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WORLD OF THE SEA,/

TRANSLATED AND ENLARGED BY

THE REV. H. MARTYN HART, M.A,

FROM

“Te Monde de la Mer,
BY MONS. MOQUIN TANDON, Aitred
Membre del Institut, &c. : mITHSO NIA

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CHAPTER
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CHAPTER

CoN ie NES

I.—INTRODUCTION -

IJ.—THE LIFE IN THE SEA -

IlJ.—THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA -

IV.—THE PLANTS OF THE SEA
V.—INFUSORIAL ANIMALS
VI.—THE FORAMINIFERA
VII.—THE SPONGES

VIII.— THE PoLyres

IX.—THE POLYPIERS

X.—CORAL

XI.—SxEA-PENsS

XIL—SEA ANEMONES - -
XIII.—TuHE Mepus

XIV.—THE STAR-FISHES
XV.—THE SEA-URCHINS
XVI.—THE HOLOTHURIDA -
XVII.—THE Bryozoa -
XVIIL—THE MoLiusks
XIX.—THE ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS
XX.—THE OYSTER

XXI.—THE MUSSEL

XXII.—NACRE AND PEARLS -
XXIII.—THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKs -
XXIV.—THE PURPLE OF THE ANCIENTS
XXV.—THE CEPHALOPODS -
XXVI.— UNITY OF COMPOSITION -
XXVII.—THE ANNELIDA -
XXVIII.—SALT-WATER LEECHES -

XXIX.—THE ZOONITES- - -

Vi

CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
GEAR IEE:
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CEAP IER:
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER
CHAPTER

CONTENTS.

XXX.—THE CIRRHOPODA
XXXI.—THE ROTIFERA
XXXII.—THE CRUSTACEANS
XXXIII.—LossTers, CRAW-FISH, AND SHRIMPS -
XXXIV.—THE HERMIT-CRAB
XXXV.—FIsSHES - -
XXXVI.—THE HERRING
XXXVII.—THE SARDINE
XXXVIII.—THE Cop -
XXXIX.—THE TUNNY -

XL.—THE TURTLES -

XLI.—THE SEA-BIRDS - - - -
XLII.—NEstTs AND EcGs
XLIII.—THE CETACEA - - - -
XLIV.—THE SPERM-WHALE -
XLV.—THE DOLPHINS -
XLVI.—WHALES

XLVII.—SEALS_~ -

XLVIII.—THE MorsgE, -

XLIX.—THE SEA-OTTER

L.— THE WHITE BEAR -

Boh. A Cae

“LE MONDE DE LA MER” was published in Paris some years
ago; it was the work of M. Moquin Tandon, but for sundry
reasons he substituted the pseudonyme of Frédol for his own
name. The most prominent of those reasons no longer now
remaining, we are not betraying a trust in divulging the author's
real name.

The work is not intended to be exhaustive, but it is an ample
review of the ocean world. At every point of interest in the
submarine landscape the pen of the author has lingered. The
reader is not led into this wondrous world by the hand of rigid
Science, to find all strittly classified and labelled with a tech-
nical nomenclature; but the guide, as he passes through the
mazes of the watery depths, points out everything which can
arrest the attention: describing the habits and instincts of the
denizens of the sea, entering into their home-life, examining the
process of their development, the work assigned to them in the
great scheme of life, and the connection they have with man.

Neither does life itself absorb all his attention, for he fails
not to enter into the physical history of an element so totally
different to that in which we exist. The waves, the currents,
the tides, find a place in his description; and, passing north-
ward, he leads us to the land of silence, where the sea, at the
touch of the Wintry King, has congealed into fields of ice and

stately bergs.

Vill PREFACE.

Then the illustrations—each one so accurate, so artistic, so
admirably executed; and the coloured plates—so bright and
natural; all conduce to make the work of M. Moquin Tandon
difficult to equal, much less to surpass.

In translating “Le Monde de la Mer,” 1 fear 1 have “are-
quently failed to render its lucid and elegant language with the
full force it merits; but I trust the blame I deserve in this
respect may be somewhat palliated by the fact that I have not
hesitated to add much new matter. Since the publishing of the
work, naturalists have not been idle, and some of the later results
of observation, together with certain points perhaps more inte-
resting to us than to our neighbours across the Channel, have
been incorporated in this translation.

Another book on the same subject was published a few
months ago, “The Ocean World,” a translation of a work of
M. Figuier, who has not scrupled to copy verbatim frequently
three or four consecutive pages at a time from “Le Monde de
la Mer.” I mention this to secure for M. Moquin Tandon a

proper portion of the credit M. Figuier may perchance acquire.

H. MARTYN HART.

Blackheath, Sept., 1869.

into SOx. PL Aik. S:

PLATE

i sea Weeds ~... - = me ... Lo face Page 29
II. Reproduction and Germination of Alge ... _ 49
III. Reproduction and Development of an Infusore is 57
IV. Radiated Animals... Be: ae ue ¥ 65
Ve “Corals... we oe eee oe =. Frrontisptece.
VI. Development of Corals an! oar ne L0 face Pare rx
VIL Sea Anemones airs ar ee a a 129
VIII. Development of a Medusa ... ane eos - 139
IX. Animal Moss ... a a ey = 5 n75
X. Development of a Naked Mollusc ... ae: 5% 230

XI. A Cuttle-fish making his Cloud.—A Poulpe.
—A Calmar on Re aes _ 3 248
XII. Annelida Tubicola.... 5e4 ee ‘a 35 266
XIII. Shrimping at Low Tide af aie ae 35 310
XIV. Combat of Hermit Grabs © ... on ee ‘, 312
XV. Night Fishing: Hauling in the Net a 3 320
XVI. Fishing for Sardines off the Coast of Brittany 3 346
XVII. Catching and Cutting up the Whale oF "e 413

XVIII. Sea Lions upon the Ice a “7 as. 4209

THE

cc Once GP “TEE Si’

CHAPTER. i.
INTRODUCTION.

OUR world may well nigh be called a world of waters, for on
the surface of our planet water is the rule and land the exception.
No apology, then, is needed for describing the plants and animals
which pass their existence in an element covering two-thirds of the
globe, an element whose presence confines man, though he boast
of his lordship over creation, to a third of his domain. Speaking
more accurately, the waters stretch themselves over an area of
145,500,000 square miles, whilst the land which rises above their
level occupies the remaining 51,500,000—or, to reduce the un-
wieldy numbers to something comprehensible, if the surface of
our globe were divided into 1,000 parts, 266 would be land and
734 water,

This vast extent of watery area is divided by geographers into
five oceans—the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Antarctic,
The Arctic extends from the North Pole as far south as the Arctic
Circle. Its waters freeze upon the northern shores of three con-
tinents, Europe, Asia, and America.

The Atlantic separates the Old and New Worlds. Its northern
and southern boundaries are the Arctic and Antarctic Circles,
while the Americas on the one side, and Europe and Africa on
the other, form its lateral shores. It is the most important of
the oceans. Through it pass the great highways of the sea. Its
waters are not lifeless, dreary wastes, but thousands of mariners
people its surface, and sails of every nation enliven its bosom.
The South Atlantic also is famous for the birth-place of the
tidal wave, a wave which sweeps round the world, disturbing

B

2 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

what otherwise would be stagnant pools, cleansing the river es-
tuaries, and carrying food and salubrity to the fixed inhabitants
of the ocean bed.

The Indian Ocean is enclosed by Asia on the north, by Africa
on the west, and on the east by Malacca, the East Indian Islands,
and Australia.

The Pacific is the great ocean; with the exception of the

A CALM SEA.

e e
Antarctic, it claims all the rest of the waters. It offers many

peculiar and striking contrasts to its neighbour the Atlantic. The
one has its greatest dimensions from east to west, the other from
north to south. The currents in the Pacific are broad and slow,
while those in the Atlantic are narrow and swift. In the one
the tidal wave rises to an all but inappreciable height, in the other
it heaves the whole breast of the waters, and dashes against the
obstructing shores with wondrous force. And lastly, the Pacific,
as its name would denote, is calm and tranquil, while the Atlantic
is treacherous and stormy.

Referring again to the distribution of land and water on the

INTRODUCTION. 3

surface of the globe, we must be struck with the fact that the land
seems all gathered about the North Pole. Indeed, geologists tell us
that the heaving and uplifting force which elevated the northern
continents above their overflowing seas is still in action, and that
the shores of the northern lands are still rising. This fact is ascer-
tained by observing and marking the level of the water in the
fiords of Norway and on the shores of the Baltic. The conclusion
has been reached that there is a rise in the land at the rate of four
feet a century. At the same time the bed of the southern oceans
must be ever sinking; for the coral polype cannot live, as we
shall find, at a greater depth than 120 fathoms, and yet the ocean
around the coral islands is of an enormous depth. What this
upheaving force is, and why it should act only in the neighbourhood
of the North Pole, is still a mystery.

The line where land and water meet is the coast. Sometimes
the continent pushes back the advancing waves with a rampart
of rocks, sometimes boulders detached from the main cliff lie out
in the sea breaking the force of the waves; these rocky and ser-
rated coasts are found in Norway, Scotland, and other countries.
The low coasts slope down with gentle declivities, and the land,
as it were, glides beneath the surface of the water. These coasts
are only found on the shores of countries whose soil is clay, or
mud, or some post-pliocene deposit.

Thrusting off from the land and sailing on the surface of the
water, as we peer down into its clear bosom, we naturally ask,
What is the depth of the ocean? The question is more difficult of
solution than it at first appears. It would seem an easy task to
let down a leaden weight attached to a line, and at once measure
the depth; but when the line is perhaps two miles in length, the
density of the water is suth that the lead is comparatively
lighter, and has now much less inclination to sink than it had
at the surface, so that it is easily carried away by the under-
currents, and when the explorer of the ocean bottom fancies his
sounding-lead is perpendicularly beneath him, it is perhaps half a
mile distant, and thus the depth he registers is much greater than it
ought to be. Laplace, from astronomical considerations, conciuded
the mean depth of the ocean to be 1,600 fathoms. Humboldt
gives his assent to this calculation. Dr. Young, another eminent

BeZ

4 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

authority, affirms that the Atlantic has a mean depth of 550
fathoms and the Pacific of 2,000 fathoms. Of course there are
places in all seas unusually deep—the valleys and defiles in the
ocean bed. The American, Lieutenant Walsh, in the Atlantic,
off the shore of the United States, sounded the enormous depth
of 5,640 fathoms. This is the deepest ocean valley yet discovered.
The highest mountain in the world immersed in that watery abyss
would not rear its summit above the waves.

From actual measurement as well as from theoretical expecta-
tion it appears that the Southern Ocean is the deepest. Professor
Haughton, of Dublin, concluded, from the enormous volume of the
tidal wave, that the waters which lie in the neighbourhood of
the Antarctic Circle must have a depth of eight or ten miles, and
this seems not improbable. The Baltic is the shallowest of all
the seas, its depth not exceeding 108 fathoms.

We may form some idea of the enormous quantity of water
occupying the bed of the ocean, when we find that were the seas
emptied, it would require the flow of all the rivers in the world
for 40,000 years to refill them. The wezgft of this accumulation of
water is 7755 of that of the globe. Every one knows that salt water
is heavier than fresh. A ship laden in a river until the water all
but laps over her gunwales will sail safely on the sea, the superior
density of the water bearing her up. The specific gravity of fresh
water to that of salt is as 1,000 is to 1,027. The heaviest water
in the world is that which is supposed to cover the site of the Cities
of the Plain, the Dead Sea; the weight of its water is to that of
the ocean as 1,228 is to 1,027.

The colour of pure water is d/uwe. To this fact we owe the
beautiful tint of the sky over our heads, and the prevailing shade of
the clear waters “under the firmament.” The waters of the sea,
however, are not always blue. The proximity of land, their depth,
the colour of the bottom, all affect the shade. Far out at sea the
ocean may well be called c@ruleum mare, for there a plain of azure
blue stretches away on every side until it blends imperceptibly with
the sky at the horizon. Nearer the shore the blue tint assumes
a greener shade, and this shade isless pure as the land is neared,
for the erosion of the waves disturbs the mud at the bottom, besides
mingling with their waters particles of the cliffs against which

INTRODUCTION. 5

they dash. In some localities the colour of the sea is exceptional.
The water appears white in the Gulf of Guinea; yellow near Japan;
a grass-green to the west of the Canaries; and black round the
Maldive Islands. The Mediterranean, towards the Archipelago,
becomes more or less red; the Vermille Sea, near California,
presents a similar tint. The names of the White Sea and the
Black Sea appear to be derived solely from the ice of the one and
the frequent storms of the other.

The sea has a peculiar saline taste, slightly acid, mixed with a
bitter which is somewhat nauseous. It possesses an odour peculiar
to itself, and is feebly viscid. We know that pure water is a
compound of one volume of oxygen and two of hydrogen; or by
weight, eight of oxygen and one of hydrogen. The water of the
sea has a like composition; but, besides these gases, the presence
of other ingredients has been discovered by chemists. An analysis
of 100 grains of the water of the Atlantic is as follows :—

Grains.

Water sec ae sus sa = ... 96°470
Sodium Chloride Le aa sae Bee pee 700)
Magnesium ... bia es aioe sh sea Ox300
Potassium s 00 oe fe wii ee OLO7O
Magnesium Bromide ... i 906 Hie se 0002
Magnesium Sulphate ... cee a Bi tee OF280
Calcium Sulphate met oa tee ae oe OLLAO
Carbonate of Lime ... ae ae age =) ©0038
Residue sc ae ihe ee ace se OO2ZG
100°000

Besides these substances, the ocean contains—in very small
quantities, it is true—iodine, sulphur, silica, ammonia, iron, and
copper. On examining, at Valparaiso, sheets of copper stripped
from the keel of a vessel which had been long submerged, it was
ascertained that traces of silver had been deposited upon it by the
sea. And lastly, we find, in solution in sea water, a peculiar
mucous matter, which seems to be of a vegeto-animal nature—
organic matter arising from the decomposition of innumerable
successive generations of living things which have appeared and
disappeared since the creation of the world. This matter has been
well described by Count Marsigli, who sometimes calls it glue,

6 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

and sometimes onctuosité. The numerous salts which are present
in the sea can never be deposited upon its bed, nor yet drawn
up with the vapours to be returned to the earth with the rain;
for certain agents are in action which retain, transform, and pre-
vent them from accumulating. In this manner the waters always
possess the same degree of saltness and bitterness, and to-day
the ocean presents the same chemical and physical characters as
it did in ages long past.

If all the salts which are in solution in the sea were taken from
the water and dried, the quantity is so enormous that, if spread on
the surface of North America, it would cover that vast continent
with a layer half a mile thick! The common salt (sodium chloride)
alone would form a mass only one-third less than the Himalayas,
and five times the size of the Alps!

The saltness of the Mediterranean is greater than that of
the ocean, probably because this sea loses more by evaporation
than it receives from its rivers. On the contrary, the Black and
Caspian Seas are less saline. The quantity of salt contained in
the Dead Sea is so great that its density will enable a man to
rest upon its surface like a piece of cork on fresh water.

The sea appears generally less saline towards the poles than at
the equator; yet there are exceptions in certain localities. In the
Irish Sea, off the coast of Cumberland, the water contains ;5 of
its weight of salt; off the French coasts, #;; the water of the
Baltic, 45; at Teneriffe, 3;; and in the neighbourhood of Spain, +.
In many places the sea is less salt at the surface than at the
bottom. In the Straits of Constantinople the proportion is as 72
is to 62; in the Mediterranean, as 32 is to 29. It is said that ata
certain depth where the saltness increases, the bitterness decreases.
At the mouths of great rivers, it is scarcely necessary to say, the
water is always less saline than upon coasts which do not receive

currents of fresh water.

The ocean is in ceaseless motion; its extended surface rises
and falls, as if softly breathing ; its movements, gentle or violent,
slow or rapid, are determined by the variations of temperature.
Heat affects the volume, and, consequently, the weight of the
water as it expands or contracts. As the temperature falls, the

INTRODUCTION. 7

water becomes gradually heavier, and descends into the depths
until it reaches 49:25 Cent., the point of its maximum density,
which temperature is found in every clime at the depth of 550
fathoms. If the water continue to cool until it arrives at zero,
it is lighter than it was at 4°25, and therefore begins to rise; so
that freezing, by a wonderful provision, can only take place at
the surface. When the temperature is above 4°'25, the light and
warm water rises to the surface and the cold water descends to
the bottom. If it be under 4°:25, the opposite process takes
place: the cold layers of water rise, and the warm in their turn
sink. The former phenomenon takes place in the temperate and
tropic zones, the latter in the polar regions; and so it happens,
whether in the warmest or coldest seas, the temperature at ‘great
depths is the same. The continual ascent of these warm layers
furthers evaporation, by which clouds are formed. The loss
the sea thus sustains in the warm latitudes is compensated by
currents of cold water, which flow in from the poles.

Again, the rain formed by the condensation of the clouds is
either warmer or colder than the surface of the sea on which it
falls: in the first case it will remain on the top, in the second case
it will sink beneath.

The waters of the rivers have an effect upon the sea by their
temperature, their specific gravity, and their impetus, while the
movements of the air, the winds and storms, have a still more
manifest influence upon it.

And lastly, the combined attraction of the sun and moon
draw daily around the globe two immense waves, which, at the
periods of the full and new moon, rise to their greatest height, and
sweep over parts of the shores which are usually dry. These
great sea movements are known by the name of the tides.
During one half of the year the highest tides occur during the
day, and in the other half during the night. The tides in the mid-
ocean do not rise three feet; but when the tidal wave encounters
a continent which opposes its onward roll, it rushes up its shores
with the velocity of a torrent, rising to heights which vary from
ten to sixty feet. These currents sweep and purify our shores,
our roadsteads, our ports, and the mouths of our rivers, carrying
everywhere a vivifying and salutary freshness. Under the influence

8 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

of celestial bodies which are thousands of miles away the tides pre-
serve, in their periodical return, as strict a mathematical regularity
as the movements of those bodies themselves. The enormous
volume of water which they raise, and which could sweep down
the mightiest barriers, gently subsides at the appointed moment,
without passing its prescribed limits.

A HOLLOW WAVE.

Foremost among the beauties of the sea are the waves, with
their constant and regular progression, their everlasting and mo-
notonous roar, their dancing, flying foam which rises and falls,
and rises again only to disappear upon the shore. Sometimes the
billow lashes itself against the cliffs; but on low shores it sweeps
back again to its bed, forming a thousand cascades, a thousand
rivulets, a thousand sinuous rills. The volume and the height of the
waves increase with the depth of the water; it is possible indeed,
from a knowledge of their size and velocity at any place, to calcu-
late the depth of the sea which gives them birth. The height of
ordinary waves may reach twelve yards ; their force wears down the
hardest rocks, rounds off the edges of the débris, tosses about the

INTRODUCTION. 9

pebbles, rubs them against each other, polishes them, degrades and
reduces them to fine sand, which is deposited upon the lowest areas
of the ocean, or accumulates upon the beach. The most violent
waves batter the submarine escarpments, and aid in splitting them
into fragments; but, arrested and turned by the layers of water
which cover them, the ascending currents become ground waves,
which move with appalling rapidity, and break against the shore
with irresistible force. During the tempest of 1822 the waves in
the Bay of Biscay, at the rocks of Orta, were 1,200 feet long, and
rolled with a velocity of sixty-six feet a second; that is, twice the
velocity of a locomotive going at thirty miles an hour. According
to Colonel Emy, the ground waves operate at a depth of 400 feet,
and are capable of lifting the water above them in columns, more
than 150 feet above the surface, heaving up a mass of water from
20,000 to 30,000 cubic feet in volume, and weighing two or three
thousand tons.

These ground waves play a prominent part in many of the
ocean phenomena. They are found in every sea; and it is they,
and not the surface waves, which carry towards the shore the
pebbles, sand, and dédris of shells and other submarine objects.
They again, upon the submarine banks, produce those breakers so
dreaded by sailors, and which render the navigation of certain bays
impracticable even in the calmest weather. It is by these ground
waves that that singular phenomenon is explained which is seen at
the mouths of great rivers, called by the mariners of the Seine
the barre; mascaret by the sailors of the Dordogne; and pororora
by the boatmen of the Amazon. At the mouth of this last river,
when it is spring-tide, the sea, instead of taking six hours to rise,
attains its full height in two or three minutes. A wave fourteen or
sixteen feet high, spreads itself over the whole breadth of the river.
It is soon followed by two or three similar ones, and all rush up the
stream with a deafening roar, and such a rapidity that they sweep
away every obstacle in their course, uprooting trees and tearing
away acres of the shore. The pororora affects the waters of the
river for 600 miles into the interior.

Another terrible whirlpool of the sea has been called the
mistrém or midlstrém. It is a kind of permanent and eternal
trough, which is to be seen in the North Sea, between Mosken and

10 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the southern extremity of the Loffoden Islands, off the coast of
Norway.

When the storms from the west set in motion a rough sea, and
when a stiff land-breeze blows at the same time, great waves, as
high as the hills, run together from every point of the horizon,
throw themselves one over the other with an unheard-of fury,
disappearing as if swallowed up in an abyss. The mistr6m draws
in vessels from a great distance, and from the moment its current
is felt all hope is gone.* It was very much dreaded by the an-
cients, who called it “ ombril de la mer:?

Earthquakes sometimes give rise to gigantic waves. On the
23rd of December, 1854, at twenty-five minutes past nine in the
morning, the Russian frigate Dzaxa, which was lying at anchor in
the Bay of Simoda, near Yeddo, Japan, felt the first shocks of an
earthquake. Some minutes after an immense wave entered the bay,
the level of the water suddenly rose, and the town appeared sub-
merged; a sccond wave followed the first, and when both retired
not a house was left standing! The frigate itself touched the
ground several times, and at last was cast up high upon the beach.
On the same day, some hours later, upon the Californian coast,
more than 12,000 miles from Japan, the tidal scales preserve the
register of many waves of excessive height. It is believed that
these were the same waves which stranded the Dzaza, and would,
according to calculation, have a length of 620 miles, and a velocity
of about 1,000 miles an hour.

There are in the sea three great currents; one of which takes
its rise in the Pacific, one in the Atlantic, and the third in the
Indian Ocean. These currents are immense rivers in the sea,
which cause great alterations in the temperature of many regions.
The first has received the name of Humboldt’s Current. Starting
from the South Pole it runs along the coast of Chili and Peru.
This current is cold. The current of the Atlantic Ocean touches
the southern extremity of Africa, when it divides into two. The
western portion leaves the coast, and runs parallel with it for some
distance. The northern branch follows the eastern coast line of
the continent, and runs from south to north. Reaching the equator,

* In times of calm the mialstrém is but a strong current, which even strangers may
with safety navigate.

INTRODUCTION. ut

it changes its direction, crosses the Atlantic at its widest part, from
east to west, and runs up the Brazil coast, where it divides into
two parts. The branch current is called the Aguznoctial. The
main stream continues its northerly course along the coasts of
Brazil and Guiana, enters the sea of the Antilles, turns towards the
Bay of Honduras, and sweeps round the Gulf of Mexico. Taking
then the name of the Gulf Stream, it comes out of the Bahama
Channel, and flows, much enlarged and with greater velocity, towards
the north east. The rapidity of its current exceeds that of either
the Mississippior the Amazon. It is said that it runs at the rate of
fifty miles anhour. There is not upon earth a more majestic stream
of water. The Gulf Stream casts itself into the Atlantic Ocean, and
the last of its waters are found on the eastern coasts of Spitzbergen.
The current is warm. By cleverly steering his vessel along the
margin of this marine river, a seaman can dip one hand into the
warm water of the current, and the other into the cold water of the
ocean. Remarkable instances of pieces of wrecks transported from
very distant scenes of the disaster by the Gulf Streams are re-
corded. Some portions of the 77z/éury, an English man-of-war
which was burnt near Jamaica, were cast upon the shores of Scot-
land! General Sabine, in 1822, saw a vessel wrecked at Cape
Lopez, in Africa, near the equator, and when visiting Hammerfest,
in Norway, the next year, casks of palm oil, part of that vessel’s
cargo, were cast ashore! The current of the Indian Ocean flows
towards the east, until it encounters the coast of New Holland.
Part of its waters run along the south of that continent, and joins
the current which flows in the Pacific Ocean. The other part turns
to the north, and, following the equator from east to west, bends to
the southward, passes between Africa and Madagascar, rounds the
Cape of Good Hope, and enters the current of the Atlantic. The
power of these currents cannot be estimated, for, as Pindar rightly
says, “ Water, in motion, is not only the most important, but also
the most powerful and terrible of the elements.”

The sea freezes at the Poles, and assumes then a peculiar
aspect. This phenomenon takes place as the sea becomes less salt,
and the rotatory movement of the earth less rapid. As low as
the fortieth degree of latitude masses of floating ice are found.

12 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

These icebergs must have been launched in the Arctic regions,
and brought down by the currents which are flowing towards the
equator. At 50° latitude, the shores are frequently covered

THE APPEARANCE OF ICE AT THE POLE,

with ice. Ten degrees further north the gulfs and inland seas
begin to be frozen all over their surfaces. At 70° pieces of floating
ice become numerous and large, frequently forming islands a mile
and a half in diameter, and, at last, 10° higher, the sea is ice-
bound, the ice-bergs piled one upon the other, fixed and motionless.
These mountains of ice are tinted with vivid colours. They seem

INTRODUCTION. 13

blocks of precious stones, lustrous with the brilliance of the diamond
and the sparkling colours of the sapphire and the emerald. Some-
times these majestic masses stretch away in vast fields of ice—some-
times they rise into high mountains. These fields of ice form
plateaux, which are perfectly uniform, without fissure, crevasse,
or elevation. Scoresby saw one floating, upon which a carriage
could have driven 100 miles without the least impediment, and
Cook found another which joined in a straight line Asia with
North America. When these huge masses come against each
other, the sound of the terrible shock is like thunder.

The mountains of ice are produced by the islands, which slide
one upon each other, and at last accumulate in such vast quantities
as to form a mountain 130 feet high. These floating masses are
continually eaten away by the sea, and thus their figure is altered
almost every moment. They strike against each other—splitting,
shattering, or freezing to each other. The icebergs have generally
an angular surface, rising perpendicularly out of the ocean. At a
distance they look like gigantic white transparencies which pierce
the blue sky. When examined closely their surface is found either
smooth or mammillated. They might be likened to pyramids of
crystal or of diamond, with slender columns and pointed minarets,
or enchanted and majestic edifices, with their arcades, their facades,
and their domes. But soon the pyramids fall and crumble away ;
column after column bends and sinks; a minaret now becomes a
staircase, and the whole mansion, as if by enchantment, is trans-
formed. The sight must be ever imposing where the incon-
stancy of their forms is only rivalled by their variety, and the
grandeur of the bergs by their fantastic shapes.

Scoresby often astonished his sailors by lighting his pipe by
means of a lens of ice. He split off a piece with a hatchet,
shaped it with a knife, and polished it by the heat of the hand,
and then held it with a glove of wool. One day he procured
in this way a wonderfully transparent lens, fourteen inches in
diameter.

14

CHAPTER “It.
THE TAPE IN THE "SEA.

AT the sight of the boundless, shoreless sea, he who loves to create
for himself a world in which his spirit may roam without let or
hindrance, is filled with sublime thoughts of the Infinite. He looks
out on the distant horizon where the sky and the waters mingle in
the hazy distance; where the stars rise and set, appear and dis-
appear in turn. But soon this ever-changing scene awakes in his
heart that feeling of sadness which is ever mingled with our
deepest joys. Feelings of another kind, though quite as serious,
are evoked by the contemplation and by the study of the innu-
merable organisms which people the world of waters. In truth,
that immense mass of water which we call the sea is no dreary
liquid waste. Its depths are as pregnant with life as the land. In
it life reigns in sovereign grandeur, with all its vigour, its profuse-
ness, and its changes! The Almighty delights in life. It is the
most beautiful, the most glorious, the most noble, the most incom-
prehensible of his works.

Long ago it was said that life was everywhere, and that life was
essential to the existence of the world. Beings who enjoy life
faithfully transmit it to others, their children and their successors,
who become in their turn its guardians and progenitors. This
most marvellous inheritance is thus handed down through years
and ages, without degeneration or perversion. The globe always
possesses the same amount of life with which it was at the begin-
ning so liberally endowed. We know what produces life, but we
are ignorant as to what life is, and this very ignorance is the
powerful stimulus which excites our curiosity and provokes our
research.

In every living thing there is an incessant and silent struggle
between life which builds up and death which destroys. The first
is the most powerful: it controls matter, but its reign is limited ; it

THE LIFE IN THE SEA. 15

gradually grows weak with age, and in time dies out. Then
physical and chemical laws come into action and destroy the
organisation it built up. But the elements which composed the
body are soon employed again and used in another organisation.
So each plant and animal is allied with the past, and blends with
the future; for every generation which springs up is but the
corollary of that which has expired and the prelude of that which
iscoming. Life is the vestibule of death, and death the replenisher
of life. ;

Life did not appear on the globe immediately it was created :
it was produced ata later epoch, after the formation of inanimate
nature. For the reception of life a soil fit for its exercise must
have been prepared, and certain physical and chemical conditions
established. Neither did the appearance and distribution of living
beings take place by chance ; but the dictates of rigorous laws were
obeyed.

The knowledge of fossil remains has thrown much light upon
the regular and progressive development of life. The appearance
of living creatures began with the most elementary forms. The
most ancient beds of rock afford no signs of life. Traces of organic
bodies exist only in comparatively recent formations. Vegetable
life appears first in various forms of the lowest orders; then the
earliest animal remains are those most nearly allied to the vege-
table kingdom, and which consequently possess the least perfect
organisms. Thus life, at first simple, gradually became more
and more complicated, until man, the masterpiece of creation,
was called into existence.

If, in the spring-time, some pure water be exposed to the light
and air, a yellowish-green mistiness will soon cloud it. Examined
by the microscope this cloudiness is found to be millions of vege-
table organisms. Presently animalcules are seen swimming in this
living cloud and being nourished by its substance; then others are
formed, which pursue and devour the first. Thus we find life
transforms inanimate matter into organised bodies; first vege-
tables, then herbivorous animals, and lastly carnivorous animals.
Life sustains life: the death of one affording material for the growth
of another. So all are linked together, all aid each other. In
the organic world there is the same interchange of matter as in the

16 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

mineral world; and there is a universal harmony never disturbed,
ever the same, and always worthy of our admiration. God alone
is everlasting ; all else is transitory!

The waters teem with more life than the land. Beneath a
surface less varied than that of the continents, the sea enfolds
in its bosom an exuberance of life of which no other region of
the globe can afford the faintest idea. Its life extends from the
poles to the equator, from east to west. Everywhere the sea is
peopled; everywhere, down to its unfathomable depths, live and
sport creatures suited to the locality. In every spot of its vast
expanse the naturalist finds instruction, and the philosopher medi-
tation ; while the very varieties of life tend to impress upon our souls
a feeling of gratitude to the Creator of the universe. Yes, the shores
of the ocean and its depths, its plains and its mountains, its valleys
and its precipices, even its dédrzs, are enlivened and beautified by
thousands of living beings. There are the solitary or sociable plants,
upright or pendant, stretching in prairies, grouped in oases, or grow-
ing inimmense forests. These plants give a cover to and feed millions
of animals which creep, run, swim, fly, burrow in the sand, attach
themselves to roots, lodge in the crevices, or build for themselves
shelters, which seek or fly from one another, which pursue or fight
each other, which caress each other with affection or devour each
other without pity. Charles Darwin truly says that the terrestrial
forests do not contain anything like the number of animals as
those of the sea. The ocean, which is for man the element of
death, is for myriads of animals a home of life and health. There
is joy in its waves, there is happiness upon its shores, and
heavenly blue everywhere.

The sea influences its numerous inhabitants, vegetable and
animal, by its temperature, its density, its saltness, its bitterness,
the motion of its waves, and the rapidity of its currents. We have
seen in the preceding chapter that the waters of the sea only freeze
upon their surface, and that at a depth of 550 fathoms there is a
uniform temperature which is the same for all latitudes. On the
other hand, it is to be borne in mind that the effect of the most
tremendous storms, even of the most furious hurricanes, is not felt

TITEL LEE LN TE. SEA. 17

at a depth below thirteen or fourteen fathoms, so that the vege-
tables and animals by descending more or less, according to the
cold or the motions which disturb them, can always reach a position
suitable to their tastes.

The inhabitants of the sea are characterised by a peculiar soft-
ness. Certain marine plants possess not only a feeble but a very
feeble consistency ; a great number of them are transformed by
boiling in water into a kind of glue. The flesh of marine animals
is more or less flabby, seemingly composed of transparent mu-
cilage. The skeleton of the most perfect species is more or less
flexible and more or less cartilaginous; it rarely bears any com-
parison, as to weight and consistency, with the bones of terrestrial
animals. Yet the shells and the corals are remarkable for their
stony solidity. Thus amongst the marine animals there are found
at the same time the softest and the hardest organisations.

The localities in which the beings nourished in the ocean exist
are fixed by definite laws. We never find upon the coasts the
same species as we meet with out at sea; nor at the surface do we
find those which are hidden in the depths beneath. A wonderful
world! Every variety of shape, of form, and of colour; from the
almost invisible vegetation upon which the small shell-fish feed to
the immense sea-weeds more than fifty yards long; from the micro-
scopic infusoria to the gigantic whale! We find in the ocean-
world similarity and diversity, which constitute beauty ; grandeur
and simplicity, which form the sublime; power and size, which
command respect.

We have described and figured many plants and many animals,
but how many yet remain. For two thousand years researches
have been pursued without interruption, but how much is there
still left for science to discover, so as to gain that degree of per-
fection to which these researches may be carried.

When the tide retires from the shore, the waters leave upon the
beach many of the numerous beings which they shelter. The
naturalist, immediately after the waters have retired, can collect
a host of vegetables and animals, all possessing peculiar characters,
colours, and properties. The people who live near the shore find here
their food, their commerce, and their occupation, and accordingly

€

18 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

they hurry to the shore when the tide goes out. The villages and
the neighbouring hamlets all send their contingents; men and
women, old and young, every one fit for the work undertakes some
portion, according to his strength and activity. They are armed
with sticks, poles, and mattocks, carrying baskets and panniers,
sacks and nets, dragging also wheelbarrows and carts. Some gather
the ribboned wrack (zostera), the membranous w#/va, the brown
fucus, which used to be a source of much wealth to the dwellers by
the sea; others collect the small shells scattered over the strand.
The boys mount the rocks and pick off the whelks, the mussels,

EB — > Te = =i y/
Sui Me nt

EZZ, UW ST

FISHING NETS,

the sea ear-shells, and the limpets; the girls seek the mactra, the
cytherea, the bucardia, and other edible marine animals; the
women wade in the water knee-deep, and secure considerable
quantities of shells, which are sold as ornaments. They overturn
the stones, or probe the cracks in the rocks with a hook attached to
a stick. Here they find polypes and cuttle-fish, and sometimes
sea-eels or congers which have taken refuge here. They sound the
little pools which the ebbing tide has left here and there, using
a small-sized net with a long handle, or they drag the pool with a
small-meshed net, and so take the animals which are left behind
by the sea—mollusks, crustaceans, or fish. The men dig the sand,
and turn up the sea-hedgehogs, the donaces, and the cockles.

In the Mediterranean, and in the small seas where there are

THE LIFE IN THE SEA. 19

either no tides at all or only such as to be hardly perceptible, there
exist a number of vegetables and animals which belong to the open
sea, which the waves or currents seldom or never cast upon the
beach. There are others so fugitive or so firmly attached to the
rocks, that they never can be examined except in the places where
they live. It is therefore necessary to catch them floating on the
surface of the water or to follow them into their native depths.
This is why naturalists who are seriously intent upon studying the
life of the sea must carry on their researches on the bosom of the

DREDGERS.

water, and not on the shores. Many of these explorers use for
this purpose dredges, sounding lines, and other proper instruments
for scraping and breaking the hard rocks. In his voyage round
the coasts of Sicily, Milne Edwards hit upon the excellent idea of
using the apparatus invented by Colonel Paulin, the veteran chief of
the Paris fire brigade. This apparatus consists of a metal helmet
provided with a glass visor, which is fixed to a padded collar
by means of a leathern fringe. This helmet is really a diving-
bell in miniature. It communicates with a forcing-pump by
means of a flexible tube. Four men are employed to work the
pump, two at a time; other two hold the end of a rope, which
€ 2

20 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

passes over a pulley fixed at a higher elevation. By this the diver
is let down or pulled up. A watchful assistant holds in his hand
the little cord used as a signal. The diver is sunk by wearing
shoes of lead, which aid him at the same time in keeping an
upright position when at the bottom. It only takes about two
minutes to draw the diver out of the water, and take off his
helmet. Mr. Edwards descended with this apparatus twenty-
eight or thirty feet, and his undertaking was crowned with com-
plete success. In these submarine excursions, this clever naturalist
could study on the spot in their most secluded retreats, and in
seemingly inaccessible places, radiate animals, mollusks, crusta-
ceans—especially their larvee and eggs, and by his descriptions has
contributed largely to make known the developments, the functions,
and the habits, of a number of the sea inhabitants, whose manner of
life appeared to baffle all our efforts at their investigation. It has
been proposed in all researches which require a long sojourn
beneath the surface, to use the diving vessel of Lamiral and
Payerne. This vessel is a reservoir of compressed air. It fur-
nishes the means of respiration without communication with the
surface ; it facilitates direct contact with submerged objects, and
permits easy locomotion at the bottom of the sea.

It is even possible to study the living beings which are shel-
tered by the sea, by preserving them in convenient reservoirs. It
is to M. Charles des Moulins of Bordeaux we are indebted for
the possibility of carrying on this study at home (1830).

When we place some mollusks, crustaceans, or fish, in a bowl of
fresh water, the liquid loses its transparency at the end of a few
days, and little by little becomes impure, so as to render it necessary
to change this water from time to time, a process which not only
disturbs the creatures, but causes them much suffering, and even
sometimes is the means of their death ; in addition to which the fresh
water has not always the same composition, the same temperature,
nor the same quantity of air mixed with it as the old liquid had.
M. Charles des Moulins proposed to put into the vase a certain
number of aquatic plants, floating or submerged, such as duck-weed,
for example, since these plants affect the water in the very opposite
way to animals. We know that vegetables decompose carbonic

THE LIFE, IN THE SEA. ZiT

acid gas which animals exhale, retaining the carbon, and giving
off the oxygen which animals breathe. Accordingly by this plan
the necessity of changing the water of the aquarium is obviated,
and the animals never need be disturbed.

M. Dujardin (in 1838), M. Thysme (in 1846), and Mr. War-
rington (in 1849), conceived the ingenious idea of substituting salt
water for the fresh which M. Charles des Moulins first devised.
It is hardly necessary to say that the plants in use are ulve
and fuci.

AQUARIUM.

Latterly Messrs. Goss and Bowerbank constructed reservoirs on
a large scale, to which they gave the name of aguariums. Aqua-
riums are for the study of aquatic life, just as aviaries are for birds,
only instead of cages of iron they are cages of glass, and instead of air
there is water. Cabinet aquariums have usually a rectangular form.
In the one in the figure the bottom is either a slate or a sheet of
zinc; four columns of bronze, or iron, hold four sheets of glass
in a vertical position, surmounted by a metal frame. This glass
house reveals the marine life, with all its secrets, its movements, its
customs, and its habits.

In order to rear a great number of animals and to imitate toa

22 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

certain degree the motion of the waters and their continual aération,
a means has been devised by which water is added in a constant
stream, entering the aquarium either in a fine jet, or drop by
drop, whilst the overflow is conveyed away by a waste-pipe. It is
requisite to build in the reservoir a miniature rockery of stones and
pipes, in order that those creatures who shun the light may have
a retreat ; or a screen may be used, which may be a piece of board,
or asheet of cardboard, or a piece of cloth or ground glass.
Small holes are made in the screen, through which may be seen
what is going on inside, and by this means the animals may be
observed without being disturbed, and we can learn all the details
of their domestic life. It is beneficial to fit a cover to the aqua-
rium, which prevents the creatures from getting out either by
jumping or crawling, and also which preserves the dust from falling
into it, which otherwise would collect on the surface and sink down
through the water.

In 1853, Mr. Mitchell, the Secretary of the Zoological Society
of London, constructed an aquarium in the Zoological Gardens,
Regent’s Park, of a size previously unattempted. The success of
this little museum of sea life produced in England quite a
sensation. The largest, the most beautiful, and the most com-
plete of aquariums up to the present time, is that constructed in
the Zoological Gardens in the Bois de Boulogne, at Paris. It
was inaugurated on the Ist of October, 1861. The building is
solidly constructed of stone, forty yards long and ten broad,
showing a range of fourteen reservoirs, of Angers slate, facing the
north. These reservoirs are nearly cubic, and have a front of
strong glass, through which the interior can be examined. It is lit
from above, by which a greenish, uniformly dispersed twilight, is
secured, which is an exact imitation of the feeble light which illu-
mines the submarine world. [Each reservoir contains about 160
gallons of water, and in each is a rockery picturesquely arranged in
the form of an amphitheatre; upon these rocks spread and grow
different species of aquatic plants, the floor is shingled with pebbles,
gravel, and sand, which affords sufficient cover for many animals.
Ten of these reservoirs are appropriated to marine animals. The
quantity of water used is about 4,000 gallons; it is never changed,
but is continually flowing. The means by which the flow is secured

TELE TALON, IEEE SEAL 22

<

are as follows :—Advantage is taken of the current of water which
is brought by the pipe which waters the Bois de Boulogne. This
water is under great pressure, and is brought to act upon air con-
fined in an inverted cylinder. This air is admitted into another
cylinder below the level of the aquarium, in which is some sea-
water; this it forces up with great power into each of the reser-
voirs, which it enters by a little jet. The compressed sea-water
contains a great deal of air, which it carries with it into the reser-
voirs. A pipe in the corner of each carries off the overflow into a
well-packed carbon filter, from whence it passes into an under-
ground reservoir, made of iron, lined with gutta-percha. From
this the water is returned into the closed cylinder; is submitted
again to the pressure of the air, and is again injected into the
aquarium. The cylinders, being all underground, keep a uniform
temperature of about 16° Cent., which is nearly the general
temperature of the sea. In winter the walls of the aquarium are
artificially heated. By means of a very simple contrivance in each
reservoir the quantity of water can be diminished, and the ebb and
flow of the sea thus imitated. At the same time, by considerably
lowering the level of the liquid, certain creatures can be periodi-
cally exposed to the air. In this circulation and movement of the
water, its volume is diminished by evaporation, and the inorganic
matters remaining in the liquid, at last it would become too salt.
To remedy this, by means of a special apparatus, a certain quantity
of rain water which comes from the roof of the building is passed
into the great reservoir. An hydrometer indicates the time when
this addition of fresh water is necessary.

CHAPTER: » Ii.
THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA.

THE infusoria are the principal cause of that beautiful phenomenon
exhibited by the seas of tropical countries, which we call phospho-
rescence. When the sun has sunk beneath the horizon, innu-
merable swarms of luminous animalcules are drawn up to the
surface of the sea by certain meteorological causes. A new light
dances upon the bosom of the waves. It seems as though the
ocean were intent upon giving back the floods of light which
it had received during the day. But this peculiar light does not
shine uniformly throughout the medium in which it is produced.
It is emitted here and there in a crowd of star-like points, which
suddenly burst into a scintillating glow.

When the sea is calm, we can see upon its surface millions
of twinkling stars, clouds of which seem to rest upon the watery
mirror; now they are motionless, now they tremble with a
luminous quiver, now they are disturbed by lambent tongues of
flame, which chase each other through their midst. Again they
re-unite only to separate as quickly, and again to mingle; forming
at last a vast sheet of phosphorescence, now blue, now a silvery
white, now shining steadily, now wavering ; while here and there,
brighter than the surrounding light, shine out sparkling points—
suns in this ocean firmament.

When the water is rough the waves seem burnished; and as
they rise, and roll, and boil, and dash themselves into flakes of
foam, it seems like the glow and flying sparks of molten metal
as it flows from the furnace. As they break upon the shore, the
waves fringe the land with a border of light. The smallest pebble
is encircled with fiery ripples.

Nothing is more beautiful than to see a shoal of dolphins sport-
ing in a phosphorescent sea. In their gambols they fling hither
and thither the starry spray, and surge the water into seething

THE. PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA, 25

light. Every stroke of an oar makes the ocean fling out jets
of light--here feeble and motionless, there blazing and scattered,
like sparkling seed pearls. The paddle-wheels of a steamer lift
out of the water, and toss back again sheaves of light, and as
the vessel ploughs its way through the sea it pushes before it two
waves of phosphorescent liquid, leaving behind it a long track of
fire, like the tail of a comet, which gradually fades away. What
a splendid subject for the study of the naturalist! What an
inspiring theme for the poet!

When the Venxus was at anchor off Simon’s Town, the sea was
so phosphorescent that the cabin of the naturalists was lit as
with a lamp. The water, when poured from one bucket into
another, was like molten lead, and when the hand was plunged
into it, it came out covered with luminous corpuscles, glittering like
diamonds full of light.

Certain animalcules, which do not possess this phosphorescence
in so marked a degree, frequently, when very numerous, render
the waters white. This phenomenon is called by the Dutch sailors
the Milky Sea, or the Sea of Snow. The minute creatures from
whom this light originates are not the breadth of a hair, and the
united lengths of 300 of these would hardly be an inch; and yet
these are the giants in the nation of the infusoria! They stick to
each other by their extremities, and so form countless threads,
often of a great length.

In 1854, in the Bay of Bengal, Captain Kingmann passed for
thirty miles through the midst of a large patch of sea white with
these creatures. During the night of the 20th of August, 1860,
M. Trebuchet, commander of the frigate La Capricieuse, which was
in the roadstead of Amboine, witnessed a magnificent spectacle
of the same kind, which continued all night, until the daybreak.
The sea resembled a white, chalky plain, upon which the moon
was shedding her silvery light.

The Noctiluca miharis is one of those infusoria which chiefly
contributes to the phosphorescence of the sea. This animalcule,
omitted by Cuvier in his “Animal Kingdom,” has been classed
by naturalists sometimes with the anemones, sometimes with the
meduse, and sometimes with the foraminifera. They are very

26 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

small; 50,000 of them can live with the greatest comfort in a wine-
glass of water!

The noctiluca appears at first sight to be nothing but a small
globule of transparent jelly. When under the microscope, it is found
to have a spherical form, more or less regular, a little flat, and
slightly umbilical beneath. In the centre of this protruding part is
the mouth, which opens into a funnel-shaped cesophagus. Out
of this opening comes a filiform tentacle, or feeler, like the stalk of
an apple, which is very slender and mobile. . This tentacle appears
to be tubular. Blainville supposes that it terminates in a sucker,
so that it has something the shape of a trumpet. In some of its
contractions the creature becomes reniform, or kidney-shaped, and

NOCTILUCA MILIARIS.

in others the tentacle disappears. The noctiluca exhibits here
and there in its substance granules which are probably germs,
and also some points of light. These appear and disappear with
great rapidity; the least agitation makes them shine. Altogether
these corpuscles of light form s5th or jth of the diameter of the
creature. The noctiluca enamel the surface of the ocean as the
constellations stud the firmament.

The infusoria, as is now well known, are not the only animals
which contribute to the phosphorescence of the ocean. This
luminous state of the sea may also be caused by the meduse, star-
fish, mollusks, nereida, crustaceans, and also certain fish, all which
creatures evolve light just as the torpedo generates electricity.
They multiply and diversify the effects of the phenomenon. The
light which they produce is sometimes of a greenish tint ; some-

THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 27

times it appears red. Looking down into the dark depths, fan-
tastic forms are seen, luminous circles, starry plumes, or lambent
fringes. A mass of these creatures at a distance looks like a globe
of red hot metal or fiery bouquets, flinging off sparks or green fes-
toons, decorating the dark waters with the wreaths of illumination.
And now, like incandescent meteors, they glide through the waves,
rising to the surface, diving to the bottom, grouping themselves,
again to separate as quickly; describing in their flight a thousand
curves, and now, as if to elude some pursuer, extinguishing their
light, only again to re-light it, and again to be pursued.

Spallanzani made numerous experiments upon the light of the
meduse, particularly the Aurelia phosphorica. Ue found that the ~
phosphorescent power lay in their great arms or tentacles, in the
muscular zone of the body, and in the cavity of the stomach. The
rest of the body of the animal emitted no light when agitated.
The source of the phosphorescence resides in a viscous liquid, which
is secreted and oozes to the surface from these organs. If this
‘liquid be mixed with other liquids it exhibits its luminosity.
One single aurelia squeezed in twenty-seven ounces of milk made
the whole so luminous that a letter could be read by its light at a
yard’s distance !

Pliny observed that the Pholas dactylus, a little bivalve of which
we shall presently speak, possessed such a phosphorescence that
the lips of the persons who ate it became luminous. He also
noticed that this light appeared on the clothes, if any of the liquid
from the animal fell upon them.

Réaumur, having experimented some time with a Pholas,
washed his hands in a basin of water, which, when taken into a
dark room, exhibited a bluish phosphorescence. Milne Edwards,
having put some living Pholadide in alcohol, the light-giving fluid
which oozes from the pores of the body of these mollusks sank to
the bottom of the glass, and there emitted its light as it would
have done had it been in contact with the air.

The greater number of these luminous creatures appear to have
their phosphorescence at their command, like the glow-worm with
his tiny lantern, for most of them are able to augment or diminish
their light according to circumstances, or to extinguish it alto-

28 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

gether. At the seasons of their reproduction, this marvellous
light shows itself in all its splendour. It seems as though their
exuberant life, unable to be held within its prison, burst its fetters,

and radiated out in beams of glowing light.

Plants also are found which contribute to this resplendent con-
dition of the sea. Meyen describes one of the Osczllarza which

PHOSPHORESCENCE,

affords phosphorescence. All sailors know that during warm
weather, when certain sea-weeds are taken from the water and
rubbed or beaten, they become more or less phosphorescent.
Many naturalists believe that this magnificent phenomenon may
be caused by animal and vegetable matters suspended in the
water, and especially when they are undergoing decomposition.
The ancients erroneously attributed phosphorescence to the saltness
of the sea, or to the S#zrzt of Salz.

SEA WEEDS.

i. Tetraspora gelatinosa. (Agardh.)

a. Callithamnium corymbosum. (Zyngoye.)
. Plocamium vulgare. (Lamouroux.)
Polysiphonia fibrata. (H/a7vey.)

. Rivularia nitida. (Agardh.)

wap WwW

>

Mer et

TO.

Delesseria hypoglossum. (Lamouroux.)
Chondrus crispus. (Lyagbye.)
Laminaria saccharina. (Lamouroux.)
Chorda filum. (Stackhouse.)

Laminaria digitata. (Lamouroux.)

29

ChAT GER IV:
THE PLANTS OF THE SEA.

