 

 nomus giganteus) and the blind spiny-lobster {Phoberus 

 ccecus), are Caribbean species, as also is the spiny 

 hermit-crab [Litkodes agassizii), not one of the three 

 being endowed with any but the most moderate 

 powers of locomotion. Perhaps the most con- 

 spicuous, and one of the most abundant of the 

 Laccadivean sea-urchins is a PalceopneiLstes {P. 

 Hemingi), which is very doubtfully distinct from the 

 PalcEOpneustes cristahis dredged by Agassiz off the 

 West Indies. But if I were to name all the species 

 that are common to the depths of the Atlantic and 

 of the Laccadive Sea, it would be necessary to make 

 quite a long list, including corals, echinoderms, crus- 

 taceans, and fishes. 



We may now pass on to the reefs and islands of 

 the Laccadive Sea, of which it may be said that in 

 strict accordance with the theory of Thales of Miletus, 

 their origin is water ; for, in the first place, coral rock 



