Show OF THE SEA about starfish star fish and ott r queer it Is 1101 surprising ins eliat tho man of eving in world ot wonders gazing always eagerly through tho microscope should differ from tho common folk whose eyes laou out languidly upon life through a natural or corrective lens tho naturalist particularly amid the marvels of forest swamp and shore finding stimulus every day to his worship of the great mystery reverts to tho feelings of AUd hood his adenso of tho sublime felt in tho of the mere classified thousands accessible to him among the Li finito millions of living things this sense is never jaded man may bo a prop but ho is not tho only study of mankind and it is well for us now and then to lie as little children and listen open eyed to tho schoolmaster telling tho things we once knew but have forgotten there is tho sea urchin to begin with says tho chicago times it looks liko a chestnut burr and Is commonly called the sea chestnut but it is a fish and has teut known as tho feet their arrangement permits the urchin to progress in any direction at the baso of each contractile tubo there is a sac acting ai a reservoir of water it tho urchin wishes to march this sac contracts the toot is distended with water something like tho of a glove if you blow into it tho bucker at tho end is fixed on alio ground the other feet repeat the operation and tho urchin is out for u walk this creature so fragile in appearance is nevertheless able on rocky coasts chero the surf is violent to pierce the hardest stones and to excavate u lodging for itself even in granite tho starfish star fish wo know so well is a kindred creature equally amazing the white part in tho center ot it is tho stomach at first sight it has tho appearance of a transparent mass divided into five equal parts and yet it grinds with the power el a gizzard beaugrand Heau grand tells ot the devastation rad by star fishes on i bed of muss ciS they had settled ou them by millions all tho rocks acro covered with them and from a little way off appeared quite red when a starfish star fish wanted its breakfast it camo dragging along by the aid of its feet and rested its stomach on the hinge joint of tho shells of a in a few minutes by the action of alie gastric tho muscles of tho bingo ro dissolved tho stomach penetrated be een tho shells of tho mussel and carried on a suction so powerful that in a brief time nothing remained of tho mussel the foot itself although so difficult to detach the same fate as the other parts tho stomach of the ogro then returned to its normal situation and the starfish star fish made a fresh move to satisfy its appetite so thoroughly was this done that in the course of a few days all tho mussels in the locality were exterminated 1 he most depraved of tho corsairs cor of the sea 13 the hermit crab whose very hermitage the shell it bears upon its back is stolen it is a shameless parasite the personification of laziness when haill young it makes its debut by an assassination seeking a shell of fitting size it installs it self therein after having devoured the rightful owner then it sets out to make its fortune pillaging ruthlessly on all sides when its shell or hermitage becomes too small it promptly steals another 1 am acquainted says M beaugrand with a collection in which there is a hermit that was found in the tropics and had taken up uis abode in a great helmet shell auch as ou may in the window of a natural history dealer the claws of this hermit jeaa i bied dioro than eight inches M beau i grand calls the hermit crab a hypocritical old fellow A word about tho cottlo fisa or sepia figure to yourself a bag about three inches long surrounded by a broad border from chii gray and gelatinous body a snort tube comes out and above this is a shapeless head with two square eyes gleaming like molten gold like tho octopus alio id destroyer of crabs and small seizing them with its eight suckers as chev pass it can change its color lilo the chameleon and by a very simple method in the intestines of the skin choie are globules glo bules of various colors and in accordance with tho impressions inide on the animal these arc expanded or contracted tr thus producing tho strangest effects it appears also to have alio gift of at any rate it is well supplied wi ti 1 glands by contracting its tule and ejecting tho water contained the liali can rebound with great velocity alien is tho thick black ink it ejects in alf protection the ancients scarcely knew of any other ink cuvier M beaugrand sa s WAS the last to put the sapid ink to an im use As a fit whim for a scientific man he made use of it to write his memoir on anaila the drawings another wily and knowing fisli is the fishing frog it is very repulsive in appearance pe arance with a broad body and an anor inous mouth surmounted by two long fili mants terminating above in bright shining surfaces the fishing frog buried in the mud vibrates these filaments above its acid until some fish thoughtlessly comes loila ing around tho novel bait then the rapi cious maw opens entombs the victim and the game begins again market women sometimes iome times speculate on tho voracity of alio fishing frogs and purchase them at a low price on the strength of what they contain the fish swallows its prey gluttonously without mastice tion and the women often find in its stomach smaller fish little damaged which they sell to unobservant customers |