THE flora of the ocean well deserves the attention of the botanist,
the philosopher, and the artist, equally with that of the land. There
exist in the midst of the waters, whether salt or fresh, numbers of
plants curious, useful, or picturesque, which present such a great
variety of forms, that the landscape, if we may be allowed the
word, is neither less interesting nor less diversified than that of
countries where the sun has induced a luxuriant tropical vegeta-
tion. However, the vegetable kingdom has fewer representatives
in the sea than upon the land, and the size of the terrestrial vegeta-
tion is incomparably grander than that of the ocean. But nature
has given to the sea a compensation for this, as we shall see, in
creating polypi, which are animalcules living in colonies, and are
more or less of a vegetable character. Thus another kind of
flora is produced, more complicated, more animated, and more
astonishing. These existences are, so to speak, animals in the
shape of plants, and minerals in the form of animals.

The marine flora belongs almost exclusively to one class of
vegetables: that of the a/g@, or sea-weeds. Linnzus only enu-
merated fifty of these plants, but we now are acquainted with more
than 2,000. In the seas around this island alone 105 genera,
including 370 species, are known.

The sea flora is most numerous and most brilliant in these
temperate zones, and gradually loses its richness as we approach
the equator or the poles.

The plants of the sea are often of a size altogether micro-
scopical. Freycinet and Turrel, when on board the corvette La
Créole, in the neighbourhood of Tajo, in the isle of Lucon, observed
an extent of thirty-five square miles tinted a bright red. This colour
proved to be due to the presence of a minute plant, so small that

30 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

in a square inch there were 25,000,000 individuals. As this
coloration extended to a considerable depth, it would be impossible
to calculate the number of living creatures. In the Red Sea this
coloration is seen under certain circumstances, and hence its name.
In this case, as in the other, the colour is due to a microscopic sea-
weed. “On the 1oth of December,” says M. Ehrenberg, “I saw
from Tor, near Mount Sinai, the whole bay, of which the village is
the port, red as blood; the open sea, beyond the coral reef which
fringes the shore, kept its ordinary colour. The wavelets carried
to the shore during the heat of the day a purple mucilaginous
matter and left it upon the sand, so that in about half an hour the
whole bay at low tide was surrounded by a red fringe. I took
some of the water to my tent ina glass. It was easy to see that

TRICHODESMIUM EHRENBERGII.

the coloration was due to little flocks, scarcely visible, often
greenish, and sometimes of an intense green, but for the most part
a deep red, the water in which they were swimming being per-
fectly colourless. Upon examining them with a microscope, I found
that the flocks were formed of bundles of fibres. These bundles
were rarely as much as one-twelfth of an inch long. They were
spindle-shaped and were contained in a kind of mucilaginous enve-
lope. During the day they remained upon the surface of the water,
but at night they sank to the bottom of the glass; some time
after they came up again.” This sea-weed is called the Red
Trichodesmium. M. Evenot Dupont, a noted barrister in the
Mauritius, recounts that on the 15th of July, 1843, the sea, as
far as the eye could reach, was tinted with red. The surface
seemed covered with a material of a brick-dust colour; a
little mahogany dust would have produced the very effect.
M. Dupont attached a basket to a cord, and drew up some of

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 31

the water containing this substance, and with a spoon he filled
a glass. The following day it had become a deep violet, and
the water a rose tint. By straining the water through linen, the
substance adhered to the cloth ; when dry it became green. This
M. Montague examined, and pronounced it to be a minute
sea-weed of the same kind as the preceding one. He named it

THE PERFORATED THALASSIOPHYLLUM.

Trichodesmium Ehrenbergit. This algee is composed of articulated
fibres, placed side by side, varying from z3oth to sdoth of an inch
in length. The microscope shows that the fibres are built up of
cells fastened regularly end by end, firmly pressed together, and
slightly four-sided. Other marine plants, on the contrary, present
a gigantic size. Humboldt saw a fucus taken out of the water
more than 500 yards long!

The ocean plants do not bear much resemblance to those

32 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

which adorn our woods and valleys. To begin with, they have no
roots. Those which float are globular or ovoid, tubular or mem-
branous, without any appearance of roots. Those which adhere
are fastened by a sticky surface, more or less lobed and divided.
They derive no nourishment from the earth; their growth is
entirely from the exterior. Their whole existence they owe to the
water: they receive everything from it, and return everything
to it.

The terrestrial plants take up from the earth, by means of their

LAURENCIA PINNATIFIDA. CLADOSTEPHUS VERTICILLATUS.

roots, certain nutritious matter, and they do not thrive unless
the soil be suitable. Marine plants are utterly indifferent as
to what they adhere to. It may be limestone or granite, it
is all the same to them; hence they are found indiscriminately
mixed. The same may be said of corals and shell-fish. These hy-
drophytes possess neither true stems nor leaves; they expand by
means of layers or lamels, broad or straight and narrow; of only
one piece, or of many pieces, which take the place of leaves.
They sometimes resemble wavy thongs, sometimes crumpled
threads; some are thick and tough, others are thin and mem-

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 33

branous. Some might be taken for little transparent balloons ;
some for fabrics, regularly frilled; some for shreds of quivering
jelly; some for ribbons of yellow horn; some for belts of tanned

CAULERPA WITH YEW LEAVES, ONE-FOURTH THE SIZE OF NATURE.
(Caulerpa taxtfolia.—Agardh.)

leather; some for fans of green paper! Their surface is some-
times glossy, polished, and even glittering; sometimes rough

PADINA PAVONITA. RED DOCK-LEAVED DELESSERIA,.

(Delesseria sanguinea.)

with worts or with real hair. Here one is found covered with a
,
viscous slime; another with a saline dust; a third with a sweet
efflorescence ; and sometimes they are found with a shelly surface.
D

34. THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Their colour is olive, fawn, yellow, brown, more or less dark;
green, more or less bright; pink, more or less delicate; carmine,
more or less rich. |

Some authors have divided them, according to their predo-
minant colours, into three great sections :— The Brows, or Blacks
(Melanosperms) ; the Greens (Chlorosperms) ; the Reds (Rhodosperms).
The first are the most numerous. They can grow in a wider range
of depth, and appear to occupy three distinct regions, forming the

PLOCAMIUM PLUMOSUM.

greatest part of the submarine forests. The green exist nearer the
surface, often floating ; the red are met with in shallow water, on
the rocks near the shore.

If from the bottom of the ocean a submarine volcano heaved
up an island of barren rocks and scoriz, the power of life would
soon cover its surface with organisms. Almost as soon as the stone
came in contact with the air it would become covered with little
plants which, adhering to it, would round it, and little by little
alter its shape. At first they appear only yellow or grey spots;
then their colour changes to blue or green, and their construction
alters, becoming more complex. As they grow older, the colour of
these patches deepens, and their thickness increases. After the
lapse of a certain time, they are covered with velvety threads;
then they die, and from their decay spring other plants of larger
size, a less stunted vegetation, and possessing more decided
characteristics.

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 35

Those plants of the ocean which vegetate upon the surface of
the water without adhering to any fixed body, frequently interlace
and form islands of vegetable matter, which the currents transport
and at length strand on some unknown shores, or the storms
scatter.

To the south-east of Newfoundland, not far from the Azores,

THE GULF WEED.

Sargassum bacctferuni.)

- there is an immense bank of sea-plants, composed of floating
wrack, one of the most common of the marine fuci. This bank is
named the Sargasso Sea, for the weed belongs to the genus Sar-
gassum. This gigantic mass astonished Columbus, who thought it
marked the limits of navigation. It was called by Oviedo, the
Prairie of Weeds. These beds of floating plants sometimes gather
round ships in an alarming manner. The Gulf weed occupies a
triangular area equal in extent to the valley of the Mississippi.
Many of the alge float upon the surface of the sea, sometimes
joined together, sometimes in a small number, at other times
forming broad bands or oases in the desert of waters. Amongst
these plants we ought to mention the sea /ettuce (ulva), with its
large and thin leaves, which have a greenish tint sometimes
shading off into dark violet. One species resembles a_ long
D2

36 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

flat pipe, another a fine twisted thread. With these floating alge
many marine plants which grow on the ocean bed are mixed.
They become detached by the waves, and their air-cells cause the
loosened branches to rise to the surface. M. de Martius thinks that

many of the floating sea-weeds are uprooted by the whaies. When
once at the surface, the fuci throw out branches and lobes
and interlace with each other in every direction. These plants
at the surface have such an exuberant growth that they may
even be said to surpass in development the Axacharis Canadensis,
a weed indigenous to the waters of the North American con-
tinent. It was accidentally transported to this country about the
year 1842; it has already spread over the greater part of England

,

THE PLANES OF LHE SLA: 37

and Scotland, and grows in such thick masses that the navigation
of many of the rivers and canals threatens to be impeded.

One of the characteristics of these ocean prairies is the simplicity
of their composition. On land it is very different. Here we find a
great number of different plants; but in an ocean prairie there are
seldom more than two or three species, and very often only one.
But these floating prairies are less numerous and less remarkable
than the land prairies.

The bottom of the sea is overspread with a covering of rich
vegetation ; the plants are close together, and mingling their varied

CALLITHAMNION.

tints, they cover the ocean floor with a many-coloured carpet.
Here are thickets and groves, gardens and woods. Upon the land
there are but few virgin forests, but beneath the waves none are
trodden by the foot of man. The marine vegetation is better pre-
served, better protected than that on land. Terrestrial forests men
mutilate, explore, root up, and burn, but they approach very
timidly, with many precautions, and only for a few minutes at a
time, the woods of the ocean. The submerged hydrophytes mingle
their foliage loosely or interlace with each other firmly ; now they
form arched grottoes, winding galleries, or impenetrable thickets.
There is in the harmony of the vegetation of the sea a splendour

38 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

which compensates for the magnificence of the terrestrial foliage.
Some of these submarine plants are scarcely covered with water,
whereas others hide themselves in the profundity of the ocean
depths. In the neighbourhood of the Canary Islands, Humboldt
and Bonpland drew up from a depth of 200 feet a Cawlerpa which
had leaves like the vine; it possessed a beautiful green colour.
Between the Isle of France and Madagascar, Bory de Saint-
Vincent gathered a bunch of ribboned wrack (Sargassum turbina-
tum), from a depth of 650 feet. The Callithamnions are very

LAMINARIA.,

remarkable amongst the marine plants for the marvellous delicacy
of their structure, the elegance of their branches, and the beauty of
their scarlet or violet tints.

The Laminaria stretch themselves out like immense, long
straps, often fringed and pleated, which float gracefully upon the
currents, and bend to the winds and the tempests.

The Agara spread abroad their waving tongues, or large fans,
shrivelled and jagged.

The A/aria shoot out into the water from their slender yet stiff
stems, which are surrounded at their top by a beautiful collar of
short and sinuous ribbons, from the centre of which rises a thong-

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 39

like leaf, fifteen or twenty yards long, which at its commencement
is narrow, then continues an equal size, and at last gradually
narrows into a point.

The pear-bearing wrack (Macrocystis pyrifera) of Terra del
Fuego grows in large ramified bushes; each branch ends in a
hollow bag, a kind of inflated swimming bladder, which might well

AGARUM.

(Agarune Gmelinz.)

be taken for a fruit. This fucus may be found rooted at a depth of
150 fathoms (G. Forster), and, consequently, is higher than the
highest of our trees.

The Wereocystis has a false filiform stem, which is flexible, and
some thirty yards high ; towards its extremity it gradually thickens,
where it suddenly dilates into a little pear, out of the eye of which
springs a tuft of dichotomous appendages, ten or twelve yards long,
flexible and straight, forming an immense bouquet.

40 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

We have forgotten to mention the Acetabulum, they are beauti-
ful formations, though for a long time we knew but little about
them. They were regarded by Tournefort as alge, and by Linnzus
as polypes. They are small, round, thin plates, lixe very flat parasols.

ALARIA.
(Alaria fistulosa.)

They are striated in rays, and more or less like the top of certain
fungi; for example, that of Agaricus androsaceus. To the centre
of this round top the stalk upon which it is supported is attached.
This stalk is very slender, long, and jointed. The rays are hollow
and thin. Tubes communicate with the great cavity of the
head ; the whole vegetable forming a single cell. The skin of the

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. AI

plant contains carbonate of lime, deposited in fine grains and in
concentric layers.

Delile has left among his papers an unpublished monograph
upon this vegetable wonder. M. Woronine has just published the

NEREOCYSTIS.

(Nereocystis Lutkeana.)

results of his examination of its organisation. He writes: “The
stalks enlarge at the summit, and produce many successive whorls
of confervoid branches. The lower ones, decaying, drop off, and
their points of attachment become obliterated. New and_ higher
whorls continue to grow; at last it reaches a stage of its growth
when it seems a bundle of whorled tubes formed into a circular

42 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

button. The disc, or cellular plate, has radiating compartments ;
this plate, at first semi-transparent, thickening as it ages. The
lower confervoid whorls sometimes remain in fragments, or leave
their traces in rings, so that, when they reach the top, circles of tufts
are formed, which surround the centre of the head.” Sometimes
two of these hat-like expansions are found one above the other.

Marine plants form neither calyx nor corolla; they have no true
stamens nor yet true pistils; but by a marvellous compensation,
as we shall find in the following chapters, many marine animals

ACETABULUM.

are organised, and very often grouped, like real flowers. Wonderful
element, where animals flower and vegetables bear no flowers!

For a long time botanists were totally ignorant of the mode in
which marine plants were propagated. They were classed among
the cryptogamic plants, or plants that have no visible seed organs.
We now know that the alge are reproduced by corpuscles, male
and female, which are often endowed with wonderful rapidity of
motion. If marine animals have borrowed from the land vegetation
the form of their flowers, the marine vegetables in their turn have
borrowed from the land animals something of their independent
motion. In 1793 Girod-Chantrans first pointed out, but without
any attempt at explanation, the kind of spontaneous movement of
the green granular matter of certain of the alge. He erroneously
supposed that this matter was an agglomeration of animalcules,
similar to those found in some polypes. In 1817 Bory de Saint-
Vincent discovered beyond all doubt, and showed in a most clear
manner, that the granules possessed a locomotive power. His
observations were confirmed by Gaillon, of Paris, and Agardh, of

LL

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 43

Stockholm. The more recent studies of Derbes and Solier, and
especially of Thuret and Pringsheim, have thrown the greatest
light upon the propagation of marine vegetables.

Red sea-weeds are propagated by two kinds of spores. The
first kind, or ¢etraspores, bears long pods containing masses of
four seeds or spores. These pods, or bulbs, carry within them-
selves the means of germination. The spores properly so called
are found in groups in proper conceptacles or folyspores. For
their perfect development, the action of the aztheridia (transparent
cells) seems necessary. In these cells granular bodies are moved
about by means of vibratile hairs or czlza. These bodies are

ZOOSPORES,

true seeds. The antheridia pass through many different forms,
and finally break up into numerous cellules. These cellules
become detached ; they do not germinate, but it is probable that
their action upon the polyspores is analogous to that which the
green alge exhibit. It more frequently happens that each of
these organs belongs to a distinct plant, so that the species com-
prehends three individual forms, which is even more complicated
than the fructification of the date palm, the male and female
flowers of which bloom on separate trees. The green alge are
chiefly propagated by zoosperms and by spores. The szoosperms,
or zoospores, are minute microscopical corpuscles about 5,5,5th of
an inch long, of an ovoid or top-shaped form, and two-thirds full
of a green liquid called chlorophylle. One end of the minute
body thins out to a point or beak, and out of this issue two
or four threads longer than the whole corpuscles. In some of
the alee these threads are unequal. The longer one is stretched
out in front, while the other is trailed behind asa sort of rudder.
Near the end of the beak is frequently seen a reddish spot, which
remains some time after the germination has commenced,

A4 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

The M/yrionema, a parasite which grows on the surface of other
algze in small brown patches, and the Haligenia, whose extended
frond is almost twelve feet in diameter, are reproduced by similar
zoospores, which are both very small and both possess the same
simple organisation. Analogy would lead us to suppose that
the immense tree-like Lessonza of the Southern Ocean was pro-
pagated by zoospores whose length was scarcely g,/ooth of an inch.
Some sea-weeds have the property of producing zoospores in

FORMATION AND EMISSION OF ZOOSPORES,
(Bryopsis hynoides.)

all parts of their tissue; in others this production is confined to
certain parts of the fronds. The corpuscles always seem to be
produced by a species of coagulation of matter contained in
the cellules. This matter coalesces with grains more or less
numerous; at first indistinct (fig. 1), then they become well
defined (fig. 2), and at last the zoospores separate (fig. 3). The
emission of the zoospores nearly always takes place by force,
which is due to the expansion of the mucilaginous liquid with
which the cellules are filled.

This liquid accumulates gradually by endosmose, and at last
ruptures the walls. As soon as they are free (fig. Z), the zoospores

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 45

spread about in every direction, always moving with the point or
rostro foremost. Their movements are lively and curious; some-
times they abruptly stop, at other times they are seen twisting
round on their longest axes with great rapidity. If the vase which
contains them is placed near a window they always make their
way towards the light. After they have thus been kicking about
for hours or days, according to the species, the zoospores (fig. Z)

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ZOOSPORE AND THE FORMATION OF THE YOUNG PLANT,
(Haligenia bulbosa.)

fix themselves by their rostro by means of a mucilaginous secretion ;
their bodies become round, the threads or hairs disappear, they
either decompose or drop off. At the same time the opposite
extremity grows thick and lengthens into a tube; in a short time
secretions appear in this tube, and often the growth is so rapid that
in a few days the young frond can be distinguished (fig. 11).

The spore is a little round body filled with an olive-green fluid,
and which receives from the cz/ia the property of reproducing an
individual like itself. It is contained in a bag (sporange), which is

46 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

fixed by a short pedicle to the side of a cavity (conceptacle), which
opens to the surface of the plant by a little orifice (ostiole).

CONCEPTACLE ENCLOSING THE SPORANGES,

(Fucus vesiculosus.)

The sporange contains, according to the species, one or more
spores. .

INSERTION OF THE SPORANGE, EMISSION OF THE OCTOSPORE.
(Fucus vesiculosus.)

The antherozoids are microscopic corpuscles .about the z,)5oth
of an inch in length, enclosing a coloured granule which seems to

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 47

endeavour to come to the surface, and is furnished with two moving
cilia. A great number of them are contained in little transparent

CONCEPTACLE ENCLOSING THE ANTHERIDIA.

(Fucus vesiculosus.)

ovoid bags (antheridia) fastened by their base upon branching and
articulated hairs; these hairs spring from the walls of the con-

I, INSERTION OF THE ANTHERIDIA.—2. EMISSION OF THE ANTHEROZOiIDS,

(Fucus vesiculosus.)

ceptacle and converge towards the ostiole, as if to guide the
antherozoids in their exit from its cavity. The spore-cases and the
antheridia are very often, according to the species, contained in the
same conceptacle; or sometimes they are separated, and distinct
conceptacles contain each.

48 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

According to the beautiful researches of M. Thuret, the following
phenomena take place in the reproduction of the Fucus vesiculosus.
The spore-cases take their origin from the cellules of the conceptu-
lary cavity. Some of these cellules rise above the others, forming
a little projection, which is cut in two by a transversal partition.
The lower division ceases to grow, and forms from that time
the pedicle ; the upper one continues to increase, is gradually filled
with olive-green matter, and becomes a spore-case. In due time
this matter divides itself into eight parts, which become so many
spores. In this, their united state, they form an octospore. This body
appears as an opaque or brown mass, enclosed by two transparent
membranes. The exterior membrane (ferzspore) belongs to the
spore-case, and remains united to the pedicle when the latter has
burst. The interior membrane (efzspore) adheres to the enclosed
mass, and holds the spores tightly together. At their birth the octo-
spores slip out of the orifice of the conceptacle, and disperse them-
selves through the water. Soon they increase in volume, and in
time the enveloping membrane (epispore) begins to give way at the
upper part, and then it is seen (fig. 1, Plate II.) that the spores are
still held together by a third very fine membrane. The lower part
of the epispore, which is not broken up, is folded back upon itself,
to allow the spores (fig. 2) to issue out; it separates completely,
only holding by the base of the interior membrane (fig. 3) ; finally
this third membrane breaks, and the spores escape (fig. 4). All
this takes place in less than an hour. The liberated spores are
perfectly round, of a yellowish olive-green tint, utterly destitute of
teguments. This is the moment that the action of the anthero-
zoids interferes to impregnate the spores now disengaged from
their envelope. It is only necessary that some antherides should
be in the water which contains these reproductive bodies. Under
the influence of moisture the antherozoids become liberated from
their antherides (fig. a), surround the spore, and attach themselves
to its surface (fig. 5), and, by means of their vibratile cilia they
communicate to them a very rapid revolving motion. This move-
ment gradually becomes slower, and in about half an hour ceases
altogether. In some hours the spore becomes covered with a
membrane, and in a still longer time a partition appears, which
divides it into two cellules (fig. 6). At the same time (fig. 7) a

wha

—

BARD

Ly EL

pee ay
ATF ei
: ’ “*,

r

.

PRODUCTION AND GERM ATION OF ALG&.

(Fucus vesiculosu

I, 2, 3. Formation of theovules. 4. Their emission

}

5. l nion il oe nerozoides and the

|
plant

THE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 49

little protuberance shows itself, which continues to elongate, and at
last is converted into a transparent filament, containing no green
matter, and only enclosing some yellowish grains at its extremity.
Soon many of these roots are formed at the base of the spore, and
by these the young frond is fixed (figs. 7, 8,9, 10). In this the
cells are multiplied by partitions, dividing those which already
exist ; little by little it lengthens and expands to a pear-like shape,
and of a brown colour. The young frond is presently formed. It
already shows, very slightly, it is true, the main features of the
parent plant. Some day or other it will reach its full development,
and in its turn propagate individuals of its species.

BLADDER WRACK.

(Fucus vesiculosus.)

Every storm casts up upon the shores of eastern Europe vast
heaps of wrack and other sea-weeds. These are collected, and
carried inland to serve as manure. The poor people dry it for
their fuel. Formerly from these marine plants soda was prepared.
These sea-weeds cover the shore and submerged rocks. They
form upon the sand a line showing the height to which the waves
wash. The principal of them are the knobbed wrack (Fucus
nodusus), which floats out upon the water, buoyed up by large
air vessels placed singly in the stem; the bladder wrack ( Fucus
vesiculosus), which is known by its air vessels, which are as large

E

50 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

as nuts, and in pairs; the serrated sca-weed (Fucus serratus),
whose thongs have their edges jagged, and whose surface is
frequently covered with the most delicate lacework, which was
the handiwork of a parasitical zoophyte, the Wembraniposa. ‘The
Fucus siliquosus is also found, which has long flattened capsules,
marked by transversal partitions. On some shores there are as
many as 30,000 persons who go down to the beach to gather
these fuci thrown up by the waves, or: to cut those which grow
upon the rocks, and which the ebbing tide has uncovered. Since
in this harvest, or rather pillage, the rich, who have the greatest
number of teams, and can employ the most hands, would take the
greatest share, the Catholic priests of the middle ages established a
worthy custom. No one was allowed to gather the sea-weed the first
day of the “harvest,” except the poorer inhabitants of the parish.
These borrowed their neighbours’ horses and carts, and thus were
enabled to collect sufficient for their wants. In the neighbourhood
of Finisterre this ancient custom is still preserved. The first day
of cutting the sea-weed is called “the day of the poor.” The priest
comes down to the beach in the morning, and if one of the rich
come to gather the weeds, the village Nestor prevents him with
the rebuke, “ Let the poor gather their bread.”

The labourers who make soda from the wrack. go to the most
favourable spots for collecting the weed, in bodies of six together,
and construct a kind of cabin, where they pass the night. When
the sea is “out,” the men spread themselves over the rocks, tear off
the wrack, and throw it into heaps. It is then carried to a spot
on the shore beyond the reach of the waves, either on rafts or
hurdles or on their backs. Here they spread it out to dry. When
it is sufficiently dry, they pile it in kilns, which are rude structures
made of four flags laid in a rectangle, and in this they set it on fire.
The combustion is very slow, and a dense and very disagreeable
smoke rises from the burning heap. The sea-weeds, which are con-
stantly stirred about with an iron bar, give out great heat. The
ashes undergo a kind of vitrification and run together into a mass ;
this is £e/p. Every year 20,000 men used to be engaged in making
kelp in the Orkneys; at the present time the making of soda,
which the kelp was subsequently treated for, has been superseded
by the extraction of iodine, which is more profitable.

LHE PLANTS OF THE SEA. 51

Another product of the sea is the marine zostera, a remarkable
plant with large ribboned leaves of a dark-green. This plant is
not a true alge. It belongs to the Mazadacew, the pond-weed
family. They have very slender roots and attach themselves
to the moving sands. They possess true flowers, although they are
small. The zostera is employed in many places for mattresses and
cushions, and for packing. In Holland, at the entrance of the
Zuyder Zee, they use it under the name of wer for the construc-
tion of dykes.

Truly we must be struck with admiration when we reflect on
the enormous masses of marine vegetation which every tide and
every storm casts up in heaps on every shore, throughout every
year and month and day, without appearing in the least to lessen
the quantity which clothes the ocean bed.

CEAP A REN.
INFUSORIAL ANIMALS.

THE Creator has distributed with marvellous profusion the species
and individuals of the lower grades of the animal kingdom. He
seems to have wished to console the silent abysses of the sea and
at the same time to enliven them by crowding their waters with
millions, countless millions, of beings which possess a wonderful
versatility of life.

The ocean is inhabited by innumerable nations of the infinitely

a

oo

MICROSCOPE,

little. This diminutive life would have remained utterly unknown
to us to this day had we not possessed the microscope—the sixth
sense of man, as Michelet well called it. The microscope! marvel-
lous instrument, which penetrates the depths of life as the telescope
roams in the endless space above us! The knowledge of the in-
fusoria, without any question, is the most beautiful of the achieve-
ments of optics. A perfectly new world is revealed to us, a world
which fills us with astonishment and wonder at the resources of
creative power. Well says Belon, “There is nothing in the world

INFUSORIAL ANIMALS. 53

which we may call small or trivial, which does not bear witness
to the grandeur and unapproached excellence of the Almighty
Creator.”

The infusorial animalcules are so minute that a single drop of
water may contain many millions of them. They exist in all
waters, the fresh as well as salt, the cold as well as hot. The great

SOLAR MICROSCOPE,

rivers teem vast quantities of them hourly into the ocean. The
Ganges, in the course of one year, transports a mass of invisible in-
fusoria equal in volume to six or eight of the great pyramids of
Egypt. Among these animalcules, according to Ehrenberg, may be
counted seventy-one different species. The water brought up from
a depth of 21,600 feet between the Philippine and Marianne Islands,
was found to contain 116 species. In the Arctic regions, where
beings of a higher organisation cannot exist, the infusoria are still
met with in myriads. Those which were observed in the Antarctic
seas during the voyages of Captain Sir James Ross, offer a richness
of organisation often accompanied by elegance of form quite
unknown in more northern regions. In the residuum of the
blocks of ice floating about in latitude 78° 10, nearly fifty dif-
ferent species were found. At a depth of the sea which exceeds
the height of the loftiest mountain, Humboldt asserts that each bed
of water is animated by an innumerable phalanx of inhabitants

54 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

imperceptible to the human eye. These microscopic creatures are,
in short, the smallest and the most numerous creatures in nature.
They constitute, with human beings, one of the wheels of that very
complicated machine, the globe. They fill that rank and station
willed for them by the great first Thought! Suppress these
beings and the world would be incomplete. And so the old saying
comes true, “ There is nothing so small but may become great
by reflection.”

These infusoria are more or less transparent. They have not

INFUSORIA, COTHURNIA.

Cothurnia pyxidif~ormis. )

enough substance to be opaque. Their bodies are generally glo-
bular or ovoid ; sometimes they are oblong, sometimes blister-like,
sometimes a flattened disc, and even thin as a leaf. They are found
resembling a tadpole, a thimble, a little bell, a shoe, a rose-bud, a
flower, a grain of wheat.

The Monads, the least of the least, appear only to be molecules
of an absorbing substance, live atoms, points which exist. These
tiny creatures are in diameter about the gsooduoooth of an inch!

At first it was supposed that the infusoria were utterly destitute
of any kind of organisation. They were thought to be fed by
absorption, and by absorption only, but it has lately been discovered
that certain species are complicated enough. There are some—the
Polygastrica—which have not less than four distinct stomachs, thus

INFUSORIAL ANIMALS. 5

On

bringing these minute creatures into a comparison with the rumi-
nants. Ehrenberg asserts that he has seen infusoria provided with
200 stomachs! What appetites they must have! To study the
organs of these microscopic creatures it is necessary to colour the
liquid in which they exist with carmine or indigo. Then place a
drop of this coloured water on a slip glass, and near to it a drop of
clean water. Now cause the two drops to communicate at one point
with a needle. The animalcules approach the coloured drop and
imbibe the molecules of carmine, thus affording the observer the

MONADS. AN INFUSORE MAGNIFIED,

(Paramectum bursaria.)

opportunity of watching the progress of the particle through the
system of the creature.

The difficulties which lay in the way of this delicate obser-
vation, together with the strong imagination of many of the ob-
servers, for a long while prevented any reliable information about
them to be gathered. Leuwenhoeck, who first noticed the existence
of these infusoria in 1676, was so elated with his discovery, and so
certain of the wonderful power of the microscope which he had
made, that he always supposed he saw more than he really did.
He was enraptured with the complexity and the perfection of these
microscopical beings, and wished to suppose their internal organism
was complete, with stomach, alimentary canal, vessels, nerves, and
muscles. Jablot even outstripped his predecessor. He saw among

56 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

them animated bag-pipes, tufted hens, and gold and silver fish!
We now know that infusoria are neither so complicated as some
authors have asserted, nor yet so simple as others have imagined.

It is to the learned Berlin professor, Ehrenberg, and latterly to”
MM. de Siebold, Claparede, Lachmann, Lieberkiihn, and Balbiani,
that we owe the most complete and interesting works in the pos-
session of science upon these lovely dwarfs of nature, these atoms
of existence.

The infusoria are furnished on all parts of their bodies with
vibratory cilia, hair-like prominences, not all of the same thickness,

PARAMECIUM BURSARIA. VOLVOCE#.

neither of the same length. They are ever in motion, thus causing
currents in the water which lead the organic particles on which they
subsist to the entrance of their digestive apparatus. These cilia not
only serve as the providers of their food, but at the same time they
seem to be their organs of respiration and of locomotion. The
infusoria do not possess members in the usual sense of the term ;
some, however, have tails. These miniature animals swim as fish,
elide like serpents, and twist like worms.

The Volvocee roll round, constantly revolving round their cen-

ehtly sloping, smooth sur-

tres, like a ball running about on a slig

face. The smallest creature which moves, as well as the smallest
flower which blooms, awakens within us feelings of surprise and
joy. We are mute with astonishment and can but dream in our
wonder,

“vf

+

-

REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOI T OF AN INFUSORE.

2 5. Different phases of the fusion of two individuals. 6. Complete fusion
Division of the common mass into oviform bodies. g. Their emission. 10, 11. Liberated

ovitorm bodies.

12, 13,14. Young animalcules produced from these bodies; their develop-

ment 5. The adult animalcule.

INFUSORIAL ANIMALS. 57

The infusoria reproduce each other in different ways. First,
there is spontancous division, technically called fisstparism, or fission.
By this process the animal divides itself into two equal parts, each
part becoming an exact resemblance of the original and primitive
individual, so that literally the child is half its mother, and
the grandson a quarter of its grandfather! A second mode is
by gemme, or budding, something after the manner of plants,
or perhaps more like the emission of an egg which in due
time develops into an adult animalcule. Who can imagine the
size of such an egg? Both these processes may be watched

PROPAGATION OF AN INFUSORE BY SPONTANEOUS DIVISION, OR FISSIPARISM.

going on in sea water, by any one who has patience enough.
The whole operation is completed in a very short space of
time. Very lately it has been discovered that there is a dif-
ference between the male and female infusore, and this is the origin
of a third mode of reproduction. Two of the animalcules in the
course of their wandering through their liquid world—a drop of
water—meet each other. By some strange force they become
attached by their anteriors (PlateIII., fig.1), gradually they be-
come fused into each other (figs. 2, 3, 4,5), and at last appear
one homogeneous mass (fig. 6). This then becomes surrounded
by a transparent envelope, and in the interior of the mass four
nebulous points begin to appear (fig. 7). These gradually extend
until the whole is divided into four egg-shaped bodies (fig. 8). Soon

58 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the envelope breaks and allows these oviform particles to escape
(fig. 9). These, like seeds, may remain for years before they find
themselves in positions favourable for their development. When
the surrounding circumstances are favourable, the germ begins to
grow (figs. 10, 11). The infusore is formed (fig. 12), and grows
rapidly (figs. 13, 14), and thus reaches its full development (fig. 15),
and immediately sets out to find some other of its kind with which
it may join its destiny and aid in the propagation of its species.
Wonderful operations in a drop of water ! i

Life is spread over nature in such well-nigh prodigal abundance
that the smallest infusore has its parasite a little smaller, these

INFUSORE AND ITS PARASITES.

”

serving in their turn as “dwellings and pasture grounds,” to use
Humboldt’s expression, for other animalculz still less. The para-
sites, a, of the Paramecium aurelia, b, are small creatures cylindrical
in form, furnished with short suckers, swimming in the water
by natatory cils. Sometimes they are spherical, and although
wanting in cilia, yet they preserve their suckers. Swimming
vigorously, they devote themselves to chasing the paramecium.
Another of the parasites which also preys upon the paramecium
remains perfectly quiet until one of them approaches, when it
throws itself upon its victim and is carried along with it. It buries
itself in the body, and in a short time multiplies to such a degree
that sometimes fifty of them are found in a single individual !

INFUSORIAL ANIMALS. 59

One of the most surprising phenomena which we meet with
in the study of infusoria is their disorganisation by azfluence. This
decomposition is either entire or partial. Miiller has seen a
kalpode (Kolpoda meleagris) melt away until scarcely ~,th of his
body remained; the rest continuing to swim about as if nothing had
happened. The infusoria present still another kind of decompo-
sition. If we approach the drop of water in which the animalcule
lives with the barb of ‘a feather wet with ammonia, the animal
ceases its swimming motion instantly, although its cilia still vibrate
rapidly. Suddenly, at some point of its circumference, a notch is
formed which increases more and more until the whole animal is
dissolved. If, while this process be going on, a drop of pure water
be added, the decomposition is at once arrested, and that which
remains of the animalcule begins to move and swim as if the
ammonia had never been in its neighbourhood, and had not dis-
soived the greater part of its substance.

60

CHARTER VL
THE FORAMINIFERA.

WHEN we examine sea-weed under a microscope we observe
many particles, apparently solid, which have a regular and often
geometrical structure. Beccaria seems to have been the first ob-
server who gave any attention to these small, and all but invisible,
crains. He discovered them in the sand of Ravenna. Fora long
time it was erroneously supposed that they were only to be found
on the shores of the Adriatic ; they have, however, since been dis-
covered in England, France, Germany, and in fact upon the shores
of every sea. Patient researches have been prosecuted by Bianchi,
Soldani, Walker, Fichtel, and Moll, and especially by Alcide
d’Orbigny, which have revealed to us a great number of these minute
bodies. These grains are nothing else than the solid carapace or
shell of a species of marine animalcules which constitute an entire
order among the inhabitants of sea water. The beach is so covered
in certain localities that they form nearly half of its sand. Bianchi
found 6,000 of these shells in thirty grammes of the sand from the
Adriatic. D’Orbigny computed that there were 3,840,000 in the
same quantity of sand from the Antilles. The number contained
in a cubic yard would exceed all our powers of computation. These
little shells have a variety of forms. Their observers have noted
2,000 different organisations, symmetrical or otherwise, but always
remarkable for their curious, but ever beautiful and elegant forms.
They are globular, discoid, star-like, wreathed, spiralled, and club-
like. Some have a wide orifice, others possess a very narrow one.
They are generally divided into many chambers, which communi-
cate with each other by means of little holes. They also have pores
opening to their exterior. To this fact they are indebted for their
name foraminifera (foramen, a hole), which was bestowed upon them
by D’Orbigny. Advantage has been taken of their general forms,

THE FORAMINIFERA. 61

and the number and disposition of their chambers, to group them
into families. D’Orbigny’s classification is good, and deserves to be
generally adopted, although his names are not so euphonious as
they might be. This clever naturalist, who ought to be regarded
as the great historian of this minute people, divides them into five
families which contain about sixty species :—Shells of a single

STICHOSTEGA,

chamber, and those superimposed linearly on a straight or curved
axis (Stichostega) ; those composed of alternate chambers (£7al-
lostega); those which have chambers on a common axis, each
investing half the circumference (A gathistega). In another family
the chambers are arranged in spirals (/elixostega).

In this case either the folds of the spiral wind round each other

ENALLOSTEGA, AGATHISTEGA.

like a coiled rope, or rise above each other in a corkscrew fashion.
In certain species the chambers are subdivided by partitions, so that
a section of the shell shows a kind of trellis work, as in the £z7Zo-
mostega. Nhat geometry, what mechanism, what harmony, in the
very meanest of organised beings! The resemblance which these
little shells bear to those of the nautilus at first led naturalists to
believe that the animals themselves were of the same species, and
therefore place the foraminifera with the molluscous cephalopods.

62 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

They were regarded as microscopic nautili but of a lower deve-
lopment; but the discovery of some living specimens, and a careful
examination of their characters, proved that they belonged to a

HELIXOSTEGA.

class of animals which had a very much more simple construction
than the last-named mollusks.

Dujardin considered them to be infusoria ; other naturalists are
inclined to place them in alliance with the meduse. Cuvier says
nothing more about the inhabitants of these shells than that they
have oblong bodies, surmounted by numerous red_ tentacule.

ENTOMOSTEGA.

Modern observers have noted that they are formed of a gelatinous
substance which fills the chambers of which we have spoken, each
chamber communicating by pores in its walls. Out of these pores
issue long and slender capillary filaments, which have no particular
shape and are always changing. They are like threads of glass
which extend all round the animal. In some species there are only
eight or ten of these filaments; in others a much larger number.

THE FORAMINIFERA. 63

They move in all ways with the greatest rapidity. They are the
feet and arms of these wonderful creatures; by their means they
succeed in catching their prey. These filaments appear to contain
something poisonous. Dr. Schultze noticed that the prey seized
suddenly and entirely lost all movement as soon as it was touched
by them. It is probable that thus the foraminifera live upon
other animals. It is no mean wonder that these creatures, despite

DISCORBINA. MILIOLA.

the smallness of their size and slightness of their form, are
unpitying flesh-eaters. The smallest, the weakest, the most
microscopic animal in existence thus becomes, by means of a
homeeopathic dose of poison, a most formidable destroyer !

_ Dujardin observed that when a A7/zlzo/a attempted to climb up
the sides of a vase, it could improvise, as it were, on the instant
and at the expense of its‘own substance, a provisional foot, which
stretched itself out rapidly and performed all the functions of a
permanent member. The occasion served, this temporary foot
was seen once more to return to the common mass, and was
absorbed into the body. Thus, with these wonderful creatures the
presence of a necessity gives the power to create an organ by
the mere will of the creature ; while man, with all his genius, can-
not create a hair! Is not this humiliating ? Thus it appears that
the filaments of all the species can be completely drawn in and
lost in the rest of their substance. How marvellous are nature’s
combinations !

The foraminifera have no stomach properly so called. They
are gifted with a peculiar tissue, at once gelatinous, contractile,
and essentially assimilative, which Dujardin has shown is also
found in all infusorial animalcula.

64 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Pseudopods are not only met with in foraminifera, but this kind
of foraging threads are the important characteristics of a whole
class of animalcules. Since these organs resemble hairy roots, these
animals are classed under the name of RAzzopods (root-footed). The
thizopods contain besides the foraminifera, whose outside tegument
is calcareous, animals who have no semblance of a shell, like the
Amaebine, whose covering is siliceous or flinty. These latter are
the Radiolaria.

The Amabine are infusoria possessing the fishing filament of
rhizopod infusoria. They may be regarded as animals which have
not yet reached their perfect organisation. They are unformed

PROTEUS.

(Amiba divergens.) }

microscopic masses, which are capable of expansion and contraction.
We take the Amiba divergens for an example of the class. Con-
ceive a tiny drop of matter, semi-solid, semi-transparent, semi-
eelatinous, homogeneous, possessing voluntary motion. It can
move itself in different ways, dilate or contract, and appear in
extraordinary or irregular figures. When the animalcule is placed
on the object-glass of the microscope it glides like a drop of oil,
separating and reforming itself, a veritable Proteus. In succeeding
moments it is circular, oblong, hollow, sinuous, lobed, star-like, and
even branched.

The Lieberkuhnia of Wagener is also an ameebina. It
possesses a great number of pseudopods, which roll about in every
direction, now joining themselves together; now separating, now

RADIATED ANITMAES:

liolaria. cl.)

1. Acanthostaurus purpurascens. (//c/.) | 4. Dorataspis polyancistra. (//c?.)
2. Amphilonche anormala. ik | 5. Diploconus fasces. (/#/.)

3. Dyotiosoma trigonizon. (/c/.) 6. Sphzyozoum italicum, {(//c?.)

7. Arachnocorys circumtexta. (//c/.)

THE FORAMINIFERA. 65

elongating themselves ; and now again contracting, appearing, and
disappearing.

The Radiolaria float in abundance on the surface of the sea
under the beautiful sky of Messina. They may be seen moving

THE LIEBERKUHNIA OF WAGENER.

on the blue water in such numbers that they appear like a scum
of mobile, transparent, colourless jelly. Their forms vary from a
point to a line, they may be spherical, or elliptical, or cylindrical,
and sometimes the creature is wreathed into a crown. If you try
to take them with the forceps, they tear; if you lift them from the
water with a net, they adhere to the meshes, and you mutilate them
in endeavouring to detach them. They can only be procured
intact by taking them from the sea in a glass, so that they can swim
in the water at liberty. When seen in the light, these jellies lie
F

66 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

upon the water in no determined shape, and the eye is just able
to distinguish upon their surface dark and light specks. Under a

RADIOLARIA MONOZOA.
(Amphilonche heteracantha.—Haeckel.)

strong magnifying power all the delicacy and beauty of these
wonderful organisms are exhibited. In the splendid work of

RADIOLARIA POLYZOA.

(Spherozoum ovodimare.—Haeckel.)

M. Haeckel, the variety of forms, the fantastic shapes of these
innumerable legions of minute creatures are given. He has dis-
tinguished the Radiolaria into those which live in isolation, which

~~

THE FORAMINIFERA. 67

he calls d/onozoa, and those which form associations, floating
colonies which are carried on the breast of the currents; these
latter are termed Polyzoa. The monozoa are very numerous, and
form twenty-nine species. The polyzoa only comprehend four
species.

The researches of D’Orbigny, relative to these microscopic
organisations, tend to prove that the débris of the foraminifera
constitutes, with that of the polypiers a great part of the submarine
banks, whose accumulations obstruct the navigation in gulfs and
straits, fill up ports, and give rise to those reefs and islands which
rise up in the warm regions of the Pacific. These creatures, appa-
rently without any stamina, and of such low organisation, are found
in all latitudes, and in all depths. °

What in comparison to the necropolis of the foraminifera are
the cemeteries of the elephants and whales? Does it not seem that
the smaller the animal the more enormous the accumulation of its
remains? The shells of the foraminifera are often found—far
more than we at all imagine—in a fossil state. They form whole
ranges of hills, and immense deposits of building stone. The
chalk so abundant in the Paris basin is full of them; a cubic
inch from the quarries of Chantilly was found to contain about
20,000; that is, a block rather more than a yard each way, would
be the mausoleum of the enormous number of 20,000,000,000
creatures. When passing by a house which is being pulled down, or
one which is in course of construction, we are enveloped in a cloud
of dust; and when we draw in our breath, we swallow hundreds of
these little creatures. As the chalk from these quarries has served to
build Paris, as well as the towns and villages of the neighbouring
departments, it may be said that Paris and other great centres of
population which surround it, are built with the shells of micro-
scopic animals. The pyramids of Egypt are made of the same
stone, based upon rocks of the same kind. The foraminifera are the
ereat agents in forming the very ground we tread on, the houses we
build, and the edifices we hand down to posterity. Each animalcule
has furnished its solid grain, each race has deposited an all but im-
perceptible bed, and God, who rules over the work, has gathered

F 2

68 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

up the deposits of centuries, and formed of them these mighty
masses. The species which are living to-day, are silently preparing
in the bosom of the ocean wrought stone for the works of future
generations.

“Tt would be unreasonable to despise these animals, since the
Almighty has compensated for their size and insignificance by
granting to them such strength and industry. He has shown in
this way that there is greatness in the least as well as strength
in the weakest things. Let us learn, then, to admire the Creator
in the meanest of his works.” (Tertullian.)

GA APTER VIE
THE SPONGES.

THE bosom of the ocean is full of mysteries. Among the animal
organisations which it encloses and nourishes, perhaps few are so
little understood as those peculiar creatures we call sponges. This
production appears a mass of light, resisting, elastic tissue; the
colour is a light brown or yellow, sometimes verging on red.
The most varied opinions have been held by scientific men as to
the exact nature of sponges. The ancients were as much divided
as to the position in nature they ought to occupy as more modern
observers. One opinion ranked them in the animal kingdom,
another classed them with the vegetables, while a third prescribed
them an intermediate place, and considered them as the nests of
polypes; the owners of the nests were not attached to their
homes, but were able to go in and out as they pleased. The coral
polype is not so fortunate.

Pliny, Dioscorides, and their commentators, believed that
sponges were capable of feeling, that they adhered to their native
rock by a vital force, and that they shrunk from the hand which
tried to seize them. They even distinguished in them a male and
female formation. But we may say, in passing, that the early
naturalists invariably saw males and females in everything; man
has ever wished to find resemblances to himself in the most obscure
organisations. Erasmus, however, criticising Pliny, concludes that
he may safely omit all that the historian wrote on the sponge.
More recently Nuremberg, Peyssonnel, and Trembley have main-
tained, with some reason, that sponges are animals, and their views
have been adopted by Linnzus, Guettard, Donati, and Lamouroux,
on the Continent, and by Ellis, Fleming, and Grant, in England.
Sponges are found in every sea, though the Mediterranean is the
chief region of their growth in Europe. The Red Sea and the Gulf
of Mexico are also noted for them. They love warm or temperate

7O THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

waters, and places not exposed to the action of waves and currents.
Their colonies live at the bottom of the seas, in five to twenty-five

SPONGE UPON A SEA-WEED.
(Fished up from a depth of sixty fathoms.)

fathoms of water, among the clefts and crevices of the rocks, to
which they are always attached. They are, however, found not
only on inorganic bodies, but also on vegetables and animals.

THE .SPONGES. wal

They grow, erect or pendant, according to the body which supports
them and their natural habit. This fixed position of certain
animals is a very peculiar character. Most people imagine that
animals have the power of moving from one place to another; but
this is not always the case; there are numerous species which live
and die attached to the same place, such as polypes and sponges.
The adherence of animals to a fixed position causes them to be
more under the influence of external agents than others which
are endowed with locomotion; these can frequently escape those
changes, which would otherwise affect them, by moving from that
particular position, or sometimes by periodical migrations. Hence
there is the greatest difference in the habits and powers of fixed and
moving animals.

Three hundred species of sponges are known. They are
classed as Pedicellated, Non-pedicellated, Foliaceous, Globular,
Concave, and Digitated. Their various forms account for the
singular names given them by sailors; for instance, the /eather
Sponge, the Fan, the Bell, the Lyre, the Trumpet, the Drstaff, the
Peacock's Tawl, and Neptune's Glove.

Nature has been as careful in the construction of the humblest
inhabitants of the water, as of those beings which belong to the
higher orders of creation. The touches of the great Master’s hand
are always perfect.

The common sponge is an irregular round mass, often a little
concave. On examining its tissue with a lens, we find it is
composed of fine, flexible fibres, interlacing each other, and form-
ing a vast number of orifices, some of which are very small (ores),
and are found spreading over the whole surface of the sponge,
while some much larger (oscu/es), are generally situated on the upper
surface. In the interior, irregular canals of all dimensions lead into
each other, and make a communication with the pores and the
orifices. The tissue is, as it were, stuffed with hard bodies called
spicule, calcareous or siliceous. Some are straight, like needles;
others are divided into two or three branches. In the living
state this mass is surrounded by a layer of mucous matter,
which becomes sticky when the polype is taken from the water.
Strong currents are found to pour forth from each orifice, living

72 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

fountains which never seem to cease. The poor creatures receive
their nourishment from the wave which washes past them; they
inhale and respire the bitter waters all their lives; and are insen-
sible to that which is only one-hundredth part of an inch from
their mouths.

NEPTUNE’S GLOVE.

In the months of April and May these animalcules engender
germs, round bodies, yellow and white, from which proceed
ovoid granular embryos, furnished at their largest extremity with
vibratile cils. These embryos are thrown out by the currents
which come from the stomach, and they form swarms of larve
round the polypier. These larve swim with that part which is
expanded foremost, like the larve of the coral. They move with a
gliding wavy motion. After remaining some time in the water
they generally come to the surface; but they are frequently swept
away by the currents. For two or three days they appear to

1]

THE SPONGES. 73

search for a suitable place where they may affix themselves.
When once fixed, the larva loses its vibratile cils,* spreads itself
out, and takes the form of a very flat gelatinous disc. Its interior
organisation consists of contractile cellules and numerous spicule.
The exact time taken by a sponge to develop is not exactly
known ; but the sponge-gatherers return in three years to the place
which they had cleared.

Fishing for sponges is principally carried on by the Greeks and
the Syrians in that part of the Mediterranean which washes the

THE SPICULA: OF SPONGES. *

shores of their countries. The Greeks commence their fishing in
May and end in August, the Syrians continue to the end of Sep-
tember. The boat’s crew consists of four or five men. Each diver
is armed with a strong-bladed knife, or a three-pronged trident,
curved; and a net-pouch fastened to it. The boats having arrived
at the rocks where the sponges grow—when the sea is calm the
polypiers are easily seen—the men commence diving for them

* Cils or Cilia (cé//m, a hair or eyelash) are microscopic filaments, like hairs, found
chiefly upon the surface of tissues which are in contact with water. These peculiar
organs are distributed throughout the whole animal kingdom. They possess two kinds
of motion, vibrating and rotating; but the movement is not produced by muscular
action. In very small animals the cilia act as organs of locomotion, and in the larger
animals, such as the mollusca, they produce currents of water, which bring to the
creature its food.

74 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

or dredging them up. This latter plan is liable to tear the sponge,
and therefore those which are so collected are sold at a much
cheaper rate than those which are brought up by hand.

In the Gulf of Mexico, where they grow in shallow water, the
fishermen drive down a long pole into the water and fasten it to
the side of the boat. They slide down this to the sponges, and
easily detach them. After they are taken from the water they are
cleaned, to separate them from the glutinous matter and the spicule
and other foreign bodies which they contain. When so prepared

A PIECE OF SPONGE, GREATLY MAGNIFIED.
*

the tissue is of a russet colour, more or less golden. Its elasticity
and its porosity are well known. Some kinds are always dark-
coloured, others gradually lighten their shade and in time become
almost white.

