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Show QUEER LITTLE SEA MOUSE. Remarkable In the. Lower Branches of Organic Life. .. . . A fow days ago, wuerrthoy brought mo n flno specimen, about four Inches long, of that strango creaturo the sea mouso. dredged from tho sandy bottom bot-tom of Loch Ryan, I began to specu-Into specu-Into darkly upon tho significance of tho generic namo Aphrodlta, bestowed upon this lowly lnvertobrato by l.am nrack. For It Is no mouso, but n worm, belonging to tho .class Anno-Hdn, Anno-Hdn, animals which, being still In a prlmltlvo Btago of development, enjoy tho envlablo privilege of belng'nblo to roplaco any organ, oven a head, of which they may bo bereft by accldont or assault. 'At first sight no living creaturo Is loss suggestlvo of tho goddess of loVo, its general outllno being that of a gigantic gi-gantic wood louso ..and Its structuro but an oblong mass of Integument and vlscoro. Yet on second thought, it appears not inappropriately termed Ahprodltn, born of tho sea foam am-phros am-phros and, if beauty of form bo denied de-nied to it, compensation is made by an extraordinary loveliness of color. Tho breathing apparatus, consisting of external branchlao Hko silky bristles bris-tles arranged all along tho sidos of tho animal, shino with a lustor as delicate deli-cate as and more brilliant' than a pigeon's neck. Pall Mall Gazette. |