CHAPTER XI.

THE OCEAN AND ITS LIVING WONDERS (_continued_). The Madrepores—Brain, Mushroom, and Plantain Coral—The Beautiful 122 Sea‐anemones; their Organisation and Habits; their Insatiable Voracity—The Gorgons—Echinodermata—The Star‐fish—Sea Urchins—Wonderful Shell and Spines—An Urchin’s Prayer—The Sea Cucumber—The Trepang, or Holothuria—Trepang Fishing—Dumont d’Urville’s Description—The Commerce in this Edible—The Molluscs—The Teredo, or Ship‐worm—Their Ravages on the Holland Coast—The Retiring Razor‐fish—The Edible Mussel—History of their Cultivation in France—The Bouchots—Occasional Danger of Eating Mussels—The Prince of Bivalves—The Oyster and its Organisation—Difference in Size—American Oysters—High Priced in some Cities—Quantity Consumed in London—Courteous Exchange—Roman Estimation of them—The “Breedy Creatures” brought from Britain—Vitellius and his Hundred Dozen—A Sell: Poor Tyacke—The First Man who Ate an Oyster—The Fisheries—Destructive Dredging—Lake Fusaro and the Oyster Parks—Scientific Cultivation in France—Success and Profits—The Whitstable and other Beds—System pursued