M. Lamiral has published an excellent memoir upon the accli-
matisation of sponges in the French waters of the Mediterranean.
He avers that unless this is done and there is some regularity in
their gathering, sponges will become very scarce, for at present the
demand is increasing and the supply decreasing. The French
Acclimatisation Society gave M. Lamiral a commission in 1862
to gather Syrian sponges full of germs, and plant them in suitable
localities on the French coast, but as yet no results have rewarded
the undertaking.

at tn

lites

“SY
UL

Crease TER V Trt.
THE POLYPES.

THE polypes are mighty people! Some of them have been
known to attain the gigantic size of one-third of an inch! They are
by no means rare. ‘Their organisation and the homes which they
build for themselves are very favourite subjects with naturalists, and

the polypes are decidedly popular. Whenever we want to express
a comparison between one finely developed species, and another
whose organisation is of the simplest, we are in the habit of saying,
what is well nigh a proverb, “/vom a polype to a man!” and
yet the quasi-popularity of this curious animal is confined almost
to a knowledge of its name! For instance, ask a person if a
polype be an animal which inhabits the seas or rivers ? if it possess
a head or a tail ? you will see what the answer will be! Nothing is
more common than the name, and for this reason we dedicate a
chapter to the polypes.

The most prominent member of this group is the /resh-water
polype, or Hydra viridis. It looks like a little straight bag, tubular,
semi-transparent, greenish, open at one end, and fashioned like a
trumpet’s mouth, having round the opening six, occasionally eight

76 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

or ten, tentacule—fine, filiform, and flexible arms—arranged round
the mouth in the form of a crown. Thus the bag is the body,
the opening is the mouth, the cavity is the stomach, and the tenta-
cule the arms. This, then, is the whole polype!

If we compare this simple organisation with the wonderful
creation man, or even with a much less eminent member of the
animal kingdom, we should be inclined to say that the polype was
imperfect. Yet this is by no means the case. Surely an animal
which possesses all the members necessary to its existence is not
an imperfect animal! The want of organs which are absolutely

AN ISOLATED POLYPE.

necessary to existence would constitute imperfection. In reality
perfection consists not in the number of parts, but in their unity,
and their capability of performing those functions for which they
were designed. Every polype is just as perfect in its way as a larger
and more finely developed animal; and it would as absurd to deny
this as to assert that an elephart was not perfect without wings, or
a horse without fins.

Naturalists often employ the term “imperfect,” but only rela-
tively. It implies that such and such a species presents an
organisation less complicated than some other. In this sense we
shall use the term.

The polype seeks the light, and is sensible of the least noise. It
attaches itself to aquatic plants and other submerged bodies by the

WdGOE SHOVES GATS. ig

closed end of its bag-like body. Trembley saw a long plank which
was so perfectly edged with them that it appeared as though it were
ornamented with living fringe. Nearly all the river snails carry
some on their shells. The mollusk is their carriage, and whether it
swim or crawl, with its lazy motion it transports its passenger far-
ther in a few minutes than ever the polype could have travelled
in a single day. Other polypes travel by express upon the sheath
of a caddice fly, that quick-moving and lively aquatic larva, which
darts along the beds of pools and rivulets. The polypes balance
themselves easily and gracefully, stretching out in every direction
their hair-like arms. These organs are as long as, and sometimes
longer, than the body of the animal; they are covered with
vibratile cilia which are microscopic, and make 250 movements in
one minute !

When an unfortunate animalcule comes near enough the polype
to touch its arms, it is immediately seized and drawn to its mouth;
the tentacule wrap round it, the bag contracts, and the animal di-
gests its food in peace. When its repast is finished, it gets rid of
all that is useless by a species of vomiting. This is the case with
all animals constructed on this principle. They have only one
opening through which the food is taken into the system, and from
which also is thrown out that which is no longer useful.

Sometimes the polypes fasten themselves together in a long
line. If a worm happen to find itself among them, it is instantly
garrotted by a thousand arms in every part of its body. In what-
ever confusion the polypes were, instantly all is order, and the
multitude which were interlaced like tangled threads, all stretch
themselves straight and separate from each other without the
slightest effort.

The hydra sometimes manages to swallow a quantity of food
three or four times larger than its own body. It can enclose in its
long stomach as many as a dozen water-bugs, one after the other,
its distended body bulging with each insect. When a hydra has
sorged too much, it falls to the bottom of the water. What else
can it do? Sometimes it ejects a part, so that it may be able to
digest the rest—surely a wise determination! This voracity of the
polypes proves that St. Francis de Sales said a little too much
when he urged men to follow the example of the brute creation in

79 RAE VV ORD BOT IEE SLA.

their moderation. The righteously indignant saint, pointing to the
lower animals, exclaimed: “They are sober and temperate, and
never eat more than their appetites demand.” Evidently the
worthy father had not made the acquaintance of the nation of
the polypes!

It is generally said that animals with soft teeth have soft
manners. The polypes have not only no teeth but no jaws ; their
whole body is soft enough—they surely ought to be the very per-
fection of gentleness. How little we can judge by appearances !
Sometimes the little worms swallowed by the hydra try to escape,
a very natural instinct, whereupon the ravisher retains them by
plunging one of his arms into his stomach, and holds his wriggling
prey until the solvent fluids take effect. How wonderful a pro-
vision which permits the worm to be dissolved but the arm left
untouched ! When the end of the hydra is cut off, the polype is of
course deprived of the bottom of his stomach ; heedless, however,
of his loss, he still captures and swallows the animalcules, but
deriving no nourishment—for the creatures simply pass out of the
other end of the tube—the hydra eats and eats for ever; he
becomes utterly insatiable, like M. de Crac’s horse or the cask of
the Danaides.

The food of the fresh-water hydra influences the colour of their
bodies. The reddish matter of the wood-louse tints them pink ;
when feeding on water-bugs they are green, and black when on
tadpoles. The external surface of the digestive bag is frequently
seen to be covered with tubercles which increase and lengthen,
and gradually develop intg miniature polypes (/olypules). When
they are able to provide for themselves, the point of attachment
becomes attenuated and gives way. So the infant polype is born.
Those buds which are produced in autumn are detached without
reaching their full development, and falling to the bottom, are
preserved in the water during winter. Upon the return of spring
their development proceeds.

While the young polype is still attached to the parent, upon
its body a new little one is. often observed to grow. This may
give birth to a third, and the third even to ‘a fourth! {>So that
the parent hydra carries at the same time its son, its grandson, and

its great-grandson—a living genealogical tree!

LE POL YPES, 79

If a polype be divided into seven or eight pieces, at the end of
two days each fragment will have become a perfect creature.
Reesel assures us that he has seen the arms cut into tiny pieces,
each piece becoming, in due time, a perfect hydra. Thus one
individual can produce a whole family by the sacrifice of one of its
arms ; neither does it suffer by the mutilation, for it at once repro-
duces the member it lost. This wonderful property of reproduction
does not reside in the arm alone, but the whole body may be cut
into pieces, and each section will soon form a new individual, in

A POLYPE WITH BUDS.

(A living genealogical tree.)

all respects like the creature divided. Another strange peculiarity
this polype exhibits is, that it can be turned inside out like the
finger of a glove, and yet continue to live as though nothing
had happened! The exterior skin, which did respire, now digests ;
and the interior surface, which but lately carried on the digestion,
now performs the breathing functions. If there be any polypules
on the surface of a hydra thus unceremoniously treated, they will
continue to increase if they have reached a sufficiently advanced
stage of development; and although they find themselves im-
prisoned in an internal cavity when they separate from their
parent, yet they re-issue by the mouth. Those, on the other
hand, which are not sufficiently advanced, ¢wrn themselves inside out,
and so appear on the outside, where they complete their develop-

80 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

ment. A polype can be thus turned many times, without ceasing
to perform any of its functions; and more than this, one may be
divided, then turned, then divided again, and again turned, and yet
appear to suffer little or no inconvenience from such usage
(Trembley). We must, however, admit that the poor creature does
not like to live inside out. It would indeed be strange if it did.
The polype uses every endeavour to return to its natural state, and
is generally successful. If it be wished to prevent the creature
succeeding, a needle should be run through it near its mouth.
Very naturally this kind of transfixing cannot be pleasant, yet it
does not seriously affect its functions.

The first experiments upon polypes greatly astonished natu-
ralists; nothing at all to be compared with them was known in the
many wonders of the animal kingdom. “We can only judge of
things by comparison,” writes Charles Bonnet ; “all our ideas of
animal life have been taken from the larger animals ; and a creature
which we can cut and turn inside out, and then cut again, and
it still seems to be none the worse, astonishes us ; and who can tell
how many facts are still unknown which one day will upset all
our present notions? We just know enough not to be surprised
at anything; and indeed a philosopher ought not to be surprised at
anything; his duty is to observe, to forget his ignorance, and to
attend to everything around him.”

When we reflect upon the history of the polypes, it is truly
confounding. We have seen they have no heart, no lungs, no
liver, no intestines; and they have neither head nor brains. Six
greyish and simple filaments supply the place of arms, and feet,
and lips, and of all the organs of sense. When they are on the
watch for their prey, they perceive its approach, they recognise
it, and they devour it. They never make a mistake as to its
nature and size, and they rarely fail to capture it. They fight
among themselves; they thrust each other away, or they chase
each other; they know how to escape, or where to find shelter
when a danger threatens. They bring up their progeny after their
manner, and faithfully perform all their duties in that state of life
to which they have been consigned. How can they possibly ac-
complish such varied acts? God has endowed them with that
strange sense, zzstinct, a power independent of perception, of

THE LOLVPES, 81

experience, of education, which to them supplies the place of every
intelligence. Instinct and intelligence are two faculties which
compensate each other, the one supplies the place of the other.
Instinct is the intelligence of the lower animals.

The marine polypes resemble those of the fresh water. The
animals of these species are always composed of a sack-like body,
which possesses an opening surrounded by many arms. The body
may be long or short; sometimes it is narrow like a quill pen,
sometimes round like a purse, and occasionally funnel-shaped.
The opening varies in size, but always serves the double purpose
of admitting the food and ejecting the excrement. A diversified
construction of the sac renders the creature somewhat more or
less complicated. In some of the higher forms it is often a dis-
tinct tube surrounded by vertical canals, into which open curious
organs in the form of intestines. The arms are variable as to
their number ; sometimes twelve are found, but generally not more
than eight ; they resemble the cilia of the infusoria, or bear a com-
parison to tendrils or petals; their edges are often barbed. Taking
this organisation of the green hydra as a type, and varying it in
every conceivable manner, nature has peopled the ocean with those
animals which are termed zperfect.

CAVA Rae Rolex,
THE POLYPIERS.

PoLYPES do not always live in an isolated state; they are fre-
quently gregarious; the temporary genealogical tree we mentioned
in the last chapter becomes permanent, and the family has received
the name of folypier. Linneus called the association a compound
animal (Animalia composita). These members of the same colony
live in perfect harmony; they are a nation of relatives, united
together by the closest of physical bonds! They occupy the same
house, each possessing in it a chamber, but as no member of the
community can on any account leave his room, they never can
visit or annoy one another. Attached to their little chamber, these
semi-recluses watch for the food which chance—or rather we
should say Providence—never fails to provide, and what is eaten
by one mouth profits the whole community.

Impelled by a marvellous instinct, the polypes all labour
together at the same work. Isolated they would be well nigh
powerless ; united they are strong. They have a life which belongs
to the community as well as an individual life. They have the
same wants, the same tastes, the same ideas—and truly wonderful
ideas! They share their joys and their sorrows; and if it be true
that troubles are lightened when they are told, and that pleasures
are increased when they are enjoyed with others, then, indeed, the
polypes ought to be the happiest of animalcules.

The polypiers are not thoroughly understood. It is only by the
help of the microscope, and by the study of the living individuals,
that we can learn their organisation, or their mode of life, or how
to classify them in their species and varieties. We are beginning
to understand them better, but there is yet much to discover.
M. Lacaze-Duthiers, for instance, found the Aztipathes glaberrima
and the Gorgonta tuberculata (Lamarck), the Letopathes glaberrima
(Grey), and the Letopathes Lamarckii (Haime), all on one and the

THE POLYPIERS. 83

same polypier, the Gerardia Lamarckit. This shows the unsettled
state of affairs. Under the general term Polypier are included dis-
tinct groups of animals, some constructed upon the type of the

AN HYDRARIA,

(Sertularia ramea.)

Hydra, others upon that of the Actinaria; a third, like the Plumu-
laria, follow a totally different plan of organisation. The first of
these are the Polypier hydraria, the second the Polypier actinaria,
and to the last belong many classes of animals.

G 2

84 LHE WORLD OF THE SEA.

The Polypier hydraria are not true polypiers. Modern te-
searches have discovered that these tree-like structures are for the
most part a degraded and transitory form of the medusa. The

AN ACTINARIA.

(Gerardia Lamarckiz. )

medusa gives birth to the polypier, and in time the polypier will
become a medusa. They are very common on our coast, and
include the 7zdularia, the Campanularia, and the Sertularia.

The 7ubularia indivisa is a very curious specimen of the class.
Its numerous stems are horny and yellow, and marked with un-
equal knots, like the stem of the oat straw. Its lower extremity

TLE POLY PIERS. 85

is tortuous, attaching itself. readily to shells and stones. The
upper part is straight and slightly flexible, appearing like a
flowering vegetable without either leaves or branches. At the top of

a

THE STRAW TUBULARIA.

(Tubularia indivisa.)

each stem a double scarlet corolla is developed, exhibiting from
five to thirty-five petals, the exterior ones spreading, the interior
ones rising in a tuft. A little below appears the ovarium, drooping
when ripe like a bunch of orange-coloured grapes. After a time the
petals of the corolla fade, fall, and die, and a bud takes their place

86 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

which produces a new polype, and so on. This succession deter-
mines the length of the stem. Each apparent flower throws out a

A CAMPANULARIA

(Campanularia dichotonia.)

small tube in which it terminates, and each addition adds one more
joint to the axis, which it thus increases in length.
The Yudbularia ramea is an animal production of the most

THE POLYVPIERS. 87

singular and interesting kind. Sometimes it perfectly resembles
an old ruined tree stripped of its leaves; sometimes it is like
a little shrub in full bloom, rising from the summit of a brown

A SERTULARIA.
(Sertularia [Plumularia] falcata.)

spotted stem, with many branches and tufted shoots terminating
in so many hydras of a beautiful yellow or brilliant red.

The Campanularia differ considerably from the above, the ends
of the branches whence the polypes issue being enlarged, into a

88 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

bell-like form; hence the name. The species Campanularia dicho-
toma is at once the most delicate and the most elegant of its kind.
It has a brownish stem, thin as a thread of silk, and still firm and

THE SILVER SERTULARIA,

(Sertularia Argentea.)

elastic. The polypes are very numerous; upon a stem eight or
nine inches high there are several hundreds.

The Sertularia are also hydra polypiers. These have a horny
stem, sometimes simple, sometimes branching. They might readily

THE POL VPIERS. 89

be mistaken for small plants, their twigs being flexible, semi-trans-
parent, and yellow. Their name is derived from the Latin sertum,
a bouquet. Each Sertularia has seven, eight, twelve, or twenty
small panicles, each containing as many as 500 animalcules,
thus sometimes forming an association of 10,000 polypes. The
Sertularia falcata reminds one, from the elegance and delicacy of
its branches, of the beautiful Mimosa. This polypier is now classed
with the Bryozoas.

The little cells in which the polypes lodge are not always
arranged in the same manner. Sometimes they are on one side of

ZOANTHA THALASSANTHOS,

the stem only, sometimes on both; now they stand like the pipes
of an organ, now they wind in spirals, or arrange themselves in

rings about a common axis.

The Actiniform polypes are divided into two tribes according
to the number of their tentacles. In the one the number is six,
ora multiple of six; these are the Zoantharia. In the other, the
A lcyonide, the characteristic number is eight.

The Zoantharia comprehend three distinct classes: the Ant-
pathide, the Madreporide, and the Actinide, which constitute the
zoanths proper. These Zoantharia are elegant zoophytes, which
occupy an intermediate rank between the polypiers and the sea
anemones, of which we shall speak in a future chapter. They
are often joined together in considerable numbers to the same base;

go THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

this base is sometimes spread out into a large surface, and some-
times becomes like a piece of detached root.

Zoantha thalassanthos consists of large turf-like tufts of coral
attached to the rocks. Its animalcules are packed closely together,
and their expanded heads have a curious resemblance to a bunch of

AN ANTIPATHIDA.
(Antipathida arborea.)

flowers in full bloom. They are borne on bending, rcot-like stems,
of a pure white, which interlace each other. Their bodies are
fusiform or spindle-shaped, pediculate and truncated at the summit,
of a reddish brown colour, marked with longitudinal stripes still
more coloured; the matter of which the polypier is composed is
firm and parchment-like. From the body issues a tube, narrow,

muscular, contractile, and red in colour, terminating at the

THE POLYPIERS:, QI

summit in eight elongated arms or tentacule of a_ yellow
colour traversed by a rib of the same shade. The sides of the arms

A POLYPE OF THE ANTIPATHES, MAGNIFIED.

are fringed with fine pinnae, parallel to each other, of a bright
maroon colour, and resembling the barbs of a feather. The arms
of this zoantha are unceasingly in motion, which produces in the

SECTION OF THE BODY OF THE POLYPE, HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.

water small oscillating currents, which sweep the animalcules, on
which the polypes feed, into their mouths. The slightest motion
makes the zoophyte close its arms.

The Antipathida, or Antipathes, is a fragile and brittle polypier.

Q2 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

When dry, the branches, always slender and delicate, resemble
the barbs of a feather. The colour is of a deep black, inclining
to brown. Under the microscope, or with a powerful lens, the
ends of the branches appear covered with small spines, and the

Ny |
! Wn Hi \.

All]

AN ANTIPATHES, MAGNIFIED TO SHOW THE SPINES.
(Antipathes subpinnita.)

trunk is formed of oval, irregular, concentric beds, which are zones
of growth. Its consistence is so firm that it can be worked up
for chaplets of pearls and other bijouterie. It is known in com-
merce as Black coral. The bark is soft, not possessing calcareous
or siliceous matter, and decays when the coral is dead. Its polypes
are long, and generally yellow.

THE POLYPIERS. 93

The Gerardia dredged up by M. Lacaze-Duthiers from the
Algerine coast, is a kindred and very peculiar species, upon which
he has written a fine memoir, and has kindly supplied us with the

a

A POLYPE OF THE GERARDIA.

original designs. The living Gerardia is covered with yellow or

orange-coloured flowers having twenty-four petals, frequently long
and pendant.

SECTION OF A POLYPE OF THE GERARDIA.

The interior of the polype presents just as many divisions as it
has tentacles. When old, the polypier is very arborescent and thin.
In the early days of its existence the cortex or bark was deve-
lcped more rapidly than the substance of the stem. The Gerardia

94. THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

grafts itself on all bodies within its reach; it is very frequently
found upon the Gorgonia, which is sometimes strangled by the
exuberant growth of its parasite. From this often arises the
gorgonian appearance which the young polypiers present. M.
Lacaze-Duthiers found one of these colonies which had grown
on the egg of a dog-fish.

The Madreporea are very numerous. They form the most

i

)

;
fi

MADREPORES,

important group of the Actinaria polypiers. They are all stony.
Of these the coral reefs and islands are generally composed. Little
is known of polypes which inhabit these vast cities. Amongst the
most curious we may mention the Caryophyliie—the madrepores
proper—the Astrea, the Meandring, and the Poritide. The
Caryophylliz possess tubular cells, partly isolated from each other
like branches, each of these tubes being the home of a polype. The
most beautiful of these is the Caryophyllia Smithii. It is covered
with a yellow robe, chequered with white, which grows paler
towards the base and summit. Its disc, at first brown, becomes

DHE ROLVEEETS. 95

white, and then green. The tentacule, which are somewhat tri-
angular, are nearly transparent, and resemble festoons of fine lace,
fringed with a light border, and each terminated by a white pea.

CARYOPHYLLIA SMITHII.

The Madrepores proper are a most wonderful association of polypes,
most varied and most interesting. If we conceive a honeycomb
turned into stone, and a polype in each cell, we shall have a fair
idea of the most common of the madrepores—the Astrea. The

THE ASTRAA,.
(Astrea pallida.)

Meandrinz differ from the Astraa in having the surface hollowed
out into shallow, sinuous, elongated channels. The cells are
arranged regularly in these valley-channels.

The Porites have their stems a little raised; they are generally
dichotomous with obtuse lobes. The polypes are miniature
anemones, having round their mouth twelve radiate tentacles.

96 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

The polypidom, the structure raised by the polype, is stony, fixed,
branched, or lobed, having a free surface covered with a great
number of regular stars which are either above or below the general
surface. These stars are very characteristic and cannot be con-
founded with those of an astrea or a madrepore. The A/cyonaria
polypiers combine the Alcyonide, the Tubiporide, the Gorgonie, and
the Pennatule, to which we shall devote a chapter. The Alcyonide

A MEANDRINA.

(Meandrina cerebriformis.)

are very common. They are often found on shells like pieces of
flesh, irregular in shape, and of a red colour. This mass is a
colony. When placed in pure and fresh sea water, very soon opal
or yellow points begin to appear, which gradually swell out little
by little, until they spread into a transparent and animated coral.
Each polype has eight petals, jagged at the edge, which radiate
themselves about the mouth. The body of the polype is tubular ;
the exterior part varies in length; the interior is crossed by red
spiculz, and furrowed with vessels. Down to the very base, the
whole mass, which is not usually the case, is an amalgamation of all

THTE, PO ENP UERRGS. Q7
the individuals of the association joined by a common tissue. The
Bebryce mollis is an alcyonium. It is incomplete as all the alcyons

are, for it does not possess a bark or cortex which holds together

mh (\ \\
——— in in

A PORITID/, WITH ITS POLYPES SPREAD.

(Gontopora colurin«a.)

the polypes; and the axis which gives it stability is a borrowed
support. Among the 7udiporine is found the “ Musical coral” or
“sea organ.” It is composed of a great number of stony tubes,
most usually straight and slightly radiating. Jts colour is a purple
red ; at certain distances the mass is crossed by layers, which are

H

98 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

lamellar expansions of the same material. It owes its popular
name to a fancied resemblance to organ pipes. (See engraving,
page 100.)

aS

SS
ate rad

A PORITIDA.

(Porites mordax. )

The polypes themselves are a grass green. Their tentacles
are furnished on each edge with sixty or eighty pulpy, tongue-like
papille.

The Gorgonideé have their cortex so filled with calcareous and

THE POLYPIERS. 99

“

siliceous grains (spiculze) that it remains in the form of a crust when
they are dried. This crust is crumbly, and often preserves the
brilliant colours which characterise this polypier. Their cells are
hollow, sometimes indented in an even surface, sometimes they pro-
duce mamillary risings. They are generally smooth, though they
are found sometimes rough and shelly, and drooping one over the

AN ALCYONIDA.
(Xenta elongata.)

other. The /szs and the Coral belong to this group, and all those
black, smooth, and flexible tree-like growths which we find on our
coasts, to whose consideration we shall devote the following chapter.
Side by side with the Gorgons, M. Deshayes has placed the beau-
tiful parasite polypier found at Calle—the A xthozoanthus—a mag-
nificent upright shrub, with an axis of a dark brown, the cortex of
a bright, delicate rose colour, and polypes of a golden yellow.

The polypiers are fixed to solid bodies ; sometimes they attach
themselves one to another, hooked on and interlaced in every
direction. Some of them are whitish, others quite white, some

H 2

100 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

yellow, and some appie green ; in some the tints pass from olive-
brown to dark blue, from vermillion to violet, and from pale
yellow to pearly grey. Each tube or cell contains a polype, its
depth varying in the several species. The animals are composed
of two parts, one which remains in the cell, and the other is the
starry termination which is visible; from the latter radiate eight or
twelve projecting arms, sometimes quite soft and pliable, at other
times granular. They can expand themselves like the petals of a
blossoming flower, and when outspread, their length is often greater
than that of the whole body of the polype; they are transparent,
save just at the tips. The polypes extend or contract their feelers,

TUBIPORINE, OR MUSICAL CORAL,

(Tubipora musica.)

and open and shut their mouths at will, but their digestive tube
is fastened to the walls of the cell, and the stem, upon which
the cells are built, is condemned to immovability. Thus, although
they can put their heads out of the door of their houses, yet they
can never leave home. Their life is spent in moving about their
arms to produce currents in the water, which bear to them the food
they need; while their digestive apparatus separates from the
water, as it passes through the stomach, the lime it contains, of
which they construct their tube. The coral polypes thus present
hard, insensible, stony matter, built up by

a singular combination
and indissolubly joined to a living creature.

The animalcules of the polypiers are propagated by larve
or by buds developed from the cortex of the parent. In
the hydra polypes the eggs are contained in special horny
capsules, which break as soon as the germs reach their maturity.

UTES OE MEP TETAS: IOI

Their forms are as varying as their species. Conceive an ellipsoidal
body, transparent as a crystal, whose walls are adorned with a
spiral staircase, interrupted at each turn, and showing within its
transparent substance five or six round eggs of a saffron yellow.
Such is the ovary capsule of a Polypier bryozoa, or of a Plumu-
laria pluma.

The Campanulariide possess male and female branches, the one

ORGONIA,
(Dredged up from 40 fathoms depth, off Cape Finisterre.)

bearing cells in which are developed eggs, the other exhibiting
male capsules ornamented with elegant tentacule. But by far
the most curious phenomenon of generation is exhibited by the
polypier hydra, a process which naturalists call the generation of
Meduse (see engraving, page 104). It appears that at a certain
time of the year, some of the Campanulariide, the Syncorine, &c.,
have a rupture out of which issues a black liquid. This is a
bud which in time becomes covered with a transparent cushion,
which increases rapidly and begins to exhibit traces of an in-
ternal organisation. We can perceive the black liquid circulating
through four channels; four black points begin to show them-

102 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

selves at the end of each canal; these are the embryos of the
eyes. Gradually the bud assumes a bell-like form. Its mouth
dilates, the four eyes separate, and from their vicinity four tentacles
issue. The central reservoir increases, but it is limited and enclosed
by a membrane, thus forming the stomach; now the animal is per-
fect; it is a true medusa. Ina little time it will break its pedicle

EXPANDED POLYPES.

(Sertularia pumila.)

by violent contractions and will swim out to the open sea. The
young medusa, thus liberated, in a few days becomes double its size,
and at the point where its pedicle separated from the parent stem,
the tentacles elongate, and there a mouth appears. Ina few weeks
the intestines of the young medusa increase in size. This is because
eggs are being produced which gradually enlarge and at length
separate themselves by a process similar to the one described.

THE POLYPIERS. 103

The polypes are minute silent workers, active and indefatigable.
Their task is to separate chemical ingredients from the waters of
the ocean, and secrete and organise the solid structure which
bears their cells. Their marvellous industry well may be a cease-
less object of admiration! They are an unassuming people, worthy
of the highest eulogiums, moderate in that which they consume,

A POLYPIER BRYOZOA: ITS EGG-SAC AND POLYPE-CELLS, MAGNIFIED.

(Plumularia pluma.)

magnificent in that which they produce! They thrive best in the
warmer regions of the ocean; in colder climes their fabrics are
small. In temperate latitudes, they are found forming a sward
of submarine life which carpets the rocks; producing animated
stalactites, great shrubs, or whole forests of small trees. Portions
of the submarine cable which unites Sardinia to Genoa, taken
up for repairs, was so encrusted with them, that in some places
it was the thickness of a small barrel. —

104. THE WORLD VOT TE SEA.

The polypiers sometimes occupy immense areas. They rise
above the surface of the waves, forming reefs which surround
islands, join them to each other and to their neighbouring continents,
thus filling up the depths of the ocean. As long ago as 1702

&

A POLYPIER HYDRARIA PRODUCING A MEDUSA.

Strachan observed that the coral reefs were formed in this manner.
His account was received with credulity, and it was not until 1780
that Forster, the learned companion of Captain Cook, established
beyond dispute that most of the islands of the South Sea owed
their existence to the excessive multiplication and compact agglo-
meration of the polypiers. Since that day, this has been con-
firmed by a great number of sailors, zoologists, and geologists.

DHE “POLVPTE RS. 105

Inhabiting the watery world in vast colonies, they absorb the
limy salts of the ocean, of which they build their cells, producing
frequently colossal structures. Their germs fall around them and
give birth to myriads of new workers, who over-build their parents,
and thus entomb their ancestry, piling up cells above cells in one
vast calcareous structure of rocks which attain gigantic sizes; some
of the reefs which fringe the Australian coast being nearly 1,000
miles long! It is true vast ages are required to complete this
work, but Nature is never at a loss for time to complete her works.

A CORAL ISLAND.

The South Sea Archipelago almost owes its existence to the
never-ceasing exertions of these minute polypes. For untold ages
they have worked incessantly, and have raised great and lasting
monuments to assert the power of combination.

The builders of these immense structures are animalcules which
are gelatinous, fragile, small—nay, microscopical, but their number
is illimitable; they live in myriads, and by the accumulation of
their skeletons can produce a mass of masonry, of which the whole
human family, working for 100,000 years, would only construct a
very small part. When once the builders reach the surface of the
water they cease to increase, for they are children of the sea. They

106 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

owe their existence to the water, and they perish in the air and sun.
Hence the reason that coral found above the surface is always
dead. The waves as they dash against these rocky islands detach
pieces of the coral, and reduce the fragments by their wearing
action to dust. Thus a beach is formed, covered with rounded
blocks and strewed with sand. Upon this shingle the sea casts
the remains of fish, mollusks, and marine vegetables, where they
decompose, mingling with the madrepore debris, and soon there
springs up a terrestrial vegetation. Thus is it that the Creator
ordains that islands should be born in the ocean’s bosom, and
lands rise up out of the waste of waters.

The structure, when at the level of the sea, is soon tenanted by
animal and vegetable life. The waters leave seeds carried from
other lands, which soon spring up, and the island is clothed
with verdure. The trunks of trees borne by the currents from
neighbouring islands are cast upon the beach. Worms, insects,
and shells, which are in these trunks, are thus transported to the
new-born island, and constitute its earliest population. Turtles
swim to it; birds, attracted by the vegetation, fly hither and build
their nests in safety; people from the surrounding islands, driven
by stress of weather or allured by the beauty of the situation or
by the abundance of its fruits, raise here their huts and establish
their tribes. Thus the industry of man completes what the
industry of the polypes began.

These smallest and feeblest animalcules possess in their natural
state a charm and beauty of which their empty polypidoms cannot
afford even a remote idea, however elegant they may be and how-
ever carefully preserved or scientifically classed.

107

CAE T Ek, see
CORAL.

IN certain regions there are growing over the rocks at the bottom
of the sea little forests of purple trees. These submarine plan-
tations are composed of red coral, the brightest and the most
celebrated of the Polypidoms—“ the Daughter of the Sea.”* For

. Hy
Sy
SSS Su Hess ow

ee
aN ANN

RED CORAL,

a long time coral was classed as a marine plant; until Count
Marsigli placed this curious growth in the animal kingdom.
Peyssonnel, a naval surgeon, first recognised the true nature of
the arborescent coral. He made known his discovery to the cele-
brated Réaumur, who hesitated some time before he transmitted it
to the Royal Academy of Sciences, and it was not until 1727 that

* KopdAduoy, from xépn, a daughter, and adds, the sea. Latinised, the word became
curalium, and hence our word coral.

108 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

he decided to communicate the opinions of Peyssonnel; but he
himself did not adopt them. The subject was in dispute up to
the very time when Trembley, of Geneva, published his admirable
observations upon the fresh-water polype, and then naturalists
recognised the very great resemblance which existed between
this curious invertebrate and the coral animalcule. Guettard, of
Etampes, and Bernard, of Jussieu, undertook a voyage expressly to
investigate the subject, and to verify the assertions of Peyssonnel.
All naturalists now agree that the coral is a family of polypes,
living in community, and forming by their united exertions a

SPICUL OF CORAL.

polypier. Coral is found in the Mediterranean and in the Red
Sea at different depths, sometimes in water only ten feet deep,
but never below 150 fathoms.

We may observe in passing that the coral is usually mixed
with other polypiers and marine structures, so that a mass is pro-
duced, sometimes very compact and inextricable, to which the
term wacciotta has been given. Each stalk of coral resembles a
pretty, red, leafless shrub, bearing little delicate star-like flowers.
The stalks of this little tree are common to the association,
and the flowers are the polypes. These arborescent formations
generally hang from some shelf, and so grow downwards, and not
like ordinary vegetation. They are found growing together in
bushes or copses, or spreading out, as we have said, into veritable
forests. The stems have a soft, reticulated cortex or bark, which

CORAL. 109

is full of little cavities, permeated by a milky fluid; these are the
chambers of the members of the association. This cortex is full
of little hard bodies, called spicule, of which we have sketched

AN ENLARGED SECTION OF A STEM OF CORAL,

some specimens. Beneath the crust is the coral, properly so called :
it is as hard as marble; its surface is remarkable for its stripes ;
its colour is a beautiful red; and it is so hard that it is capable

of receiving a very fine polish. The ancients believed that coral

I1O THE WORLD OF. THE SEA.

was soft in the water, and that it became hard on exposure to

the air—
‘*Sic et coralium, quo primum contigit auras
Tempore, durescit.”—OvID.

The polypes, at least those which build the most common of
the polypiers, are composed of a tubular body, enclosed in a
cortical cell. That part which appears beyond the walls of this
cell is cylindrical, and is crowned by eight little arms, which spread
themselves out like the petals of a flower. These arms are flat,
and wide at the base, but gradually tapering to a point. The
edges are furnished with short, hollow barbs. When expanded,
they are exactly like a beautiful white and semi-transparent flower,

A RED CORAL POLYPE,

having eight petals fixed upon a mammal bud; when closed, they
have the appearance of an urn. Count Marsigli, who has fre-

quently seen these creatures, says :—‘ These flowers fold them-
selves into their cells when they are taken from the water, and
become yellow as they decompose.” Thus the coral is, as we

have said, externally an animal, internally a rock.

M. Lacaze-Duthiers has recently studied the reproduction of
the coral polype, and he has brought to light most interesting
facts. From this clever naturalist we learn that the members of
a coral association are either males, females, or hermaphrodites.
Ordinarily the greater number of polypes on one branch are of
the same sex; one branch containing almost exclusively males,
another females; the hermaphrodites are the least numerous.
We find in the vegetable kingdom plants which afford a similar

CORAL. iE

construction. The polygams have their flowers of a masculine,
feminine, and neuter gender.

The coral polype is viviparous—that is, the eggs become
embryos before they leave the parent. The eggs have long
slender pedicles; they come out of the thin layers which line the
digestive bag; they are spherical, opaque, and of a milk-white
colour. They detach themselves by breaking their pedicles,
and thus fall into the central cavity of the polype, a cavity which
serves at once as a stomach and an incubating pouch. Here two
very different processes are in action—the one dissolving the food
and nourishing the animal, the other developing and producing a
new creature. In due time, the eggs lengthen and vibratile cils
appear. As soon as they are born—that is, vomited—a pore opens
at one of the extremities, which is destined to become the mouth.
Then they assume the form of a whitish, semi-transparent worm.
These larve swim in all directions with the greatest agility ; they
rise and sink in the vases which contain them, always swimming
with their thicker extremity in advance, carrying their mouths in
the rear, so that they butt against anything which happens to be
in their way. They have a tendency to become fixed, like their
parents, and the mode of their progression greatly favours this
result ; thus the peculiarity of their motion is liable to shorten
the period of their liberty in facilitating their adherence to any
object with which they come into contact, by that part of their
body which afterwards becomes the base of the polype.

When it adheres, the polype has reached another phase of its
existence. As soon as it becomes fixed it changes its worm-like
appearance, and thickens, gaining in breadth what it loses in length,
thus shortening and becoming discoid. The thin extremity which
carries the mouth gradually folds itself back by the successive stages
represented in figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 (Plate VI.), until the larva assumes
the shape of a pin-cushion (fig. 9), at the summit of which is the
mouth. Around this orifice the rudiments of the eight tentacule
begin to appear, which soon cover it with a pendant festoon (fig. 10).
The fixed larva thus becomes the founder of a large colony. Buds
form on the axis, and develop themselves into a whole nation of
corals.

The young polypes just hatched from the egg are, as we have

112 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

seen, utterly different from their parents. They must undergo many
metamorphoses before they reach their perfect state. These meta-
morphoses are just the reverse of those through which insects pass.
The chrysalis lies immovable; but finally becomes a butterfly.
With the coral, the larva has the power of locomotion, whereas
the full-developed polype is fixed. There is not perhaps in nature
a single law whose reverse is not also found in operation.

\ MAGNIFIED SECTION OF THE STEM OF THE ISIS,

The true corals are divided into the J/el/t@a and the /szde.
These latter have their branches articulated, and their polypes
possess six tentacule instead of eight ; these tentaculz being entire
and not separated. In the former, the stems are gnarled here and
there at intervals, and are covered with a firm and resisting cortex.
In the latter, they are articulated, and the crust is horny and
chippy. The material of the Melitea is stony and homogeneous ;
while that of the Iside is composed of two substances, the
compressed parts are horny and black, the articulations being
calcareous and striated. The stem of the Iside is often sold for

CORAL. 113

white coral. The structure of the two stems, however, is very
different; but this is only revealed by a lens. The two drawings
given here sufficiently show their apparent difference.

Every coral, whether true or false, is the manufacture of in-
numerable little workers, who are both clever and active, and is the
result of a most wonderful combination of power and skill. Horn
and marble are indispensable to the completion of their fabric ;

MAGNIFIED SECTION OF THE STEM OF THE RED CORAL.

these they use in common with other animal fabricators; but they

alone make of them branches and stems.

After what has been said of the corals, we may conclude that
the polypiers resemble plants more than they do animals. For
this reason is it that they are called soophytes, that is, azzmat-
plants, a term which has of late been applied to a great number of
marine invertebrata. This remarkable structure forms a curious
connecting link between the two great kingdoms of nature.

We find in these animals, just as we do in vegetables, stalks
and branches covered with real bark ; but the stems or axes of the

I

ak THE WORLD OF. THE SEA.

zoophytes are horny or calcareous, while those of the vegetables are
herbaceous and woody. In each case the tissue is more or less
solid, striated, or fluted, and formed of concentric layers; and,
moreover, the cortex of the coral is spongy and somewhat soft,
like the bark of a vegetable production. The knobs represent
the buds, the polypes the flowers; the feelers open themselves
out in rosettes as petals, forming an animated corolla, which
opens and shuts alternately. in the polypier, the individuals
which contribute to the growth of the whole are situated at the
extremities of the axis, or upon its sides, a position similar to
that of the leaves and flowers ina plant.

And the final resemblance is found in their modes of re-
producing their species. The corals and the vegetables are each
produced by isolated and individual grains, eggs, and seeds,
which separate themselves from a bunch and proceed to develop
themselves, producing a colony of which the members remain
grouped,

The principal seat of the coral fishery is at the entrance of the
Adriatic Gulf, in the neighbourhoods of Bona and Calle, and
also in the Straits of Bonifacio. In this occupation many people
are engaged. Upon the Sicilian coast the process is very simple :
three or four fishers from a boat, cast into the ssea a drae
made of two pieces of wood lashed tightly together in the form of
across; at each of the four extremities is attached a strong net,
which is looped up to the centre of the cross, where there is a
heavy stone by which the drag is sunk and kept down on the
surface of the rocks, along which it is slowly swept by a rope from
the boat, which is gently rowed by the fishers over the places where
the coral grows. The polypiers get entangled in the meshes of the
net, break, and so are brought to the surface. Sometimes another
species of drag is employed: an iron hoop which forms the
mouth of a smail sack, destined to receive the broken branches of
coral, is fastened to the end of a long pole, and by this means
crevices in the rock are fished into, which the cross-bar drag
is unable to penetrate. In other places they use poles, at the
extremities of which bundles of tow are fastened ; these are sunk
by a cannon ball and dragged along the bottom; in the rear is a

CORAL. TES

net with large meshes, into which the coral branches fall as they
are detached.

The corals thus fished up are always mixed with the poly-
pidoms of other animals, and also with marine plants. In times
long past coral was fished for by means of a diving-bell, in which
a man was let down to the bottom of the sea; in this way it was
gathered pure and unbroken.

In 1857, M. Focillon showed the possibility of using the diving-
boat of Lamiral and Payerne for gathering in the coral harvest.
In some places the fishers dive into great depths and gather the
coral by hand.

In spite of the advantages offered by the French govern-
ment, and the value of the coral, the fisheries in the Straits
of Bonifacio and on the African coast are chiefly carried on by
foreign sailors. In 1852, the coral gatherers in the Straits of
Bonifacio were all Italians; and the proceeds of the fishery only
produced £1,600. In 1853, upon the 211 boats which were
engaged upon the African coast, there were only nineteen French-
men, the greater part being Neapolitans. According to the returns,
the coasts of Bona and Calle furnished, in 1853, about 80,000
pounds weight of coral, which was chiefly bought by the merchants
of Naples, at about twenty-five shillings a pound. Many of the
boats, whose total expenses would not reach £320, gathered 800
to 1,000 pounds of coral, and therefore realised a profit of £800.
In the same year the fishing on the west coast was taken
by a Spanish company, who secured in every expedition 700 or
800 pounds of coral.

The ancients prized coral greatly, and attributed to it mar-
vellous powers. The Gauls adorned with it their helmets, their
shields, and other weapons of war. The Romans wore pieces of
coral as amulets, and as ornaments pleasing to their gods. They
made necklaces of it which were supposed to preserve their new-
born infants from contagious diseases; and under many circum-
stances they believed that preparations of coral were excellent
remedies for the sick. It is no great time since, even in France,
this notion was held. Lémery believed that it raised the spirits.
It certainly possesses one quality—it can clean the teeth ; but then

| 2

116 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

this is due to its physical nature. Now coral is used rather as an
ornament than a remedy, being employed in jewellery, not only in
Europe, but also in every part of the globe.

The coral which is found on the French coast is perhaps more
choice than that of any other country, its colour is more bright
and clear; though the Italian coral is scarcely inferior. That from
the shores of Barbary is not so fine, and much less brilliant.

In the commercial world five varieties of coral are recognised.
Rose-coloured coral is very rare, and therefore very valuable.

The coral ornaments made by the Neapolitan artists are not as
lisht and artistic as the work of the Marseilles jewellers. In the
late exhibitions the work and the elegance of the coral ornaments
were beyond all criticism. In the French Exhibition there was a
set of coral chessmen representing armies of Saracens and the
Crusaders, the value of which was £400.

LLZ

CEA Bae hoe L.
SEA-PENS.

WE well may be interested as we survey the occupants of another
element, a world of life so different from our own, and yet the
inhabitants of that world are seen to pass through all the phases of
life, exhibiting peculiar habits, and showing signs of joy and sorrow.
All the marine zoophytes, without exception, ought to besthe
object of our study and of our admiration , but amongst them all
certainly the most wonderful is the Sea-Pen, or Pennatula. This
polypier loves the open sea, and seldom approaches the shore ; thus
it is free, and not fixed, like the corals. Its organisation is complex,
but in shape something like a pen. This animal association has an
axis, or part common to all, and a species of barbs which grow out
of it, which are inhabited by individual polypes. The axis is
- composed of two parts; the anterior part, to which are attached
the barbs, and the posterior, which is naked. The first part is
generally straight and somewhat flattened, the second has some
resembiance to an elongated heart; at its obtuse end there is a
cavity, which some naturalists have mistaken for the mouth. In the
very centre of the polypier is a hard, flat, greyish stem, of a limy
nature, which is covered by a fleshy and contractile tissue. This
stem is common to the whole colony.

The polypes, in the genus Pennatula, are arranged in transverse
rows upon the outer and inner edge ; they are fleshy and white,
and are provided with eight tentacule, which are ciliated on one
edge; the mouth is angular, and surrounded by the tentaculz.
At certain times this aggregation of life inflates itself by drinking
in water; and when it throws out the liquid its form collapses.

The barbs of this animated feather are larger in the middle
than at the extremities. They look like wings on each side of

118 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the axis. Their under edge is divided into layers, which are
covered with little, hard, white needles, of a limy substance, which
easily break. These layers contain the polypes. They are near

THE THORNY SEA-PEN.

to each other, placed obliquely, and their surfaces are traced with
lines. They have the form of a purse divided into two portions,
in one of which is the mouth, bordered by its tentacles, and the

POLYPES OF THE THORNY SEA-PEN.

other contains the organs of digestion and the ovary sac. In fact
these polypes resemble flowers, but flowers which quiver with

sensibility, and are yet incomplete, which possess a will, and yet
it is limited. :

“SEA-PENS.. T19

The sea-pens are prickly. One species is striped with red, an-
other is a dark grey; in the evening they become phosphorescent.
Linnzeus tells us that the phosphorescent sea-pens which cover the
ocean bottom cast so strong a light that it is easy to count the
fishes and worms which sport around them. These polypiers
often contract the lower part of their axis, and again distend it ;

they have also the same power in their wings. The latter ap-
pendages appear to act also as sails and oars; but the united
effort of the polypes only produces a very imperfect movement.
The waters carry them hither and thither, and the currents bear
them on their course. Floating involuntarily, at the sport of the
winds and waves, they are driven everywhere, and wherever they

are, there they find that nourishment which is necessary for their
sustenance and the reproduction of their species.

According to the recent researches of M. Lacaze-Duthiers
these polypes of the pennatula are either all male or all female ;
so that all the members of each community are of one sex. There
are vegetables organised on the same plan, that is to say, which
have their male and female flowers on different stems—the Dates,
for instance.

120 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

The Umébellularia, which are only found upon the shores of
Greenland, and the Vizrgularia, of Lamarck, are Pennatulide.
The Virgularia mirabilis is one of the most beautiful of marine
polypes. Two series of half-moon shaped wings, obliquely hori-
zontal, are placed symmetrically round an upright axis; they
embrace the stem, clasping it alternately like two broad ribbons

UMBELLULARIA. VIRGULARIA.

rolled round a stem in an inverse direction, thus producing the
effect of two flights of stairs winding round opposite ways. The
wings are wavy, deeply dentated, and of a bright yellow. These
dentations are the homes of the polypes, which show occasionally
their gaping mouths and their spread tentacles. These polypes
are whitish, semi-transparent, and form a fringe of small dia-
phanous white stars.

SEA-PENS. I21

With most polypiers the elementary individual, in spite of the
adhesion established among the members of the colony, possesses
a vital energy all its own, and is, in some respects, quite inde-
pendent. Each has its own particular will, which may or may
not be in harmony with the rest, and perhaps it is on account
of this insurmountable difficulty that nature has rendered these
creatures fixed and sedentary. Thus the polypes are prevented
from attempting to exert any common will to move, like a single
individual. It is not so with the sea-pens; their colony is
not fixed and stationary; they move very little, it is true,
yet they move. What do we conclude from this? That the
parts which they possess in common, in place of being bony or cal-
careous, and consequently insensitive, are fleshy, with contractile
powers, and therefore capable of conveying sensation; consequently,
the polypes of the sea-pens are less independent of each other
than the coral polypes, having a central, perhaps a sensible organ,
common to all, which binds them to each other, giving a certain
unity to their acts. The coral polypiers have no will, those of the
pennatula have.

The fresh-water polypiers, which are true miniatures of the
marine polypiers, are also not all fixed—some are capable of
moving, thus in the ponds and streams we find little imperceptible
creatures, analogous to the great wandering zoophytes which the
waves nourish, and which float in the world of waters.

CEUAR AE Re oc ik.
SEA ANEMONES.

PICTURE to yourself a large and thick polype, having instead of
the six modest feelers, a great number of brightly coloured ten-
tacles, forming a kind of little collar—and you have an idea of

SEA ANEMONES,

the sea anemone; for the fresh-water polype seems to be a crude
outline of this beautiful zoophyte.

The name anemone is well chosen; for this perfect polype
much more resembles a flower than an animal. The poets looked
upon them as the roses amongst zoophytes. The charming and
timid creatures are also called act/ni@, as indicating their disposition
to form rays or stars, dxtives being the Greek for “rays.” They are

SEA ANEMONES. 123

pulpy, more or less tough, and generally fixed by the base. The
body or column is in the shape of a purse, flattened out into a disc
at the summit, bearing many rows of tentacles, in the centre of
which is the mouth.

The dase of the anemone is generally a plain surface, by means
of which the animal clings vigorously to foreign bodies. In some
species it is found dilated, producing two semi-circular pinions ; in
other species the opposite is the case, the co/mmz contracts until it
is unable to serve its purpose, and the animal cannot adhere. The

THE ANEMONE OF COUCH. THE CARNATION ANEMONE,

column more generally contracts than expands; yet sometimes it
lengthens itself, becoming cylindrical and like a stem ; in this state
it is very lissom, and its surface is fluted. The dzsc varies in size.
The dzextacles are hollow cones, arranged in concentric circles in
many ranks ; they vary greatly in length as well as in shape; they
are filiform or petaloid; they are inflated or flat; they are often
pointed ; sometimes they are ciliated or fringed; and at other
times branched, and in many species they are like white and
semi-transparent worms. Charles Bonnet counted on one anemone
150 tentacles, arrayed in three rows, from which jets of water
were ejected at the will of the animal. The mouh is always
large, with thick circular lips, Sometimes depressed, and sometimes

124 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

raised upon a sort of protuberance. Linnaus mentions five species
of actinie ; Rapp, twenty-three; Lamarck, twenty-five ; and now
we can count a hundred!

These brightly coloured zoophytes exhibit well-nigh every tint ;
they are found white, grey, pink, red, purple, fawn, yellow, orange,
lilac, azure, and green. Here is one beautiful species, with violet
tentacles, pointed with white; there another, with red tentacles,
slightly speckled with grey ; this one spreads out its green arms,
edged with a circle of dead white; while that opens a milk-white
top, circled with a border of pink.

The stem, the disc, the tentacles, are not always of the same
colour; this is the reason why these animated corollas have such
varied hues. Here is an anemone which has a yellow body, and a
disc of an apricot tint, surrounded by tentacles of a dead white.
Here is a second, which has a red centre, with grey tentacles;
here a third, where the centre is green, and the tentacles yellow.
So Nature diversifies her numberless creations, and plays endless
variations upon the same theme!

The sea anemones are found attached to the rocks, often in the
crevices and clefts. Sometimes the creature takes possession of a
shell which is tenantless, and filling up the cavity with its body,
spreads its tentacles out of the mouth. When they are deserted by
the waves, they draw in their tentacles, and dry up; but when
the sea returns, they open once more, and again expand their
flowery heads.

Though these animals are very adherent yet they are able to
move themselves, though their progress is very slow. Their loco-
motion is managed by successive contraction and loosening of the
part by which they are fastened to the rock. When the anemone
wishes to change its place, by an imperceptible action it stretches
forward one side of its base, gradually drawing in the opposite;
sometimes it draws itself along by the aid of its tentacles; thus in
this instance they serve as feet. Professor Forbes had an actinia
which walked upon the sides of a bottle, sticking alternately by
its base and by its disc. So in the kingdom of nature there are
even flowers that walk!

