From the January 3, 1931, issue
By Science News
STRANGE SEA FLOWERS BLOSSOM ON REEF
Long ago some observant writer remarked that in the sea, many of the plants look like animals and many of the animals, like plants. Support for this view can easily be found in the strange sea urchin pictured on the cover of this issue of the SCIENCE NEWS LETTER. It grows on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia; the photograph of this specimen was supplied by Melbourne Ward, an Australian zoologist who has done much work in the naturalists’ paradise of the antipodes. The species is known locally as the “slate pencil sea urchin” because its thick spines are frequently used as natural slate pencils. More learnedly, it rejoices in the technical name of Heterocentrotus mammalatus.