282 
LIFE, IX ITS HIGHER FORMS. 
above the surface of the water. Its fore feet resemble 
hands, but they have only three claws or fingers, and are 
too feeble to bo of use in grasping or supporting the 
weight of the animal ; the hinder feet have only two 
claws or fingers, and in the larger specimens are found so 
imperfect as to bo almost obliterated. It has small points 
in the place of eyes, as if to preserve the analogy of 
nature. It is of a fleshy whiteness and transparency in 
its natural state, but when exposed to light its skin 
gradually becomes darker, and at last gains an olive tint. 
Its nasal organs appear large, and it is abundantly fur- 
nished with teeth, from which it may be concluded that 
it is an animal of prey ; yet in its confined state it has 
never been known to eat, and it has been kept alive for 
many years by occasionally changing the water in which 
it was placed.” 
Specimens which have been kept for some time in 
England, have been observed to shroud themselves in the 
darkest part of the vessel in which they were placed, 
when the covering was taken off in order to inspect them ; 
and to betray a sense of uneasiness by their actions when 
exposed to tho light of open day, creeping round the 
sides of the vessel, or under the shelter of any sub- 
stance which threw a partial shadow on the water. 
Though these animals lived many months, and were 
healthy and vigorous, they were not supplied with any 
food, nor is it certainly known on what they subsist, 
though there is every reason to believe them carnivorous.* 
Confined in a state of nature to the darkness of per- 
petual midnight in the recesses of its gloomy caverns, the 
* “ Piet. Museum of Auim. Mature,” ii. 135. 
