A history of British star-fishes, and other animals of the class Echinodermata . convulsion must have been verygreat that thus so completely embowelled the creature;and yet life was not extinct, for the tentacula contractedthemselves on being touched, and the empty skin appearedby its motions to have lost little of its irritability. Dr. Johnston conjectures the water is conducted intothe body through the tubes, and then floating round therespiratory filaments is ultimately forced through the canalthat leads to the anus. In all of the species I haveexamined, I do not think this possible, the fe
A history of British star-fishes, and other animals of the class Echinodermata . convulsion must have been verygreat that thus so completely embowelled the creature;and yet life was not extinct, for the tentacula contractedthemselves on being touched, and the empty skin appearedby its motions to have lost little of its irritability. Dr. Johnston conjectures the water is conducted intothe body through the tubes, and then floating round therespiratory filaments is ultimately forced through the canalthat leads to the anus. In all of the species I haveexamined, I do not think this possible, the feet resemblingin their structure internally and externally those of theStarfish and Sea-Urchin. In some works it is stated thatthe Echinodermata fill their bodies with water by swallow-ing it, but the statement is based on no foundation. Oncutting open a distended Oucumaria frondosa, Mr. Goodsirand I found the water entirely lodged between the sidesand the external coats of the intestinal canal. How itenters is a problem yet to be solved. 288 THYONES. HOLOTHURIA DJE. PORTLOCJTS PortlocMi. Forbes. Specific Character.—Body cylindrical, corrugated, white; suckers numerous,large ; tentacula frondose, purple. The Thyone PortlocJcii is a large species, measuring fiveinches in length, and connects by its form and generalaspect the genus Thyone with Cucumaria. The body iswhite, and is covered with a strong smooth coriaceous in-tegument, over which the strong white suckers are some-what irregularly scattered. On the five angles they aremost numerous and rudely arranged in rows. The ten-tacula are ten in number, large, frondose, and purple. Theinternal structure of the animal presents a large and strongdental apparatus, numerous genital and respiratory tubes,and one pyriform sac. This handsome species was kindlycommunicated to me by Captain Portlock, to whom I havededicated it, and by whom it was discovered in BelfastBay, in the course of the Ordnance investigati
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