At the approach of winter the anemones of our shores let go

SEA ANEMONES. 125

their hold, and leave themselves to be borne by the waves to
deeper water, where they sink into a warmer clime. The instinct
of these beautiful creatures is more certain in its promptings
than even that of terrestrial animals; and, if we may judge by
consequences, they may be said even to reason, like the higher
vertebrata. The study of instinct among animals is certainly the
grandest and most noble department of natural history, and ought
to be pursued as much and more than those which generally
gain attention.

Under the influence of daylight, the anemone spreads itself
out, opening its petals like an Easter-daisy. These tentacles
extend and contract, go out and in, remain perfectly stationary, or
move rapidly around the open mouth. Touch the animal with a
stick, or even stir the water which surrounds it—immediately every-
thing contracts, shuts up, and shrivels. When the anemone has
spread his painted collarette, if a little worm, a young crustacean,
or a fish just hatched, happens to come against it, the voracious
animal pulls the imprudent wanderer into its gaping mouth, forces
it into its stomach—e? consummatum est !

The life of the anemone is a continual ambush ; yet the fila-
mentous tentacles of some species appear to be true offensive
arms. Mr. Gosse tore off one of these filaments just as it had
seized a little fish, but the captive only struggled feebly, and soon
relaxed all effort. MM. Hollard has seen young mackerel roll upon
their sides and die by a simple contact with an actinia.

When the tentacles are touched, according to Mr. Rymer Jones,
a somewhat stinging smart is felt ; for more than an hour the hand
remains red and painful. If one of these organs be pulled off, and
the tongue applied to the wound, a burning and corrosive sensation
is experienced. This poisonous quality of the tentacles resides in
minute organs which are spread out under the whole surface of
the skin; these consist of innumerable capsules only visible to the
microscope. They contain a thick twisted thread, breaking at the
least touch; they thrust out this fibre, by which the tentacle sticks
to the body

as do certain prickly fruits. This thread is ordi-
narily composed of one or more bands, twisted together in a spiral
form, and each one is armed with little barbs. This apparatus
serves to emit a very venomous fluid.

126 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

-- he anemones are vigorous and voracious. Nothing is too
much for their gluttony. Every animal which comes within their
reach is seized, engulfed, and devoured. Nevertheless, with all
the power of their mouths, their insatiable stomachs cannot retain
the prey they have swallowed. Sometimes it contrives to make
its escape; at other times it is adroitly snatched away by a watch-
ful marauder, more cunning and more active than the anemone.
A shrimp which has seen the prey devoured from a distance
will throw itself upon the anemone, and audaciously wrest his
booty from him, and to his great chagrin devour it before his eyes.
Even when the savoury morsel has been swallowed, the shrimp, by
a great effort, succeeds in drawing it back again from the stomach ;
seating itself upon the extended disc of the anemone, with its
small feet it prevents the approach of the tentacles, and, at the
same time, inserts its claws into the digestive cavity and seizes
the food. In vain does the pilfered anemone endeavour to con-
tract and close its mouth; it is useless; the vagabond crustacean
generally comes off victorious; but sometimes the conflict becomes
serious when the anemone is strong and robust, the aggressor is
repelled, and the shrimp runs the risk of supplementing the repast
of. his victim.

During the process of digestion the actiniz appear to sleep,
passing into a state of torpor; they then close their tentacles
tightly, forming a pointed pinnacle above their mouth. Thus
shut up they look exactly like the bud of a flower ready to open.
The visceral cavity of these creatures appears large in proportion
to the other part of their frames, and is divided into sections
by radiating compartments. It is remarkable, that litmus paper
plunged into this organ, whether the animal be fasting or whether
digestion be in progress, detects no sign of acidity or the opposite
alkaline state.

Like the fresh-water polypes, the anemones frequently swallow
a quantity of food greatly disproportionate to the cavity of their
stomachs. In less than an hour, one of these creatures emptied
the shell of a mussel and disposed of a crab, rejecting the
hardest parts by turning its stomach inside out! Dr. Johnson
tells us that an Awemone crassicornis, from having swallowed a
shell which separated it into two halves, was well-nigh perish-

SEA. ANEMONES. : bay

ing from hunger, when—w7rabile dictu !—it opened at its other
extremity a new mouth, provided with its proper row of tentacles;
so the creature ate at both ends! An accident which to other
animals would have ensured death, became in this sea anemone
the source of redoubled enjoyment.

The actinia can endure long fasts. It is necessary that this
should be the case with organisms which are fixed and unable to go
in search of food, and, consequently, may not have it at the right
moment. When our terrestrial animals do not eat they become
thin; atrophy sets in, and reduces them to one-tenth of their size:
but when plenty returns they fatten quickly, and soon become what
they were. But an anemone can live two or three years without
food !

The sea anemones have the most obtuse sense; they are not
conscious of the prey which is close to them until it is actually
in contact with their tentacles; they make no effort to escape from
danger. Strange to say, if the very water which covers them
evaporates, they have no idea of approaching neighbouring water,
although they can touch it with their arms. However, as we have
seen, impelled by instinct, they can then detach themselves from
the rock, and allow the waves to carry them out into deeper
water. The Abbé Dicquemare thinks that they feel variations in
the temperature ; and some naturalists assert that they ascend or
descend in their localities according to the prevailing wind.

The actinie live for many years domesticated. A red anemone
(Actinia mesembrianthemum) was kept by Sir John Dalyell for
twenty years, and it was supposed to have been ten years old when
he took it from the sea. Another he had for fourteen years. At
the time their longevity was spoken of, these two patriarchs were
full of life and vigour, and seemed as though they would live for

many years longer.

At certain periods, germs and embryos may be seen in the ten-
tacles of the anemones, the first stationary, the second moving. The
best way of examining them is to cut off the tentacles with a
sharp knife. Sir J. Dalyell, having thus operated upon a red
anemone, at the end of October two corpuscles fell off; the first
remained motionless, but the other had a kind of double rotatory

128 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

movement, turning over with great activity ; the one was the egg,
the other the larva. These creatures bear their young, not zon
their arms, but zz their arms. The larve generally pass from the
tentacles into the stomach, and are afterwards, at a further stage
of their development, ejected from the mouth with the refuse of
their food. What a wonderful formation! The larve are in the
stomach with the digesting food, and yet are themselves uninjured.

THE BIRTH OF THE ANEMONE.

(Actinia eguina.)

The Daisy Anemones in the Zoological Gardens of Paris fre-
quently throw up little embryos, which are dispersed, and attach
themselves to various parts of the aquarium, and gradually become
miniature anemones, exactly like the parent. An actinia, which
had taken a very copious repast, ejected a portion of it twenty-four
hours later, and in the middle of the ejected food were found
thirty-eight young individuals. The lower class of animals have,
in fact, as the general basis of their organisation, a sack with a
single opening, which serves a great variety of uses; it receives

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SEA ANEMONES. 129

and rejects, it swallows and it vomits. This vomiting becomes
necessary and habitual—in short, it is the normal condition of
the animal, and, perhaps, is a source of pleasure; it certainly
is not a malady, but a function, and a function often repeated.
In some species of the anemone the young are formed on the
outside of the bottom of the purse; they detach themselves from
the mother, and soon become individuals in all respects resembling
their parent. Mr. Rymer Jones had a mutilated anemone which
produced twenty larva in a month, and seventy in a year. But
Mr. Hogg relates an instance of production extraordinary indeed !
A carnation anemone in the aquarium adhered so forcibly to the
sides of the case, that in detaching it he tore away some of its
base; six pieces remained attached to the glass, which, for many
days, indicated the place where the anemone had been. In about
a week attempts were again made to detach these fragments,
but with surprise it was observed that they shrank from the
touch, and contracted. Each of them soon became crowned with
a row of little tentacles, and finally each fragment became a new
anemone! Every part of these strange creatures becomes a perfect
animal when detached, while the mutilated parent continues to
live as if nothing had happened. .

The anemones enjoy, like the fresh-water hydra, the property
of reproducing a damaged organ. If their tentacles be amputated
they speedily replace them, and the experiment can be repeated
ad infinitum. If the creature be cut in two, the lower part of the
body produces a crown of tentacles, and completes itself. As for
the upper half, it continues to seize and engulf its prey without
seemingly being aware that the food passes out as quickly from
the lower opening; but the anemone soon learns to prevent this
waste. The lower opening gradually closes, and finally shuts; thus
a new base is formed, round the outside of which a crown of
tentacles appears, and a new mouth is produced ; so the creature
catches and devours its prey at both ends at once. Thus a curious
animal is the result—two perfect anemones joined to each other
by their bases. In due time they separate, a rupture taking
place at their point of juncture, and two perfectly independent
animals commence their new existence. If the section instead

J

[30 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

of being horizontal be vertical, and the anemone, by a stroke of
the knife, be split into two equal parts, in a few days the separated
sides join together, and two perfect creatures are thus produced,
in all respects similar to the unmutilated original, save that each
is somewhat narrower.

Trembley, by his experiments, rendered the fresh-water polypes
celebrated, and the Abbé Dicquemare, by similar means, has
brought the anemone into notoriety. He made numerous experi-
ments upon these curious animals, both remarkable for the tenacity
of their life and the brilliancy of their colours. He mutilated
them in every manner. He always found the isolated fragments
manfully bore the torture—if torture it were—of vivisection, and
triumphantly existed through the violent operation.

“Perhaps,” said this good abbé, “I may be accused of
cruelty ; but from what I have seen from my experiments, I believe
that the happiness of the creatures was increased : for not only did
I augment the duration of their lives, but I renewed the term of

their youth.”

The anemones are excellent food! In Provence the red and
the green actinia are held in great repute. In the time of Rondelet
the A. crassicornis was sold at Bordeaux at a high price. The
Abbé Dicquemare considers this last anemone the best for the
table; when boiled in sea water it becomes firm and palatable,
and it has an odour very like that of warm crab. The same
author also assures us that the carnation anemone is very
estimable. Plancus advises that they be cooked like oysters.

The Lucernaria are closely allied to the anemones; they oniy
differ in having a smoother skin, and their upper part is dilated
like a parasol turned inside out. Their body is attached to a
pedicle, their tentacles being joined in bunches; and four pro-
minences, like horns, rise out of their digestive cavity, which con-
tain a red, granular matter. They attach themselves to sea-weeds
and other marine bodies.

The Bell Lucernaria is probably the most beautiful of its
species. It well may bear a flower’s name. The corolla is shaped
like a bell, about an inch deep, of a uniform dark brown, and

SEA ANEMONES. 131

supported by a fine and slender stalk. Its cavity is closed by
a concave layer, in the centre of which is a small square mouth,
raised upon a little eminence. The sides of the corolla are divided
into eight lobes, each carrying a bunch of miscroscopic tentacles,
terminated by a glandular, rose-coloured bud. When you view

TWO BELL LUCERNARIZE UPON A PIECE OF SEA-WEED.

(Lucernaria octoradiata.)

the charming creature sideways, the eight tufts of tentacles
resemble the stamens of the myrtle.

Doubtless there remains much to be said of the anemones and
the creatures they resemble; as Charles Bonnet says, “Natural
history is a vast country, of which we scarcely know the fron-
tiers, and we want to fill in the map.” Man is always in a hurry,
and will never wait. Eratosthenes and Hipparchus worked at
the geography of the globe, but long centuries elapsed before
Columbus and Vasco de Gama completed its survey.

bo

43

CHAAR ex Eb:
THE MEDUS#.

THE semi-transparent bells which float so gracefully in the sea

are called the M/eduse@—strange organisations, which constitute

THE CROSS MEDUSA,

(Rhizostoma cruciata.)

a large class of frail and wandering animals, to which Cuvier
cave the name of Acalephe. The reason for this nomenclature
we shall presently state. The medusa resembles an umbrella, or
a bell, or better still, an elegant floating mushroom, the stool
of which has been separated into lobes more or less divergent,
sinuous, twisted, shrivelled, or fringed.

At first sight we might
mistake them for roots.

The edges of the umbrella-like tops are
sometimes plain, or sometimes delicately cut ; sometimes ciliated,
or often provided with long thread-like appendages, which descend

THE MEDUS&. 133

vertically into the water. Occasionally the creature is colourless,
and as transparent as crystal; generally, however, it is slightly
opaline, with a delicate blue or pink tint, and in certain species the
shades are bright, and the reflections iridescent. In some meduse
the central parts only are coloured—red, yellow, blue, or violet—the
remainder of its body being semi-transparent. The central mass

THE MEDUSA OF GAUDICHAUD.
(Chrysaora Gaudichaudi. )

appears covered with a thin veil, a beautiful film, showing all the
colours of the rainbow, which is like a glass shade covering a
bouquet of flowers.

The acalephz are without consistence, and soaked with water.
It seems quite impossible that their delicate frames can resist the
force of the waves, or even the motion of the currents ; yet the waves
bear them tenderly, and the tempests drive them without doing
them harm. When the ebbing tide leaves them on the shore, their
substance dissolves, decomposition sets in, and the creature goes
to nothing; if the sun be hot, this disorganisation is complete in

134 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

a few hours. The retiring waves often leave upon the beach
numbers of these poor medusz, which melt like ice. Many of the
large species weigh ten or twelve pounds, and yet only contain a
few grains of solid matter.

Mr. Telfair, in 1819, saw on the shore near Bombay an enor-
mous medusa, weighing several tons. Three days afterwards the
creature began to putrefy. The fishermen of the neighbourhood

THE BEAUTIFUL-HAIRED MEDUSA.

(Cyanea euplocania.)

were employed to watch its decomposition, and to collect any
bones or cartilages of this sea monster, if, perchance, it should have
any ; but nothing was found. It entirely disappeared, although it
required nine months for its complete dissolution.

The acalephe of our coasts never reach so gigantic a size;
indeed, they are generally small. One of the most delicate is the
Turris neglecta (the Ruined Tower), which has been described as a
bell of red glass, ornamented with four transversal rays, and four
white appendages, which are placed over the dome-like creature in

THE MEDUS. 135

the form of a cross. The edges of the bell have a snowy fringe,
which has a remarkably pretty effect.

The acalephe are often found together in considerable numbers.
' The barks which navigate Lake Thau meet at certain periods of
the year with numerous colonies of a species about the size of a
small melon, nearly transparent, whitish, like water mixed with a

LIZZIA KG@:LLIKERI, MAGNIFIED.

little aniseed. At first sight this floating colony might be taken
for a collection of muslin bonnets scattered upon the water.

The Liszia of Kolliker is so small that it can scarcely be re-
cognised in transparent water, yet often on the coasts of Greenland
large patches are seen coloured by this pretty brown medusa. A
wine-glass of water can contain 3,000 of them. One of their banks,
which seemed nothing in the expanse of the ocean, was calculated
to contain 1,600,000,000,000,000 of these animalcules. What a

136 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

fund of reflection for the philosopher does this calculation open
up. The meduse being light and floating, every current and
movement of the water carries them farther and farther from the
place where they were brought into existence. Some species, -
upon which the whales live, are swept in myriads from the coasts
of Mexico to the Hebrides, one of the principal stations of these
enormous Cetacea.

For a long time the acalephe were neglected by naturalists,
who, like Réaumur, took them for masses of jelly, or a kind of
gelatinised water; they little suspected that they were animal
organisations. Constant Duméril conceived the idea of injecting
milk into their cavities. He noticed that the liquid traversed nume-
rous channels with great regularity, and he soon discovered the
organs of digestion and of circulation. Ehrenberg found in one of
the Aurelia a most unexpected and complicated structure: and at
last science was aroused to dive into the mysteries of their internal
structure. These studies as they are pursued become more and
more marvellous, as we follow these living gelatines, these rude
attempts at life, as they might well be called, forming and re-
forming thousands of times before nature elaborates with their
substance an animal of any solid consistency.

The medusze are the food of small marine animals, principally
of the worms and mollusks. The mouth is placed in the middle
of the neck, and some of them have more than one mouth. These
strange creatures are very voracious, and swallow their prey with-
out masticating it, or even dividing it. When the animal it has
captured offers resistance, the acalephz simply holds it fast and
allows its victim to struggle until exhausted with fatigue. A
medusa has been seen to seize an animal by its head, which, in its
violent struggles to escape, completely turned its captor inside out.
Some medusze imprisoned in a vase with small fish and little
crustaceans were frequently seen to devour them; though their prey
had a much higher organisation, and intelligence more than
sufficient to perceive and to fly from danger. Apparently, says
Forbes, the meduse have a democratic delight in destroying
animals of higher classes. Thus in the ocean world there seems
to exist the rivalry of caste.

THE MEDUSZ. 137

The bodies of the meduse dilate and contract alternately.
This double movement is the chief means by which they move.
This was observed by the ancients, who compared it to the action
of respiration in the human chest; hence their popular name of
Sea-lungs. When they journey, their convex part is always fore-
most, and their course slightly oblique. If, while they are thus
swimming, they be touched ever so slightly, the umbrella con-
tracts, the tentacles are folded, and the timid creatures sink into the
depths. A careful examination of the marginal portions of the
acalephz has discovered the presence of visual and auditory organs.
M. Kolliker announced the existence of the first in his “ Océanie.”
M. Gegenbauer has since found them in other classes (A/zzostoma,
Pelagia), and he also perceived the presence of the second organs.
The eyes consist of two small hemispherical masses—which are
coloured and full of cells, in which are half-buried little crystalline
globules—the exposed part of which is perfectly uncovered. The
auditory apparatus is attached to these organs; it is composed of
small vessels full of liquid. So nature produces eyes without eye-
lashes or eyelids, and ears without openings.

But the marvel of marvels is the process of the reproduction of
these vagabond tenants of the waves. Ata certain time of year the
medusz are full of eggs of most brilliant colours, suspended in large
festoons over their floating bodies. These eggs are very small.
In some species they appear hooked on to the body of the medusa,
and do not detach themselves until they reach their full develop-
ment. The larvae produced from these eggs do not bear the
slightest resemblance to their mother. They are long, worm-like
forms, thicker at one end, like microscopical leeches ; and they have
scarcely-perceptible vibratory cils, whose movements are by no
means slow. At a further stage of development they are found
transformed into polypes with eight tentacles. This embryo medusa
~-a truly wonderful creature—rejoices in the power of reproducing
itself, by buds and shoots growing on the surface of its body, and
also by filaments which sprout from it here and there. Thusa
single individual may become, in a little time, a large colony.
The polype in this process undergoes a remarkable transformation.
It folds itself upon itself; its body becomes jointed, and appears

138 THE WORLD OF “THE (SEA-

composed of a dozen discs or cups piled up one upon another.
The topmost disc is thrown off; thus separating itself from the
column by convulsive efforts, and becoming free. So it appears
as an excessively minute medusa. In the same way, one after
the other, the discs—that is, the individuals—separate, as is shown
in Plate VIII.

i
I

tH

I a en AA

THE BIRTH OF THE MEDUS.,

Thus zoophytes which have sexes distinguished propagate their
kind after the ordinary manner; but their offspring, which bear
no resemblance to them, have no sexual distinction—they are
neuter in gender. These propagate, by budding and by fissiparism,
individuals like themselves, but which may possess sexual dis-
tinction. The original creature before this process takes place
itself becomes transformed from a simple to a compound animal,

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THE MEDUSA. 139

and it is from this animal in this state that those offspring come
which have sexual distinction, that is, which are perfect animals.
These two modes.-of propagation, so different, follow each other
in a regular manner, and form a combination which has received
the name of alternate gencration, a generation in which the children
never resemble the parent, but always the grand-parent. ‘These
neuter individuals which produce perfect creatures are called nwrses,
a term not very happily chosen. These successive transformations
which take place in the same animals appear at first sight very
extraordinary, and yet similar phenomena are taking place every
day around us, and we scarcely give to them any attention, either
because the creatures are so common, or else it is that the changes

MEDUSA LARVA.

are of such frequent occurrence. For instance, the beautiful flutter-
ing butterflies deposit eggs which lie immovable and helpless, and
which have neither beauty nor elegance. These eggs, in due time,
give birth to caterpillars which are destined to crawl with difficulty,
and which are coated generally in sombre hues. In their turn the
caterpillars change, and the brown mummy chrysalis is condemned
to a death-like slumber, until it awakes into the richly-tinted
butterfly which flits from flower to flower. If now these insects
were excessively rare, and inhabited the ocean depths, would it not
be a long time before we learnt that the eggs, and the caterpillar,
and the chrysalis, and the butterfly, were the same animal in
different phases of its being? And if this insect had an organi-
sation less complete, perhaps the caterpillar, or the chrysalis, or
even the egg, might have produced offspring by germination or

55’
fissiparism ; that is, by buds, or by dividing its own body into

140 THE WORLD OF THE SEA

numerous parts, and then we should have phenomena exactly
similar to those which are presented in the lives of the meduse.

All medical men now know that the Zenza, an articulated
tapeworm, has larve very different to the perfect creature, and
which have the power of producing other larve like themselves.
Thus these curious animals are simple at one period of their
lives, compound at the second stage, and return to their simplicity
at a third. Never can it be too often said that all is changeable
in nature; God alone being “the same yesterday, to-day, and
forever:

It is remarkable with regard to butterflies that they pass suc-
cessively through such opposite states ; at one time vitality is very
apparent and exuberant, at another latent and all but extinct; now
they are in movement, now in repose. The egg is immovable, the
caterpillar crawls, the chrysalis sleeps, the butterfly dances in the
air; and each time of action is preceded by a period of repose,
according to a great law in physiology. » Look, for instance, at
the silkworm, each time she undertakes to clothe herself in a
new vesture she remains in a torpor, preparing for a new life by
a semblance of death. Quatrefages remarks that the tendency to
metamorphosis increases as we descend in the scale of life.

Many of the medusz produce an acute pain when touched, like
the sting of a nettle, to which property they owe their name of
sea nettles.

One of the most remarkable of the species is the Lazry medusa,
the terror of bathers. This creature is like a pretty brown um-
brella, divided and festooned, with a thick pedicle and a great
number of arms, long and ribboned, carrying after them floating
hair, the more dangerous since it is well nigh transparent. Any
one who imprudently ventures into the midst of these poisoned
filaments soon feels the most insupportable agony. The medusa,
when escaping, often leaves behind it these hairs, which become
detached, and, though they are separated from the creature, they
still retain their stinging power, as though they would revenge
themselves for their isolation. The stinging organs of the medusa
are very tiny cells disseminated in their skin, upon which they
form little protuberances. They may be noticed round the ex-

HE MEDUSA. I4I

fremity, or along the whole length of the fine tentacles. These
cells are made of a double semi-transparent membrane, which
is very thin and somewhat flexible; within the cavity there is
found a long thin thread, coiled up upon itself when the sting is
inactive. This thread can shoot out of the bag, and then there
is seen at its extremity one or more sharp points like darts.
These microscopic poniards are most probably tubular, and along
the canal the poison issues from the gland. It is with these little
stings that the medusz, whose tissue is so delicate and so weak,

A BEROE,
(Berce ileus.)

and whose intelligence is so obtuse and so limited, can defend
themselves, and even attack. The smarting sensation which they
cause when touched is violent, their sting producing a blister, and
an irritation which lasts for days.

The Medusa of Aldrovand (Rhizostoma Aldrovandi), whose
habitat is the Mediterranean, and the Medusa of Cuvier, which is
found in the Straits of Dover, also possess a stinging apparatus,
which produces an inflammation. We are told that one drop of the
poison will inflame the whole of the muscles of the eye, and raise
upon the hand pustules which itch intolerably. It is in this class
of acalepha that naturalists place the Beroes and the Velelle. The
beroes are ovoid or globular bodies, whose sides are ornamented
with teeth-like points and filaments. Sometimes the sides form
a kind of wings. Certain of the beroes resemble castles without

142 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

foundations. Their colours are bright, and frequently they look
as though they were made of porcelain.

The species which is found on the coast of Ireland, the Cydippe
pomiformia, is a little iridescent sphere of pure crystal. When they
eat, the prey may be watched traversing this transparent tissue.
Their sides are fringed with semi-transparent and very mobile cilia,
by whose aid these beautiful little balloons glide through the waters
like meteors. The rows of cilia move alternately, one resting while
the other is in motion. The movements of this beroe are very
capricious ; sometimes it rises gently to the surface of the water,
like a slowly-ascending bubble, and then it descends again as
slowly ; another time it comes up rapidly, and falls again like a
stone into the depths. At another time it remains quite stationary,
and turns round on its vertical axis, so making a number of pro-
gressing circles, like an elegant dancer.

This pretty creature is furnished with two very fine and delicate
tentacles, six times longer than its body. They are flexible
capillary tubes, which have lateral branches, short and arborescent.
These tentacles descend from the under part of the creature, and
diverge from each other; they are very wavy, and are not unlike
spiders’ threads. We are told that their surface is covered with
Microscopic vesicles, straight and upright, by which, probably,
they either stupify their prey, or hold it fast. The weakest organ
has always something to compensate for its weakness, and here a
fine and almost imperceptible thread is a very dangerous weapon.
It appears that the beroe is phosphorescent; when disturbed it
produces a light which appears like a luminous twisted column,
continually changing its place, because of the gyratory motion in
which the animal indulges.

The Velelle have an interior cartilage, which is oval and trans-
parent, and gives consistency to the gelatinous substance of their
body. This animal, shown in the accompanying figure, is like
an umbrella in shape; its colour is of a dark blue, furnished on
its under surface with a number of suckers, and a vertical tuft,
like a sail fixed to its cartilage, crosses its back obliquely. The
velelle often float on the waves in great numbers, covering the
waters with what look like little flowers, which the zephyrs, as they
breathe, gently waft before them.

THE MEDUSA. 143

The name of Hydrostatics or Hydromeduse@ is given to certain
animals of this class which are essentially voyagers. They possess
one or more air-vessels, little natatory bells of various forms. The
elegant creatures frequently float on the waves, even when the
howling tempest has lashed them into foam, like frail barks over-
taken in a storm. But the sea may rage, the hydromedusa can
never be submerged; nothing can force it beneath the surface.
These acalephz have generally grey tentacles or fishing threads, of

VELELLA.
(Velella limbosa.)

different lengths, and often very numerous and of great fineness.
Their vessels or their bells hold them up in the water; their
tentacles direct them in their movements; their fishing threads
serve them at the same time for means of defence, for arms where-
with to seize their prey, and for organs of suction. The hydro-
meduse are compound animals, a kind of travelling polypier.
Their colonies form fringes, garlands, and clusters of beautiful
elegance. They are often composed of three kinds of elementary
animalcules: those which are nurses; those which bear young,
but have no mouth; and a third class, which are both progenitors
and protectors of their offspring.

These curious animals consist of a large bladder which contains

all their organisation, or of floating bell-shaped bodies, which are

144 THE» WORLD OF THE SEA.

either divided into compartments, or are of a more simple con-
struction. There is a well-known and interesting member of this

HYDROMEDUSA,

(Vogtza.)

class of creatures, called in the language of science, Physalia, but
by sailors it is designated by the more expressive names of she sea
bladder, the little galley, or the Portuguese man-of-war. In the

THE MEDUS&. 145

physalia the natatory organs are passive. When the sea is calm
they may be seen floating upon its surface; their body is a cylin-
drical bladder, dilated in the middle, bearing a fancied resemblance
to the hull of a ship. Their colour is purple, shading off to blue.
Beneath the vessel are a great number of fleshy tentacles, cylindrical
and twisted, which hang down perpendicularly, like tassels of blue
silk. The central members of this bunch have attached to them

PHYSALIA.
(Physalia Antarctica.)

fine, movable, contractile threads, which hang down many feet into
the water. These threads are studded with starry pearls of the
colour of indigo, which form borders, and spirals, and zigzags of
an elegance hardly to be conceived. “These galleys,’ says Lesson,
“move along painted with the richest hues. The upper part is in-
flated with air, often to a size equal to the rest of the body, and
thus forms a sail, by which they are blown over the waters. This
white expansion is often tinted with blue, and shaded with pur-
ple and violet ; a frill at its ridge is of bright carmine, forming a

K

{40 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

most pleasing contrast with the azure of the surrounding waters.”
_ Take care how you touch the little living vessel: a sting far more
painful than that of the nettle will be inflicted on the too venture-
some hand. This sensation is produced by a blue corrosive liquid,
of a syrupy consistence. The pain does not readily subside, and
sometimes it is attended with a disposition to faint. Generally the
irritation does not extend further than the hand. “The galley,”
says Father Feuillée, “has occasioned me such violent pain when I
have touched it that convulsions have ensued. Father Dutertre,
when he was in the Antilles, was one day sailing in a small boat,
when he saw one of these little vessels. Desirous of knowing the
form of the animal, he tried to take it in his hand. “But I had
scarcely seized it,” he writes, “when all its fibres seemed to clasp
my hand, covering it as with bird-lime; and I had hardly felt it in
all its freshness—for it is very cold to the touch—when it seemed as
if I had plunged my arm up to the shoulder in boiling oil; and
this was accompanied with pains so strange that I could scarcely

5)

prevent myself from shrieking.” Leblond, in his “ Voyage aux
Antilles,” gives a figure of a Physalia pelagica, and narrates the
following: “One day I was bathing with some friends in a bay
which was in front of the house where I dwelt ; while my friends
fished for sardines for breakfast, I amused myself by diving, after
the fashion of the native Caribbeans, under the wave as it was about
to break. . . . This daring nearly cost me my life. A galley,
many of which were cast up upon the beach, fastened itself to my
left shoulder. As soon as the sea cast me on the shore, I quickly
tore it off, but some of its filaments remained sticking to my skin.
The pain I immediately experienced was so intense that I nearly
fainted. I seized an oil flask which was at hand, swallowed one-
half, and rubbed the affected parts with the rest, but the pain went
to my heart, and I fainted. Upon coming to myself I felt well
enough to return to the house; a couple of hours’ rest made me
better, and the pain disappeared during the night.”

Meyen, during the first voyage of the Princess Louise round the
world, saw a magnificent physalia, which passed near the ship. A
young sailor, bold and courageous, leapt into the sea, naked, to
secure the animal. Swimming towards it, he seized it; the
creature wrapped its assailant in its thread-like filaments, which

THE MEDUSA. 147

were nearly a yard in length. The young fellow, overwhelmed
by a feeling of burning pain, cried out for help. He had scarcely
strength to reach the ship, and to climb on board again. The pain
and inflammation were so great that brain fever set in, and great
fears were entertained of his safety.

The Diphyde of Cuvier, the Physophore of Forskal, and the
_ Apolemie of Lesson propel themselves. by natatory organs. Phe
Diphyde are always found in pairs—two different individuals
invariably go together, but the union between them is very

DIPHYDA.

different from that which joined Philemon and Baucis: one of the
individuals is enclosed in a cavity in the other. The enclosed one
forms a kind of chaplet in the interior of the other. These creatures
are gelatinous, ovoid, pyramidal, and sometimes in the form of a
mushroom. They can be separated without mutilation, and pre-
served alive; but if one of them be isolated, it is evident that
it is in an unnatural state, and soon perishes. Some naturalists
look upon them as male and female, joined together indissolu-
bly ; a wonderful destiny consigning them to a life-long embrace!
Love is but an episode in the life of most animals, but it fills the
entire existence of the diphyde.

2

148 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

If from between the two lobes of a diphyda a long capillary

filament takes its rise, from which hang into the water a number

PHYSOPHORA.

(Physophora hydrostatica.)

of parallel branches, and which also bears little pyriform, coloured
bodies, we shall then have the Galeolaria aurantiaca, a wonderful
hydrostatic colony, discovered by M. Vogt in the neighbourhood

THE MEDUSZ. 149

of Nice. Here the two lobes which have no sex are supposed to
be natatory vessels common to the colony, and intended to support
them in the water. The pyriform bodies are the individuals of this
floating republic. The males are orange and the females yellow.

It seems probable that many of the diphyde which have been
captured are mutilated, that is, deprived of some of their fila-
ments, and are, consequently, incomplete.

The Physophore possess numerous lobes.

The Physophora disticha is one of the prettiest and most
delicate of the class. The creature is composed of a slender vertical

PHYSOPHORA DISTICHA.

axis, terminating in an oblong transparent bladder, mamillated
underneath. On each side of this axis are three appendages of a
saffron yellow colour, not unlike the flower of the fox-glove. From
the lower extremity of the axis hang thirty tentacles, composing
a perfect pendant bouquet. These tentacles are of a somewhat
cartilaginous substance, semi-transparent; they are rose-coloured,
shading off to white at the extremity, where they terminate in a
sucker. A capillary, or hollow filament of bright purple, runs
over their surface in a zigzag. Is this association perfect, or
ought it to have long suspended filaments, like the Gadeolaria ?

In the Afolemia the lobes are still more numerous. The A/o-
lemia contorta unites the most graceful form with the most delicate
tissue of a wonderful transparence. As it floats it looks like a
bright red plume formed of these lobes. This peculiar creature
has been accurately described by Milne Edwards and C. Vogt ;

150 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

and the latter naturalist has published some beautiful illustrations
of it. The air-bells are arranged in the form of an elongated egg.
On the summit of this is a little air-cell, attached to it by a short
collar. The air bells are crystalline fabrics, and are arranged in
vertical series of twelves; they are all by their points attached
to a common axis, in a spiral form; the long capillary filaments
hanging from them are wavy, transparent, and scarcely visible
to the naked eye; these support little oblong bodies, like ear-
rings. The individual members of the colony are very small and,
at first sight, are remarkable for the purple tint’ of their digestive
cavity. They are fixed toa common trunk. The arrangement at
a distance seems symmetrical, and is generally a quincunx. The
anterior part of the animalcule is armed with stinging capsules. In
its central zone are twelve cushions (biliary cellules) which we are
tempted to take for eggs. From the bottom of the trunk the
fishing threads are suspended. They are extremely thin, and are
furnished with a great many stinging tendrils, which are attached
to a second thread which branches from the first. These stinging
organs are of two kinds; some are like little swords, placed vertically
one against the other, and some are like berries, set on the borders
of the red cord. The tendrils terminate in a colourless thread,
twisted in a spiral, which covers the bag containing the poison.
The reproductive individuals are placed between the nurses. They
may be compared to elongated and expansible bags. They have
no mouth, and are always disposed in pairs upon a bi-truncated
pedicle, at the base of which may often be seen a shrunken fishing-
thread, short, and bristling all over with stinging capsules. What
complication, what variety, what wonderful arrangement to supply
these minute creatures with a power to attack and defend! And
yet these elegant apolemiz have scarcely more consistence than a
mass of soap bubbles !

151

CHAPTER XIV.
THE STAR-FISHES.

ONE of the old kings of France said with reason, “ Nature se plait
en diversité.”’

Here are creatures which seem to be constructed by geometry.
They are the Séar-fish or Asterias. Their resemblance to that
figure which we call a star has long been recognised by amateurs
as well as naturalists. The organisation of marine animals is far

STAR-FISH.

from being rigorously exact. The creative power seldom or never
employed lines perfectly straight ; the preference was always given
to curved and wavy lines; hence the asterias are not constructed
with exact geometrical accuracy. The star-fishes are animals
without vertebra; they are generally flattened and pentagonal,
the branches being nearly equal to each other, and arranged
symmietrically as rays. These rays are more or less triangular,
and are invariably five in number. The asterias strew the ground
of the submarine forests. Sir L. McClintock, when exploring the
route for a North Atlantic telegraph, found a living star-fish at a

152 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

depth of 260 fathoms! It belonged to a species generally found
only in a fossil state, and here it was living under an enormous
pressure, and far out of the reach of the light of day. The asterias
are peculiar to the sea; they have no fresh water representatives.
Certain species are extremely numerous—so numerous, indeed, that
the sea-board population cart them away to manure the land.

The star-fishes are variously coloured. Some are a greyish
yellow, some an orange yellow, others a dull red, or a violet.
Their bodies are surrounded by a calcareous envelope, com-
posed of pieces placed side by side, united by fibres. These

THE VIOLET ASTERIA.

(Uraster violaceus.)

plates are armed with tubercles and pricks; M. Gaudry found
more than 11,000 of them on a red star-fish—that species which
is most common in Europe.

The asterias have a mouth at the centre of their lower sur-
face. There are also upon this under surface globular drop-like
protuberances, which are furnished with arm-like appendages;
and it is from the globular projections that the organs are put
forth, which are really the feet. of the creature. These form a
double or quadruple row; they consist of a fleshy cylinder of a
greyish colour, and in most cases are terminated by a little glo-
bular vesicle filled with a watery liquid. This vessel is capable
of great extension. When the creature wishes to push out its
foot, it causes the globular vessel to contract; this forces the liquid
into the cylinder, which is consequently stiffened, and can be

THE STAR-FISHES. 153

used for the purpose of locomotion. When the pressure upon
the bag of fluid is relieved, the water returns back to its recep-
tacle, and the cylinder becomes limp, and contracts. In spite of
the great number of these ambulacral organs, the star-fish does

UPPER AND UNDER SURFACE OF A STAR-FISH.

(Astropecten spinulosus.)

not move any quicker than other inhabitants of salt water which
possess only one foot or none at all.

If you turn an asteria over upon its back, at first it remains
motionless, with its feet contracted; soon, however, it pushes them
out like so many little worms, spreading them here and there
as if feeling for the ground; it then inclines them towards the
bottom of the vase, and fixes them one after the other; when it

154 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

has a sufficient number attached, the animal turns itself round.
It is believed that these organs also play no inconsiderable part
in the process of respiration ; even during times of seeming repose,
currents of corpuscles are seen traversing them.

The mouth of a star-fish opens immediately into the stomach,
which is a large sack, from which a chamber passes into each arm.
These prolongations of the stomach are a kind of intestines.

These animals are very voracious. They engulf their prey
while still living, in a single morsel. When the victim is too large

EQUESTRIAN STAR-FISH.

(Gontastcer equestris.)

for the mouth, the stomach inverts itself upon it. In all other
animals the lips are the receivers of the food for the stomach;
but here the stomach itself takes the food. The star-fish can eat
even oysters. This appears at first sight impossible, for the mouth
of the star-fish is but small, and an oyster is a considerable size.
But according to Professor Rymer Jones, they seize the oyster
by their rays, holding it by means of their suckers; they then
invert their stomach, which entirely enfolds the unhappy mollusk ;
from the pores of the stomach there seems to exude a poisonous
liquid; the oyster by this means is forced to open its shell, and
thus becomes ain easy prey to its captor.

The asterias play an important part as the scavengers of the
sea. They love all kinds of dead flesh, and show a wondrous
activity in discovering and devouring it. This necessary work of

THE STAR-FISHES. 155

clarifying and making the waters of the ocean salubrious for its
world of inhabitants is carried on silently, quietly, but continuously.
How wondrous are the arrangements by which the Creator com-
pletes the compensations of life!

Ehrenberg first discovered that the star-fish had eyes. They
are placed at the very end of the arms, and on the under surface ;
they are bright red globules, surrounded by a defence of spiny
cilia. To use them the animal is obliged to raise up the arm.
These eyes, in one sense, may be said to be very imperfect, for
they possess no lens; at least, the most careful observers have not
as yet discovered any.

Edward Forbes gives a most interesting account of a star-fish
which is found in the Mediterranean—the Luidia ciliaris—which,
when attacked, is able to destroy itself; first the arms break off
one after the other, and then the disc breaks itself into pieces.
Not being able to defend itself as a whole, it kills itself in
detail. One which had thus escaped him by sacrificing its arms,
opened and shut its spinous eyelid with something very like a
wink !

The star-fishes propagate their species by eggs, which are
produced in vast numbers ; the mother carries them in a cavity
formed by a curvature of the body and the rays. They are so
situated that the creature cannot use its mouth, and, consequently,
it has to pass the period of gestation without taking any food.
An asteria has been known to remain in this state for eleven
days. The eggs are yellow or red. The young come out of the
egg very unlike the parent; they have no rays, are ovoid in
shape, and are provided with vibratory cils, which give them the
appearance of infusoria. They swim with great activity. At the
end of a certain time the rays bud out of the upper part of the
body in the shape of four tiny arms, by means of which the little
star-fish fixes itself to its mother. As yet the members are only
temporary ; the body gradually flattens itself out and becomes a
disc, at first round, upon the surface of which, towards the middle,
spring up without any particular order, globular protuberances,
which are the rudiments of the suckers; these appear to form six
concentric rays. At last the body begins to become pentagoaal

156 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

and more or less like a star; the rays grow out at the angles, and
the animal is complete.

The flesh of the star-fish is considered poisonous.

Star-fishes are capable, with wonderful facility, of reproducing
any part of which they have been deprived. The individual which
loses one or more arms gradually produces others in every respect
similar to those which it once had. At first these new members

A STAR-FISH IN THE PROCESS OF PRODUCING ITS RAYS,

are small, and in this state there is a necessary aberration from
the figure of a star. There is in the Indian Ocean a species
which often has four small arms upon the extremity of the fifth ;
these are new productions in course of development. In this
case the star takes the appearance of a comet.

Sir John Dalyell, on the roth of June, took a ray of a star-fish
which had been cut off. It then exhibited no signs of repro-
duction; but on the 15th the rudiments of the other four rays
showed themselves as little protuberances. At night one of them

THE STAR-FISHES. 157

had doubled its size, and the others had also increased. An
orifice—that is, a mouth—began to form at the centre of this
new group. The process of reproduction was then in full force,
and in three days the four rays were completed; but when com-
pared with the original arms, they were, of course, but Lilliputians.
In a month’s time they had reached their proper size, and thus a
new star-fish was produced from the amputated limb of another.

The asterias are tormented with parasites. There is not per-
haps an animal, terrestrial or marine, which does not serve
as a home for another, or perhaps for many others. To live
in dependence on another is a great physiological law. As a
general rule, parasites belong to an inferior grade to that of the
creature on which they exist; the contrary is very seldom the
case. However, of this we have an instance in the parasite of the
Culcita discoidea. Here is a little fish which passes its life in
the intestinal cavity of a star-fish. This fish is called Oxybates
Brandesit. The parasite is higher in the scale of life than the
star-fish; for one is a vertebrate animal, and the other belongs
to the inferior rank of the invertebrata.*

Some of the star-fishes have a body—a little round disc—from
which rays extend, which are supported by a series of vertebral
formations. These are the Ophiurad@, so called from a fancied
resemblance which the rays bear to the tail of a serpent. The
arms are long, flexible, and wavy, and sometimes furnished upon
their sides with spines and scales. In many species, which are
termed Astrophytes, the arms bifurcate near their origin, and
sometimes they are separated into two or three branches, which
throw out again smaller rays, which are very fine and tortuous.
In one individual no less than 81,920 of these have been counted.

The elegant rays of the ophiurade move and twist themselves
as they have occasion. They seize the prey which comes within
their reach, and direct it to the mouth, which is always placed at
the centre of the lower surface of the star-fish. The astrophytes
appear to use their numerous arms as a net in which to catch
their prey, and, at the same time, to hold it until it is wanted

* Another little fish, the Merasfer Fontanesii, of Risso, lives as a parasite in the great
intestine of the Holothuria royala.

158 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

to make the repast of the animal. The visceral cavity is abso-
lutely limited to the disc which forms the body; it does not
extend into the arms, as is the case in other star-fish, When
an ophiura is put into water which is not fit for its habitation,
one by one, the arms drop off, until nothing remains but the disc ;
and still the creature lives, and eats with avidity.

About the beginning of April the sides of the disc puff out,
and the intermediate spaces between the rays become filled with

ASTROPHYTON VERRUCOSUM.

spawn. The eggs are ovoid and of a bright red. Towards the
end of August, or the beginning of September, the young appear.
At the moment of their birth they are nearly microscopic, almost
transparent, and slightly green. Their shape is curious; they
have been not inaptly likened to a painter’s easel. The upper
part of the body is conical. The lower part is divided into
eight prolongations, disposed in two divergent groups. These
prolongations are covered with cilia, and towards their extremities
are slightly orange. Each is upheld by a little calcareous sup-
port. These singular larve have been described under the name
of Pluteus paradoxrus.

THE STAR-FISHES. 159

In concluding this chapter we must not omit to mention the
Medusas head, one of the most extraordinary productions of

THE MAGNIFIED LARVA OF THE ECHINODERM.
(Pluteus paradoxus.)

marine life. They belong to the Crinoidea, a class of zoophytes
which swarmed in the Paleozoic seas. Many of the limestones

PENTACRINUS EUROPEUS.

are ail but masses of these crinoids. Now the great race is all
but extinct, and our seas only present two species. One is fished
up from great depths, in the neighbourhood of the Antilles, and

160 THE WORLD OF THE SEA,

is popularly known as the marine palm. This curious animal
resembles a flower borne upon a stem, the calyx of the flower
being the head of the animal. The stem has a calcareous core,
which is secreted by the living tissue which surrounds it. The
arms branch out from the calyx. In fact, the animal is a star-fish
fixed to a stem—the fixed star of the ocean world. It has no
mouth, and its digestive apparatus is very rudimentary. Its
pedicle is slender, angular wgandegjomted: The animal ican
balance itself in any position, and appears to enjoy a kind of
sensibility. Thus these animals occupy that position which is
always found in moving from one section of the kingdom of nature
to another; they are the stepping-stones between the animals
which are fixed and those which are free. Nature never leaps,
she always steps.

In 1823 Mr. Thompson discovered the second species in the
European waters. The Pentacrinus Europeus is very small; the
rays are deeply divided into two parts, and they appear to have
ten of these tentacles; they are furnished with cilia. The pedicle
is often as slender as a thread,

101

CHAPTERS cv.
THE SEA-URCHINS.

THE asterias resemble stars; the Zchinz or sea-urchins may be
likened to melons; yet both belong to the same class—the
Echinoderms.

The sea-urchins are enclosed in a calcareous kind of shell,
which is generally globular or egg-shaped, but sometimes flat-
tened. This shell, or carapace, is really built up of polygonal
plates, which adhere by their edges to each other. The plates
are so arranged that the shell is divided into vertical zones—hence
its resemblance to the melon. These zones are of two kinds, one
being very much larger than the other; the plates of the larger
zones are covered with sharp spines, which are movable, and serve
at once for protection and locomotion. The plates of the smaller
zones are pierced with pores, from which issue filaments, by which
the animal breathes and walks.

In the edible sea-urchin (Spherechinus esculentus) the shell is
composed of 10,000 distinct pieces, so admirably and firmly united,
that the whole appears but one piece. The prickly spines are
often very numerous; they cover and protect the shell. From
these bristles, the animal has been named the sea-hedgehog. Its
scientific name is derived from éxivos, which was given to the
creature by Aristotle, from the evident resemblance the shell of
the echinus, denuded of its spines, bears to a vase.

In one species as many as 2,000 bristles have been counted ;
in the edible sea-urchin there must be at least 3,000. These
appendages entirely cover and hide the calcareous tunic which
envelops the animal, like the numberless pearls which covered
the famous habit of St. Simon—the material was of silk, but it
could not be seen. The bristles of the sea-urchin present, at
their base, a small hollow head, which has a compression on its

lower surface, thus forming a cavity which fits a tubercle on
L

162 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the carapace. Each of the prickles, notwithstanding its extreme
minuteness, is put in action by a separate muscular apparatus.
They are porous, and are often grooved longitudinally—being
formed of thin plates, which radiate from their centres.’ These
are penetrated with countless holes, and are affixed to each other
by prominences; so that, looking at the spine, we only see the
edges of the plates which compose it. A membrane covers the
whole, which is furnished with vibratory cils.

The shape and dimensions of these spines are very variable.

ECHINUS MAMILLATUS.

In certain of the echinoderms they are three or four times longer
than the diameter of the shell; while, in others, they are only
three-fourths or four-fifths of that diameter; while, in others again,
they are reduced to mere protuberances from the carapace. These |
appendages are ordinarily awl-shaped and pointed, occasionally
they are cylindrical and obtuse; and in some species they are
flattened, and even have their edges truncated.

In one species which inhabits New Holland, M. Hupé found
a mollusk Gasteropod, belonging to the genus Szylifera, enclosed
in one of the spines, which was hollowed and greatly changed,
both in form and structure, by the presence of this little parasite.

THE SEA-URCHINS. 163

Among all the sights which Nature presents to us, there is
scarcely one more interesting than that of creatures giving to
each other shelter, and food, and protection, whether voluntarily
or involuntarily. Is not the instinct of the stylifer marvellous?
Nature has bestowed upon one creature an armour of bristling
bayonets, when another animal, much smaller, seems to approve of
the admirable defence, and takes up its abode in the midst—nay,

AN ECHINUS CLIMBING UP THE SIDE OF AN AQUARIUM.

actually in the spines, which, henceforth, protect itself as well as
the urchin.

When the bristles fall off, the echini are found on our shores,
very much like round fruit, ornamented on the sides with tubercles,
symmetrically arranged. Their round form, and, perhaps, especially
the limy nature of their shells, has obtained for them the name of
sea eggs. The flattened species, denuded of their spines, are more
like cakes than eggs.

The tentacule of the sea-urchins are hollow, very elastic, and

Tey

164 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

are terminated by a sucker. The animals can inflate them by
injecting into them liquid through their prickles, and by this
means they can fix themselves to any foreign body. These organs
are very numerous ; in the ordinary urchin there are at least 1,400,
and in the melon echinus, about 4,300. They can move by means
of their tentacule and their spines. Professor Edward Forbes
once saw one crawl up the sides of a very slippery vase.

To understand better how they use their organs of locomotion,
imagine one at rest. All the spines are motionless, all the fila-
ments are contracted within the shell; when the creature wishes
to move, some of these involuntarily begin to come out; they
extend themselves, and feel the ground all round them; then
others follow. The animal fixes some of its tentacles to the vase
in the direction in which it wishes to advance, these then contract,
while the hinder ones loosen their hold, and thus the shell is drawn
forward. The sea-urchin can thus advance with ease and even
rapidity. During the progression, the suckers are only slightly
aided by the spines; indeed, the latter only serve as points, upon
which the creature rolls as if it were on stilts. It can travel as
well on its back as on its stomach. Whatever may be its pos-
ture, it has always a certain number of spines which are ready to
carry it, and suckers which can fix it. In certain circumstances,
the animal walks by turning itself round on its spines, like a wheel
in motion.

The mouth of the echinus is situated underneath, and is gene-
rally at the centre. Around this orifice are fleshy tentacles,
projecting from the surface, and more or less retractile. These
are the organs which seize the food.

The digestive system presents a very complicated osseous appa-
ratus, for a long time known as “ Aristotle's lantern.” It consists
of five pieces—the ‘eth, the plumula, the pyramids, the conpass,
and the scythe.

The teeth are five in number. They are all fixed on the same
base, which is the p/wmzula, and these are situated upon the edge
formed by the assemblage of the pyramids, which are ten in
number, and are joined in pairs. The lower part is made firm
by the five scythes and the five compasses. In fine, the dental

THE SEA-URCHINS. 165

apparatus consists of no less than thirty pieces. The teeth are
long, sharp, curved, and very hard. They can cut the hardest
substances. However, in spite of their adamantine character, they
would soon be worn down by work; but Nature has wisely pro-
vided for their renewal. They grow from the base as they are
worn down at the points, like the incisors of beavers, hares, or
rats; so that they are always sharp, and always in good working
order.

