STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 355 
Thoto by Savslle- Kent^ F.Z.S* 
BLACK SEA-CUCUMBER 
T/iis photograph ivas taken through the water in a coral-pool, A large clam-shell, with its expanded fringe of tentacles, 
is close beside the sea-cucumber 
comparatively deep water that the dredge may be filled with a tangled mass of their writhing 
snake-armed bodies. Should it be night when the dredge is brought aboard, and its contents 
are emptied upon the deck, the spectacle presented as the star-fishes scramble in all direc- 
tions, their bodies and arms aglow with pale green or blue phosphoric coruscations, is highly 
remarkable. 
CHAPTER IV 
MOSS-ANIMALS 
A LITTLE group of animals whose relationship with the sub-divisions previously and 
hereafter described cannot be very definitely determined is that of the Moss-ANIMALS, 
sometimes designated Corallines, or Lace-corals. All its members are of exceed- 
ingly minute size, and if living separately would be scarcely discernible to the unaided vision. 
They are, however, in the habit of forming stocks, or colonies, after the manner of corals, 
by a process of continual budding, and in this way build up social aggregations which may 
be of considerable dimensions. The majority are marine, and largely in evidence on almost 
every seashore in the form of the so-called Sea-MATS, consisting of masses of minute, light 
brown, horny cells, which take the form of seaweeds, or are spread in thin, lace-like 
encrustations upon the surfaces of shells, stones, and the larger seaweeds. The living 
inhabitants of these cells are as transparent as glass, their most characteristic feature being 
the elegant shuttle-cock-shaped crown of tentacles which is thrust out or withdrawn at will 
from the aperture of each tiny tenement. The assistance of the microscope is requisite for 
the apprehension of these details, as also of the somewhat complex alimentary and other 
organs enclosed within the component cells. 
