302 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
marvels were revealed ! 1 n this body, the walls of which scarce^ 
reach the sixteenth part of an inch in thickness, I could disting®^ 1 
seven distinct layers of tissue, with a skin, muscles, and membra*®®' 
Upon the petaloid tentacles, I could trace terminal suckers, wb® 
enabled the Synapta to crawl up the side of a most highly polish 111 
vase. In short, this creature, denuded to all appearance of eve 1 ') 
means of attack or defence, showed itself to be protected by a sp eCieS 
of mosaic, formed of small calcareous shield-like defences, bristlho 
with double hooks, the points of which, dentated like the arrows 0 
the Caribbeans, had taken hold of my hands.” 
If one of these Synapta is preserved alive in sea-water for a 
time, and subjected to a forced fast, a very strange phenomenon Tfl 
be observed. The animal, being unable to feed itself, successive 
detaches various parts of its own body, which it amputates sp 011 ' 
taneously. A great compression or ring is first formed, and the 11 
the separation of the condemned part takes place quite suddenly' 
“ It would appear,” says M. Quatrefages, “ that the animal, feel 111 '' 
that it had not sufficient food to support its whole body, was 
successively to abridge its dimensions, by suppressing the parts wb lC 
it would be most difficult to support, just as we should dismiss tb 1 
most useless mouths from a besieged city.” 
This singular mode of meeting a famine is employed by the Synffi^'j, 
up to the last moment. After a few days, in fact, all that remains 0 
the animal is a round ball, surmounted* by its tentacles. In order f° 
preserve life in the head, the animal has sacrificed all the other p aI 
of its body. 
In order to find natural novelties — to find unforeseen subjects 
study and reflection, it is not necessary to run over the world or travc 
igt 
great distances. It is only necessary to visit the banks of the ne» re ' : 
river, or descend to the sea shore, and leave the sea to reveal a frag® e! ' 
of the marvels which it conceals in its bosom. 