The urchins live upon sea-weeds, worms, mollusks, and even
fishes. Professcs Rymer Jones saw one of these creatures seize a

THE BUCCAL APPARATUS OF AN ECHINUS, MAGNIFIED.
(Aristotle's lantern.)

live crab, which appeared perfectly paralysed, and attempted no
resistance. At another time, an urchin caught a Galatea by its
buccal appendages; but the galatea, happily for itself, opened its
pincers, cut off the part held by the urchin, and so escaped.

Many of these urchins, though defended by a calcareous
shell, and by sharp, pointed spines, do not consider themselves -
sufficiently secure ; for they hollow out holes in the hardest rocks
in which they ensconce themselves. To effect this really difficult
task, they fix themselves by their tentacles to the surface of the

¢ rock; they then make an incision by means of their powerful

166 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

teeth, and remove the dédris as it is formed by their spines.
MM. Caillaud, Robert and Lory, have published some most inter-
esting information upon this boring power of the echinus. It
seems that even the young urchins, almost as soon as they are
developed, commence the work, and form for themselves a hole
fitted to their size. Poor little quarrymen, who pass a great part
of their lives in working granite with their teeth!

When an urchin is cast up upon the shore, and left by the
water, it buries itself in the sand, which it excavates with its

URCHINS IN A ROCK.

spiny appendages. The place where it is hid is easily recognised
by the hole which it has left in its entombment. The fishermen
pretend to foretell storms according to the depth to which the sea-
hedgehogs bury themselves.

Linneus has enumerated only seventeen species of echini;
Gmelin, 107; but now many hundreds are known, and this
group of animals has become the type of an entire class—the
Echinodermata.

In many countries the sea-urchins are eaten raw; their flesh is
yellow, and of a very agreeable taste. Those which are esteemed
in Provence, are—the edzble, the granulous,* and the “vidt A
member of this last species is also in request at Naples, where
the melon urchin} is served at table as a regular dish.

* Toxopneustes granularis, ¥ Zoxopneustes lividus. t LZchinus melo.

CHAPTER XVI.
THE HOLOTHURIDE.

IN the same family as the sea-urchins—the Echinodermata—are
placed the sea cucumbers, or, to call them by their scientific name,
the Holothuria. These very curious animals have the form of an
elongated and worm-like cylinder, sometimes straight, sometimes
curved. Their size varies from one to forty inches; the larger size
being the more common.

The sea cucumbers have a thick and leathery skin, which is

occasionally transparent; more frequently, however, the skin is

THE TUBULAR HOLOTHURIA.
(Holothuria tubulosa.)

granular, filled with calcareous particles. Out of this envelope
appear tentacular feet, similar to those found in the echinus ;
they are hollow, and very expansible, and furnished at their
extremities with a species of sucker. The mouth opens at the end
of the cylinder, and is surrounded by a circle of tentacles. This
mouth has immediately beneath it an osseous ring, composed of
ten or twelve calcareous pieces; it is, in fact, the fundamental
ring of Aristotle's lantern, described in the last chapter; at the
tail end of the animal is a second orifice, from which issues, from
time to time, a jet of water.

The holothurias inhabit deep waters; and, as their locomotion
is very limited, they are seldom found far from their native rocks.
When they do move, it is by means of a crawling motion pro-

168 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

duced by the undulation of their bodies, and by the contractions
of their feet. These feet are sometimes in one place in the centre
of the animal, forming a kind of disc, on which it crawls, after
the fashion of a snail. Sometimes, however, they are placed all
along the body, and in the Cucumaria frondosa, a holothuria found
in the North Sea, they form five longitudinal rows. Many of the
species are armed with small projecting hooks or fangs, which
enable the creature to hang for a few seconds to foreign bodies.
When these hooks adhere to the hand they produce an intoler-
able itching.

Lesson describes a holothuria, caught in the South Sea Islands,
which was more than a yard long, and could contract itself into
a few inches. The surface of its body was lubricated with an

HOLOTHURIA ELEGANS.

irritating fluid, which was acrid and corrosive, and when incau-
tiously touched, the hand was affected with the burning itching
to which we have alluded.

But the most remarkable feature in the sea cucumbers is the
extraordinary power they possess of ejecting the whole contents of
their sac when they are irritated or frightened. This phenomenon
is most inexplicable, and it is well occasionally to note that there
are things utterly beyond our comprehension. Dr. Johnson relates
that for some days he had forgotten to supply a holothuria with
fresh water. The creature became sick and dejected (we might
well be the same); soon—either in prospect of death, or hurt at
the doctor's neglect—it ejected its tentacles, its teeth, its digestion
tubes, and a portion of its ovaries. These were laid scattered here
and there at the bottom of the aquarium. The muscular effort
to have had such an effect must have been terrible. Still, what

THE HOLOTHURIDE. 169

was left of the creature was not dead ; for its empty sac contracted
at the least touch, and showed by its contortions that its irritability
had in no way decreased. But what is more extraordinary, the
creature, which seemed so utterly emptied of all its organs, began
to reproduce them, and at the end of two or three months, all
were replaced, and the holothuria seemed to be enjoying life as if
it had never suffered so terrible a shock.

Not less worthy of notice is the singular power these remarkable
animals possess of spontaneous subdivision. The commencement of
this phase in their existence is marked by their becoming motionless
and stationary. Each extremity begins gradually to enlarge, while
the middle contracts; this contraction goes on until the central
portion of the animal is reduced to a mere thread, which finally
snaps, and then there are produced two perfect and complete sea
cucumbers, which grow larger, and, in due time, each becomes a
fac-simile of its former undivided self.

Notwithstanding the great revulsion which the very presence
of these creatures causes to some people, they are esteemed by
the Chinese as a delicacy, and the “¢repang” fishing occupies
yearly thousands of junks ; while the preparation of this zoophyte,
and its transport to market, engages the industry of a numerous
population. To catch the trepang—whose scientific name is //o/o-
thuria edulis—a great deal of patience and much expertness is
required. The Malays are the chief fishermen. Lying down in the
fore part of the junk, the fisherman scans the bottom of the ocean
beneath him. Aided by the clear blue sky of his country, he can
see his prey at a great depth, often even thirty yards distant.
In his hand he carries a long bamboo, armed at its head with a
kind of harpoon. Seeing the creature crawling over the sands or
the rocks beneath him, he poises his harpoon; the unerring dart
speeds through the water, and seldom or never misses. When
the depth is not more than four or five fathoms, divers descend,
and taking the trepangs in their hands, bring up often five or six
at once.

To prepare them for the Chinese markets the creatures are
boiled, and flattened with stones ; they are then spread out on
bamboo platforms, and either dried in the sun or smoked. Thus

‘

170 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

prepared, they fetch about 470 a ton. The chief mode of using
them is in soup; cut into shreds, and boiled with certain condiments
suggested by culinary artists, they produce a soup not inferior in
delicacy to that of the turtle.

An edible species is found in the Mediterranean, in the neigh-
bourhood of Naples, where it is esteemed a great delicacy; it is
the Holothuria tubulosa, which is peculiarly interesting from the
little parasite fish, the /verasfer Fontanesii, which does it the
honour of abiding with it.

There is an animal analogous to the holothuria—indeed, it is

MALAYS FISHING FOR TREPANGS,

a member of the same family, and a very near relation—the
Synapta. It is distinguished from the holothuria chiefly by the
fact that it has no ambulacral organs—it is footless. The skin
is transparent, so that we can see the internal economy of the
creature. The microscope reveals a great number of spicule,
which are peculiarly arranged in the tentacles. The synapte live
upon peaty bottoms, and they seem to subsist upon the organic
matter they find there.

The Syxapta Duvernea, which was discovered by Quartrefages
at the Isle of Chausey, is the most singular member of the family.
Imagine a cylinder of rose-coloured crystal as much as eighteen
inches long, and more than an inch in diameter, traversed through-

THE HOLOTHURIDA. 171

out its length by five narrow ribbons of white silk, and its head
surmounted by a living flower, whose twelve tentacles, of a dead
white, fall behind in graceful curves. In the centre of these ribbon
tissues, which rival in their delicacy any of the products of the
silk-loom, is an intestine of the finest gauze, filled—completely
filled—with grains of granite, their sharp points and rugged edges
plainly discernible to the eye. Fancy such rough grains contained
in a tissue finer than gauze! The walls of the body are barely one-
sixteenth of an inch thick, and yet Quartrefages discovered seven
distinct layers of tissue, skin, muscles, and membranes. The
animal is protected by a kind of mosaic work formed of minute

SPICULZ OF THE TENTACLES OF THE SYNAPTA.

calcareous shields, each furnished with double hooks, the points of
which are barbed like the arrows of the Caribbeans.

When kept in a vase of sea water, and unable to get any food,
the synapta detaches portions of its own body. Below the part
which is to be cast off a ring is formed, which gradually contracts,
and thus the part suddenly drops off. It would appear that the
animal, feeling it had not sufficient food to support its own body,
was able to abridge its dimensions, by casting off the parts most
easily spared, just as we should dismiss the useless mouths from
a besieged city. This is a most singular mode of combating the
approach of famine, and the synapta pursues the strange device to
the very last moment; and, finally, nothing is left save a round
ball, which is the head covered with tentacles. Thus, to preserve
life in its head, it has voluntarily parted with all its other members.
What marvels of animal life does the world of the sea contain!

CCEIAGE, Dea xa aia
THE BRYOZOA.

MARINE plants are frequently found covered with a velvety growth,
which is evidently the product of a parasite, and not naturally a
part of the plant. Whether this soft covering be of vegetable or
animal origin is not readily determined until it is submitted to
the searching scrutiny of the microscope; all doubt is at once
removed, and the moss-like growth is found to be a colony of
animals, whose innumerable cells constitute the “animal moss.”
This resemblance to moss has given them their name of Aryozoa
(Bpvov, moss; (@a, animals). They are also frequently described
in the pages of natural history, under the term Polyzoa (zonXvs,
many), and they constitute the second group into which the
extensive class of radiated animals, called Zoophytes, is divided.
The first group—the Axthozoa (av6os, a flower)—we have already
considered ; to this belong the corals and those animal associa-
tions which bear a striking resemblance to flowers. The term
Zoophyte (Gov, animal; gvtov, a plant) thus comprehends all
animal productions which approach to a vegetable form, and is
used indiscriminately with Polypi (moAvs, many; mods, a foot) ;
a word which must be long ere this familiar to our readers. The
structure raised by the polypi is termed, as we have seen, a poly-
pidom; and, on the same principle of nomenclature, “animal
moss” is a polysoary.

The microscope enables us to examine each of the members
of the polyzoary. The animal is found to be ensconced in a cell,
which is sometimes. fleshy and soft; at other times, horny and
calcareous. When in its native element, and undisturbed, the
zoophyte extends out of the orifice of its cell a number of tiny
arms, which wave about with easy, graceful movements, ever ready
to enwrap the minute motes of life which form its food.

This wonderful colony has a common sense of danger; for if

THE BRYOZOA. 17/23

one of the zoophytes be touched, it instantly inclines to its neigh-
bour, communicates the alarm, and withdraws into its cell, and,
in an incredibly short time, the whole population of the colony is
safely housed; however, confidence is soon restored, one by one
they come out of their cells, and once more the daily life of the
community is in full operation.

Ehrenberg and Thompson, who have carefully studied these
animal mosses, find a considerable difference between them and
the polypidoms of the anthozoa. The cell of the coral is a
solid fixture, and after the polype has built its house, it has no
further control over it; but this is not the case with the cell of
the bryozoa and its occupant—the creature can turn its cell inside
out, like the finger of a glove; and by this means the zoophyte can

AN OPEN LAGUNCULA.

actually go out of its cell, although it cannot leave the settlement.
When the animal displays itself, a circle of microscopic threads,
of extreme tenuity, first show themselves above the edge of the
cell; the uppermost portion of the body of the zoophyte next
appears; then come the tentacles, which push the hairs aside.
These tentacles have upon their surface a number of short hairs
standing out at right angles, and they also are furnished with
those peculiar organs—so universally distributed throughout the
tribes of animalcules—vibratory cils. After the tentacles are
spread, the tunic of the zoophyte unrolls itself, and the creature
has reached the length of its tether, and is fully expanded. The
action of its life commences; the appendages and the cils begin
their rapid vibrations, by which currents are produced in the water
—currents which bring within their reach the food necessary for
the weal of the colony. Over the whole surface of the polyzoary
eddy thousands of whirlpools, more fatal to the infusores which pass

174 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

that way than ever the malstrém is to northern mariners. Once
within the suction of the current, nothing can save the unfortunate
animalcule from a sure destruction.

Some of the species of this group are furnished with another
organ, which has received the name of the wbracule. It is a
hollow filament, situated at the upper and outer angle of each
cell. It is filled with a substance which is at once fibrous and
contractile, and admits of its performing some very remarkable
movements, which occur regularly and at very short intervals.
At first the filament inclines itself towards the base of the cell,
trembles, oscillates, and seems to sink; presently it recovers itself,
descends on the opposite side, and repeats the same manceuvre, in
the same order, and in the same time. It is difficult to imagine
what function this organ performs; it would appear that it is
beyond the control of the will of the zoophyte, and is governed by
involuntary muscles, for its motions continue after the creature has
been injured. Perhaps the best surmise is, that it cleanses the
orifice of the cell, and probably has something to do with the
removal of that which the digestive organs reject.

Even from this cursive description of the bryozoa, it is evident
that its organisation is superior to and more complicated than that
of the anthozoa. This a closer examination of the anatomy of
the two classes conclusively establishes. The digestive apparatus
of the bryozoa is not merely a bag, with one orifice which serves
at once for the reception of the food and the rejection of the
refuse, with no distinct stomach and no intestines, like the polypes
which inhabit the polypiers; but these zoophytes possess a mouth,
a pharynx, a gullet, a gizzard, a membranous stomach, and intes-
tines which have an opening of their own. There are some species
known in which the gizzard is provided with a certain number of
interior teeth, forming a marvellous pavement—an animated mill,
which grinds the food before it passes into the second stomach.
The organisation of this small and obscure creature reveals to us
a wonderful series of combinations; here is indeed an ingenious
adaptation, surpassing anything which human genius could devise.

Most naturalists have now agreed to class with the bryozoa

MOSS

ANIMAL

a
s
«
E
<4
So
o
i
rm

THE BRYOZOA. 175

a number of false polypiers, whose animalcules for a long time
remained but very imperfectly known; such, for example, are the
Flustra and the Eschara.

The Flustra (Plate 1X.) occupy cells more or less horny, which
are grouped symmetrically together, something after the fashion
of the cells in a bee-hive. Sometimes they form a crust which
covers the alge and other submarine existences, and sometimes
they themselves form thin leaves and ribbon-stems.

In certain species the cells are only found on one side; in other
species they appear on both sides. The orifice of the cell is
extremely minute, and is defended by microscopic spines. Their

A LEAF-LIKE FLUSTRA.
(Flustra foliacea.)

tentacles are covered with cils always vibratile, and arranged in
straight lines. Their movements produce the appearance of a
row of animated pearls in continual motion, rolling from the base
to the point of the tentacle.

The Eschara form leaf-like expansions. The entrance to their
cells is likewise defended by spines; and, like the flustra, they
bear a resemblance to a bee-hive, the citizens of which enjoy, at
the same time, a common and an independent existence. As in
the polypiers, so is it here—each member of the community
eats for the benefit of the common establishment, and also for its
own immediate well-being ; what affects the individual affects the

colony. ~

176 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Probably among the inhabitants of these groups there exist
sentiments of brotherhood utterly unknown to us, and of the
intimacy of which we can form no idea. Since that which is
digested by one member of the family is, to a certain degree,
beneficial to all, ought there not then to be between the different
individuals, a kind of strong moral bond as well as a direct physio-
logical communication? Such colonies as these cannot have the
curse of selfishness, and with them egotism must be unknown.
Happy nations, indeed! passing an unruffled existence, surrounded
by the azure crystal of their watery element, unaffected by storms
from without, and unagitated by internal strife.

The number of the members of these associations is not the
least wonder they present. In a former chapter on sea-weeds, we
mentioned the fact, that some of the fronds of the algz were found
covered with a fine lace-like structure—a colony of the /lustra
membranacea. This flustra has been found occupying a surface
eight feet in length and five in breadth; and, by a calculation, it
has been established, that the silvery lace had been the handicraft,
and was then the home of more than 2,000,000 of industrious and
happy fabricators—a colony which counted more inhabitants than
there are people in Scotland.

177

CHAR LER OVI
THE MOLLUSKS.

THE great sub-kingdom of the J/ol/lusca stretches its limits from
the fish on the one hand to the polypes on the other, and at each
extremity glides almost imperceptibly into the adjoining classes.
It is a difficult, indeed, an impossible matter, to find a definition
which will include the mollusks and exclude the members of other
tribes. As their name imports, the mollusks (wzo//7s, soft) possess
soft bodies—they have no internal skeleton. This body is enve-
loped in a soft elastic skin, not always fitting closely, but which
often hangs in folds; and this peculiarity has probably suggested
its name—the mantle.

The mollusks possess in general a complicated digestive and
circulating apparatus. The great bulk of their bodies is made up
of the stomach, the liver, and other members of the alimentary
system ; but the organs of sensation and motion are comparatively
undeveloped. Indeed, most of the mollusks are condemned to a
sedentary life ; very few can move at all, and these but sluggishly.
Hence the whole class is endowed with the power of sustaining
long fasts; for not being able to go in search of their food, they
are dependent upon the capricious bounty of the waves and
currents. In the great majority of the mollusks, the mantle is
capable of secreting first a horny covering, and from this exudes
calcareous matter which forms the shell. This shell is thick and
massive in those species which are incapable of motion, but light
and fragile, and often altogether absent in those which lead a
more active life.

As the shells of the mollusks are the parts of their structure
by which they are most easily described, and most readily recog-
nised, it is but natural that the first attempts at their classification
should have been founded upon the difference of their shells.
Linnzus divided the race into wnivalves, bivalves, and multivalves,

M

173 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

according to the number of pieces of which the shell was com-
posed. But further examination proved this simple division to
be very unsatisfactory, inasmuch as some mollusks, very nearly
allied in their characters and structures, differed widely in their
shells; and, on the other hand, some whose shells were very
similar, were in reality far separated by more essential differences.
In addition to this, as many of the mollusks are shell-less, or
naked, they were altogether excluded from the classification.

The shell, although a very valuable adjunct, is discarded as a
foundation for the divisions of which the sub-kingdom is evidently
capable. The structure of the animal has finally been decided
upon as the best means of subdivision. And at once the mollusks
are divided into cephalous—those having a head, or a prominence
in which is situated the mouth—and the acephalous, or those
without a head.

The cephalous mollusks present three types:—1, the Cepha-
lopoda, which have their feet or tentacles arranged around the
head : to this class belong the cuttle-fish, which approaches nearest
to the vertebrata, and therefore the cephalopoda are the kings of
the mollusks; 2, the Péeropoda, a small class, which is charac-
terised by the possession of a pair of wing-like expansions of the
mantle, which supply the place of fins; and 3, the Gaséeropoda,
which is the most extensive group of the three, and derives its
appellation from the fact that, from the under surface of its body
is protruded a muscular foot.

The Acephala, as might be expected, do not enjoy so high an
organisation ; they occupy the humblest position in the kingdom of
the mollusks, and in their case we appeal to the shell to aid us in
their subdivision. The Conchifera are those which are encased in
a calcareous covering, whereas in the Zzzcata the shell is wanting,
but a leathery tunic encloses the whole body.

We trust that this general outline of the sub-kingdom will give
the reader some idea of the territory of the ocean world which
we now enter.

Mollusks are solitary or gregarious. We shall treat of the latter
first, since their constitution is more simple, and they are the next
link in the great chain of life to the polypiers and the polyzoaries.

THE MOLLUSKS. 179

The gregarious mollusks are sometimes found agglomerated in
irregular lumps, or sometimes attached to each other singly, like
the beads of a rosary. The agglomerated mollusks present the
most curious combinations. The most prominent member of the
group is, perhaps, the Ascédia, which owes its name to its shape,
being not unlike a bottle (acxdiov, a leathern bottle). The sub-
stance of the mollusk is gelatinous, and the association is either
of a sombre uniform tint, or it is painted with varied hues, which
are sometimes even brilliant.

These living associations are found spreading themselves over
the surface of the submarine rocks, or suspended from the over-
hanging ledges, like drooping icicles. Sometimes the large fronds
of wrack which are thrown upon the sand by a storm, are found

SOCIAL ASCIDIA,
(Perophora Lister.)

covered by these curious creatures, which are protected by a glassy
mantle. Sometimes they bear a fancied resemblance to a starry
constellation, or they are arranged like a bouquet, or are bent like
graceful bows of ribbon. The individuals of the group are elon-
gated or spherical, though occasionally they are angular. When
one of these animal masses is placed in an aquarium, it appears
as apathetic as a sponge; the only sign of animation it exhibits
is a slight movement of the mouths of the orifices. But, upon
examining it more closely, it is found to be not so inanimate as
at first supposed, for currents of water go in and out of the orifices
with such rapidity as to form little jets, if the mollusk be sufficiently
near the surface. The larve of these animals are single and free.
At a certain epoch of their existence they become fixed. When
the little creature has been in its fixed position for some time,
and has grown suffciently large, there appear upon its surface
small tubercles, which gradually increase, and in time become
Me eZ

180 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

distinct individuals. These remain adherent to their mother, and
this is the first settlement of a new colony.

The arrangement of the members of each association is very
varied. But throughout this great diversity a rigorous and
geometrical regularity is preserved. The inhabitants of these
colonies are sometimes very numerous, though generally this is
not the case. They are joined together indissolubly for weal or
for woe; the same sunbeam cheers the whole; they curtsey to
the same wave, and all tremble under the blast of the tempest.
Each member of the colony fills its particular station, and performs
its assigned duties with exactitude and zeal. No inharmonious
jangling is heard, no factions strive for the rule ; no divisions injure

THE GILDED BOTRYLLA.

(Botryllus gemmienus.)

their prosperity, or threaten their peace. The ascidia furnishes us
with the beau-ideal of a republic, where the citizens are intimately
joined to each other, and where there is but one spirit for the
common weal.

The Botryla is another interesting association of mollusk life.
Their colonies have seldom more than twenty members. They
are somewhat flat, and adhere by their sides to some submarine
body. They are so arranged as to form a kind of wheel. If
we touch one of the branches, that particular mollusk contracts
itself; when, however, we touch the centre, they all contract.
The buccal orifice of each mollusk is placed at the outer extremity
of the radius, but the intestinal openings abut on the common
cavity which forms the centre of the wheel. Here is another

THE MOLLUSKS. 181

vagary of nature —animals who eat separately, but who fulfil
together as a community very singular functions. This is a kind
of union of which we have no other example ; the entire star may
be considered as one single animal with many mouths.

While the Botrylla is fixed, the Pyrosoma is perfectly free.
This aggregation constitutes a brilliantly-coloured mass. Its form
is that of a hollow cylinder, closed at one end. The creature
floats and balances itself upon the water like the sea-pen. One
of its species, the A /antica, changes its colours like the chameleon,
only much more rapidly. It quickly passes through the shades
which intervene between bright red and bright yellow, and on
as quickly to golden orange, and through green to azure blue.
Moreover, to add to its charms, it is phosphorescent. Its name,
pyrosoma, literally signifies a “body of fire.” Humboldt saw a
shoal of these brilliant living colonies floating by the side of his
ship, and giving out circles of light not less in diameter than
twenty inches. By the light of these lamps shining in the watery
firmament, he was enabled to see the fish which swam in the
vessel’s wake down to a depth of three or four fathoms. Bibra,
a Brazilian navigator, having caught seven or eight of these
Pyrosoma Atlantica, took them into his cabin, and by their light
was able to read to his friend the account he had written of
these light-giving mollusks.

The Biphora, or Salpa, constitutes a group which bears a great
resemblance to the polypier. These creatures are rather disposed
in a series, than in an actual agglomeration; indeed, they are the
transition group between the gregaréous mollusks we have been
considering, and the so/itary mollusk. The salpas are long, trans-
parent threads of extremely delicate tissue, composed of rows of
individuals placed side by side, and grafted, as it were, transversely.
This order of arrangement is not invariable, for sometimes the
little mollusks are united by their extremities to each other, and
two such living chains are placed side by side. These wandering
societies have been met with forty miles long. The individuals are
composed of a crystalline substance, tinted with red; their bodies
are cylindrical, open at each extremity, and, like their relations,
the pyrosoma, they are phosphorescent. These colonies of salpas

182 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

glide over the surface of the waters in undulating curves. The
little voyagers contract and expand simultaneously, manceuvring

CHAIN OF PHOSPHORESCENT SALPAS ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.

in concert, like a company of admirably-drilled soldiers; indeed, the
whole line acts as one individual. Sailors call them the sea-serpent.
They always swim upon their backs, and the mode of their

A’ SOLITARY SALPA.

(Salpa Democratica.)

locomotion is very peculiar. They drink in a quantity of water,
which they squirt out from their other extremity ; and so their
body is pushed on by the recoil. This is a wonderful mode

THE MOLLUSKS. 183

of locomotion, and one which no other anima: possesses. Not long
since a ship was constructed on this principle; its engines forced
out jets of water from its stern! When a chain of salpas is taken
from the water, the individuals let go their hold, and the company
is dissolved—the soldiers no longer can form their line. Some-
times a solitary salpa is met with. This used to be regarded as
a distinct species, but now we know that both the parent and the
offspring of the gregarious salpas are, at one period of their
existence, solitary—that is, the chain salpas do not produce chain
salpas, but solitary salpas; and these in their turn do not produce
the solitary species, but chain salpa. Thus a salpa is not like
its mother, but takes after its grandmother. Of course the dis-
covery of this phenomenon has solved the difficulty which was long
felt by naturalists, and has at once connected. the solitary and the
associated salpas. But what patient research was expended upon
its elucidation—research which has made eminent Milne-Edwards,
Chamisso, and Krohn.

In taking leave of these associated mollusca, we cannot fail
to be struck with wonder at the grand idea upon which they
are constructed—myriads of individuals—a crowd of beings joined
to each other, and borne upon the waves, while from one end to
the other of the living chain, thrills the same feeling, and the
whole tribe is actuated by the same instinct.

184

CHAPTER Xx.
THE ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS.

ALTHOUGH the gregarious mollusks are veritable members of
the sub-kingdom we are considering, yet they cannot be said
to be its fair representatives, seeing they have not an individual
and independent life. Hence the solitary mollusks are said to be
true mollusks.

The Acephalas being found at the bottom of the class, we
shall consider them first. Some are naked, some have shells.
The naked members of the class are generally adherent to the
fuci, to the shells of better protected mollusks, or to the rocks.
They have little, if any, power of locomotion. The solitary
Ascidia, for example, is condemned to an immovable life—once
fixed, it never again attempts to leave its position, and lives and

dies attached to the same spot.

One of the members of the ascidian family—the Azchus, which
cannot boast of an elegant appearance—is found in the neighbour-
hood of Cette, and is sold in the market for food: Its thick
leathery skin having been stripped off, and its viscera taken out,
the remainder is eaten. At first the taste is saltish ; but when
swallowed, a sharp, peppery taste remains in the mouth.

These mollusks are furnished with two openings, the margins
of which are ciliated, and if the animal be pressed in the least, it
ejects water from them with considerable force.

The ascidiz have no hands nor yet lips wherewith to seize their
prey; their mouth is placed very favourably, at the lower part of
the sac, but not at the very extremity. Nature has not forgotten
to provide the animal with the power of nourishing itself. The
inner surface of the visceral cavity is furnished profusely with
vibratory cils, which cause the water to pass in strong currents
towards the buccal orifice. When observed under the microscope,

THE ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 185

these cils in motion appear like oval wheels delicately toothed,
which continually revolve from left to right. This movement
engenders minute wavelets, which cause a current of water to
traverse the sac of the mollusk, carrying with it live and dead
matter, upon which the creature exists. Thus these singular
animals—as many others—breathe and eat by the agency of the
same organs!

According to some naturalists, the ascidie have eyes. They
think that six or eight red spots which are disposed round the
orifices, are visual organs. But this is very questionable, for what
possible use could eyes be to a creature which cannot move, whose
prey is brought to it, and whose whole existence is involuntary ?
And yet we cannot tell of what sensations these mollusks are
capable; they may have joys unknown to us—joys dependent
upon the light of the sun, which struggles through the azure water
down into the depths they inhabit.

The larvee of the ascidiz are of course not fixed; they are not
unlike tadpoles, having large heads and short tails. Swimming
away from their parent as soon as they are born, for some little
time they give way to a roving propensity ; but the chains of
instinct are about them, and in due time they settle down in life.
This, however strange it may appear, seems contrary to their
inclination ; for, on watching the process of this transformation, it
has been observed that the larva, having placed its head against
a rock or any other solid. body—doubtless directed by instinct,
but probably utterly unprepared for the result—becomes fixed.
This is the sign for the metamorphosis to commence; the head
enlarges and grows hollow, the tail—if we may be allowed the
expression—is flourished in the air. But soon the flourishes give
evident tokens of anything but pleasure, for the motion begins
to grow so rapid that it is difficult to see the tail. The struggles
of the little creature are perfectly frantic, but all effort is useless ;
it is a fast-bound prisoner for life; and, in time, ceasing its vain
endeavours, it resigns itself to its fate. The tail drops off, a thick
coating grows round it, rootlets spread like anchors from the part
by which it is attached, and completely fix it ; and thus, forgetting
the roving propensities of its youth, the bichus settles down and
becomes a staid member of marine society.

186 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Tf all this be true—for we must not forget that many observers
have no small powers of imagination—but if this be true, we have
a very striking example of a will independent of instinct.

The woolly ascidia (Ascidia ampulla), contrary to the habits
of its race, is free. Here the adult keeps the prerogative of the
child. It is a species which is only dredged up with the sand
from great depths. Its sac is round, and of a brown-red colour,
the interior of the orifices being bright scarlet. We do not know
whether this mollusk buries its lower extremity in the sand or
not; when in captivity it simply lies horizontally, and makes no
effort to descend lower or to change its position.

The shelled mollusks are more numerous than the naked
acephala. They are termed dzvalves, because their shell is in two
parts, which are united by a hinge. Between this double carapace
the creature is enclosed, as the leaves of a book between its covers.
Although they have no head, yet they feed themselves; they
appear to have certain feelings; and they can, of course, reproduce
their kind. They have friendships and enmities, and perhaps even
passions; these, probably, are not very lively, for the bivalve very
rarely changes its position. Many of them are fixed to the rock
on which they were hatched, and vivid sensations seem incom-
patible with immobility. Bivalves are found in every sea, and, as
might be expected, some of their species are peculiar to certain
regions. The Pandoras, for instance, people the northern seas;
the Chama is a native of the southern waters. The conditions
of life under which they can exist are very varied; they can live
in the sand, in the aquarium, upon rocks, or in the very midst
of aquatic vegetation. They can support a great pressure of
water, and have been found existing at great depths. Edwards
brought up an oyster upon a sounding-lead from 1,400 fathoms!

The shell of the bivalve is ovoid, globulous, trigonal, heart-
shaped, elongated like a pea-pod, or flat like the leaves of a tree.
In some cases, each valve is exactly alike, in others one is flat
and the other convex. The two valves often possess accessory
pieces. Such mollusks used to be called maltivalves.

All the bivalves are not destitute of the power of locomotion ;

for some can change their place by means of a fleshy extensible

THE ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 187

organ, which is, from one of its uses, called a foot; but it resembles
rather a large tongue. In the many drawings of these gastero-
pods, its varied shapes are shown. In some species the tissues
of which this organ is composed are spongy, and are capable of
being filled with water, and so the creature is enabled to extend
and stiffen the foot; by expelling the water, the limb returns to
its limp condition, and resumes its place within the shell.

Mollusks use their foot very cleverly. They stretch it out,

TELLINA PULCHERRIMA.

fix it by its point, then contract it, and so pull themselves
along. Réaumur compared the advance of these creatures to a
man who lies down on the ground, stretching forward his arms,
seizes some solid body before him, and then draws himself to it;

MODIOLA LITHOPHAGA,

the only difference being that, in the case of the mollusk, the
member does not double itself up in joints, but contracts in its
whole length.

In some few and rare instances, the mode of progression is
exactly the reverse: the creature plants the point of its foot
firmly against the sand, and then stiffens it, thus pushing itself
forward, just as a bargeman urges on his boat by thrusting his
pole against the bottom of the river. There are acephalas which
progress by leaps. This peculiar species of locomotion is effected
by a sudden opening and shutting of the valves. The Pectens

sometimes dart through the waves to avoid a danger, and the

188 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Limas leap in their watery element like the butterflies in the air.
This motion is aided by long, slender, cylindrical, and very con-
tractile tentacles, which are attached to the fringe of the mantle.
They are composed of a number of little ring-joints, which can,
if necessary, pass one within the other, after the fashion of a
pocket-telescope.

The Razor-shells, or Solens, force themselves vertically some
depth into the sand. The place where they are buried is indicated

A PHOLAS IN A PIECE OF STONE.
(Pholas dactylus.)

by a hole in the sand which corresponds to the siphon of the
animal; when the mollusk is alarmed, it squirts up this hole a
jet of watery liquid. It entombs itself with a foot of unusual
dimensions, a natural dirk, with whose pointed end it readily
excavates a hole; this it soon renders cylindrical, and then draws
in the shell. In a very little time the razor-shell can bury itself
fifteen or twenty inches deep.

The Pholade@ are a family which can bore out for themselves
a residence in wood or even stone. They appear to carry with
them a graving tool, and the shell is fitted in a hole as in a
needle-case. How can these animals bore their way into the
very hardest rocks? Aldrovand believes that they were born in
the bosom of the rock while it was in a soft state, and Réaumur

THE ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 189

shares this extraordinary opinion ; but this cannot explain their
presence in logs of wood. Others have supposed that the current
of water produced in the process of their respiration wore out
the cavity by its continual erosion; but this theory again is not
supported by fact, for the pholas finishes its excavation in a few
months, which could not possibly be the case if water were the
only agent. Another supposition is, that the foot and the edge
of the mantle are filled with siliceous particles, like sand-paper,
which, by continual friction, rub and wear down the rock, and

MODIOLAS IN ROCK.

file away its substance. Other naturalists suggest that the pholas
may have the power of secreting a corroding liquid, by which
the rock is eaten away. But then how is the shell itself to
escape the action of the liquid ?

To De Blainville belongs the honour of suggesting that a
simple movement of the shell, constantly repeated, would in
time pierce the stone. Observation has since decided that his
opinion is correct; the shell itself cannot be worn away by this
process, because it is composed of aragonite, which is harder
than the rock in which the animal burrows. The mollusk bores
down a considerable depth, and then hollows out its home to
accommodate its increasing bulk. Hence, as the engraving
shows, their lithodomes are bottle-shaped—wide at the bottom,
with narrow necks.

190 THE WORLD OF THE ‘SEA.

These little borers cannot but excite our wonder. Here
are soft creatures without the slightest consistency, capable of
hollowing out for themselves homes in the hardest rocks! Such
is the power of life, even in its lowest development, over inanimate
matter.

Some of the bivalves produce a brown or golden-coloured silk,
which forms the cable, or dyssus, by which they anchor themselves
to the rocks. The mytilus has the byssus short and coarse; in
the pinna it is long and silky. Attempts have been made to
utilise this filament; indeed, the inhabitants of Taranto make
gloves and stockings of it. Cloths of a rich brown have also
been fabricated, which are of an admirable texture. Some
beautiful specimens of this fabric were exhibited at the French
Exhibition of 1855, and in that year M. J. Cloquet presented
the Acclimatisation Society with a pair of fine mittens made
of the byssus of the pinna. Not only does the byssus serve
to fix the mollusks to the rock, but some of them attach by
its means stones, pieces of coral, and other solid matters to
themselves, thus surrounding their shells with a very invulner-
able coat, in which they lie in ambush, waiting for their prey.
In constructing this envelope, which is not unlike a miniature
rockery, the mollusk, by a singular artifice, spins and weaves
the material of its byssus. It then lines its interior with a
species of tapestry, thrusts this outside, and mats together by
its means the solid bodies within its reach. Thus it in turn
plays the part of spinner, weaver, and mason. Clothed in a
calcareous covering, or a stony mantle, buried in a rock, or
anchored by a cable, the bivalve—the softest and the most
delicate of creatures—can exist in a terrible and ever-turbulent
element without injury and without inconvenience.

The smallest of the bivalves are scarcely one-fiftieth of an inch
long. The giants of their community, the 7ridacna gigas, are more
than a yard wide. A very fine pair of shells of this species is
to be seen in the church of St. Sulpice, Paris, where they hold
the holy water. These magnificent shells were presented by the
Venetian republic to Francis I., and in the time of Louis XIV.
they were given to the church. Another but somewhat smaller

THE ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. IOI

pair are used for the same purpose in the church of St. Eulala,
at Montpellier.

The mantle of the acephalas is a kind of membranous tunic,
and is so large as to form folds; its edges are fringed. This
mantle protects the mollusks, and in its turn it is protected by a
shell. The animal sometimes possesses eyes and ears; but as it
has no head, the eyes are placed on the margin of the mantle, and
its ears are in its stomach! The Ze//ine, the Pinne, the Arcade,
and the Petunculi, have distinct, though very small organs of
vision, consequently they are very close-sighted, and are dazzled
in the full light of day. The ears are little bladders, which con-
tain a microscopic pebble, suspended in a drop of water.

When we compare the organs of different species throughout
the whole range of the animal kingdom, we find them passing
from the most simple to the most complicated structures by the
gentlest gradations. But all the organs of an animal may not
be in the same state of development; some of them appear to
have stopped in the upward progress, while others have pro-
ceeded to a further state of perfection. Yet there is always a
compensating harmony in these inequalities of development, so
that a creature deprived of the use of one perfect organ always
has the deficiency made up by the superior quality of another.
In this manner the budget of nature is always perfectly balanced.

It is among the acephalous mollusks that we find those terrors
of the ship-master, the 7Zeredos. These Vandals attack every piece
of wood within their reach, just as it is the propensity of certain
insects to cover all the wood they are able with their larve. In
months, or even in weeks, they will perforate a plank in every
direction; the little miners having the singular instinct never to
cut into another channel. The wood externally does not appear
injured, but crumbles at atouch. Silently, unwearyingly, the teredo
bores, until the pier suddenly sinks, or the planks of the doomed
ship crumble beneath the feet of the sailors.

In the beginning of this century, half the coast of Holland was
threatened with the invasion of the sea, because the piles which
upheld the dykes were attacked by the teredo; and it required an
outlay of a large sum of money to secure the country from the

192 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

disaster of an inundation, caused by a contemptible mollusk. A
closer study of the habits of this animal has shown that it pos-
sesses an insurmountable antipathy to iron-rust; hence, all wood
which is to be exposed to sea-water is first soaked in a solution
containing iron. The covering of copper with which ships are
armed, renders the appellation Linnzus gave to the teredo—
Calamitas navium—no longer true.

The body of the teredo is long and worm-like; its colour is

THE COMMON TEREDO.

(Teredo navalis.)

greyish white. At one end is a knot, improperly called its head,
and the other extremity bifurcates into what may be called two
tails. It often attains the length of eight inches. It buries itself
in a case which it eats out of the wood; the walls of the case
are covered with a coating of a calcareous matter mixed with
mucus—this renders them firm and solid. The round part of the
mollusk carries two small valves, very thin and fragile; they are
not unlike in shape to two halves of a nut-shell. These valves
are immovable, and protect the weak part of the animal.

The teredos form the transition stage between the naked
acephalas and the bivalves. Their mantle is a kind of fleshy

THE ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS, 193

sheath; it divides itself into two tubes, which the mollusk can
lengthen or contract at will, One of the tubes carries the
aerated water, which contains the oxygen necessary for the life
of the creature, and likewise the organic particles which form
its food; the other tube carries off the liquid which has been
deprived both of its air and nutriment, together with all the refuse
of digestion. All the internal organs of the teredo are placed
one immediately behind the other, a position which is necessitated
by the narrowness of the body, and the repeated elongations
which it is required to undergo. When we think of the havoc
these little worms are capable of producing, and how they are
able in a short time completely to riddle with their holes even
the hardest wood, we are at a loss to comprehend how, with their
soft bodies, they can possibly do it.

The teredo deposits greenish yellow eggs, which are spherical.
As soon as the larva is born, it becomes covered with vibratory
cils. It swims with facility, rises and falls in the water, seeking
for wood into which it may penetrate. When it has found a
piece of wood to suit its convenience, it walks up and down on
its surface, like a caterpillar. From time to time it opens its
little valves, as if practising for the mining operations it con-
templates. At last it fixes upon a place, and makes an incision.
In due time it has excavated a hole capable of containing half
its body. The young teredo now covers itself with a coating
of mucous matter, which, condensing by degrees, at last forms
a resisting shell. In this covering two or three holes are left
for the projection of the siphons. About the third day the tube
has become solid—indeed, calcareous—and it is now the origin
of the tube of the animal. We cannot see what is taking place
inside, for this coat is opaque; but if we detach some of the
young teredos from the wood, at this stage of their development,
we shall find that there has been secreted a new shell, similar
in all respects to that of the adult animal.’ It cannot be that
this shell is the instrument wherewith the perforation is executed,
for it is very fragile; and it would surely show some signs of wear
and tear, which is never the case. Some naturalists suppose that
the teredo secretes a corrosive fluid which acts on the wood ; but
this theory cannot account for the smoothness of the walls of the

N

194 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

galleries, which are as though they had been excavated with a
hard, sharp tool. M. Quatrefages has suggested the most pro-
bable solution of the difficulty. We must remember that the
wood upon which the animal works is always saturated with
water—even a slight mechanical action, especially if continuous,
would readily clear away the softened fibre. The cutaneous folds
of the cephalic hood, which are covered with a thick coriaceous
epidermis, are moved by four strong muscles, and this is doubt-
less the boring instrument. The young teredo feeds upon the
raspings of the wood.

195

Cir PER ox xX.
THE OYSTER.

EVERY quadruped and every bird, even if it find not a friend in
man, yet has a protector from the cruelty of man in the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Perhaps it is that
this admirable society finds that it has as much as it is able to
do in looking after the interests of the terrestrial animals, without
searching the world of the sea for fit objects over which to extend
its protecting arm; or it may be that the sufferings of the denizens
of the sea who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of the
lords of creation, have never been brought under the Society’s
notice. But, so far as we know, no effort has ever been made
to defend the marine inhabitants from the ill treatment many of
them receive. Let us, for example, tell the tale of the oysters’
woes.

The dredge, with a violent wrench, tears them from their
native rock. Lifted from the water, they are, especially in France,
carried to “oyster parks”—long, canal-like excavations—filled
with green, stagnant salt water. The green matter, which makes
the water all but offensive, penetrates the systems of the poor
mollusks compelled to inhale it. The oyster under this régze
fattens, and soon attains that state of obesity so relished by the
connoisseur, but which is really the result of disease induced by
the unwholesome water of the park. Imagine the unspeakable
disgust of the bivalve, after living in the beautifully clear and
fresh water of the ocean, at being immured in a stagnant pool,
whose water is seldom changed, but always charged with filth.
When the miserable creature has attained a livid green colour,
it is fished up a second time—not, alas! to be returned to its
native sea, but packed in a hamper—an ignoble prison-house,
without door or window; with only as much of the life-giving
water as it can contain between its tightly-closed valves, it is

N 2

196 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

scarcely able to keep off asphyxia. As if they were inanimate
merchandise, and not living creatures, they are dispatched by
rail, tossed about from one van to another; and terribly shaken,
they at length arrive at an oyster-shop. This is a critical
moment for the unhappy bivalve. Thrown into a tub of clean
water, its hopes are cruelly revived, and for a moment it fancies
its tortures are at an end, and once more it is in the sea. If
ever it possessed such thoughts, they are soon dissipated, as
it finds itself taken for the third and last time out of its native
element. It is now in pitiless hands—a blunt knife, in spite of
its most strenuous efforts, is thrust between its valves, and with
a horrible wrench its shells are forced asunder. The muscle by
which they were closed is cut or rather jagged through, and the
hinges are violently detached. It is now laid out on a plate,
exposed to every current of air, and in this state of suffering
it is carried to the table. There the thoughtless being for whose
pleasure it has suffered untold woes, powders it with the most
pungent pepper, squeezes over its wounded and bleeding body
the abomination of its race, the acrid vinegar; and then, alas!
with a silver knife, which only jags, but cannot cut, he wounds
and bruises it a second time; or, worse still, he saws and tears
and rends it from its remaining shell; then he impales it with a
three-pronged fork, and—forrzbele dictu /—still living and _ palpi-
tating, he throws it into his mouth, where the teeth cut, and crush,
and grind it.

We have said that oysters have—in common with their family
—neither head nor arms; that they are without eyes, without
ears, without nose; they cannot move, they cannot cry. Quite
true; but all these negatives do not assert that they are insensible
to pain. Two celebrated Germans, Brant and Ratzeburg, have
shown that the oyster possesses a well-developed nervous system ;
and if they have organs of sensation they must suffer. “Can
an animal with nerves be impassive?” asks Voltaire. “Can we
suppose any such impossible contradiction in nature ?”

We hasten, however, to tranquillise the minds of the dredgers,
the breeders, the sellers, and the consumers of the oysters; and to
excuse the indifference of the protecting societies; for there is a
great difference between a helpless, imperfect mollusk and the

THE OYSTER. 197

higher class of animals. In the case of the former we swallow
the whole animal, scarcely thinking of its animal nature. It is
a denizen of another element; it lives in a medium in which we
cannot exist; it presents itself in a form we may call degraded ; it
has an obscure vitality, motions undecided, and habits scarcely
discernible. We may, therefore, witness the oyster mutilated—
mutilate it ourselves—crush it, and swallow it, without a passing
pang, or yet a feeling of remorse, and without laying ourselves
open to the charge of cruelty.

It is an open question whether it be judicious to enter into the
details of the anatomical structure of the oyster; for, generally,
when we dissect an animal it certainly does not improve our relish
in eating it; and, moreover, zoologists who know—er professo—the
anatomical structure of the mollusk, tell us they try to forget their
knowledge when they are eating oysters. This is the reason why
we have introduced, with some little hesitation, into our work
any structural details of these celebrated, though badly-treated,
bivalves. But we warn the reader, if he is about to indulge in an
oyster supper, not to read the description we are giving, lest by
any chance it should blunt the edge of his appetite.

Suppose, then, we have before us a fat oyster, fresh and well
opened, lying in its concave valve. A glance shows us that the
animal is flat, compact, soft, somewhat transparent, and of
a greyish colour. Its shape may be described to be an oval, one
end of which has been cut off. The curved line which lies to the
left is the front of the creature, and that to the right, which is
much straighter, is its back. Its upper part is slightly puffed out,
as a pad, and approaches a quadrilateral shape.

The skin which encloses the oyster is the mantle; it is very
thin, and so large that it pleats itself into folds, making two distinct
tucks—if the ladies will lend the word for descriptive purposes—
which run round the greater part of the circumference ; the beard
is the fringe of the mantle. The mantle may be compared to
a cape, whose upper part is attached to the oyster near the
hinges of the valves. Its edges are ornamented with a fringe
of cilia; on the interior edge there is only one row of cilia;
but on the outer edge, which is pleated and festooned, there are

198 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

three or four rows. These cilia possess some sensibility, for the
creature can extend them at will.

If the folds of the mantle’ which are in front of the oyster
be raised up, at the crease of their junction will be found four _
irregular triangular plates, close together and surrounding an
opening. These are the /fs, and the opening is the mouth. These
plates are the tentacule of the oyster—they choose its food, and
introduce it into the mouth, the cils doubtless causing currents of
water to flow past them, which bring the nourishment within their
reach. The mouth itself seems to be large and dilatable, and
opens directly into the stomach, which is a pear-shaped, cylindrical
pouch. From the other extremity of the stomach a fine sinuous
intestine takes its rise, which passes obliquely towards the back
of the creature, descends slightly, then reascending, passes behind
the stomachal cavity, and finally issues in the centre of the
adductor muscle. The stomach and the intestine are surrounded
on all sides by the ver, which is a dark-coloured body, permeated
by a yellow liquid—the Jdz/e.

Thus we may say that oysters have their stomach and intestine
in the liver, the mouth upon the stomach, and the opening of the
intestine in the back.

It has long been the opinion that the most tasty part of the
bivalve is the cushion, or quadrangular pad. Certain distinguished
amateurs have proclaimed the principle of dividing the body of
the creature transversely, and eating that part only. Natural
history explains this gastronomical discovery—it shows that the
bile, secreted by the liver, is contained in this substance; that it
accelerates while it exhausts the tasting organs on the surface of
the tongue and palate, aiding also the functions of’ the stomach.

Beneath the liver is the Aeart—for oysters have a heart—
which contains two distinct cavities, an auricle and a ventricle.
The first is nearly square, its walls are thick, and of a dark brown;
the second has the shape of a little pear, its tegument is not so
firm as that of the auricle, and its colour is grey. The two
anterior angles of the auricle each receive a great vessel. Each
of these is formed by the union of three other smaller veins.
From the point of the ventricle issues a canal, which soon divides
into three divergent branches. One of them is directed towards

THE OVSTER. 199

the mouth and tentacles, the second enters the liver, and the other
distributes the blood to the rest of the body. The heart is closely
beset—embarrassed, we might almost say—by the terminal portion
of the intestinal canal, the rectum; so much so, indeed, that it
appears to pass without ceremony into the very midst of the noble
organ. So do extremes sometimes meet—the spring of life and
issue of the useless material are close together.

The é/0od is a colourless, limpid fluid ; it enters the auricle to
be purified; thence it is driven into the ventricle. This cavity, in
its turn, contracts, and propels the fluid through the channels
already described.

Oysters breathe at the bottom of the sea. The Creator has
given them organs, by which they are enabled to separate from
the water the small quantity of air which it contains. They can-
not live in water which is not aerated, for the oxygen vivifies,
and renews the active power of the blood. The respiratory organs
are two pairs of gills, or dranchtie; they are curved, and are
formed by a double series of very delicate canals, placed close
together; their appearance is not unlike the teeth of a fine
comb. This apparatus, like the mouth, is hidden under the fold
of the mantle.

Having no head, the oyster can have no dvaiz,; in its place
there is a ganglion of nerves—a whitish substance, situated near
the mouth. Out of this originate two nerves, which branch off
to the regions of the liver and stomach; they again reunite in a
second similar ganglion, which is placed behind the liver. The
first ganglion furnishes nerves to the mouth and its tentacles, and
the second to the respiratory branchiz. The oyster has no power
of seeing or hearing. The sense of touch appears to be the only
sensation it enjoys, and that resides in the tentacles of the
mouth. Its taste, if it have any at all, must be very faint.

Of all the shelled mollusks oysters seem to have the most
limited powers. Condemned to a sedentary life, imprisoned for
ever in their shell, and even without a distinction of sex, they
cannot have many wants or desires. They must be well-nigh
apathetic, living in a calm and quiet indifference; and yet these
mollusks are sociable, and gather themselves together in vast
numbers; so that, in spite of their feeble intelligence, we cannot

200 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

say that they have not sympathies which may affect the whole
bank.

The oysters’ powers of locomotion are exceedingly simple and
imperfect; frequently they are riveted to the spot where they
were deposited as infants. The only organ of motion is situated
immediately beneath the heart. The substance of this muscle is
white flesh, which passes through the mantle on each side, and
attaches itself to the centre of the valves. This is the muscle
which is cut by the fishmonger when he wishes to open the oyster,
and we again mutilate it when we consume the delicate mollusk.
When the animal chooses to contract this muscle, the shell is

A GROUP OF OYSTERS.

hermetically closed; when it relaxes it, there is an elastic liga-
ment placed at the hinge of the valves which acts precisely as a
spring, and opens the shells. It has been asserted that the oyster,
by rapidly opening and shutting its valves, is able to change its
place, and even to move from rock to rock; but the assertion
needs more confirmation.

The mode in which these mollusks propagate their species is
very peculiar. The oyster is an hermaphrodite—that is, it unites
in each individual both sexes. These mollusks are not even like
flowers of the like nature, for the organs of reproduction are only
visible at the period of their use.

The eggs are placed between the folds of the mantle and in
the midst of the respiratory organs. Their number is prodigious.
According to Baster, one single oyster can carry 100,000 eggs.
Poli says 200,000, and Leuwenhoeck even gives the prodigious

LE “OVSTER. 201

number of 10,000,000! However, more modern naturalists consider
the limit to be about 2,000,000—a number almost incredibly large.
The eggs are yellow; they are hatched in the mantle, and when
the embryo leaves the parent it can breathe. The spawning time
is usually from June to September. During the period of incuba-
tion the eggs are enveloped in a mucous matter, which is necessary
to their development; it has very much the appearance of cream,
but as the period of gestation proceeds, this mucous material
changes its colour, gradually becoming darker. An experienced
eye, from the colour of the mucus, can pronounce the stage which
the embryos have reached.

The oyster differs from most shell-fish, in that its young do
not leave the folds of the mantle until they are capable of living

YOUNG OYSTERS, WITH THEIR NATATORY CILS.

without the maternal protection. Almost all shell-fish throw out
their ova, committing them, and the protection of the young, to
circumstances. An oyster-bank, in the spawning season, is a most
interesting place—every oyster is throwing out a whole nation of
descendants, filling the water with living dust; so that, frequently,
the sea is clouded by the sfaz, as the young oysters are termed.
The microscope reveals to us that the young oyster has a per-
fect shell, and is also furnished with vibratory cils, which enable
it to swim. When the current carries it against any solid body it
immediately adheres, the cils disappear, and the oyster begins
to develop; in three years it reaches its full growth. Before it
settles down in life it swims about the neighbourhood of the
mother; and, we are told, that at any alarm, it again seeks refuge
within the maternal shell. This prolific production might well be
supposed to be a sure means of the rapid propagation of these

202 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

mollusks; but the fact is, that the young oysters are destroyed in
millions by creatures which prey upon them. Moreover, being but
feeble swimmers, they are utterly at the mercy of the currents ;
and, unless the bank be in absolutely still water, the greater part

of the spat is swept away, and thus destroyed.

The favourite habitat of the oyster is the shore, in water not
very deep, and not disturbed by currents. In such a locality their
development is very rapid, and they accumulate in large numbers,
forming what is technically termed an oyster bank. Many of
these banks extend for some miles, and seem quite inexhaustible.
In 1819, one was discovered near Zealand, which provided the
whole of the Low Countries with oysters for a year, in such abun-
dance that they were sold at the rate of ten for a penny; but
as this bank was very near the level of the sea at low tide, a
rigorous winter destroyed it.

The species of oysters usually eaten are the common oyster
(Ostrea edulis), and the horse-foot oyster (Ostrca hippopus), which
are natives of our own coasts. On the French Mediterranean
shore they also find the rose-coloured oyster (Ostrea rosacea), and
the milky oyster (Ostrea lacteola). Two other species—the crested
oyster (Ostrea cristata) and the Ostrea plicata—are also found, but
not so frequently as others. The Corsican coast yields the Ostrea
lamellosa.

In seaports, the oysters are distinguished by the localities from
which they are taken. Those from deep sea banks are not so
valuable as those from the more shallow water. There are two
principal varieties dredged up on the French coast, which differ
in their flavour and size—these are the Cancale and the Ostend
oyster. When the first has been fed for some time in the oyster
park, it assumes a greenish hue, and is then called the Marenna—
so named from the park in the Bay of Seudre. We shall again
refer to the nature and the source of this coloration.

The oyster bears the palm from all the dishes of the table,
since it is the most digestible, and consists of the very element of
all substances capable of giving nourishment. It is peculiarly fitted
for the delicate, the sick, and the convalescent. No feast can be

THE OVSTER. 203

worthy of the name where the oyster does not appear among the
first dishes. Indeed, it has well been said to be the key to that
paradise which we call the appetite. “There is no alimentary
substance,” says Reveillé-Parise, “even bread not excepted, which,
under certain circumstances, will not produce indigestion; but this
is a charge which cannot be laid against the oyster.”

They may be eaten in almost any quantity without producing
any of those evils to which our flesh is heir. We might chronicle
the names and deeds of notorious oyster-eaters—men who could
eat thirty and forty dozen, without any inconvenience—men who
have in their lifetime demolished a whole bank; but we refrain
from publishing the degradation of our own kind.

However, every one’s experience is ready to testify that this
celebrated mollusk is most digestible; but, perhaps, the reason is
little suspected. The real secret of the great digestibility of the
oyster lies in the fact that, although its substance is most nutritive,
yet it contains a very small quantity of azotised matter—or matter
containing nitrogen—of which the fleshy parts of the body are
composed. An average-sized man requires twelve ounces of such
food daily; and if he only eat oysters, he must swallow sixteen
dozen of the mollusks to supply the requisite nutriment.

Oyster-fishing is carried on variously in different localities.
Round Minorca, intrepid divers, with a hammer attached to their
right hand, descend some twelve fathoms, and bring up a quan-
tity of the detached bivalves in their left hand. Two fisher-
men usually join in the undertaking, and dive in turns until they
fill their boat. Upon the coasts of England and France a dredging
machine is used, which is a strong net, with an iron rim weighing
some twenty pounds; this is attached to the boat by a rope, and
as the men pull the boat over the bank, the dredger loosens the
bivalves off the rock, and they are caught in the net, and so taken
up. The fishers are careful only to dredge certain zones of the
bank, leaving those which have been fished time to recruit their
loss; yet this mode of taking the oyster is necessarily destructive,
and, in fact, our oyster supply is rapidly and seriously diminishing
—a result chiefly due to this reckless dredging.

On the coast of Campeachy, in Mexico, the oysters fix them-

204. THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

selves to the submerged roots of the mangrove trees; the Indians
detach the roots, and thus carry to market branches of oysters.

The idea of cultivating oysters is certainly anything but new.
According to Pliny, Sergius Orata was the first who put oyster
cultivation into practice, and in the time of the orator Lucius
Crassus, he established an oyster park at Baiz. He noticed the
superior flavour of the bivalves of the Lucrine Lake—for then,
as now, tradesmen speculated on the weaknesses of human gour-
mandism—and with these he supplied his customers. Sergius has
the honour of being the inventor of a new industry, which to-day
occupies thousands; and the centuries which have passed since the
Roman lived have not improved upon his plan. Asa proof of the
perfection to which he brought oyster culture, his contemporaries
said of him—in allusion to the hanging banks which he invented
—that if he were hindered from rearing oysters in the Lucrine
Lake, he would make them grow on the roofs of the houses!
What has become of this famous lake, the first oyster park in the
world? Alas! it exists no longer; it has all but disappeared. A
traveller, who was an accomplished gourmand, paid a visit to
the celebrated lake; he says, “It is now nothing but a filthy
puddle. The precious oysters which were placed there by
Catiline’s grandfather—an act which, in our eyes, greatly qualifies
the doings of the grandson—are metamorphosed into miserable
eels, which wriggle through the mud. A villanous mountain
of cinders, and‘ scoriz, and pumice-stone, which thought proper,
in 1538, to leap out of the earth in one night, like a mushroom,
reduced this poor lake to its present sad condition.”

Rondelet also speaks of a fisherman who understood the
art of oyster culture.

The Neapolitan lake, Fusaro—the terrible Acheron of the
poets—is a great oyster park, where Art is made effectually to aid
Nature in the multiplication of her products. All along its shores
are built up round blocks of rocks, upon which are placed oysters
from the Gulf of Taranto, and thus each is transformed into a
little bank, round which, for protection’s sake, are driven piles of
wood ; the tops of the piles rise above the water, and so mark
the position of the bank, from which the oysters can be taken by

THE OVSTER: 205

the hand when they are wanted. Other piles are distributed in
long lines, bound to each other by a cord, from which are sus-
pended faggots of young wood ; these are intended to receive the

ARTIFICIAL OYSTER BANKS, SURROUNDED BY PILES.

Spat of the oysters when it is given out at the spawning season.
At the proper time the faggots are drawn up, and the young
bivalves secured.

Last century, Lord Carnarvon scattered a quantity of these

FAGGOTS SUSPENDED TO RECEIVE OYSTER SPAT.

mollusks in the Menai Straits; they increased so rapidly as to
become a source of considerable income. Following his example,
the government made similar deposits of oysters, at different
points round our coasts, with the same effect. This oyster

206 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

farming thus begun has since increased into a regular business,
Upon the coasts of Sussex and Kent it is carried on upon a large
scale. The process is exactly that which we have described as in
use in Lake Fusaro.

Some twenty years ago the oyster beds of France were well-
nigh exhausted by the system of unrestricted and indiscriminate
dredging; and had it not been for M. Coste, the French coast
would to-day have been utterly destitute of this favourite mollusk.
This celebrated academician urged the government to establish
oyster farms all round the coast, and to set apart a certain number
of vessels for the sole purpose of attending to these artificial
banks. In 1858, the same year in which M. Coste presented his
report to the Emperor, operations were commenced. The Bay of
St. Brieuc was selected for the first experiment, and in the months
of March and April about three million oysters, full of spawn,
which had been dredged up from “common” grounds, were
deposited on shells, fragments of tiles, broken pottery, &c. At
the end of eight months the progress of the beds was tested; a
dredge which was let down for a few minutes brought up 2,000
oysters fit for use, and three bundles of faggots taken up at
random were found to contain 20,000 young bivalves, varying in
size from one to three inches in diameter. Two of these fascines,
exposed to public view at Binic and Portrieux, greatly excited the
astonishment of the villagers; they looked like bundles of leafy
branches, each leaf being a living oyster.

Wishful to follow the example of M. Coste, the distinguished
naturalists of other countries—amongst whom we ought to mention
M. Van Beneden, of Louvain, and M. Eschricht, of Copenhagen—
visited the French oyster parks, and urged their respective govern-
ments to adopt so admirable a plan. This has accordingly been
done on the coasts of Belgium and Denmark.

M. Coste showed that every place reached by the low tide
could be utilised for the culture of the oyster; and under his
advice the Bay of Arcachon was inaugurated as a vast oyster farm;
it increases every day, and gives fair promise of affording an
abundant supply. Already 1,200 capitalists employ 1,200 fisher-
men to look after nearly 1,000 acres planted with oysters. The
government formed in the bay two model farms, at which they

THE OYSTER. 207

experimented as to the best material for forming artificial banks.
The laying down of tiles and sundry déris cost £114, and now
the farms are estimated to be worth £8,000. The grounds, which
are covered by the oysters, are exposed at low water; this is a
great advantage, for the progress of the farm can be accurately
watched, and in collecting the oysters only the full-grown ones
need be gathered. Four years ago it was estimated that in the
Bay of Arcachon there were more than 5,000,000 oysters, and

OYSTERS ABOUT TEN MONTHS OLD UPON A TILE COVERED WITH CEMENT.

these were worth £8,000; which, leaving a wide margin, shows a
profit of £4,000 on the outlay.

In the Island of Ré, which originally was surrounded by
muddy flats, oyster farming is in full operation. Thousands of
men came from the country and took possession of the sterile
shores, and in two years they transformed them into rich domains.
1,500 parks are now in active operation, and 2,000 more are in
course of construction; these establishments will soon encircle
the whole: island. Fragments of rocks are strewed over the flats,
and upon these the oysters are developed with wonderful rapidity

208 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

—they reckon 600 to every square yard; the greater part of
these are of a marketable size. The farms, at this calculation,
bear at least 378,000,000 of the mollusks.

The ocean is not the only scene of the useful experiments of
M. Coste. Nearly 500,000 oysters were transported to the roads
of Toulon and to the Lake Thau. A piece of clay pipe taken up
from the former place in eight months, was found to be covered
with numerous shells. This cultivation of the fruits of the sea is
a most profitable undertaking, and ought to be encouraged by

every government.

Following the example of the Romans, oysters are placed in
reservoirs where they grow larger, and assume a green tint. Is
this why such oyster plantations are termed parks ?

At Marennes these reservoirs are called claires. They are
inundated fields, which stretch on each side the banks of the
Seudre for many miles. The claires of Marennes differ. from the
oyster parks of other localities in this—that while the parks are
submerged by the rising waters of every tide, the claires are only
covered at spring-tide.

An oyster six or eight months old requires two years before
it reaches the point of perfection; but it is very seldom that the
oysters eaten in Paris undergo these conditions; generally the
adult oyster is placed in the claires, and in a few days it begins
to have the characteristic green tint. The green colour is not
general, but is particularly shown in the region of the branchiae,
upon the labial feelers, and in the intestinal canal. What this
colour is has long been a subject of conjecture. It certainly differs
from all other colouring matters; and Berthelot has shown, by a
chemical analysis, that it has some peculiarities. Some naturalists
believe that it is produced by a disease of the liver, caused by the
unnatural position of the oyster; certainly this would give a green
hue to the parenchyma. Another opinion is, that the colour is
from an accumulation of animalcule, which are lodged in the
tinted parts. Priestley suggests that it is the peculiar green colour
which is generally produced in water exposed for long to the
action of light; but the most probable solution of the difficulty
appears to be that it is in some way due to the soil of the claires,

THE OYSTER. 209

The green molecules are arrested by the branchiz, and thus the
action of the organ is much impeded. The poor animal, injured
in one of its essential parts, seems to dilate and become more
tender, and for this—its misfortune—is the more relished.

The chief oyster farm in England is carried on by a joint-
stock company, at Whitstable. The extent of the farm is about
one and a half square miles. The beds of oysters are arranged
along the shores of the estuary which separates the Isle of Sheppy
from the main-land. “Natives” are oysters which are produced
from these farms; those which are taken from their own beds out
at sea are called “ Commons.” :

Yet, in spite of the seeming power of cultivating the oyster
ad libitum, the mollusk is decreasing in numbers, and consequently
becoming dearer. The reason for this is not clear; one set of
naturalists blaming the weather, another the currents, while most
probably the true cause will be found to be the combined influence
of the two; together with the natural desire to supply an increased
demand which the rapidity of transit creates, at the expense of
dredging the beds before they have recovered from their last
thinning. The most evident way of obviating at least two of
these difficulties is, to have parks after the French system, which
are exposed at low tide.

CELA Pain Raat:
THE MUSSEL.

THE Mussel—or, as this well-known shell-fish is scientifically
termed, the Mytilus edulis—has neither the delicate flavour nor
the reputation of the oyster. Oysters are the aristocracy of the
bivalves ; mussels occupy a much lower place in their social scale.
Yet we must not say too much derogatory of the mussel, for its
creat abundance and its price bring it within the reach of the
humbler classes, and, with much reason, it has been called “the
poor man’s oyster.”

Mussels are easily recognised from all other shell-fish, by the
deep violet colour of the valves, and the yellowish-red of the
mollusk itself. The three prominent characteristics of the mussel
are—the shape, the foot, and the byssus.

1. The shape of the mussel is somewhat triangular, but not
inelegant. Its valves are both alike, and are united by a hinge
at the vertex of the triangle. The hinge has no teeth, but is a
groove, in which lies a binding ligament. The anterior part of
the animal is lodged in this sharp angle.

2. The foot of this mollusk, the most striking of its members,
is constructed something like a finger; it is capable of great elon-
gation, and sometimes can be stretched even more than two inches.
Several pairs of muscles which penetrate it, and are interlaced in
its tissue, control all its motions. By the aid of this organ the
mussel can move, and in this respect,is more favoured than the
oyster.

3. The byssus is an assemblage of little cords, by which
the mollusk anchors itself to the rock so firmly that it can defy
the violence of the storm. If we try to detach the threads of
the byssus from their hold, they will break rather than let go.
The gland which secretes this animal cable is situated at the base
of the foot; it contains a semi-fluid matter, which fills the tube of

THE MUSSEL. ZUT

the organ, and is moulded by the groove of the foot into a thread
such as that which forms part of the peculiar mane of the mussel.
When the creature wishes to fix its byssus, it stretches out its foot,
feels here and there for a fit object to which to attach it, and,
having satisfied itself, affixes the extremity of one of the hairs,
immediately retracting its foot. This operation is repeated several
times, and each time a new thread is fixed. Four or five are thus
fastened in twenty-four hours. When the whole bundle of the
byssus is completed, its anchorage is perfect—none of our vessels
can boast of 150 cables! When the bivalve has fastened its first
thread, it tests it, to prove the strength of its hold and the firmness
of its anchorage ; the thread is tightened until it well-nigh breaks,
The second is also submitted to a similar testing. This process
gives evidence that the mussel has more intelligence than the
oyster. By the assistance of its byssus our bivalve can suspend
itself from over-shelving rocks. It seldom, indeed, touches the
ground, and this is the reason that its shell is always smooth
and exhibits no signs of the rough usage of the waves. Thus much
cannot be said of its aristocratic rival, for the oyster’s shell is rough
and rugged, and frequently it encloses between its valves the dédris
which the waves stir up from the bottom on which it lies. But
it is not the habit which makes the monk.

Mussels, like the oysters, are gregarious mollusks. They are
widely distributed, and are found on every coast. An estuary,
where the fresh water of a river mingles with the sea, is their
favourite habitat, and there are few rocks at the embouchure
of rivers which are not covered with a flourishing colony. They
are also found attached to the branches of the polypiers, to the
roots of submerged trees, to the piles which support the banks,
and to the keels of vessels.

The mussel may be eaten either raw or cooked, and though
every one does not relish its flavour, yet it has by no means lacked
admirers. Louis XVIII. was passionately fond of mussels; every
week he had a supply for the royal table from Rochelle. It is said
that he once gave Talleyrand the recipe of a sauce, which had the
effect of placing the mussel in the first rank of the dishes of that
day. Yet it is beyond dispute that the oyster is far more palatable

OFZ

212 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

and more digestible than the mussel. Still, the latter has one
recommendation—it is in season when the oyster is not. The
oyster is eaten in those months which have an 7 in their name,
whereas those are the very months in which the mussel is least
fit for the table.

But, unfortunately, there is a grave accusation against this
shell-fish—it is said to be unwholesome! Nay, that even at
certain times of the year it is actually deleterious; and what
makes matters worse, the exact time of the year is not accurately
known. The mussel certainly does produce nausea, colic, and
sometimes cutaneous eruptions. But the doctors are at a loss to
account for its action. In the middle ages, it was the belief that
the phases of the moon, or the evil charms of some witch, suddenly
caused the mussels to be unwholesome. Now-a-days we are more
rational, but no nearer the truth. The sulphide of copper from
the vessels to which the mollusk may have been attached ; some
peculiar disease of the shell-fish ; the decomposition of its tissue ;
certain parasites which inhabit it; or the young of the star-fish
or the medusa which it may have eaten, have all been cited in
turn to explain the evil effects sometimes occasioned by eating
mussels,

There is a branch of industry known as mussel culture, just
as there is oyster culture. It is carried on in many localities,
particularly at Esnandes, at Marsilly, and at Charron, in the Bay
of Aiguillon, near Rochelle. This peculiar industry owes its estab-
lishment to that mother of many inventions—necessity. About
the year 1235, a bark, in which three Irishmen were endeavour-
ing to transport sheep to England, was driven by a storm to the
French coast, and was wrecked in the rocky creek of Aiguillon,
near to Rochelle. Exiled upon the wild shore of Aunis, Walton,
the ingenious captain of the bark, was driven to many expedients
to keep himself alive. The shores of the bay stretched for miles
in interminable mud flats, which were frequented by flocks of
sea-birds. To catch these, he invented a kind of net, sup-
ported upon posts; during the night the sea-birds became
entangled in the meshes, and so were secured. In process of time,
the observant Irishman noticed that the mussels made his posts

THE MUSSEL. 213

favourite places of attachment, and that those which were so
elevated above the mud soon became large and fat. Thereupon
he determined to commence mussel culture, which has ever since
been carried on in the very same manner and in the same locality.
Piles are driven into the mud, some five or six feet of their length
remaining out of it. Long rows of these are placed, as our illus-
tration shows, running out to the sea, sometimes even for two
or three miles. Between the piles wicker-work is interlaced, upon
which the bivalves fasten themselves.

Numbers of these lines of posts are so placed that their seaward
extremities are close together, and they diverge as they spread to
the shore. Locally they are termed douchots, or parks, while the
fishermen who attend to them are doucholeurs. These parks belong

PILES WITH WICKER-WORK, COVERED WITH FULL-GROWN MUSSELS.

sometimes to one man, but usually they are the property of a
co-operative society, every boucholeur having a share in the con-
cern. The shell-fish are gathered in at all times, except during
the period of their spawning ; and also if the weather be very hot
the fishing is suspended. When the tide has gone out, the mud
flats are much too soft to bear the weight of the boucholeur.
Walton’s genius, however, soon found a means of overcoming this
difficulty, and he built what is now called an acon, which in fact is
a light punt, some six feet long, made of four thin planks, two
forming the bottom, and two the sides, while the front or prow is
finished with a slope. The fisher, as our cut will at once explain,
rests upon one knee in his acon, holding the sides with his hands,
then with the other leg he pushes himself forward.

Many of the acons are so constructed as to carry two persons ;
and it is astonishing with what rapidity they can glide over the

214 THE “WORED ORT TLIC E SEA.

yielding surface of the mud. It must not be supposed that the
whole of the work is completed when the piles are driven, and the
wicker-work run between them—that then the mussels attach

BOUCHOLEUR IN HIS ACON,.

themselves, and the fishers have nothing to do save to gather those
which are full grown. Experience has taught that the process
of development is greatly aided by moving the mollusks from one

a

ISOLATED POSTS COVERED WITH YOUNG MUSSELS,

position to another, positions in which they are successively exposed
for longer periods to the air. The spat, with which the water of
the bay is filled during February and March, collects on isolated

THE MUSSEL. 215

posts, placed in deep water for its reception. These posts are only
exposed at the spring tides. In fourteen months it has increased
from the size of a pin’s head to that of a bean, and is now ina
condition to bear removal. Agglomerated masses of the young
bivalves are taken off from the posts by hooks, and are placed
on the lowest parts of some of the palisades, which are never
uncovered by the water; here they grow, and when they have
attained to a certain size, they are advanced to a higher bouchot.
Four times they are thus removed, and in twelve months they are
ready for the market.

The Bay of Aiguillon is the scene of a vast industry, a wonder-
ful monument to the genius of one man. Thousands of people are
employed in the culture and transportation of the mussels. Some
idea of the enormous produce of the bay may be gathered from the
fact, that although they are sold at the rate of about ten pounds a
penny, yet the revenue of the whole bay is more than £400,000 ;
and why should not a like harvest be gathered in on every coast ?

CHAPTER XXIL
NACRE AND PEARLS.

NACRE is that beautifully smooth, white, and iridescent lining with
which some shells are internally coated; it is the same material
which composes the pearl. Though many shells are lined with
nacre, yet one bivalve, the MWZeleagrina margaritifera, which is
often called the Pzztadine, secretes the substance so plentifully that
it deserves its name—the mother-of-pearl shell.

PINTADINE, OR MOTHER-OF-PEARL.

(Meleagrina margaritijera.)

This mollusk moors itself to the bottom of the sea by a strong
brown byssus. The valves of the shells are irregularly rounded,
and when the animal is only a year or two old, the foliations are
thin and even; its shell is streaked with bands of green, which
radiate from the summit, and branch off towards the edges of the
valve. But as years pass, the shell becomes rugged, the bands
disappear, and the whole takes a uniform blackish tint. Eight or
ten years bring the mother-of-pearl to perfection ; the shell is then
about six inches in diameter, and one and a quarter inch thick.

Nacre is very hard, and exhibits a resplendent surface ; its
appearance is not unlike floss silk, faintly tinted with azure, and

NACRE AND PEARLS. 217

usually iridescent. Most of the bivalves are supplied with it,
although it generally changes its tint with different species,
passing through all shades of blue to deep violet. The nacre
of the Haliotis Iris is a sparkling emerald green, shot with
purple. The mouth of the Zurbo argyrostomus presents the hue
of silver, while that of the Turbo chrysostomus is golden. But the
pintadine secretes nacre of a pure white, and remarkably thick ;
and it owes its beauty to the play of colours which makes its
surface iridescent. This iridescence is due to the interference of the
light reflected from the edges of the plates of nacre. This fact
may be proved by pressing a piece of white wax upon the surface
of the mother-of-pearl, when it will be found that the wax exhibits
the same iridescence, that is, the wax has taken the impression of
the innumerable layers, and as their edges reflect the rays of light,
the waves of light are placed in a position to interfere, some
of them being obliterated ; thus the white light is destroyed, and
coloured light is the result. A work on light must be consulted
for a full explanation of this phenomenon; suffice it to say that the
colours of a soap-bubble, and all such thin films, are due to this
“interference.” For practical purposes the nacre is separated from
its bed by a steel instrument, or the exterior of the shell is dissolved
away by acids, and thus the precious substance is obtained.

Pearls, those solidified drops of dew, as the Orientals poetically
call them, are the product of the organ which secretes the nacre
when the mollusk is in a diseased or irritated state. Instead of
depositing the substance on the internal surface of the valves, for
some reason or other it accumulates in little globules, either within
the fleshy matter of the creature, or on the surface of the shell;
usually a small grain of sand, or other foreign substance, is found
as the nucleus of the pearls. It would seem that this particle
irritated the animal; and in order to reduce the annoyance it
coated it with nacre to render it smooth; layer by layer the
beautiful deposit enlarged the pearl.

The Chinese and other Eastern nations are said to turn this
mode in which the mollusk relieves itself of an irritating body to
practical account, by introducing into the live creature glass beads,
or designs in metal ; in course of time the distressed mollusk covers

218 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the intruding substance with its beautiful deposit. Thus artificial
pearls are produced; in the one case they are loose, and in the
other they appear as cameos fixed to the shell.

A single pintadine sometimes contains several pearls. An
instance is quoted in which 150 pearls were found in a single shell.
The pearls at first are small. They grow by annual depositions of
nacre, which are added layer by layer to the original nucleus. The
clearness or cloudiness of the pearl necessarily depends on the

A SHELL CONTAINING CHINESE PEARLS.

nacre. Sometimes the pearls are semi-transparent, silky, lustrous,
more or less iridescent, but often they are dull, and even smoky.

The most important pearl fisheries are in the Persian Gulf, off
the Arabian coasts, in the Bay of Bengal, near Ceylon, and in other
parts of the Indian Ocean. Previous to 1795, most of the Indian
fisheries were in the hands of the Dutch, but they became ours
after the treaty of Amiens in 1802. The Ceylon fisheries are
sometimes undertaken by the government, and sometimes they are
let to a contractor. Before the commencement of the season, a
covernment inspection of the coast takes place, in order that the
banks may not be impoverished by too frequent fishing. The

NACRE AND PEARLS. 219

fishing for the pintadines in the Gulf of Manaar, a large bay on the
north-east coast of the island of Ceylon, commences in February or
in March, and continues thirty days. Upon this ground 250 boats
are occupied, which come from different parts of the coast. At ten
at night, at the sound of a signal gun, they put to sea; and as soon
as the dawn furnishes them with sufficient light, they commence
their day’s labour. Each boat is manned by ten rowers, and ten
divers occupy the deck, which covers half the vessel. Five of the
divers rest while the others are gathering the pintadines ; and each
boat's crew is attended by a negro, who makes himself generally
useful. The divers descend usually about forty feet, and the best
of them can keep under the water one and a half minutes. To
accelerate their descent they attach to their foot a stone of the shape
of a sugar-loaf, which weighs about fifty pounds. Arriving at the
fishing-ground, a diving-stage, which projects over the sides of the
boat, is made by lashing the oars to each other. To the edge of
this stage the diving-stones are hung. When a diver descends, he
places his right foot in a stirrup, which is attached to the conical
point of the stone, or he holds the cord which suspends the stone
to the boat between his toes; with the other foot he carries a net in
which the shells are to be placed; then seizing in his right hand a
signal-cord, conveniently arranged for his purpose, and tightly
closing his nostrils with his left hand, he plunges, holding himself
vertically over the sinking stone. Lest his descent should be in
the slightest degree impeded, the diver is naked, with the exception
of a piece of calico round his loins. Upon reaching the bottom he
withdraws his foot from the stirrup, and the stone is at once drawn
to the top, ready for the use of another diver. He then throws
himself upon his face on the ground, and stretching out his arms
he gathers all the mollusks within his reach, and places them in
his net. When he wishes to ascend he pulls the signal-cord
sharply, and is rapidly drawn up. There is always one stone for
two divers; one rests and refreshes himself, while the other is in the
water. The time the divers ordinarily keep beneath the surface is
thirty seconds; and in favourable circumstances they can make
fifteen or twenty descents in succession. But sometimes they are
unable to go down more than three or four times. Even then,
when they come up, water coloured with blood comes from their

220 THE WORLD OF THE SEA:

mouths, noses, and ears. The work is very distressing, and makes
sad havoc of the constitution ; the pearl-divers never reach old age.
The fishing is continued until noon, when a second gun gives the
signal to cease. The owners of the boats wait on the shore to
superintend the discharge of the cargo, which must be all secured
before night, to prevent robbery. Formerly the Ceylon fisheries
were very productive. In 1797, they yielded £144,000, and in the
following year as much as £192,000. In 1802, the banks were let
for £120,000; but ever since they have been less and less valuable,
and now are not worth more than £20,000 per annum.

The inhabitants of the shores which line the Bay of Bengal,
the Chinese seas, and Japan Islands, and islanders of the Indian
Archipelago, are all engaged in the pearl fishery. Their united
produce is estimated to yield £800,000 per annum. Farther west,
in the neighbourhood of the Arabian Sea, along the coast of
Muscat, and also in the Red Sea, pearls are found. In these
latter countries the pearl fishing commences in July, for in that
month and in August the sea is generally calm. The boats, when
they have arrived at the beds where the pintadines lie, cast their
anchors at a convenient distance from each other. The water is
about eight or nine fathoms deep. The divers, when about to
descend, fasten a light cord under their arms, which is attached to
a bell in the boats; plugging their ears and nostrils with wool or
cork, and tightly closing their mouth, they plunge into the water,
and are sunk to the bottom rapidly by a heavy stone. When once
on the bed they gather all the shells within their reach, which they
deposit in a bag fastened round their loins. When compelled
to come up for air they ring the bell, and are drawn up to the
surface.

The oyster-bank off the island of Bahrein is very productive,
yielding £240,000 per annum; this, with the pearls taken from
other fisheries along the Arabian coast, brings in an annual income
of about £ 350,000.

Pearl fishing is also carried on in the South American seas.
Before the conquest of Mexico the fisheries were situated between
Acapulco and the Gulf of Tehuantepec; but since that time a
further exploration of the coast has discovered banks of the bivalves
near the islands of Cubagua, Margarita, and Panama. The results

NACRE AND PEARLS. 221

were so full of promise that populous towns soon sprang up in the
neighbourhoods. In the reign of Charles V. America sent home to
Spain pearls to the value of £160,000, and even now the fisheries
yield some £60,000 a year. The mode of diving is much the same
as in the Asiatic waters. The divers go down naked, and can
remain from twenty-five to thirty seconds; in this time they are
not able to secure more than two or three shells. They descend
eleven or twelve times in succession, and thus gather thirty or
forty oysters in a day.

The pintadines are carried to the shore, where they are piled
on grass mats in the sun; the mollusks soon die, and begin to
decompose. After ten days, when this process is complete, and
the tissue of the animal has thoroughly given way, they are thrown
into tanks of sea water, where they are opened and washed; in this
state they are handed to the dealers. The valves furnish nacre, and
in the parenchyma the pearls are found.

To secure the nacre the valves are cleansed, the thick, rough
exterior of the shell is removed, either, as we have said, by a sharp
instrument like a chisel, or by an acid liquid; in this manner, plates
of nacre are obtained, which vary in thickness, according to the
age of the mollusk.

Three kinds of mother-of-pearl are known in commerce: silver-
face, bastard-white, and bastard-black. The first is brought in
cases of 250 or 300 lbs., from India, China, and Peru. The other
two kinds are more or less coloured, and are not so valuable.

The pearls are by far the most important product of the work.
They are generally found in the fleshy substance of the animal;
sometimes, though rarely, they are fixed to the valve, and when
this is the case they are detached by pincers. To secure the
precious globules which are embedded in the mollusk, the putrified
flesh is boiled, and the whole of the contents of the pan is passed
through a fine sieve; in this way very few pearls escape detection.
Yet some do; for months after the fishing is over miserable
Indians may be seen searching the heaps of putrified matter for
seed-pearls which had passed the workmen unobserved.

Baroques are the pearls which are found adhering to the valves;
these are always irregular in shape, and are sold by weight. Virgixz

222 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

pearls, or paragons, are found in the body of the animal; they are
globular, ovoid, or pyriform, and are sold separately.

Cleaning and polishing the pearls is effected by rubbing them
together in a bag with nacre powder, and this process renders
them round, and gives them a beautiful polish. Then, to separate
them into different sizes, they are passed through copper plates,
full of holes; these plates are arranged one above the other, the
higher ones having the largest holes. The pearls which these
plates retain are numbered with commercial numbers, by which
their price is indicated ; the number being that of the holes which
the plate contains. These range from twenty to one thousand,
the top plate being pierced with twenty, the bottom one with one
thousand, and the intermediate ones accordingly. The pearls
which are retained between Nos. 20 and 80 are said to be mz/l
pearls. Those which are found on the sieves from 100 to 800 are
vadivoo pearls; all the smaller ones being Zoo/ or seed pearls. The
pearls are next drilled, and the small and medium sizes are
threaded on strings of white or blue silk; and in these rows they
are exposed for sale, the buyers assorting them according to their
shape and colour. The seed-pearls are sold by weight, or some-
times by measure. In America the bivalve is opened with a knife,
and instead of going through the putrefying and boiling process,
the fresh mollusk is “felt” by the fingers, and thus the pearls dis-
covered. ‘This process is long, and not so certain as that pursued
in the East; but the pearls are considered to be fresher and more
brilliant when so delivered from their matrix.

Of course there are giants among the pearls, whose size and
value render them historical. Julius Cesar, who was a great
admirer of pearls, gave one to Servilia, which was valued at a
million sesterces, nearly 448,000 of our money! Cleopatra had
two famous pearls, one of which the capricious queen dissolved
in vinegar, and drank the precious draught—a cup of acid wine
worth £60,000. The other pearl was split in two, and each
half became an ear-ring in the statue of the Capitoline Venus. If
it be true, the highest price ever given for a pearl was £180,000,
with which sum the Shah of Persia is said to have bought one

NACRE AND PEARLS. 223

from Tavernier, which that traveller had purchased at Califa. In
1759, one of the earliest transactions of this nature is recorded.
A pearl from Panama, worth £4,000, was brought to Philip ple;
king of Spain. The prince of Muscat possessed one fished up
from his waters, which was not large, but so transparent that
he refused for it the same sum. In the Zozema Museum at
Moscow, there is a pearl called the “ Pilgrim,” which is quite
semi-lucent; it is globular in form, and weighs nearly an ounce.
The Shahs of Persia possess a string of pearls, each of which is as

PINNA NOBILIS,

large as a hazel-nut ; the price of the string is inestimable! At the
Paris Exhibition in 1855, Her Majesty the Queen of England
exhibited some magnificent pearls; and the Emperor also con-
tributed 408 of the finest water; their value was more than
£20,000.

Pearls have always been held in the highest estimation by the
Eastern nations ; indeed, they invested large pearls with magic
powers, and believed that their possession exercised a mystic
influence, guiding their fortunes, and preserving them from evil.

The pintadines are not the only bivalves which produce pearls.
Almost all the mollusks are subject to a disease which causes them

224 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

to produce nacre, in round or egg-shaped globules. M. Lamiral
saw a pearl as large as a bantam’s egg, perfectly round, and as
white as milk, taken from a Gigantea tridacna.

The Marine Pinna produces rose-coloured pearls; the Haliotis
fris, green ones. Other bivalves form blue or grey, or yellow, and
very rarely black pearls. There is a mollusk found in the sand of
the river Mourne, at Omagh, in the north of Ireland, in which
small pearls are found, and some of them are of a very fine water.
It is a singular reflection that the gem so admired and coveted by
man, should be the product of disease in a helpless mollusk.

CELA PLE R XO,
THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS.

HAVING considered the Acephalous Mollusks, which are headless,
we now naturally proceed to the higher class, the Cephalous
Mollusks, creatures which are endowed with the crowning member
of the body. As in the lower class, so here we find some shell-less
or naked, and others defended by a protective carapace. The nude
cephalas exhibit much diversity of form ; they generally approach
an oval, of greater or less length, convex above and flat underneath.
Their head is at once recognised, for it is furnished with the
sensitive organs or feelers, between which are situated two promi-
nent, watery eyes; besides these, some of the species possess
tentacles and feathery projections. A great gulf is fixed between
these and the bivalves last considered, for they possess the power
of locomotion; they can crawl. They execute this motion by
means of a fleshy, abdominal projection, a kind of enlarged disc,
which is formed by an interlacing of muscular fibres; by this organ
the creature is enabled to execute a series of undulations which
may be compared to the motion of a little wave. It was because
of this ventral foot that Cuvier named the race the Gasteropods.
First, we shall speak of the Afplysie—the sea-hares—little
mollusks which have a fancied resemblance to the quadrupeds after
which they are named. Their habitat is among marine plants;
they have a long neck, and two hollow, horn-like protuberances,
like the ears of a hare. Their teeth are not in the mouth, but in
the stomach, which is quadruple. The first stomach is an enlarged
crop, the next a kind of gizzard, the third a pouch, and the last
a sac. The gizzard is constructed of several cartilaginous pyra-
midal projections, whose edges are partly joined together so that
their points are left separate. Several of these approach each
other from each side of the organ, and their points are so close
as to triturate the food as it passes through the second stomach.

P

226 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

The third cavity is armed in a peculiar manner with pointed hooks
bending towards the gizzard. Cuvier could attribute to these no
other office than that of preventing the food from passing through
the masticating apparatus too quickly, in order that it might have
time to be thoroughly crushed.

By a marvellous compensation, the power of the stomach is
always in the inverse ratio to the number of teeth the mollusk
possesses. This organ is powerful in its digesting action when the
dental apparatus is not very perfect, and on the contrary it is
weak when the second stomach is well garnished with grinders.
As in the case of the sea-hare, some of the mollusks, in addition
to all this complicated apparatus, have their fourth, or stomach
proper, also provided with solid plates which perform the office of
teeth. Thus the cavity performs the double function of stomach
and mouth.

The aplysie exhale a disagreeable odour. They secrete an
acrid, limpid humour which has a powerful corrosive action, and
attacks the hand which incautiously touches them. From the
edges of their mantle another secretion oozes, which is a liquid
of a dark colour. This the creature ejects into the water around
it, thus forming a cloud under the cover of which it escapes the
threatened danger.

The ancients regarded the sea-hares as animals of an evil
omen; and yet they were held in great repute, because they were
supposed to have a power over the female heart. Apuleius was
accused of sorcery because he had bought a number of aplysiz
from a fisherman. He had just married a rich widow; his crime
was the marriage of the widow, and his principal accuser the
widow's son.

The aplysie have respiratory organs which, like those of the
oysters, are fringes hidden beneath the folds of the mantle.
Amongst the 7yrzfors—mollusks not unlike the sea-hares—these
organs are entirely exposed; they stand above the surface in
little tufts. Cuvier describes one of these creatures, inhabiting
the French coast, whose colour was a beautiful bronze. Another,
a native of the Sicilian waters, is still more brilliant, and has found
a eulogist in M. Quatrefages. Imagine a little snail carrying
on the ridge of its back a row of very minute shrubs, beautifully

THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 227

delicate; its head ornamented in front with a starry veil, fine as
gauze, and surmounted by two long horns, as transparent as glass,
the extremity of which opens into a bouquet of pink branches
mingled with violet flowers. Next to the tritons rank the
Scyllea.

The Scylle@a pelagica is well known; it is found on the sea-
weeds of all parts of the world. It has a flat body, and clings
to the aquatic plants with its narrow, hollow foot. Its respiratory
organs are upon its back, rising like two membranous crests,
which run parallel to each other, and from whose interior surfaces
spring hair-like filaments; the mouth widens out like a trumpet,
and, to conclude this complicated organism, the stomach possesses
a fleshy ring, armed with horny plates which are as sharp as knives.
Forster has described, under the name of G/aucus, a gasteropod
of the same kind, yet somewhat different from the scyllaea. The
elauci, according to his description, are elegant little swimmers ;
their long, gelatinous bodies are contracted towards their posterior,
and terminate in a grey, pointed tail, like that of the salamander.
Their colour is a pearly grey, which shades off into sky-blue ;
their back is covered with nacre, and two bands of the sky-
blue pass along its whole length. Their under surface is brown.
They possess but a small head, which is furnished with four
conical horns, or feelers, arranged in pairs. On each side of
the body are swimming organs—oval, fan-like fins—whose purple
colour contrasts pleasingly with the rest of the body of this gay
little mollusk. Each of the fans is a broad plate, fringed with
minute, flexible points. The posterior ones, for there are two on
each side, gradually thin away until their projection loses itself
in the tail. The animal when at rest is always lying on its back.
It is not fond of moving, but when it does it swims with rapidity,
and is as much distinguished for the elegance of its motion as
for the beauty of its colouring.

Cuvier gave the name of Eolis to some naked gasteropods
which are also remarkable. The great naturalist described them
as little Limaces without either mantle or shell. Their head
carries four feelers, and their mouth is fringed with tentacles.
Their respiratory organs are placed in bunches of filaments upon
the back—not on the ridge of the back, but some way down the

1

228 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

side. In one of the members of this species, these organs are so
branched that they are characteristic of the animal, and to them
it owes its name—Dendronotus arborescens. The respirators rise
in six or seven pairs ; these branch off, and the branches are again
subdivided into a great number of twigs. When the mollusk is
at rest, the branches hang down on each other like the limp boughs

DENDRONOTUS ARBORESCENS,

of a dead shrub, and their great tentacles curl round like the horns
of a ram. When in motion, the feelers are straightened and
stretched out, as if to pioneer the animal on its way; the respi-
ratory tubes are all stiffened, as if vigorously to supply air for
the exertion of motion.

The eolides are an irritable and quarrelsome people. They
seize their prey with fury, and fight with each other violently ;
often they retire from a combat in a sadly dilapidated condition,

THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 229

with their branches tattered and torn, and some even completely
off. However, they have the power to reproduce their injured
organs. Mr. Rymer Jones watched one of these mollusks replace
a damaged tentacle in a fortnight. .

These curious creatures are generally about two inches long;
their body is yellow, and the respiratory branches pink, passing
to flesh-colour at their tips ; towards the tail their colour deepens
into purple. They have two pairs of horns—the anterior ones are
slender and flexible, the posterior are much thicker and of a red
hue. Altogether, this mollusk is beautifully coloured, and presents
a delicate arrangement of tints seldom met with.

We shall but allude to another of this class. The A mphorina
Alberti has a long, thin, tapering body. Its head is large, and
rises higher than the surface of the back; from the head
project two pairs of horns. The hinder are longer and altogether
larger than the first ones, and all of them point forward like
the ears of a hare when listening to a noise in advance; but the
most peculiar feature of the animal are the branchial appendages,
which differ from those of every other mollusk. These are four
enormous, ovoid bodies attached to the back, and between these
are eight others, much less, and of a fusiform shape, which are
arranged in two ranks, one on each side the central line of the back.
The animal’s body, indeed, is like a slender branch, from which
hangs a bunch of large-sized fruit, only the fruit stands upright on
the stalk. The general colour is grey, the horns and respiratory
prominences being tipped with yellow, and down the dorsal line

are spots of yellow.

The cephalous mollusks which are covered have a shell in one
piece, and are therefore called Univalves. In some of the species
the mouth of the shell is shut by an oferculum, a little door, which
may in some sense be regarded as a second valve. The Verita
offers an example of this construction. The shells of the univalves
are usually spiral; the reason of this leads us to the very interesting
explanation of their development. When the egg of the mollusk is
dropped, if it be examined under the microscope, it is seen to be
constructed like a bird’s egg; it has a yolk, which is not, however,
yellow, but grey. This is surrounded by albumen, the white of the

230 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

egg; of course there is no calcareous shell, but the whole is encased
in a film. Ina few days the yolk becomes an embryo, which gives
evident tokens of life by continuously turning round; this motion is
soon extended to the sides of the envelope, so that the embryo
moves from side to side of the egg, in an ellipse. This movement
is produced by a number of extremely minute vibratory cils, which
are placed irregularly, and hence they cause a spinning motion.
These cils take the place of all the other organs which are as yet
undeveloped in the minute creature. They absorb the air and the
nourishment necessary for its growth. To fulfil these two functions
motion is necessary; it is indispensable that there should exist
regular currents, by which the required air and food comes in
contact with the young mollusk. As the growth continues the cils
gradually disappear, and consequently the motion gradually
decreases. From their birth no cils had ever appeared upon the
places beneath which any organs were in an undeveloped state ;
and this accounts for the manner in which the cils are irregularly
distributed. During the time that the rotatory motion was in pro-
gress the development of the mollusk proceeded. As its soft body
lengthened, it became twisted like a corkscrew; and since the animal
turned upon itself a little obliquely, the body partook also of that
characteristic. The firm parts of the body—that is, the foot, the
head, and the tail—being too stiff to be affected by the motion,
are, therefore, not twisted. The shell, which forms itself slowly, is
moulded to this twisted body, and consequently partakes of the
spiral form. Spiral shells may be considered as calcareous tubes,
which gradually increase from the apex to the base, and whose
walls are rolled upon themselves after various fashions. ~The real
or ideal axis about which the revolution is made has been called
the column. When the column is hollow, its lower opening is the
umbellicum. The spiral of the univalves nearly always turns from
right to left. Charles Bonnet long ago remarked this. If it be
asked why this should be the direction of the rotation, we can
only answer, that it seems to be a great law of nature that all
rotation should be from right to left. The sun, the planets, and
the earth, are all subservient to this law. |

Men rather use their right hands than their left. If the
vertebral column deviates, it is on the right side. Our staircases,

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THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. Za

our corkscrews, and all our screws, the thread wound on our reels,
and fifty other examples, all show the;tendency we naturally have
to motion from right to left. a

Just as occasionally we have a left-handed screw, so there are
a few—but very few—shells whose spirals turn from left to right;
but these are only exceptions. Sometimes the right spiral shells
become left by a freak of nature; when this is the case, they are
highly valued by collectors ; and, on the other hand, the left-handed
Testacea sometimes become right-handed—thus showing a disposi-
tion to return to the normal condition of the race. Some shells
are not twisted into spirals—for example, the Paéel/lz, which
resemble large extinguishers—but, when they are young, there is
a very evident twist exhibited, so that even these are no exception
to the rule.

There are some univalves which float gracefully on the surface
of the water, unaffected by the billows. The beautiful little shell-

JANTHINA COMMUNIS.

fish, the Y¥anthina, is one of these; it is covered by a thin, fragile
tunic, of a delicate violet tint. It is suspended to a spongy mass,
composed of cartilaginous vesicles, not unlike a lump of soap-suds
solidified ; this is the float which buoys it up. At the slightest
alarm the janthina ejects a quantity of dark red liquid, and sinks
to the bottom. Some naturalists think that this liquid distends its
swimming apparatus, and that upon ejecting this it sinks.

There are mollusks which spread out a thin veil attached to
their mantle, which the wind catches, and so they sail over the
surface of the seas. But the greater part of the univalves live
always submerged—some of them at great depths. They have
been brought up from a depth of 1,400 fathoms,

The mollusks which live in shells, are either found on the marine

232 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

vegetation, or on the rocks; so firmly do they adhere, that a
patella has been known to resist a force of 150 lbs. before it could
be pulled from its hold. There are others again which burrow
holes for themselves in the sand of the sea-bed.. The Watica mzlle-

puncta excavates the sand with its dilated foot, cutting a groove

OLIVA PERUVIANA.

as it proceeds; thus it enters the earth by a decline. Its mantle is
so large that it covers its shell, and thus its feelers and respiratory
organs are protected; and, at the same time, its shell is preserved
from being rubbed by the walls of the channel in which it moves.
The marine univalves exhibit the greatest diversity in their
shape and colours. So beautiful are most of them that they are

THE ORANGE PTEROCERA.

(Pterocera aurantia.

used for ornamenting our rooms; and their colours have again and
again emulated the painter to transfer them to his canvas. All
the shells—or very nearly all—are covered with a horny epidermis,
which protects their polished surface and their brilliant tints.
This covering is found of every shade; the most common is brown,
the rarest green,

Some shells, instead of being of a uniform colour, are striped,
or mottled, or spotted, or traced with curious designs and unread-

THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 233

able hieroglyphics. . The colours of some are really brilliant. The
beautiful marking and great rarity of some specimens of the Conus
or of the Porcelains, have caused them to fetch high prices. Ama-
teurs will give £30 or £40 for a rare specimen of a porcelain; and,

CONUS MARMOREUS.

at the beginning of the eighteenth century, a conus was sold for
450; and even now a Scalaria pretiosa will sell for £80.

The Cyprea, or porcelain shells, are very widely distributed ;
but the best specimens come from the Indian Ocean. The orange
porcelain has long been greatly esteemed. The savage chiefs of
Australia wear necklaces of them, as insignia of their rank.

Naturalists have invented a classical nomenclature, which

CYPRAA CERVINA.

amateurs do not take the trouble either to learn or use. They
have given the shells popular names, which are based on some
visible peculiarity ; or where this is wanting, a fancied superiority
in rank has supplied them with terms such as ambassadors,
governors, commanders, captains, soldiers. here is also an eccle-

siastical set—wicars, bishops, archbishops, cardinals.

The univalve mollusks have one, two, and even sometimes
three jaws. In this last case one is the upper, and the other two

234 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

combine to form a lower jaw. These jaws are horny, curved
instruments, well capable of cutting ; in the front they are furnished
with sharp little teeth, and the sides are notched. Their tongue is
peculiarly constructed ; it is covered with a dry membrane, and its
surface is striated and rough. This tongue is ever in motion,
lapping and licking with energy and strength. Often when it is
working against the upper jaw it seems to take the place of the
lower jaw. The membrane which covers the tongue is received in
a pocket at the back of the mouth, like the heel of a stocking
turned inside out; from this pocket it is pushed by the tongue
when it protrudes.

In the periwinkle (Lz¢torina vulgaris) the tongue appears asa
white filament, about half an inch long; it is of a delicate material,
and yet it is very resisting, being covered by prickly spines, which
have the texture and transparency of glass. The denticles are
arranged in three lines. Those which compose the middle rank
have three points, while the lateral ones alternate a trifid tooth
with a larger one; they are all covered the same way. Compared
with this beautiful organ, our files are rough and unsightly.

In some of the mollusks this tongue is of an extraordinary
length ; for instance, the Turbo rugosus rejoices in one three times
the length of its own body. As that part of the membrane which
is most used gradually wears away, by a special mechanism the
ribbon is thrust forward, like the steel shaver of a carpenter’s plane.
By this means the part which is used is always new, and in the
very best condition for its work. Those univalves which have no
jaw have no tongue; they are furnished with a muscular horn,
which has no solid parts, but is fleshy throughout ; the creature can
extend it, and its surface is covered with sharp little projections
which can cut through the most resisting substances.

In the Purpura lapillus this organ can turn inside out, like a
glove-finger. Its extremity is furnished with a species of lips,
which the animal can open and shut at pleasure. The surface is
armed with little hook-like projections, some of which are
taller than the rest. By drawing this singular trunk rapidly in and
out, the rough surface is brought in contact with the shell the
creature would pierce, acting on the same principle, but far more
effectually than a file. In one afternoon, Mr. Rymer Jones saw one

THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 235

of these mollusks pierce the shell of a pecten, and devour the
animal within it.

The nourishment of the bivalves is determined by their organi-
sation; some are herbivorous, others are carnivorous. The very
small species live on microscopic vegetables or animalcules. The
common periwinkles, of which we shall presently speak, live upon
those infinitesimal plants which give off myriads of impalpable
spores, which are held in suspension in the water. If these minute
plants and their spores be placed in an aquarium, in a very short
time the walls of the vessel will become coated with a green film,
a boundless forest of these vegetables. But if we also place in
the aquarium one or two little gasteropods, they soon arrest the
vegetable growth, and restore the crystal transparency of the
water.

The cephalous mollusks possess a brain peculiarly charac-
teristic. The noble organ is not placed in the head, but in the
neck. It is a ring of nerval matter, which surrounds the beginning
of the digestive tube. Generally, this ring is loose and movable ;
it advances or recedes according to the movements of the animal.
Sometimes it is very forward, sometimes it is further back; now
it enters the head, and again it retreats into the body ; its position
is fixed by the will of the mollusk. It is usually found at the
nape of the neck. This may explain the fact how a snail will live
after its head is cut off—the brain, the great centre of the motive
power of life, not being injured by that formidable operation. The
brain varies its colour in different species; it is found white,
yellow or orange, and black.

The univalves enjoy the senses of sight, of hearing, and of
smell. The eyes are placed upon prominences at the base of the
tentacles. They are simple in their construction, not made for
long vision, nor yet for the blaze of the full light of day. The
auditory organs are situated at the bottom of the neck. They are
not visible from without ; they have neither that external append-
age which we term the ear, nor yet is there a visible orifice.
These curious organs are membranous and transparent pouches,
filled with a very limpid liquid, which holds in suspension some
minute stones; these are endowed with a peculiar trembling

236 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

motion. In some species, the cavity is scarcely s$oth of an inch in
diameter, and yet it contains fifty or sixty of these stones. Their
sense of smell resides in the surface of the tentacles. The
mollusk is provided with two of these appendages. In our
organism the nasal cavities open into the respiratory canal, so
that the air which the expansion of the lungs causes to rush
through the nose, carries to the olfactory nerve the particles of
bodies which produce the sensation of smell. In those univalves
where the nasal organs are separate and distinct from those of
respiration, they are endowed with great mobility, and so, as it
were, go in search of the particles which are to cause them the
sensation.

The tentacles are covered with a microscopic down—very short

Am

ey

NERITA POLITA.

hairs, which are in restless movement, like vibratory cils. Their
office seems to be to produce currents which bring the particles
of matter which the water contains in contact with the surface of
the organs.

The marine cephala deposit their eggs singly or in masses.
When in this latter manner, they cluster them in vast numbers
in every possible shape. As varied as the shapes are their colours,
which pass through every tint save those which are allied to blue.
Many of them are encased in a gelatinous substance, more or
less transparent, and enveloped in a membrane. Some of the
univalves carry their eggs deposited on their own shell. The
eggs of the Yanthina are suspended in the interstices of that
wonderful swimming-bladder which we have described. Fre-
quently more than a million are here deposited.

Some naturalists, especially of the French school, have been
much interested in speculating as to the tender feelings which

THE CEPHALOUS MOLLUSKS. 237

these mollusks exhibit to each other. They have carefully
watched their communication among themselves, to discover if
it were possible that the flame of love could exist in creatures
so cold and slothful. The imagination has generally supplied to
these observers that which they were earnestly wishing to see.
We know nothing of their feelings, but in this we may rest
assured, that the Creator has bestowed on every creature those
capabilities of joy or sorrow which are exactly fitted to its organi-
sation and the position it occupies in life.

Allied to the cephala is a small tribe of mollusks which
swim on the open seas by the aid of two wings, or membranous
fins, which are situated on each side of the head. These expan-
sions serve the double purpose of organs of respiration and also

CLIO BOREALIS.

of motion. The creatures, on account of these characteristic
members, are termed Pveropoda (wing-footed). They have been
compared to butterflies with expanded wings, but the comparison
is not at all exact. One of the best-known pteropods is the
Clio borealis, a pretty little creature with which the North Seas
sometimes are perfectly swarming. The whales consume them
in prodigious quantities; indeed, the sailors call them “ whales’
Sood.”

Explorers of the Arctic Seas tell us, that often the desolate
wastes of the northern waters are enlivened by the shoals and the
movements of the clios; they dance and gambol on the surface
of the calm seas, jumping out of the water like shrimps. These
lively little Arctic people are beautifully tinted with blue, shading
off to purple. Their head is a monument to the wisdom of the
Great Creator. Six tentacles take their rise from the circum-
ference of the mouth, upon each of which may be counted 3,000
rough spots, under the microscope; these are found to be trans-

238 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

parent cylinders; from each of these, twenty minute suckers, or
prehensile arms, are thrust out, or pulled in, at will. Therefore,
upon the head of the clio there are no less than 360,000 of these
beautifully-constructed arms. In the whole extent of nature there
is no creature which possesses such an organ with which to seize
its prey. The meanest organ on the most insignificant animal,
when closely examined, arouses our astonishment and excites our
enthusiasm ; and again and again observation testifies that there
is nothing neglected or imperfectly finished in nature.

Another pteropod—quite as beautiful and remarkable as the
clio—is the Hyalea tridentata. This species does not possess

THE TRIDENT HYALAA. THE EDGED HYALA:A.

(Ayalea tridentata.) (Ayalea limbata.)

tentacles, but it is clothed in a shell. Its fins are very widely
expanded; they are painted yellow, with a spot of beautiful violet
at their base. The upper side of the shell is convex; the under
side flat ; and the superior part overlaps the lower. In one species
the shell has something the form of a trident. Its colour is a
yellow amber, and it is semi-transparent. When the pteropod
swims, it extends the two wing-like expansions from beneath its
shell, out of the lateral slits.

to
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CHAPTER XXIV.
THE PURPLE OF THE ANCIENTS.

IN the palmy days of Rome, her patricians and her kings wore
togas dyed with the far-famed Tyrian purple. So universally was
it the custom for the chiefs of the state to dress in robes of this
beautiful colour, that “to be invested with the purple” became the
synonym for assuming the royal power. It must not, however, be
supposed that the wearing of this colour was positively restricted
to men of rank; but it was so costly that only such men could
afford to purchase it. Fabric dyed by the Tyrians was sold in
the marts of Corinth for its weight in silver.

The colour of the celebrated dye was scarcely that which we
know by the name of purple; it was a much deeper tint, and the
play of the sunlight upon it made it almost iridescent. It would
appear that, at first, a deep violet was given to the fabric, and, by
various subsequent manipulations, more or less red was mingled
with the original tint; this brighter colour the sunlight seemed

to evoke.

M. Lacaze-Duthiers reports that when, in 1858, he was in Port
Mahon, his attendant fisherman, Alonzo, was in the habit of occu-
pying his spare time by marking the sails and his own clothes
with a colouring matter froma shell-fish. The naturalist happened
to see the fisherman thus amusing himself, pointing a stick, he
thrust it into the mollusk, and drew the characters he wished with
the liquid which adhered to it; the marks were slightly yellow.

“You can hardly see it,” said M. Lacaze-Duthiers.

“Tt will become coloured,’ answered Alonzo, “when the sun
strikes upon it.” And so it did.

The naturalist requested the man to mark some linen for him,
in order that he might watch the process. In about two or three

240 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

minutes an extremely fetid odour was disengaged, the matter first
becoming yellow, then green, and finally a bright purple.

The gasteropods which furnished the purple for the Greeks
and Romans were members of either of the tribes of Purpura or

THE BLOODY-MOUTHED PURPURA.

(Purpura hemastoma.)

Murex. Of the former tribe, the Purpura hemastoma, of which
we have given an engraving, is very prominent for its colouring
power; but it is more than probable that every member of the

MUREX BRANDARIS.

species has this property. The Murex, or the rock-shells, are
remarkable also for their bright colours and their fantastic forms.
They are natives of all seas, but are best developed in the warmer
latitudes, At Pompeii, some cups made of this shell were found

THE PURPLE OF THE ANCIENTS. 241

near a painter's shop, as though a colour had been extracted from
the mollusk, and kept in the shell for sale.

Lesson thinks that the purple of the Tyrians was also pro-
cured from the common Janthina. When one of the mollusks
which produce this purple dies, not only is that part which con-
tains the colouring matter tinted, but all the surrounding tissues.
It has often been remarked by the curators of museums that
alcohol and other preservative liquids in which specimens of these
mollusks are kept, become tinted with various shades of purple.
Until lately, we have been ignorant as to the whereabouts of the
organ which secreted this colouring matter. Many naturalists
supposed that the liquid in reality consisted of the juices which
supplied the stomach with its digestive property. Others, who
were nearer the truth, believed that there was a special organ for its
secretion. M. Lacaze-Duthiers has given his attention to the subject,
and has discovered that, beneath the mantle between the intestinal
canal and the respiratory organs, there is a white band, in which
the liquid is secreted. This organ scarcely differs either in position
or shape in any of the species. The liquid is faintly yellow, and
when submitted to the action of the sunlight, as we have already
said, it passes through green to purple, which becomes deeper
and deeper. The most disagreeable odour is exhaled during
this process, which may be compared to burnt onions or assa-
foetida. The smell is retained by the fabric for a long time, and
even after a year has elapsed the scent is perceived when the
material is moistened. When the purple fabric is washed the first
time, it loses its colour a little, but this is almost inappreciable,
and ever after it is “fast.” So the sailor's idea of marking his
linen with it was excellent. In its yellow or green condition it
can be washed out. M. Lacaze-Duthiers has often, in gathering
the liquid from the gland, touched his finger-nail with it; and so
strong is the dye, that the nail: would remain coloured for five
weeks.

Probably the property which rendered the dye so valuable
was not only its brilliant colour, but the fact that the sun’s light
did not injure it. All our purple and mauve colours are almost
immediately affected; but the purple cloak of a Roman dandy,
as he promenaded along the thronged terraces of the great city,

O

ie

242 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

caused him no anxiety; he had learnt by experience that the purple
owed its existence to the sun, and that exposure to the bright
Italian sky only deepened its rich tints. Duhamel, who has
studied this property, thinks that it is due to the same power
by which the sun paints the rosy cheeks of the apples and
peaches. But this can hardly be; for in the one case the sun
acts upon matter which is under the influence of a vital force,
but in the other the liquid is acted upon when separated from
the mollusk; hence it must possess this property within itself.

The purple is thus entirely a photogenic substance. M. Lacaze-
Duthiers has conducted some important experiments upon its
sensitiveness, and the uses to which it might be put. He advises
that the dyeing matter should be gathered with a flat, short
brush; the secretive organ should be gently rubbed several times ;
by this means the brush becomes laden with the viscous liquid.
Then the fabric which it is wished to colour should be covered
by frequently passing the brush over it; thus a layer of the
liquid is spread, which is at first frothy, but soon the air-bubbles
disappear, and it becomes uniform. To wholly cover the surface,
this process may have to be repeated two or three times. To
obtain the colour, the prepared substance must now be exposed
to the sun-light. The rapidity with which the tint is developed
varies with the actinic power in the rays. In Spain, exposure for
two or three minutes will suffice. If the sky be overcast, three-
quarters of an hour will be required. The process is quickened
if the fabric be moistened with a little sea-water. When only
a thin layer of the matter is applied, the deep shade cannot be
obtained by any length of exposure.

The mollusks which inhabit the “rock-shelis” are capable of
furnishing matter which, thus manipulated, affords colours. Some
give blue, some purple, some violet. But the subject will bear
much further investigation, for M. Lacaze-Duthiers found that,
although he used the same matter, and treated it apparently the
same way, yet he could not assure the appearance of the same
tint, such is the delicacy of this natural dye.

N
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CE AGE Tee Res Xe Ve
THE CEPHALOPODS.

IF we picture to ourselves a long cylindrical body, flat and flabby,
terminating in a great head, the most remarkable part of which
is a couple of enormous eyes, one on each side, its summit con-
taining a mouth, or rather, a beak—a horny prominence, sharply
bent like the bill of a parrot—around which branch out eight or
ten arms, two much longer than the rest, we shall then have
a general idea of those curious and ravenous creatures which
Cuvier called “ Cephalopods,” that is, mollusks which have their
feet branching out of their “ead.

The class is divided into three groups :—(1) The Cuzfttle-fish,
which have a fin running down each side of the sac; (2) the
Calmars, which have two distinct fins affixed to the upper part
of the body; and (3) the Powlpes, which have neither. This
difference in the three groups was pointed out by Aristotle.
This great philosopher wrote a history of these creatures, and
described their anatomy with a wonderful degree of accuracy.

The cephalopods are the princes of the mollusks. In them
this great class of marine animals reaches its highest develop-
ment. They swarm in the waters of the ocean, and in the
Mediterranean. Some of them are found upon the coasts; others
are inhabitants of the deep water. When we said they were
the princes of the mollusks, we might have said they were the
ruthless despots, for their love of taking life is only bounded
by their power. Not being able to pursue their prey, for their
motion is slow, they have resort to craft, and, like hunters of wily
game, they lie in ambush awaiting its approach. Ensconsing
their bodies in a hole, they leave their long arms ready for action.
Their great eyes, always widely opened, patiently watch for the
approach of the prey. The instant the unlucky creature is within
arm’s reach, it is seized; the cluster of arms encloses it, and draws

© 2

u

244 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

it, without a hope of escape, to the beak, where it is devoured
without pity.

The cephalopod is the tiger of the sea, for it destroys for
the simple pleasure of killing. Alcide d’Orbigny relates that
he saw a small cuttle deserted by the ebbing tide, and left with
a shoal of little fish in a pool upon the beach. He seemed to
be whiling away the hours, or perhaps venting his rage, by killing

THE COMMON CALMAR, THE WORM-LIKE CALAMARY.

(Loligo vulgaris.) (Loligopsis vermicularis.)

all his fellow-prisoners. He had satisfied his hunger, and most
probably had only stopped eating because he could eat no longer,
and now was wantonly killing the fish for amusement. Yet the
cephalopods are strong examples of retributive justice. As they
savagely kill, so are they in turn mercilessly destroyed. Their
enemies, the dolphins, deal death and mutilation to thousands of
their species, and often the shores of the Bay of Biscay may
be seen covered with cuttles, with their arms torn off, and other
parts of their bodies bitten by the dolphins, who hunt them in

THE CEHPHALOPODS. 245

sport. Thus Nature has ordained that the balance in life shall
be preserved ! ,

Cephalopods expel the residue of their digestion from an orifice
in the neck, near the mouth. Their respiratory organs are internal,
and bear a striking resemblance to the fronds of a fern. No less
curious is the heart; indeed, we may almost say the hearts, for
the vital fountain is so distinctly divided into three parts that
they appear three separate organs.

During a storm, the cephalopods anchor themselves to a rock
by means of their two long arms, which are stretched out to their

CIRROTEUTHIS MULLERI.

fullest extent; they thus have their other arms at liberty to seize
any prey which happens to come within reach. It may well be
asked, How can straight, thong-like projections hold slippery fish
and the other slimy inhabitants of the deep? The secret is that
these arms are furnished with a multitude of suckers—orifices
which communicate with a general canal; this the animal has the
power of exhausting, and thus the arm is tightly affixed to the
object. Some of the cuttles have as many as 900 of these suckers.
Occasionally the suckers near the extremities are also furnished
with sharp, bent hooks; these penetrate the prisoner, and make
his capture the more certain. In the Czrroteuthis of Miller, the
arms are united together by a lilac-coloured membrane; thus the
cuttle, when symmetrically expanded, has somewhat the appear-
ance of the corolla of a convolvulus.

246 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Although, according to the derivation of the word, the cepha-
lopod is an animal which has its feet attached to its head, yet we
have only spoken of arms. The fact is, that the long members
of the head serve many purposes; and, amongst others, they are
useful as feet when the creature chooses to promenade along the
bottom, or is forced to walk on the beach, when deserted by
the treacherous tide. Of course this latter case is altogether an
accidental position ; but when walking on the bottom of the sea the
body floats directly above the head, the arms serve as feet, and

THE ELEGANT CUTTLE-FISH.

(Sepia elegans.)

so the cephalopod progresses. A cuttle-fish which is a native of
the Pacific Ocean can make astonishing leaps; some of them
have been known to spring so far out of the water as to fall on
the deck of the ship. Sir James Ross caught more than fifty in
this way, and some were seen to leap completely over the vessel.
Not the least interesting feature in the cuttle-fish is the black,
inky liquid which it secretes in a gland communicating with
the exterior by a small duct. When pursued, or in any danger,
the creature ejects some of this liquid, so making a cloud in the
water, under whose friendly covering it eludes its enemy and
makes its escape—a stratagem which has been frequently used by

THE CEPHALOPODS. 247

nobler creatures than the cuttle-fish. How often does the theo-
logian or the politician, to elude the arguments of his opponent,
create a cloud, mistify the subject with words, and retire in the
obscurity he has created. From the ink of the cuttle-fish the
sepia, used in water-colour painting, is prepared.

The beautiful designs with which the great Cuvier illustrated
his anatomy of the mollusks, were executed with the ink which
he had collected in dissecting many specimens of the cephalopods.
It used to be thought that “Chinese ink” was also made from the
black secretion of some of the members of this group; but it is
now found that that pigment is prepared from soot.

SS

TS

S

THE BONE OF THE CUTTLE-FISH. THE BONE OF THE CALMAR.

The most peculiar feature of these animals in an anatomical
point of view is the “cuttle-bone,” a flat, light, and friable body,
which gives to the back of the fish its firmness. It is used
whenever a very fine powder of carbonate of lime is required.
The jeweller makes use of it; so also does the chemist, who sells
it for tooth-powder. But these uses are as rare as the powder
itself. In the calmars, the bone is more cartilaginous; indeed,
it is semi-transparent, and has somewhat the appearance of a
broad feather.

The Belemnites are the fossil bones of cephalopods of this
class. There are more than 100 species of the genus known.
They are very abundant in the clay of the Oolite period ; in one
instance the ink-bag was preserved, the black sepia was still there,

248 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

and the addition of a little water brought it to the same condition
in which it had been secreted long ages ago.

The cuttle-fish fixes its large, open eyes with a most peculiar
and disagreeable stare. The iris is golden, and the pupil is rect-
angular; and at night their eyes light up like those of a cat.

The cephalopods are oviparous. They deposit their eggs,
stuck together like bunches of grapes. The semblance is so

EGGS OF THE CEPHALOPODS.

(Sea-grapes.

evident that the fishermen call them sea-grapes. When newly
laid, the eggs are enveloped in a glutinous matter, which not only
protects them, but which surrounds any solid body against which
they are deposited, thus binding them fast to the stem of a fucus
or the branch of a gorgonia. The mother in this respect differs
from many of the inhabitants of the sea; she does take some
trouble in rearing her offspring. She selects a fit place, attaches
the eggs to a proper support, and leaves them to the temperature
of the water to hatch, which is generally accomplished in a month.

. ii | wo ; :

si cca
ac il

HA
Hl i il UN

With iy

in

A CALMAR.

A CUTITLE-FISH MAKING HIS CLOUD.

A POULPE.

Plate XI.

THE CEPHALOPODS. 249

Many of the cuttle-fish possess the power of changing colour;
they pass from a whitish purple to a livid grey, from a livid grey
to a brown; their tints appear and disappear most rapidly.
When the animal is irritated or frightened, its spots expand or
fade away far faster than the shades of the chameleon. Some
naturalists suppose that this power is used by the animal to
puzzle its enemies.

Sometimes bathers are extremely inconvenienced, not to say
endangered, by the presence of the larger cephalopods—the
poulpes. Frequently the legs are tightly embraced, and so firmly
are the arms attached, that it is with great difficulty the swimmer

Its Envelope opened.) (Its Envelope stripped off.)
EGG OF THE CUTTLE-FISH.

can disengage himself. Dr. Franklin found that a few drops
of vinegar on the back of the creature at once persuaded it to
release its hold.

In times long past, we read of calmars and poulpes of sizes far
greater than any which now are found upon our coasts; indeed,
the naturalists and sailors who narrate the stories, describe them
as approaching the gigantic dimensions of the whale. Pliny
relates the history of an enormous cuttle-fish which haunted the
coast of Spain in the neighbourhood of Castria, devouring all the
fish, and destroying the fishing-grounds. At last the monster was
captured. Its body was found to weigh 700 lbs., and its arms
were more than thirty feet long. Its head was as large as a tun,
and the fragments of the creature filled fifteen amphore, and were
sent to the pro-consul Lucius Lucullus. Olaiis Magnus gives
credence to the report that the northern seas were infested by

250 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

a monster—a colossal poulpe, which was a terror to the mariners.
Its length was asserted to be not less than a mile, and when seen
on the surface of the water it appeared to be an island. Denis
de Montfort gives a description of this monster, accompanied by
a representation of the Kraken, as it was called, enwrapping a
three-masted ship in its vast arms. Even Linnzus himself seems
to have believed this fable, and in the first edition of his “System
of Nature,” he catalogues the Kraken as the Sepia microcosmos ;
but afterwards he seems to have had cause to discredit his infor-
mation, for he omitted it in the next edition. Bartholin says
that the bishop of Midaros found the Kraken quietly reposing
on the shore. Mistaking the enormous creature for a huge rock,
the reverend prelate erected an altar upon it, and performed mass.
As soon as the bishop had had his say, the respectful poulpe
waited until his reverence was safely on shore, and then plunged
beneath the waves. Another bishop—Pontoppidan, of Bergen
—assures us of the existence of the Kraken, and asserts that a
whole regiment could manceuvre upon its back! But, in spite of
the Church’s authority, the existence of the Kraken is considered
fabulous. We no longer live in a time when we could credit,
on mere hearsay, that there existed a sea monster capable of
rendering the Straits of Gibraltar impassable! Yet, in our own
time, really enormous cephalopods have been captured both in
the Mediterranean and in the ocean. Although they were not
as large as a ship, nor yet an island, neither could block up a
strait, still they deserve the name gigantic. Aristotle speaks of
a great calmar (re60os) which was taken in the Mediterranean,
more than ten feet long. The famous diver, Piscinola, who went
down in the Straits of Messina at the request of the Emperor
Frederick IT., is said to have seen enormous poulpes attached to
the rocks, whose arms were some yards long, and quite powerful
enough to master a man. But even this statement is not suffi-
ciently scientific to be received as truth.

Modern naturalists have notified the capture of several very
large cephalopods. M. Verany speaks of a calmar a yard and
a half long, and which weighed twenty-four pounds. One was
caught near Nice, weighing fifteen pounds. An equally large
one was found in the Adriatic, and its body is still preserved in

THE CEPHALOPODS: ZH

‘
the Museum at Trieste. Twenty years ago, a calmar was caught

off the south coast of France, six feet long; it is still to be
seen in the collection of the Faculty of Sciences at Montpellier.
Péron, the naturalist, met in the Australian seas a huge cuttle-
fish, rolling heavily on the surface of the waves—its arms, more
than eight feet long, twisting about like hideous snakes. Rang,
in the same part of the world, met a cephalopod with a reddish
body, which was the size of a tun cask. Swediaur reports that
some whalers took out of the mouth of a whale pieces of a
cuttle-fish which were twenty-five feet long! In the museum of
the College of Surgeons, there is one of the mandibles of a cuttle
larger than a hand. These are scientific accounts, and can be
credited ; from them we gather that the cephalopods reach a size
far exceeding that attained by any other invertebrate animals.

One of the most authentic accounts of the capture of a gigantic
cephalopod is communicated by M. Sabin Berthelot, the French
Consul at the Canary Islands. On the 30th of November, 1861,
the steam corvette, Alecton, commanded by Lieutenant Bouyer,
was cruising between Teneriffe and Madeira, when she encountered
a monster cephalopod, floating on the surface of the water. It
was sixteen or eighteen feet long, without taking into account its
eight long arms, which were covered with suckers. Its eyes, which
were on the surface of its head, were of an enormous size; their
glimmering greenness and their fixed stare, rendered their gaze most
unpleasant. The mouth, which protruded like the beak of a parrot,
opened ten inches. The body, which was fusiform, and terminated
in two fleshy lobes or fins of a large size, weighed upwards of
4,000 pounds. This brick-red mass was sighted by the look-out
about two o'clock in the afternoon. As the corvette approached,
the creature showed signs of intelligence, endeavouring to move
out of the way of the steamer. Unfortunately, at the time a
heavy swell was running: still the mollusk always remained on
the surface. The commander determined to secure the creature
for the sake of science. They loaded the guns, made the harpoons
ready, with rope nooses. At the first shot, the monster plunged
beneath the water, and appeared again at the other side of the
boat. Again the guns were discharged, and, each time the creature

252 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

was wounded either by the harpoons or the shot, it dived beneath
the surface, but always came up again after a few minutes. The
boat was kept continually at its side, and the chase lasted for
three hours. The lieutenant was very anxious to capture the
monster, but was unwilling to lower the boat, and so secure his
prize, fearing, with some reason, that the creature. might upset
the boat, and so endanger the lives of the crew. To take the
animal was no easy task, for the harpoons entered its flabby body,
and came out as they went in, without biting; the shot passed
completely through it, and seemingly left it unharmed. However,
at last one ball struck a vital part, for the creature vomited blood
and froth, with a glutinous matter which exhaled a strong smell
of musk. They were fortunate enough to cast a noose over it;
the rope slipped down its body until arrested by the caudal fins;
and when they endeavoured to hoist it on board, the rope cut into
the flesh, and separated the body into two parts; the head, with
the tentacles, dropped heavily into the sea, and made off; and
the posterior parts were brought on deck, and weighed about forty
pounds. It is probable that this colossal. mollusk was sick, or
exhausted by some recent struggle with a monster of the deep,
which would account for its having quitted its native rocks in the
depths of the ocean; otherwise, it would have been more active
in its movements, or would have obscured the waves with its inky
liquid, of which, judging from its size, it ought to have possessed
at least a barrel full, unless it had exhausted its store in a recent
conflict. M. Berthelot questioned many of the fishers of the
Canary Islands, who assured him that they had often seen huge
red cephalopods out at sea, but they had never dared attempt
to secure any of them. The circumstance is remembered by
the crew of the corvette with dread, for there may be, and
most probably are, many others of the same kind as that which
the Alecton encountered. Was this cephalopod a calmar, or a
member of a species allied to the calmars? If we are to judge
from the figure given by M. Berthelot, the animal possessed
two fins at the extremity of the body, like the calmars; but then
its eight equal arms would ally it with the poulpes—the calmars,
like the cuttle-fish, have ten arms, two of which are much longer
than the others. Does it belong, then, to a species intermediate

THE CEPHALOPODS. 253

between the poulpes and the calmars, or shall we suppose that its
two long arms had been dragged off in an encounter? As it is
impossible to settle the question, the naturalists MM. Crosse
and Fischer propose to catalogue this monster in a class by itself,
under the. name of the Calmar of Bouyer.

As with the mollusks, so with the cephalopods—some have
shells and some are naked. We have seen that the greater
number of the acephala and cephala are ensconced in shells; but
the reverse is the case with the cephalopods. Most of them are
without any calcareous covering, and only two species are
testaceous; these are the Argonauts and the Nauti.

The argonauts have an historical fame. Many a famous
pen has been engaged in their description, and many a poet has
celebrated them in his verse. The Romans and the Greeks
looked upon the argonauts as tutelar deities, who guided the
mariner across the trackless deep, and bespoke for him a calm
and peaceful voyage. Aristotle called the argonaut the nautilus.
Pliny gave to it the name of Pompilius.

The most prominent features of the animal are its eight ten-
tacles; six of these are very long, tapering to points, and are
furnished with two rows of suckers. The remaining two are the
great characteristic of the cephalopods; they expand themselves
out into fan-like membranes, which the creature hoists as sails,
and gracefully glides before the gentle zephyrs on the sparkling
surface of the calm sea. The shell is very thin and fragile; it
is a spiral, but the last turn is peculiarly large. The exterior of
the shell is deeply grooved, the channels converging from the
edges to the centre of the spiral. Its whole appearance has a
graceful elegance, and has often been likened to a beautiful shallop,
the sharp curve of the spiral serving as the prow.

Perhaps not one of the least characteristic features of this
curious animal is, that it is at no point attached to its shell.
Knowing this, for a long time naturalists supposed that it was
a parasite seizing upon the shell of another mollusk and appro-
priating it, after the fashion of the hermit-crab. However, many
have been captured, and never was an argonaut discovered in any

other than its proper shell, and never was one found too large

254 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

or too small for its shell; even this would be sufficient reason
for asserting that the creature was not a robbing depredator, but
a quiet possessor of his own lawful mansion. But, besides this,
the egg of the argonaut is found to contain the germ of the shell,
which increases with the growth of the creature; and cases have
been known where a broken shell has been repaired by its occupant;
at once setting the question at rest. Pliny, and the naturalists for
long after him, believed that the argonauts spread their sails to

THE COMMON NAUTILUS.
(Nautilus Pompilius.)

the wind, and used their other six arms as oars. This, however,
is scarcely the fact; the arms seem to be used by the creature to
hold itself in its shell; and its chief motive power is the tube
from which the water it inhaled for its respiration is ejected, the
violent expulsion of the fluid propelling the shell forward. When
in fear, it gathers in its sails and its arms; this overbalances the
shell, and it sinks to the bottom.

The nautilus is even more curious and elegant than the
argonaut. Its shell is a beautiful structure, extremely delicate
and fragile; its exterior is ornamented with bands, or tongues,
of a reddish yellow; its interior is richly nacred. The shell is

THE CEPHALOPODS. 255

spiral, so much so, that the last turn envelops the others; and
what particularly characterises it is, that it is divided into chambers
by concave walls, which it would seem the creature builds up
behind it. These chambers are all connected by a tube which
passes through their centre, called the s¢phuncle. The animal lives
in the upper chamber of the shell, and by regulating the quantity
of air or water the walled-up compartments contain, nicely
adjusts the weight of the shell. The structure is so delicate,
that if it struck against the ground it would be broken; and as
the creature when it moves along the bottom does so by using its
arms, it cannot drag its shell behind it, it therefore causes it to
have the same specific gravity as the water; as it thus swims
above it, it in no way impedes the progress of the cephalopod.

The nautilus was represented in the seas of ages long past
by a cephalopod now found in a fossil state, and called after its
likeness to the horns of the image of Jupiter Ammon—the
Ammontte. It differs from the nautilus in having the siphuncle
situated at the margin of the shell, and not passing through the
centre of the chambers; moreover, the last chamber is not so
disproportionately large.

These ammonites have the appearance of snakes coiled up
and deprived of their heads; and the popular idea on the coast
of Yorkshire, where the fossils are found in abundance, is that
when St. Patrick banished the vermin from Ireland, the snakes
in the agonies of death coiled themselves up, and are found
entombed in the English clay, witnesses to the power of the
saint.

N
tn
OV

CEA PALER: Oy:
UNITY OF COMPOSITION.

THE cephalopods are especially remarkable for the position of
their long members. It is to this peculiarity, as we have said,
that they owe their name. Those which have eight tentacles are
called octopods,; if they possess ten, decapods. The strange and
unique position of the arms of these creatures, and the peculiar
mode of their progression, has ever invested them in the eyes of
naturalists with a great interest. Apparent anomalies are always
subjects of much curiosity; but the more carefully they are
studied, instead of revealing the vagaries of Nature, and showing
any disposition to depart from her own arrangements, the observer
can only discover further and further confirmation of the great
laws which so inexorably govern the arrangements of the animal
economy. A close study soon resolves what at first appeared an
anomaly into a pleasing and new example of a different mode
of applying the great types on which the organism of life is
constructed.

Thirty years ago, two ingenious observers—MM. Laurencet
and Meyranx—studied the plan of the arrangement of the viscera
of the cephalopods. Their observations led them to conclude
that these mollusks were constructed upon the same plan as
the vertebrates, and were folded double, bringing their hands
and feet together, just as the acrobats, who contort their supple
bodies, and walk on their hands, their head being between their
legs. Geoffroy St. Hilaire immediately adopted the idea, announced
in an elaborate report upon the subject, that the cephalopods
exemplified the very truth he had so long advocated, namely,
the unity of organic structure. This was diametrically opposed
to the opinion which the eminent naturalist, Cuvier, held; and,
perhaps with something more than vehemence, he controverted
the assertions and conclusions of his learned friend. The Academy

UNITY OF COMPOSITION. 257

of Sciences appointed the 15th of February, 1830, as the day
upon which the rival opinions should be argued. Europe watched
the contest. The question at issue was, whether the opinion which
the scientific men of every age since the days of Aristotle had
held, was to be overthrown by a notion just conceived ; whether
the painstaking labours of Cuvier, his beautiful dissections, his
admirable descriptions, his graphic illustrations, all pointed to a
wrong conclusion ; that, after all, there was no such diversity in
the kingdom of Nature as to authorise a stringent classification,
but that animals were all formed upon the same type, and that
the differences were not radical, but were produced by new
arrangements of the same organs. Each view found enthusiastic
supporters. The eminent naturalists of the time were ranged on
each side, for it was not a question of mere detail, but of great
principles. The whole scientific world was agitated by the dis-
cussion; and not only the scientific world, but the intelligent
world was interested ; every thinking man was in one sense
competent to enter the lists of argument; so that the interest
produced was universal. The journals and periodicals of the day
opened their columns to the combatants, and all the leading pens
were engaged upon the subject. Even the illustrious Goethe, then
only twenty-four, rejoiced “that natural science had opened for
itself another channel.” France, where the contest originated, was
its chief battle-field. - Even the Revolution which threw down the
Bourbon throne did not eclipse its notoriety. A stranger, newly
arrived from Paris, was introduced to Goethe. “ Well,” said the
noted man, “what do you think of the great event ? The volcano,
you see, has erupted.” “It is, indeed, a terrible catastrophe,”
replied the visitor, “and the mere expulsion of the royal family
is NOE the end, of it. lt is’not that,- mean; replied’ Goethe,
“but the great debate between Cuvier and Geoffroy St. Hilaire.”

The proposition which Geoffroy St. Hilaire brought forward
was :—That Nature had constructed all forms of life upon one
principle, and never deviated from the general plan, although
its various component parts admitted of alteration—the larger
development of one organ, or the suppression of another, might
depend upon the circumstances and position of a particular

R

258 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

animal. This peculiarity was handed down in the generations of the
race, the offspring of each generation continuing and establishing
the distinctive character of the breed. Or, in the words of Buffon,
“ All the essential parts of the animal economy seemed to indicate
that the Creator had determined to employ only one idea, and
to vary that idea in every conceivable way, calling us to admire
at once the magnificence and the simplicity of the design.” This
theory renders it easy to account for the very varied distribution
of organs to the members of the animal kingdom. A slightly-
altered phase of this idea is at the present time agitating the
scientific world. Mr. Darwin has broached what is called “ The

fTIENNE GEOFFROY ST. HILAIRE.

theory of genetic evolution by variation.” Whether St. Hilaire ever
conceived that not only were the animals made on one plan, but
that they all came from one stock, and that all diversity which
we now see around us has been produced in the lapse of ages by the
necessities of the position in which the animals were perhaps at
first accidentally thrown; whether he conceived this idea or not, is
uncertain: he certainly did not venture to bring it into the discus-
sion. But since his day, theorists have grown bolder. However, the
world of to-day does not want its Cuviers, men who, by patient
investigation, and a calm survey of facts, draw conclusions at once
safe and sound. The mere fact that Darwin’s theory has found many
great names to lend to it their authority, is a sufficient guarantee
that many facts and analogies can be cited in its support.

UNITY OF COMPOSITION. 259

The religious world who have always been accustomed to think
that God created the animals after “their kind,’ need not fear for
the truth of the Bible narrative; it is not in the slightest danger
of subversion; even supposing that Darwin’s theory could be
established, yet we all admit that God works by laws, and the
law of development may be the very agency he commanded to
proceed to do his will in those early days of creation, and if this
be the case, it redounds more to his glory that such wonderful
diversity as is shown in the animal kingdom should have been the
result of such a law, than if he had called into existence each
family separately. The creation of life must always remain beyond
the power of any law. Even granting that the globe has been
peopled with life from a very crude and low type, yet between
the sponges and the stone upon which they grow there is a great
eulf fixed. In the one, there is that. mysterious something called
“life,” and in the other it is wanting. No ages, no development,
can ever—from that which has no power of any alteration, or any
growth—produce a superior existence. Life is a power entirely
foreign to matter, and to grant it, there must be a Creator!

Cuvier met the new ideas broached by St. Hilaire, with a
strong opposition. “If,” said the great naturalist, “you mean
by wnity—identity, the evidence of our senses is a_ sufficient
contradiction. If, however, we only are to understand resemblance, |
or analogy, the proposition is true within certain limits; but as
old, in its principle, as zoology itself. Recent discoveries have
added important facts, but these in no way controvert the principle.”

Geoffroy replied, that unity of composition was neither perfect
identity, nor yet simple analogy, but something midway between
the two. It had more to do with the mutual relation of animals
than with their individual forms, and treated rather of the general
plan than of the particular example of the type. Had not Cuvier
acknowledged that there were four distinct types in the animal king-
dom? and did not the animals of each of these types—the verte-
brates, for instance—offer among themselves both identities and
analogies? In other words, the great zoologist accused Nature of
leaving—in the evident plan of her organisation—-great chasms,
which she had not attempted to bridge; and that animals which
were plainly the transition from one type to another—the cepha-

R 2

260 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

lopods, for instance—were not connecting links, but curious
existences, without a reason for their peculiarities.

St. Hilaire reminded Cuvier how, when he found a few bones
of the Anoplotherium—a species of fossil tapir—he had practically
adopted the very theory he now opposed, and with wonderful
genius had built up the whole animal from the very analogy which
he now contended did not exist; and how wonderfully correct his
animal synthesis had been proved by the subsequent discovery of
a perfect skeleton.

CUVIER,

Nearly forty years have passed since the celebrated contro-
versy. The predictions of Goethe have in some degree’ been
realised. “ Mind,” said that profound thinker, “will always govern
matter.”

We shall discover the great maxims of creation; we shall
penetrate into the mysterious workshops of the universe. What
are our relations with Nature, if we only occupy ourselves with
material individuality, and if we do not recognise that living
principle which gives to each organ its direction, and which ordains
and sanctions every deviation from the inherent law of growth ?
Unity of composition and secondary laws thence deduced, found
their way into the ideas, the teaching, and the books of the period.
That seed has borne great fruit, its latest being Darwin’s theory, to
which allusion has been made. The new doctrine thus introduced,
is merely—as Geoffroy St. Hilaire himself said—but a confirmation

UNITV OF COMPOSITION. 261

of the dictum of Leibnitz, which defines the universe to be “unity
in variety.” Natural history thus treated is elevated to the first of
the sciences.

The two great men who exercised such a different influence
upon the progress of zoology worked together in their youth, and
published many treatises conjointly, but soon the divergence of
their views led to their taking separate paths. Cuvier, whose mind
was exact and unimaginative, applied himself to the rigorous
observation of facts, and to the consequences immediately resulting.

GOETHE,

He proclaimed the supreme authority of analysis, and feared the
premature conclusions of synthesis. He carried his belief in
finalism to excess, and was a firm believer in the absolute invaria-
bility of species.

On the other hand, Geoffroy St. Hilaire was an enthusiastic and
bold thinker. He attached great importance to the conclusions
of synthesis, and believed that science ought to be guided by the
light of philosophy. He taught that there was a limited variety
of species, and these were influenced by surrounding circumstances ;
including all organised beings under the same law, he allowed
to classifications but a very secondary value.

To conclude, Cuvier maintained the doctrine of differences, and
represented the analytic school; St. Hilaire supported the doctrine
of resemblances, and belonged to the synthetic school. One was
the historian of Nature, the other wished to be her interpreter.

to
O*
iS)

CHAP TR. oxox il
THE ANNELIDA.

THE Annelida are a group of animals which were for a long time
confounded with worms, on account of their long, slender bodies.
One would think that they could offer but little interest; and yet,
as Aristotle says, there is nothing in Nature either low or despic-
able, everything is beautiful and worthy of admiration. The
annelids, amongst all the marine animals, possess perhaps the
most graceful forms, the most elegant appendages, and the most
brilliant colours. Cuvier was one of the first who studied them
with attention; he called them red-blooded worms, because
he found that in most of them the blood was tinted, in which
particular they approach terrestrial animals. But since the time of
the illustrious zoologist, certain groups have been found whose
blood varies in colour—violet, blue, green, and yellow; and there
are some, also, in whom the vital fluid is colourless. Lamarck gave
them the name which they now possess, from the ring-formation of
their bodies. Their rings number twenty, thirty, sixty, or eighty,
and sometimes more. In the Lwnice sanguinea there are three
hundred; in the Phylodoce laminosa (an animal scarcely a yard
long) there are at least nine hundred rings. These rings are ridges
—thick or thin, flat or rising up—and separated from one another
by indentations. All the rings are alike, except those at the head
and tail, which are slightly modified. The creatures are either
naked or are well protected by a firm, solid coating. Those that
are naked bear a strong resemblance to worms or grubs. Some
of them hollow out for themselves straight galleries in the earth;
others congregate by hundreds and thousands in sand-hills; and
others construct for themselves habitations which resemble honey-
combs. The species which possess a solid envelope inhabit a
straight, calcareous tube—some being rigid, others flexible. The
creature can entirely ensconce itself in this tube, like a mollusk

THE ANNELIDA. 263

in its shell. Cuvier remarked that the naked annelids had
respiratory organs upon the centre of their bodies; those with a
solid covering possess the same organs upon their heads or tails.
The first class he termed Dorstbranchiata, the other Tzbicola. The
bodies of these animals are more or less cylindrical, and often
flattened; towards both extremities they decrease; like earth-
worms, they can contract and extend at will. They are remark-
able for the number of their eyes, some having as many as
sixty. Ehrenberg describes a curious species provided with two
eyes upon its head, and two upon its tail. Another, a veritable
little Argus, has several upon its head, two upon every ring, and
its tail is furnished with four. Many annelids have two or more
rows of tufts of bristles, running the whole length of their body ;
others are surrounded by thousands of small filaments, which serve
for hands, or feet, or fins, according to the creature’s necessity.

The Cirratulide have \ong, capillary appendages covering their
bodies, which stretch out on every side; they are at once arms
and branchial organs; and the blood, which fills and leaves them
alternately, tints them a beautiful red, leaving them an amber
yellow. They elongate their pointed heads, with eyes like the
lamps of a locomotive, as they recoil from the light which bursts
upon them. Now they form a knot far more inextricable than
the Gordian knot which Alexander cut. But this is a living
cable; the folds glide one under the other, ceaselessly tying and
untying themselves, throwing from every point bright reflections
from their sparkling bodies. The annelids are timid animals,
afraid of anything; yet still, strange to say, they live by rapine;
they lie in ambuscade, and patiently wait till some imprudent
creature passes near them ; immediately they surround it with their
arms, or seize it with their horns. Others perforate the hardest
shells, and devour the most secure mollusks.

It is not to be expected that an animal which is an Ishmaelite
of the sea should not have many enemies. Against their frequent
attacks, Providence has amply furnished the annelids with defen-
sive weapons. In the armoury of the race there is a far larger
assortment of murderous implements than even the cruel genius of
man has invented. Here are curved blades, some sharpened on
the outer edge, like the yatagan of the Arab; others, like the

204 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

scimitar of the Turk, have the concave edge in cutting order; they
have their short swords, and long swords; their dirks, and their
bayonets; and, more wonderful and more deadly still, they have
harpoons, and fish-hooks, and fine sharp lancets, slightly affixed
to the end of slender shafts. These the creature leaves in the
body of its enemy, to his great and lasting discomfort. If, how-
ever, the brave assailant receiving, but not heeding, the wounds
thus inflicted upon him, comes to close quarters with the annelid,
he finds a new set of weapons ready to impale him. Out of every
foot comes a sharp spear, to which is attached a distinctive muscle ;
and, with an astonishing vigour, these the marine worm thrusts
into the body of its adventurous enemy.

Foremost among the dorsibranchiata are the Werezde, or the sea
centipedes. They are found upon our coast, hiding themselves in
the crevices of the rocks. The larger members of the group are
inhabitants of warmer latitudes. Their tentacles are arranged in
pairs on each side of the head. Their tubercles and tufts of
bristles are impelled by a simultaneous motion; and as the animal
thus glides through the water, the ease and grace of its motion can
hardly be conceived—a long, beautiful boat sweeping along, with
a hundred perfect oarsmen. The dorsibranchial nereids are fre-
quently brilliantly coloured.

The Pearly Nephthys has a body of bright orange; a line of
a darker hue passes down the middle of the back. The jaws are
black and the eyes blue; while a resplendence is imparted to the
little creature by the lustre of its skin.

A kindred species—the Eunice gigantea—may be considered
the king of the nereids. This princely annelid is an inhabitant of
the waters around the Antilles. It isa yard and a half long, and
its body is composed of 450 rings. The bright tropical light plays
upon it with iridescent splendour. The head is richly painted, and
out of it rises a rose-coloured horn, which bears on its extremity a
pair of prehensile forceps. The respiratory organs are situated on
its sides, and, when distended with blood, appear as vermilion
patches. It has 1,700 organs of locomotion; they all move
simultaneously, and with great rapidity; indeed, so rapidly that
frequently the eye is not able to distinguish them. As this splendid

THE ANNELIDA. 265

annelid contracts and elongates itself, glides through the water,
turning quickly hither and thither with the quickness of thought,
it looks like a beam of coloured light shooting through the sub-
marine world, and disporting itself amongst the rocks.

The complication of construction in these creatures is something
incalculable. Conceive an animal with 280 stomachs, 300 ganglions
or nerval centres, and 3,000 muscles! The Eusice sanguinea
rejoices in this multiplication of apparatus.

Perhaps the most beautiful of the annelids to be found upon
our coasts is the Aphrodita aculeata—the sea-mouse. Its shape is
ovoid, pointed at the extremities, and a little flattened; its back
is somewhat convex, the ventral region being flat. The upper
part of its body is covered with large membranous scales, which
are sometimes distended; they have been called, though without
much reason, c/ytra (winged sheaths). These scales are covered
with a thick, brown fur, which has the appearance of fine tow.
Through this peculiar covering there rise strong spines—the
defensive weapons of the annelid. Its bristly tufts, which are its
chief organs of locomotion, are usually of a rich golden tint, yet
they can change with every colour of the rainbow; the tints being
flung back as if by metallic reflectors. Not even can the humming-
bird boast of such vivid colours, nor are they inferior to the sparkles
of agem. These tufts are as remarkable for their construction as
for their lights; each thread may be compared to a harpoon whose
point is doubly barbed. Few of the ocean depredators are brave
enough to attack this little porcupine; and, lest that these for-
midable weapons should wound the annelid itself, a sheath is
provided for each bundle, so that when they are not in use the
creature draws them back, and they are safely kept for the next
time of danger.

The aphrodita is very timid. It is difficult to rouse during
the day; it lies ensconced under a stone or shell, drawing in
and ejecting a current of water so strong that it creates quite a
little whirlpool. When night comes, it leaves its hiding-place in
search of prey. The annelids are, as we have said, very voracious,
not even sparing their own species. Mr. Rymer Jones speaks of
two annelids, not equal in size, probably being of different ages,
which were put into an aquarium. For two or three days they

266 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

lived in harmony, and then the greater of the two attempted to
eat his companion. He managed to get part of his body into
his great cesophagus trunk ; his victim made desperate efforts to
disengage himself, and after a time succeeded; but, unhappily
for him, during the combat he had had some of his scales torn
off, and his rings damaged. The next day there only remained
half, for during the night the conquest had been completed, the
rest had been devoured; and the conqueror was darting hither
and thither his hungry proboscis erect, ready to seize the remain-
der of the little creature, which had shrunk into a corner of the
aquarium.

The dorsibranchiata are wanderers; the tubicola are fixed.
These latter are noted for the elegance of their respiratory organs,
which are ranged sometimes in plumes, sometimes in crowns, or
in fans. The entrance to their habitation is ordinarily small; it
is, however, the only opening through which these recluses can
have any communication with the world around them. Foremost
amongst these annelids we must mention the Zermeles. They live
in the waters of the Mediterranean, lodged in a tube of sand
some three inches long. Out of the end of the pipe from time
to time there issues a bifurcated head; from the summit of each
branch a number of strong, sharp tongues, of a golden yellow,
rise; these close over the entrance of the holes whenever the
creature is disturbed and retreats into its mansion of sand. The
least motion which makes a ripple upon the surface of the water
is sufficient to cause the timid animal to shut itself up in its
fortification. From the sides of this cephalous defence, fifty or
sixty delicate, violet filaments issue, which are in continual motion.
Like so many little serpents, they alternately lengthen and shorten
themselves, seizing their prey as it passes, and drawing it into the
mouth.

To their activity and energy the annelid owes its dwelling-
house: they gather the grains of sand, and build up its incasing
tube; the solid grains are held together by a kind of mucus,
which, in fact, plays the part of an hydraulic mortar. Upon the
sides of the body.may be noticed mammillary risings, out of
the summit of which issue sharp, cutting lances; these are, in
fact, the feet of the creature.

Plate XII,

ANNELIDA

TOBICOL:

THE ANNELIDA. 2 67

When the bottom of the sea is dredged, very frequently from
deep water old shells and pieces of pottery covered over with
tubes are brought up. These are formed of calcareous matter,
and interlace each other in every possible manner. They are the
abodes of the Serfu/e@—little inhabitants of the salt water, whose
brilliant colouring strangely contrasts with their modest cell.
These annelids live in their tubes like moths in the sheath of the
chrysalis, its shape varying according to the species of its occupant.
When observing serpule in an aquarium, the greatest precaution
must be used, for at the least motion they retreat into their tubes.
At first out of the opening there issues a scarlet bud, borne upon a
long stem. This is the valve with which the annelid closes the
mouth of its retreat—the porter who waits at its gate to close
it against intruders. The button is richly painted with orange
and scarlet, striped with white. Its upper surface is divided into
sections by lines which radiate from the centre to the circum-
ference, each line ending in a microscopic hook. In some species
this valve is quite flat—a round disc; in others it is a cone—
the apex pointing down the pipe. The outer surface is not always
smooth. The Serfula gigantca has two branching horns, like
those of a stag. The Serpula stillata forms its valve of three plates
threaded together, so that this secure little creature closes its house
with a triple door.

When the annelid comes out of its tube, it gradually unfurls
a splendid plume, arranged as a spiral. The filaments which
compose the plume are exquisitely coloured; it waves it in a
constant and graceful motion. On close inspection, it is found
to be completely covered with vibrating cils. In most of the
creatures this delicate apparatus rolls itself up spirally as it
retreats into the tube.

Properly speaking, the serpule have no distinct head. The
upper part of the body is covered by a modification of the mollusk
mantle, immediately beneath which is the stomach. The central
part of the body is composed of seven segments, from each of
which issues a pair of tubercles, which perform the office of feet.
Out of these fleshy tubes a bundle of bristles can be thrust at the
will of the animal. The microscope shows that there are twenty
or thirty of these yellow-coloured, horny filaments; at their

268 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

extremities they thicken, and terminate in four sharp points, one
of which projects beyond the others. When the creature feels
disposed to go out of its case, it thrusts out of the foremost
tubercles these sharp-pointed bristles ; these, pressing against the
walls of the tube, urge the animal forward; then, contracting
its body, it brings up the hindmost feet, and in the same way
fixes these, so pushing itself forward. Invisible to the naked eye,
there passes from each foot, perpendicular to the body, a fine,
yellow ring. Under a strong magnifying power, the ring appears
to be a ribbon, upon which rest triangular plates; each plate is
armed with seven teeth—six turn in one direction, and the seventh
faces them. There are 136 of these plates on each ribbon, and
since there are as many ribbons as feet—that is, fourteen—there
must be 1,904 of these prehensile plates, and each of them is moved
by a distinct muscle. By this truly wonderful mechanism, the
annelid can fix at once 13,328 teeth in the membrane which lines
its tube. No wonder that it can with rapidity retreat when
frightened, and no wonder that it cannot be drawn out of its
home against its will! Even the most thoughtless must pause at
this lavish expenditure of mechanism upon a mere worm which
lives and dies far down in the ocean depths; and who can help
exclaiming, “ Wonderful are thy works, O God; in wisdom hast
thou made them all?”

There is another member of this family—the Spzvorbis
nautiloides—which also makes for itself a calcareous tube; but it
is very fragile and weak, and generally is attached for support to
some sea-weed or the shell of a mollusk. It secretes its pipe after
a much more delicate fashion than the serpule, rolling the material
round itself, somewhat after the plan upon which that fluviatile
mollusk, the planorbis, manufactures its abode. The spirorbis is
not much thicker than a pin’s head. It comes out of its tube
from time to time, spreads its plume, and most gracefully do its
tentacles wave its food into its mouth. It has no head, no eyes,
no mandibles; but can hermetically close itself into its little
mansion, like its larger relative, the serpula.

The Zeredclla is also a tubicole annelid. It is peculiar for the
number of yellow filiform appendages which spring from about
the mouth; these the animal can stretch to a great length. From

THE ANNELIDA. 209

their neighbourhood, also, branch out the respiratory organs.
They are not, as is general in the annelids, in the form of fans,
but arborescent, spreading out like fine branches. The tentacles
appear at the first glance to be round threads; but upon a closer
examination they are really found to be flat tubes, along whose
surface run longitudinal grooves, sometimes so deep as to permit
their sides to fold over, by this means enabling them to hold
tightly to anything which they touch. In one species, the division
between the channels is furnished with seriated teeth. The
branchial apparatus is exceedingly beautiful, affording a great
number of angles and curves and points; its colours are varied
and brilliant. The protective tube of the terebella is formed as
most of the others—of sand and fragments of shells; but the walls
of its extremity are somewhat extended, to form a sheath for the
tentacles and respiratory organs. If a terebella be placed in an
aquarium devoid of its tube, it will extend its tentacles on every
side, and actively commence to construct a new one. When a
little of it has been made, the creature will creep into it, and lie
perfectly still during the daylight. At evening it puts out its
tentacles, and during the hours of the night works incessantly.
How can an eyeless creature recognise the difference between
day and night?

In some of the species, the tentacles appear to divide the
work: one confines itself to gathering material together, another
transports it, a third places it in position and fixes it with mucus,
whilst others gather up the dédris which falls from the work.
The building continues for many hours uninterruptedly: the
progress, if watched, appears but slow; however, next day, much
has been done; for, during the night, the tower of the edifice has
been lengthened—particles of sand have been regularly laid in
order, and solidly united. With the dawn of the morning, the
builder ceases, and rests from his labour, again to commence
with renewed vigour when the night hides curious eyes from
watching his proceedings. The interior of the tube is lined with
a fine coating of silky matter, which binds together the masonry,
and at the same time decorates the walls of the mansion. This
material is produced from a humour secreted by the skin of the
annelid—an excellent and economical liquid, which serves the

270 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

double purpose of glue and gilt. If a terebella be pulled out of
its tube, its resistance is so strong that generally it is much hurt.
Some of its tentacles are pulled off, and its rings staved in, but
it seems little affected by the injuries, and at once sets to work
to rebuild its house, with untiring energy, and exhibits no appear-
ance of disappointment. The Zerebella textrix adopts a different
plan. Instead of gathering about it foreign materials, and of these
constructing its tube, it encloses itself in a fabric which it weaves
like linen. This covering is very thin, and somewhat irregular ;

TEREBELLA CONCHILEGA.

the threads which compose it are so fine and transparent that
they are almost invisible. It is a most complicated manufacture,
for there are at least fifty threads as long as the little weaver
himself.

M. de Quatrefages has described a new and ravenous species,
under the name of the Zerebella Emmalina. The body of this
animal is long, and flattened like a ribbon. Its head is an azure
blue, shading away through green to orange at its tail, which is
remarkably thin. The under part of the body is a golden yellow.
The articulations can scarcely be seen in the caudal region,
becoming more distinct as the head is approached. Its feet issue
from mammillary projections along its sides: the first fifteen pairs

THE ANNELIDA. 273

<

are purple, and terminate in a tuft of hairs or hooks ; the rest
are yellow, and have no tufts. The branchial organs are arranged
in six pairs—the foremost being the smallest, those near the tail
the largest; their colour is a bright vermilion, which gives them
the appearance of miniature coral branches. They have sixty to
eighty tentacles rising out of the head, some of these being three
times the length of the animal. These feelers are semi-transparent
and yellow; frequently they are straight, occasionally spiral; all
are hollow, their canals communicating with the general tube of
the body. This profuse tentacle arrangement surrounds the whole
animal’ with a capillary apparatus of the greatest delicacy. It is
not a net, for each of the threads are distinct, but hangs about
the annelid more like a silken cloud, or like that delicate mould
which grows round decomposing fruits. In spite of their extreme
tenuity, these fine feelers serve the annelid as means not only of
supplying itself with food, but also of locomotion; and more
than this, they are the defensive organs of the creature: for their
surface is found to be covered with irritating vesicles, in the shape
of small bottles with short necks; through the orifice passes a
finely-pointed dart, which is probably traversed by a canal,
through which the venom passes into the puncture. made by the
point.

If from the front part of the head of a terebella straws of a
golden colour branch out, the annelid is an Amphitrite. The
Fan Amphitrite (Amphitrite ventilabrum) is the prettiest found
upon our coast. Its tube resembles a leathern sheath, and
narrows gradually towards the tail. When the annelid is put
into fresh water, for some moments it remains at rest, as if con-
sidering the novelty of its position; soon little air-bubbles begin
to escape from the tube, and then gradually appears the point of
a streaked brush, composed of a multitude of feathery filaments
of the brightest carmine. Gradually this plume expands into
the fans, which join and form a circle like a peacock’s tail. Each
filament is edged with fine barbs, arranged with perfect symmetry.
The outer rim of the circle is of a reddish purple, shading off
towards the centre to a golden yellow; five or six concentric
curves traverse it; from this centre two triangular antennz issue,
and above them two kinds of fleshy lobes, which may be compared

272 DHE WORLD GOT, MEST A.

-_

to trowels. Between these lobes is situated a little tongue in
constant motion. The rest of the body is slender, and festooned
with bright colours. At the slightest touch they all disappear,
the fan is drawn in, and nothing seen but a sombre, uninteresting

sheath,

to

Giiwe Pik “x2 Vik.
SALT-WATER LEECHES.

THE sea has its leeches as well as the marshes; but the sea-leeches
are always found as parasites, and they offer many other points
of difference to the fresh-water blood-suckers. In the first place,
their skin, instead of being thin and delicate, like the ordinary
leech, is thick and coriaceous. They are strongly and comfortably
clothed, doubtless that they may the better withstand the changes
of temperature, and the incessant motion of the waters of the sea.
They cannot glide so quickly and so gracefully through their
watery world as their relations of the marshes; they can but
contract and expand themselves, and with that modicum of motion
they must rest content. And, moreover, the two species are very
different in their shapes.

The marine leech is scientifically termed A/bzone, which is
synonymous with Poztobdella. There is also another varicty,
which is called Branchellion. The body of the albione, as may
be seen from the drawing, is very rough—covered with spiny
projections. It has no appearance of branchial appendages ;
these organs are not required, for the leech breathes through its
skin. This is not the case with the branchellion: its breathing
apparatus is visible, being arranged down each side of the body
in two undulous fringes. The albione is generally found attached
to the body of the skate, and is therefore called by the fishermen
“the skate-sucker.” The branchellion takes up its abode on the
body of the electric eel. Each end of its purse-like body is furnished
with a sucker, by which the creature makes itself fast to the fish.
Instinct causes it to attach itself to the roots of the fins, the neigh-
bourhood of the eyes, or the opening of the gills, for at these places
there is the greatest number of blood-vessels, and here the skin
is thinner and more easily pierced. The marine leeches do not
make the incision with the same instrument as the medical leeches,

‘)

274 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

which operate with three strong, cartilaginous jaws, producing that

d

peculiar bite called “the leech-bite ;” but, in the place of these
lancet-jaws, we find three slender tentacles. But how can these
pierce the skin of the fish? The leech does not cut the skin,
and probably the tentacles are only organs of feeling, by means
of which the parasite fixes upon the proper place to make his
attack. Having fixed his sucker, he exhausts the air so completely,
that the skin of the fish bursts at the place where the suction is

applied. Hence the marine leech tears the skin; the fresh-water

THE SPINY ALBIONE, BRANCHELLION.
(Albione muricata.) (B. Torpedinis.)

leech cuts it. It would seem that the tubercles which roughen
the body are intended to keep the leech from being rubbed too
violently against the skin of the fish to which it is attached.
The annelids must often stand in need of this defence, for it cannot
be expected that the skate or the torpedo will passively submit to
be continually preyed upon. During the day-time, these annelids,
like the rest of their kind, lie quiet and still; night with them
is the time for action, when they awake from their apathetic state,

and vigorously suck their unfortunate victim.

The sea-leeches prefer red blood, and therefore always attack
fish—never mollusks. They usually choose some member of the
ray family, and generally flat fish, probably because their skin is
less cartilaginous, and perhaps, also, because these fish live either
upon or very near the bottom—a circumstance peculiarly favour-
able to the necessities of these sanguinary annelids. It is remark-

SALT-WATER LEECHES. 275

able that these leeches should be capable of taking in so much
of that fluid, a very little of which suffices the superior animals
for their sustenance.” It is still an unsolved question why the
Hirudinide require more nourishment than creatures far above
them in the scale of life. We can understand why the silkworm
should eat a weight of mulberry-leaves heavier than its own body,
at a single meal, because the creature is so rapidly growing and
storing that silk which is to compose its winding-sheet. But the
blood of a man or of a fish is the very essence of nutriment, and
yet the leech will imbibe a large quantity. This cannot be
expended on its growth, for it grows but slowly. What, then,
can be the reason for its gluttony ?

The medical leeches can distend themselves with seven and a
half times their weight of human blood ; but the sea-leeches can
only take in twice their own weight. Why is this? It may partly
be accounted for by the difference of their construction. The
thicker skin of the sea-leech prevents it from expanding as much
as the fresh-water leech. This latter animal rejoices in eleven pairs
of stomachs, but the other has only one; and again, the blood of
a fish is by no means so nourishing as human blood, therefore
the sea-leech ought to take a larger quantity to equal the voracity
of its marsh representative ; and yet we find the reverse is the case.
These questions, and many like them, are, as Pliny says, “impene-
trable to human reason, and lie hid in the majesty of Nature.”
The quantity of blood taken from the fish by its parasite is never
sufficient to weaken it, but the only effect it seems to have is that
the appetite of the fish increases. Indeed, this gentle ‘“ blood-

” at times seems to improve the condition of the fish, as if

letting
the parasite were ordained to remove a superfluity. It has been
said that parasites seldom attack an organ, but feast upon the
product of that organ; and thus, although they gain their own
subsistence from the animals they live upon, yet it is not to their
vital injury. There are instances to the contrary, yet happily they
are but few. If the parasite always were the cause of the death of
the animal it inhabited, parasitism would soon be at an end, and

the harmony of Nature disturbed.

The Addiones reproduce their species by egg capsules, which
S 2

276 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

are sometimes deposited singly, but generally in groups, in which
as many as fifty are now and then found. They are fixed to the
exterior or interior of an abandoned shell. Each capsule is a
spheroid, one-fifth of an inch in diameter, supported upon a
short stem which is fixed to its solid support by an expanded base.

THE EGGS OF THE ALBIONE UPON A SHELL.

The envelope of the spheroid is thin; the egg is white or flesh
coloured, and becomes browner as it approaches the time of the
hatching. This capsule has no resemblance to the cocoon of
the fresh-water leeches, which only encloses one egg. The young
of the albione comes out of the upper end of the egg, but the

fresh-water leech breaks both ends at the same time. Of the
reproduction of the branchellion we are still in ignorance.

to
NI
N

GA Pal Re XX XX
THE ZOONITES.

THE study of the annelids, which has been pursued with great zest
since the beginning of this century, has been productive of eminent
service both to anatomy and to comparative physiology. These
animals, composed of rings placed side by side and each containing
the same organisation, present a very curious structure. The

THE DRAGON-LEECH.
(Hirudo troctina.)

common leech (Hzrudo medicinalis) may be considered typical.
As every one knows, its shape is like that of a short, thick worm
or garden slug, its body attenuates towards each extremity, where
it terminates in a sucker; the one is the ova/, and the other the
anal. This body is composed of ninety-five rings. On close
observation, its back is seen to be marked with triangular brown
spots; these are arranged in rows parallel to the rings, and are
repeated every five rings. In the dragon-leech, which is here

278 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

drawn, the form of these spots is somewhat altered, being more
like little pins with eyes drilled in large heads.

If a leech be cleaned, and then powdered with flour or chalk,
and fixed upon its back so that it cannot move, pairs of spots will
be seen on the under surface of its body, the flour which covers
them being moistened with a mucous liquid which they exude.
These pores in the skin are also found to be upon every fifth ring.

If we now dissect the animal, we shall be surprised to find a
remarkable correspondence between the external machinery and

A SECTION OF A LEECH.

the internal anatomy. The gazglions—the nerval centres which
supply the place of brains in the lower animals—are found dis-
tributed beneath the spots on the skin, that is, at a distance of
five rings from each other.

The stomach is composed of eleven pairs of pockets, each one
having a ganglion; hence, they also ‘are at an interval of five
rings. Between the pockets of the stomach are small canals which
terminate in the pores whose existence was indicated by the flour.
The secretion of these canals lubricates the leech. There are
seventeen pairs of them, each at a distance of five rings.

The vessels by which the circulation is completed are arranged

THE ZOONITES, 279

in the same symmetrical way. A main canal passes down the
back, and at every fifth ring enlarges; out of this enlargement
branch on each side two smaller vessels. These knots are, in
reality, hearts. The muscular system of the creature observes the
there is a group of muscular fibres attached to

same regular order
every fifth ring; and the reproductive organs also observe the same
regularity. Thus a fragment of the leech which is contained by
five rings, possesses a ganglion, a heart, a stomach, and a muscular
and reproductive system; that is, a complete organism, sufficient
for a distinct individual. In other words, the leech is a series of
symmetrical animals joined together. We cannot say that it is a
simple, but a compound annelid.

The common earth-worm, the centipede, and other annelids,
are formed on the same principle. We have often said that Nature
progresses not by leaps, but by very graduated steps; and that,
between one organisation and another, there is generally an inter-
mediate stage. The polypiers are associations of innumerable
animals, actuated by a common hope of life, and bound together
by indissoluble bonds. But most animals have a solitary existence,
and are complete in themselves, having no continued connection
with any of their race. The leeches fill up the space between
the two—polypes, which have quitted their polypidoms, and have
joined themselves into one body.

The leech is the type of this mode of construction, but all
the annelids bear. some resemblance to the arrangement. In the
year 1826, the name Zoonites was bestowed upon the class. The
zoonites do not necessarily adhere to the plan exhibited in the
structure of the leech, having their organs situated in a space
included in five rings; but in some, the interval is measured by
four, in others by three, rings, and so on, until some have in every
ring a complement of organs. When, as in the worm or leech,
the rings are arranged in one line, the animals are classed as
Articulata. The linear composition is not universal: the star-fish
and the pyrosoma are constructed on this principle, and yet
they are not articulata. The pyrosoma, of which we treated in
Chapter XVIII, are the connecting link between the associated
polypes and the articulata.

It is often asked, Why is a quadruped instantly killed when the

280 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

head is severed from the body, and yet a leech will live for a whole
year after it has been mutilated? The answer is simple: because
a quadruped has only one centre of its nervous system, one centre
of life—the brain—and if that be severed from its trunk, death
must follow; whereas, in the case of the zoonite, that particular
nerval centre only is destroyed which has sustained the injury—
the rest continue their action unimpeded.

This idea of the zoonite construction has, of course, met with
much opposition. In the first place, it was objected that the two
suckers, the oval and the ventral, were so distinct that they could
not possibly be said to have the same construction: one had eyes
and mouth, the other one only the anal orifice. Yet these are
so alike that the same name is applied to each of them, and in
the sea-leech they can hardly be discriminated. Indeed, Baster,
an eminent zoologist, actually confounded the two. Again, it is
urged that many of the zoonites have absolutely only one organ
of a particular kind, hence their several parts cannot possibly be
said to have a like organism. Take, for example, the Planarta—
aquatic animals which inhabit both salt and fresh water—they
are closely allied to the leeches. They have but one orifice to
their digestive cavity, and in its neighbourhood is a flexible horn,
by which the creature seizes its prey, and introduces it into its
stomach. Here digestion is completed, and the rejected refuse is
taken out again by the horn. The opponents of the zoonite
theory cite such an example as this, triumphantly asking if it can
be still asserted that the planaria is made in sections which are
exactly alike. If, however, the creature be cut in half, either above
or below the digestive pouch, each part will continue to live—one
having the stomach near its extremity, the other being destitute
of that very essential organ. However, in a short time a white
spot appears in the centre of each fragment, which gradualiy
extends until an orifice opens as the mouth of a new stomach,
the old one, in the fragment above alluded to, closing. There is
a time when the planaria possess two stomachs—the new one and
the old one. This fact is a sufficient proof to us that, although
the creature has only one stomach, yet each of the symmetrical
parts of its organism is prepared to develop one when necessity

THE ZOONITES. 281

arises ; therefore, we may well consider the planaria no exception
to the zoonite theory.

Some years ago, a great number of physiological facts were
brought to light, which seem to show that the leech had not only
a general life—an associate life, if we may use the word—but also
an zzdtvidual life, each of the zoonites (or associated parts) having
its own life. For the sake of general harmony, Nature has provided
the annelid with nerves of communication, which join the separate
organs to each other. The chief zoonite is the one whose nerval
centre is the best developed, and which carries the most organs
of sense. This may be considered the governor of the association
—the pilot of the vessel. If this be destroyed, the others continue
to live, but without order or regularity ; the animal is no longer
able to provide for its nourishment or its necessities. The sub-
joined experiments evidently show that the lives of the zoonites
are, in a certain sense, independent of each other.

1. If the first zoonites of a leech full of blood be wetted
with salt water or weak acid, the stomachs corresponding to them
will disgorge their contents, but the rest will retain the blood.
2. If you partially immerse a leech in concentrated alcohol, that
part is alone deprived of its vitality. 3. If you cut a leech in two
which is three parts full of blood, and still attached to the skin, it
will continue to suck while the blood flows from the wound. 4. If
by any means a zoonite be kiiled near the centre of the animal, the
anterior and posterior parts will still live, two leeches being produced
by the division of one. 5. If you cut on each side of a ganglion
the nerves which unite it to its neighbours, you will produce an
isolated zoonite between two multiple animals. By pricking the
various parts this isolation of sensation will be apparent. 6. If the
medullary canal, the great nerve which connects the ganglions, be
severed in any part of the leech, the two parts of the animal will
possess different volitions. All the phenomena of sensation and
locomotion will be perfectly distinct in each part. Dr. Verniére
experimented upon a leech in this way, and kept the creature for
two months after the operation. Nothing could be more singular,
he says, than watching the conflicting wills in the two extremities
of the same creature. When each sucker was fixed on the walls of

282 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the vase, neither could communicate to the other its intention to
move ; the consequence was that the one which had the feebler hold
was compelled to give way when the stronger chose to alter its
position ; and when the conqueror, after dragging the other end to
the place where it wished to rest, came to a halt, it was easy to see
how reluctantly the vanquished half obeyed its stronger companion,
and fixed its sucker. 7. If several incisions were made, causing
the leech to be cut up into a number of isolated portions, each
would live, and even for a considerable time. These fragments
have been preserved without nourishment for ten months; and
Carena and Rossi declare that they have kept these isolated por-
tions for even two years. At the end of that time, as well they
might, they showed evident signs of emaciation; but we may
well believe that if they had been fed, if, for instance, by some
means or other, drops of blood had from time to time been
introduced into the fragment, its existence might have been
prolonged indefinitely ; and who can say that it would not in time
have replaced the amputated organs ?

The contemplation of this theory cannot but fill the mind with
great thoughts of the mysterious laws of life, and of the unsearchable
wisdom of him who is the Life of life. Linnaeus, when making his
immortal inventory of the treasures of the kingdom of Nature, was
asked, What was the great end of natural history? The phi-
losopher replied, “The glory of God.” It is indeed true that the
observation of the detail of life conduces to raise the thoughts to
the Creator, but a great thinker has said with much reason that
theory is the only true chain by which we ascend to God from
Nature. However much we may admire the works of God in
themselves, it is only when we grasp the laws which govern the
whole that we gather a true idea of the immensity of his mind.
It is theory, the faith of science, which foresees the conclusion,
while experience and observation follow with slower pace, and fill
in the outline which theory has mapped out. Theory sees the
end from the beginning: she is the spirit of philosophy; and
gathering the praise of wondering men, she sweeps onward to the
throne of God, to present the offering to him who created all
things for his praise.

Cit vr bh ER. Xe
THE CIRRHOPODA.

EVEN supposing that we had reached the limit of our subject, and
had chronicled the wonders of the ocean life, enough has been said
to show that the sea is far more prolific in variety of forms, and in
curiosities of organisation, than the world which is above the
waters. But more remains to be recorded, and as we advance,
each step brings us to curious forms which excite our wonder and
elicit our admiration. None of the animals we have examined are
perhaps more remarkable than those which occupy the transition
state between annelids and the crustaceans.

The Axatifera partake of the characteristics of both, and yet
have a physiognomy peculiarly their own. This construction will
at once be understood by a glance at the bunch of barnacles in
the engraving. A shell, much in the shape of a mitre, composed
of five pieces, two on each side and one on its back, is supported
on a remarkably thick stalk; this stalk is hollow and flexible,
possessing the ring formation of the annelids.

Since the anatifera are unable to move, we pronounce their
organisation to be of a lower type than that of either of their
neighbours, for it would not be in accordance with that wisdom
which is “over all his works,” if quicker and finer sensibilities were
bestowed upon a creature which did not enjoy the power of loco-
motion. There is a fine balance and adjustment in everything,
and where we find activity of limb and rapidity of motion, they
are sure to be accompanied by a lively sensibility ; but where, as
in the kingdom of vegetation, and in many of the animals, the
creature is unable to move from its fixed position—unable to
flee from danger, or to go from an unpleasant or uncongenial
neighbourhood—there we find that it either exhibits no signs of
sensibility at all, or else its perceptions are of the very lowest
degree. Therefore, we may justly conclude that a fixed creature,

284. THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

being all but insentient, is of a low type of organisation. Thus
the anatifera, being unable to leave the place of their attachment,
are considered as a low type of organism, and yet they take the
highest rank among the fixed invertebrata, for they are capable of
more movement than the rest of the sedentary inhabitants of the
ocean bed.

But let us speak of the order of which the anatifera form a
class—the Cirripedia, Cirrhipeda, or Cirrhopoda. The exact posi-
tion of this crustacean order was long a point of dispute. Some

ANATIFERA LAVIS.

naturalists placed it amongst the mollusks, others gave it a rank
with the articulata. Finally this latter position was definitely
assigned to it.

The cirrhopoda, as we have already said, occupy the intermediate
place between the annelids and the crustaceans. The pedicle, or
stalk, which bears the shelled part of the animal, is flexible, being
able to bend in any direction; though its movements are slow, yet
they are most certainly voluntary.

The anatifera attach themselves to the submarine rocks, or to
pieces of wood, the débris of wrecked vessels, which are carried
about by the waves. Out of the mitred shell which the thick

THE CIRRHOPODA. 285

stalk carries are protruded a number of curled, articulated appen-
hages—the cirrii; these would be the fect of the animal, if it
had any use for ambulacral organs, and hence the name of the
order—Czrrhipedia.

Cirrhi is derived from the Latin cérrhus, a curl or lock of hair,
and is a term employed by naturalists in every kingdom of Nature _
to describe any curled filaments or appendages. Upon a close
examination of the plate, fine hairs or cils will be seen growing out
of the articulations of these cirrhi. When in repose these organs
are curled up like the young fronds of a fern; but when the
creature requires their use, they are extended and deployed on
every side. They are seldom at rest, for the anatifera looks
to its cirrhi for its sustenance. Like the rest of the fixed and
sedentary animals it lives upon the animalcules and other minute
existences which throng sea water ; and these are brought to it by
currents which are formed by the regular and symmetrical move-
ments of the cirrhi and their cils; but, strange to say, the mouth
is not situated, as we might naturally suppose, at the entrance of
the shell between the rows of cirrhi, but at the lower part of the
shell, and the currents are directed so as to enter it. The mouth
is furnished with mandibles and jaws like many of the crustacea.

The name Azatifera literally signifies goose-bearer, and the
appellation is due to a popular belief that these peculiar-looking
creatures are the eggs of the bernicle goose, attached to a stem.
Whether the idea was originated by an old writer, one Gerard, who
enlightened his readers in the year 1636, or whether he only
chronicled an existing opinion, we cannot say. He begins his
account with the profession, “ What our eyes have seen and hands
have touched we shall declare ;” and then he proceeds to describe
the birth of a young bernicle goose from a ship-barnacle. “There
is a small island in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders, wherein
are found broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof
have been cast thither by shipwracke, whereon is found certain
spume or froth, that in time breedeth into certaine shells, in shape
like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish
colour, one end whereof is fastened into the inside of the shell, even
as the fish of oisters and muskles; the other end is made fast into

286 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time cometh to the
shape and form of a bird.” According to this observant naturalist
the legs come first, then the shell “gapeth” to admit the exit of
the body, and the final attachment by the bill giving way. The
gosling unfledged swims out to sea, where it completes its develop-
ment. Absurd as this popular fallacy may seem, it even yet is
credited on the coasts of Scotland, where many a fisherman will
seriously aver that he has often heard the cry of the young goose
out of the shell of the barnacle.

It would have been an anomaly in the kingdom of Nature

A YOUNG CIRRHOPOD,

(Larva of the Chthalmalus stellatus.)

had the cirrhopoda ‘not possessed within themselves every
requisite both for their own existence, and for the propagation
of their species. Hopelessly fixed in one position, they can
never go in search of food, nor yet enjoy intercommunion with
their race. Hence, as we have observed, they draw their prey
towards themselves in the currents they produce, and each
cirrhopod includes within itself both genders; that is, they are
hermaphrodites, and, consequently, have all the requisites for the
production of their species within themselves. But the young
cirrhopods are totally different from their parents ; for like many
of the young of fixed and sedentary creatures, they are not only at
liberty, but can swim with great activity, being furnished with

THE CIRRHOPODA. 287

rapidly-moving natatory organs. Moreover, like the legendary
Cyclops, they possess a great eye in the centre of their foreheads.
When the cirrhopod becomes fixed, having no longer any use
for either the fins or the eye, these organs, from disuse, become
obliterated. According to that great law, “ From him that hath
not shall be taken away even that which he hath,” that which is
possessed, but not exercised, in time becomes useless and obliterated.

AN ADULT CIRRHOPOD.

(Balanus tintinnabulune.)

Here we have, then, an example of a reversed law of Nature: the
young, instead of reaching a higher development in its adult state,
is in possession of a more complicated organism than its parent;
and, instead of progressing, actually degenerates as it grows older.
We do not express much wonder as we find the swimming organs
of the coral larve, and other animals of the like kind, either
obliterated or turned to other uses when the adult and sedentary
stage is reached; but here is a creature possessing an eye which
vanishes when it enters upon the fixed state. But why should not
the cirrhopod enjoy the sense of vision, even if it be immovable ?
It would not be more incongruous than a hen with a brood of
ducks, whose instinct impels her to follow them into the pond,
but whose nature denies her the power to swim! But the analogy
is not admissible, inasmuch as a hen with a brood of ducks is
unnatural. No such seeming oversight can be charged to the
great Creator, who has never, and could never, so disturb the fitness
of things! The cirrhopod, when adult, no longer finds the use it

had for its eye when it was a roving youth ; and as there is no waste

288 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

in the economy of Nature, no useless organ can be kept in repair ;
hence the eye closes, and the creature is condemned to a life of
blindness. This is not the only instance of this peculiarity: it is
often the case with the young of the infusores. Ehrenberg par-
ticularly instances the young Eudorina, which is furnished with
a large red eye—a distinction not enjoyed by its parent.

Many clever naturalists have entertained the idea that man
represents the perfect organism of Nature, and that the lower
animals are, as it were, embryos of this perfect idea, arrested at
different stages of its development. A beautiful theory, but not
true; for here we have young animals better developed than their
parents. This is not an advancement, but a retrogression. And
besides this objection, the different parts of an animal seldom
or never exhibit the same phases of advancement: one organ is
in a more complete state, and constructed upon a higher model
than another. Some creatures are superior to others in the
development of their respiratory apparatus, when probably the
animal which is inferior in this sense is superior as to the arrange-
ment of its nervous system. The laws which regulate the general
harmony of the animal economy are far too complicated to admit
of being enunciated in a single sentence. In fact, the organisation
of each species seems to have a law peculiarly provided for it.

But to return to our subject. The cyclops larve are almost
triangular, and are covered with a large shield. In front they
put out two little divergent horns, and behind ‘them they drag a
double tail. Their sides are furnished with six pairs of oars, the
last two pairs being much larger than the others. The larva
does not grow very rapidly; but when it reaches its change of
life, the eye closes, the oars, the antenne, the tail, disappear, its
vagabond life comes to an end, and, like its forefathers, it finds
itself fixed to some solid hold, where it assumes the ringed pedicle
and the mitred head-piece of its race.

The class cirrhopoda contains other specimens of animal life
than the anatifera we have described; and, as in every other
family, the features are altered in almost every conceivable manner.
Some have no stalk, but the shelled body adheres directly to the
rock. The shell is not always composed of five pieces, but some-

THE CIRRHOPODA. 289

times of more, sometimes of less; hence many of the cirrhopods
bear an external resemblance to the ship-barnacle.
A very common member of this family, the Acorn-shell, is

THE CORONULA OF THE WHALE,

(Coronula diadema.)

frequently found covering the rocks of the shore left dry by the
retreating tide. Their scientific name is Balanus balanoides. The
acorn-shells are not particular as to where they locate their colony.
They are as frequently found fixed to the shells of living mollusks

THE TUBICINELLA OF THE WHALE.

(Tubicinella balenarum.)

as to the rocks. It is interesting to watch the acorn-shells, which
look so uninteresting when grouped upon a dry rock, when they
are covered by the water. They may often be found in a little
pool upon the beach. The sharp-edged shells gape open, and
out come the delicate cirrhi, which, exactly as a fisherman would
throw a casting-net, the balanus flings out into the water, and
draws back again, capturing all the little animalcule within its
sweep. Some cirrhopods are found as parasites on those hulks

290 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

of the ocean—the whales. The Coronula, one of these parasites,
assembles in roundish spots; on a strip of skin an inch long and
a quarter of an inch broad, forty-five were crowded. They are
arranged symmetrically, as stones ina pavement. The 7zbicinella
are less depressed than the coronula. They also inhabit the whale,
preferring to pass their existence in the blubber of the mighty
cetacea. These cirrhopods burrow two or three inches through

the skin.

291

CHAPTER, XT,
THE ROTIFERA.

THE Roftifera are a genus of microscopic animals belonging to
the class Rotatoria. They owe their appellation to an organ which
when in action has the appearance of a revolving wheel. Originally

they were classed among the infusoria, but upon the discovery of

FURCULARIA.

their higher organisation they were promoted from one class into
another, until they now occupy a place at the entrance of the class
which we are about to consider—the crustaceans. There seems
much reason to believe that they are a permanent form of the larva
of the crustaceans. The bodies of the rotifers are generally fusiform,
and are covered not with a shell, but with a very firm, transparent
skin. In those species called wszvalves this hide is all of one piece,
whereas the dzva/ves have a division along the ridge of the back.
The peculiar organ which has given to the race their appellation, is
fixed to the anterior part of the body, and consists of a lobed disc,
which is usually furnished with vibratory cils. This organ is the
fin or swimming apparatus, and when in motion presents the

mM oO

292 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

appearance of one or two wheels rotating in opposite directions.
The appearance is very deceptive, so that some naturalists have
even described it as a permanent collar, continuously agitated by
an undulating movement. This really violent movement for so
small an animal often causes the rotifer to twist rapidly round on
its own axis, as well-as glide through the water, propelled much
after the fashion of a screw steamer. The vibratory cils are
faithful to the function we have so often found them performing,
inducing currents of water to enter the system of the animal,
bearing the food and air necessary for its existence. This is

BRACHIONS.

economy indeed, to make» one organ perform several distinct
offices. The same member which urges the animalcule through the
drop of water, likewise causes it to eat and breathe.

The rotifers vary, as all other classes, in the details of their
construction, especially in their tails; some are without the caudal
appendage, others rejoice in two ; some have long tails, some short.
The tail is used, as in all other denizens of the watery world, as the
helm of the ship; by its inclination this way or that the direction
of the creature is determined. Some of these little creatures carry
an external horn; of its use we can only conjecture, and the
most reasonable supposition is, that it is for defence or perhaps
attack. The mouth, which is very large, has the shape of a bell.
It is provided with two lateral mandibles, which are horny tubes,
furnished near the extremity with one or more teeth. The

THE ROTIFERA. 293

digestive apparatus is by no means simple; the stomach is long,
and has on each side lateral appendages, terminating in a great
intestine. The heart of the rotifers is in constant action, and
its pulsations are quite discernible. We cannot conceive such an
organ unless it be connected with a system of circulation, but this
we have not been able, as yet, to decipher. It used to be the opinion
that minute creatures had always a very simple organisation, but
the revelations of the microscope have caused naturalists materially
to alter their views upon this point. Minuteness does not elude
that perfection which the touches of the great Creator’s hand
stamp upon his work. The wheel-bearing animalcules have
generally a single eye fixed in the cyclopean position; and, like
all the eyes of the minute creation, it is red. Some of them have
more than one; even rotifers with four eyes are known. The
eye is sometimes placed upon the neck or on the back, so that
the animal can only see above it and behind it, but not below
it or in advance. We do not know the exact reason of this
position ; but the animal is so lively that it can matter little where
the eye is situated. And, moreover, the rotifers have a peculiar
power of retreating, not into their shells, for they have none, but
into their skins, and in this form they appear like a ball. The eye
may be placed with regard to this position, so that the retired
creature may keep a sharp look out.

Ehrenberg declares that he finds indications of the existence of
a nervous system. It requires a stretch of imagination to follow
the celebrated naturalist, even to conceive a network of nerves in
an animal which a grain of sand could effectually bury. Like
most of the crustaceans, the rotifers are oviparous, carrying their
eggs suspended at the root of their tails.

Spallanzani has brought the wheel-bearers into great repute
by proving that they are endowed with a wonderful power of life.
He found that they could be dried and folded between the leaves
of a book, and kept in this unnatural state for even two years.
They seem to be in a state of lethargy, and in apparent death ;
but when again immersed in water they revive, and seem none the
worse for the intermission in their vitality. Many of the eminent

naturalists of the day refused to believe anything so extraordinary.

2904 THE WORLD VOR, TEEN SEA.

But the exact Spallanzani was not likely to hazard a statement
which he had not fully established, and in due time a numerous
list of experiments fully confirmed the extraordinary fact that
the rotifers were the Rip van Winkles of the ocean community,
and could sleep through a lapse of animalcule ages, and again
awake to play their part in the act of life then progressing. To
cause these little creatures to perform this extraordinary feat,
they must be slowly and cautiously dried; they must not be
violently pressed, nor submitted to a too-elevated temperature
while they are yet moist, and when the awakening time arrives,
the process of resuscitation must be slow.

The common rotifer (Rotifer redivivus), which exhibits this
incomprehensible phenomenon, is an inhabitant of fresh water, or
rather of moist moss, which is found on walls and roofs, and has
wheels seven or eight times less than its body, which is about
one-fiftieth of an inch long. The marine rotifers do not return
to life after undergoing the drying process. How is it that the
fresh-water species is so very much more retentive of life than its
marine representative ?

Cie i ER. xo.
THE CRUSTACEANS.

THE Crustaceans are the insects of the ocean world; but the word
insect appeals to our terrestrial experience, and would convey to
us a very erroneous impression of these inhabitants of the sea.

A CRAB IN THE PROCESS OF MOULTING.

They are by no means frail and fragile creatures, dancing on
gossamer wings, a thousand of which one touch of a finger would
crush; but many of these so-called insects of the sea are clad in
the hardest mail. The plates of their armour are jointed, and are
more invulnerable than the best suit of Milanese steel ever donned

by chivalrous knight: for, as a general rule, wherever we find

296 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

horn in the insect upon land, we find the hardest calcareous
secretion in the ocean crustacea. They are generally provided
with powerful pincers, which they use either to hold their prey,
which has, indeed, little chance of escape when clutched in their
formidable grasp, or they are weapons of defence. These knights
of the sea live among the rocks, generally in the neighbourhood
of the land; but they are also found at great depths. Some of
them burrow in the sand; and there are crabs which love the air
of the shore as much as they do the water of the sea; and, in
order to enjoy both, take up their residence under some moist
projecting rock which is washed by the high tides. The solidity
of their carapace prevents the crustaceans from growing: for, unlike
the shell of the echinus—which is composed of plates, and can be

THE MANTIS CRAB.

Sguilla mantis.)

enlarged by additions to their edges—the shell of these crus-
taceans, once formed, never afterwards alters its size; therefore,
as the animal does not reach its full growth at once, the only
way it has of solving the difficulty is to cast off the shell, and
secrete another adapted to its increased size.

At certain determined periods, Nature despoils the warrior of
his cuirass; the creature moults; and the calcareous crust falls
off, leaving in its place a thin and delicate tunic. When in this
state, the animal does not deserve the name of crustacean, for it
is as soft as any mollusk. It is quite conscious of its weakness,
and, retiring into some lonely place, seeks to hide its shame in
a narrow crevice until its new carapace has had time to grow,
when, invested in its new suit of armour, it leaves its place of
retirement, and frequents its usual haunts with all the dignity
of a crustacean. An evil day is it for the moulting crab if one
of his enemies happens to find him in his hiding-place. Helpless

THE CRUSTACEANS. 207

and defenceless, he pays dearly for all the cruelties he mercilessly
practised in the days of his power.

The crustaceans do not possess, like the animals higher in the
scale of life, a vertebral column—that is, a stiff, calcareous axis,
from which branch out bones of a similar nature, forming the
skeleton; but they possess a stony covering, which is secreted
by the tegument which covers them, and thus forms an external
skeleton. Thus the crustaceans live within their skeleton, and
their flesh does not, as in the case of the vertebrata, surround the
bones. Such a skeleton is termed devma/, or tegumentary.

The armour of the crustaceans is of a sombre hue, here and
there a dash of blue enlivens their colour, reminding one of the
steel-blue of the knight’s corslet. Some few are of a reddish tint,
but the race is devoid of gaudy colouring, in spite of the assertion
of the poet, who depicted the scarlet lobster crawling over the
submarine rocks. In the dorsal region the shell is very thick, and
capable of great resistance; their members are also remarkable for
their hardness, yet in the smaller species the shell is so thin that
the processes of circulation and digestion can be seen in opera-
tion. Many of the crustaceans are quite microscopic, and in such
numbers that they contribute to the colour of the ocean a purple,
violet, and even a red tint; such are the Grimothea D Urvillei
and the Grimothea gregarea.

In the Sea-spiders, which have no neck, the head is lost in the
breast (cephalothorax); the belly, however, remains distinct. The
middle of their body is compressed, and yet the form is not
ungraceful. Those crustaceans which have no pretence to contour,
have their head, breast, and belly all in one mass; thus they are
short and squat, and most difficult to seize. Many of these
animals have a powerful tail, which consists of a number of
ciliated plates, arranged as paddles. This member assists the
crustacean in swimming, and with it it beats the water to confuse
its enemies.

As aquatic animals, the crustaceans breathe by dranchie. In
the larger species these organs are lamellar, or composed of fila-
ments, their supports being traversed by two blood-vessels, one of
which directs the fluid to the body, the other to the heart. These
lung apparatus are usually enclosed in the body, but in some of

208 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the smaller species they protrude and hang like a fungus into the
water. Occasionally these organs serve the double purpose of
breathing and swimming. However, sometimes, the animal has no
special respiratory organs.

Nearly all the crustaceans are strong, hardy, and destructive.
They are the marauders of the ocean community, merciless

A SEA-SPIDER.
(Pisa tetraodon.)

brigands, ready to do anything to secure their prey. .They fight
in deadly combat, not only with their enemies or their prey, but
with each other, and frequently without any pretext, save only for
the love of battle. It is useless for the assailant to shower his
blows upon the carapace of his adversary; but when with his
powerful pincers he seizes the long slim feet, the tail, or the delicate
antenne, then he wounds and dilapidates his foe. Yet the
vanquished crustacean is not maimed for life ; in a few weeks the
mutilated members recover themselves, and those which were
actually pulled off are again renewed. This explains the fact that

THE CRUSTACEANS. 299

often crustaceans are met with which have unequal-sized claws ;
the smaller of the two is only in process of growth, replacing the
original member lost in the fortune of war. Nature has willed that
the maimed warrior shall not be long hors de combat. Lobsters
have been known to retire from the encounter wounded, and with
the loss of some of their limbs, but after a few months’ retirement
they again were upon the field of battle, strong and vigorous, with
their weapons renewed, and ready for another struggle.

On the Spanish coast there is’a crab rejoicing in the high-
sounding name of Soccaccio, whose claw is considered delicate
eating. The creature is caught, and the coveted claw wrenched
off; the maimed crustacean is then thrown back into the sea
to grow another, which will be similarly taken at some future
time. What a noble destiny for an animal to fulfil—to grow claws
for its human masters to eat!

The crustaceans are nearly all carnivorous. They are by no
means dainty, for it matters little to them whether they eat the
flesh of enemies or friends, or whether the creature be dead or
alive. It is amusing to watch a crab when he has seized a mussel ;
with one claw he holds it aloft, and, with the most sedate gravity,
with his other pincers detaches the mollusk, putting the pieces
quietly into his mouth, just as a human being would do. The crab
does not directly bite his prey, but introduces it into his mouth
with his pincers. The lobster, however, follows the example of
most animals, and attacks his food with his teeth.

A naturalist once surprised, upon the shore, at Royan, a party
of crabs at their -repast. Upon that particular day they were
dining in common—probably it was a family réunzon. They were
in a row, all their heads turned the same way, and all upright on
their eight feet. They seized the objects on the shore alternately
with each claw, in the most regular and precise manner, like a
regiment of soldiers practising a new drill—the dinner drill.

The Long-horned Corophia are endowed with many peculiar
instincts. They live on annelids and worms. When the tide rises,
they may be seen beating the sand with their antenne; by this
means the worms are exposed. When one of unusual size is
unearthed, several of these crustacea join in the attack. It is also
asserted that they climb the hurdles to which the mussels are

300 THE WORED OF THE SEA.

suspended, and bite through the byssus, so that the mollusk may
drop to the ground, and become an easier prey.

It can scarcely be credited that other crustaceans which are
great oyster eaters watch until the king of the mollusks opens his
royal valves to enjoy the rays of the sun, or to make a repast, and
then adroitly put a stone in the open shell; the mollusk, unable to
enclose himself, becomes an easy prey to the artful marauder. The
corophia about whom this strange tale is told, are found in large
numbers on the shores of the Atlantic, about the autumn, beating
the sands for the worms. They perform an eminent service in the
mussel farms of La Rochelle. During the winter, the rough seas
throw up vast mounds of mud about the douchots ; when the spring
returns, before the cultivation of the mollusk can be proceeded
with, these mounds must be removed. This would be a serious
undertaking, but the corophia come out in vast hosts, and in their

THE LONG-HORNED COROPHIUM.

(Corophium longicorne.)

anxiety to find worms, they harrow up the surface of these mud
lumps. This loosened material the waves carry out to sea; so the
agent which piled up the objectionable heaps removes them.

We said the crustaceans were no respecters of persons, for |
often the large ones will devour their smaller brethren— Xara
concordia fratrum !

Professor Rymer Jones tells us he once put six crabs (Platy-
carcinus pagurus) into his aquarium. They were of different sizes.
One of them walked very imprudently, as the event proved, into the
middle of the aquarium. It was immediately accosted by another,
a little larger, who politely took it in his claws, and commenced,
without further ceremony, to break its shell. This proved no very
difficult matter, and he forthwith tore out the flesh and ate it.
But there were other members of the group not content: for,
as Horace says—and he was not the first to say it—

** Nihil est ab omni parte beatum.”

THE CRUSTACEANS. 301

Another crab, still larger, advanced to the couple so occupied in
deadly work, and seized the murderer and treated him exactly in
the same manner as he had his neighbour; first he smashed in his
carapace and then proceeded to help himself to its fleshy contents ;
but the curious part of the story is, that his victim was not in
the least concerned that his body was being eaten, but continued
enjoying his own repast as though he were in perfect security.
This was a remarkable instance of their insensibility to pain, as
well as of the law of retaliation. To eat, and to be eaten oneself,
is one of the great laws of Nature. “All the marine creatures,”
says Buffon, “are equally voracious; they live upon themselves
and upon others; the work of destruction is always in progress—
and yet no species is ever extinguished, for their fecundity is equal
to their depredatory propensities, and all the nourishment thus
gained is expended in reproduction.” The morning following the
terrible tragedy, only two of the crabs were alive—these were
the stoutest of the party—and each was squatted in a corner of
the aquarium, eyeing his rival with defiance. This ferocious
meditation the naturalist did not interrupt.

In another instance, four little common crabs were placed in
the same aquarium. One of them immediately helped himself
to one of his famished brethren, and a second came to share the
coveted repast. The poor little crab was with the greatest
difficulty rescued from his unnatural brothers; and at last, when
he was delivered from their clutches, it was at the expense of
seven out of his ten claws; but when put into a separate reser-
voir he did not seem to bemoan his mutilation, but soon was
apparently happily devouring a piece of mussel on the floor of
the aquarium. Ninety-four days after, the little invalid changed
his carapace and recovered his lost claws; they were less than
the three he had retained after his encounter, but in all respects
they were perfect.

Though essentially carnivorous, the crustaceans sometimes eat
marine vegetables, especially when in want of food; and there are
certain of the tribe who appear to prefer fruits to animal matter;
such, for instance, is the taste of the ¢ree-crab, a native of the
Polynesian Islands, which lives on the cocoa-nut. This crab is
provided with strong, thick pincers, its other claws being compara-

302 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

tively slender. At the first glance, it seems impossible that such
a creature could possibly penetrate a cocoa-nut, surrounded as it
is by a massive, fibrous covering and protected by a firm, hard
shell; but M. Liesk, who has often watched the operation, tells us
that the crab strips off the matted covering, fibre by fibre, always
beginning at that end where the dimples so characteristic of the
cocoa-nut shell will be found. When the shell is exposed, it strikes
it with its great pincer-claws until an opening is made, then, by
means of the slender claws, it extracts the white contents of the
nut. This adroitness is another testimony to the instincts of the
crab tribe.

The crustaceans have eyes of two kinds, simple and compound.
The first is sessile and immovable, somewhat protruding, and very
convex. The other eye is carried upon a short, calcareous stem,
and is composed of a considerable number of little eyes, sym-
metrically agglomerated together. It resembles a skull-cap which
is made up of facets, these being so many distinct eyes. The
compound eye of the lobster is thus composed of 2,500 eyes.
The simple eye is myopus, or short sighted, the composite eye
has a longer range. This wonderful organ is found in the fossils
of the first crustaceans which lived upon the globe. The charac-
teristic fossil of the earliest formation of stratified rocks—the
Silurians—is the 77rzlobitfe, and here is an argument against the
theory of development, for we find almost the first inhabitant
of the Paleozoic seas to be in possession of the most highly
developed eye.

The crustaceans are endowed with a delicate sense of smell,
and by this means discover their prey. If a little dead fish be
placed under a stone in a pool of sea-water, the crabs ensconced in
the neighbouring hoies will soon make their appearance, attracted
to the feast by the smell. Many naturalists consider that the sense
of smell resides in the antenne, and if this be the case, the
quickness of the sense is explained by the length of the “ feelers.”

Many of the crustaceans do not swim, but they walk on the
ground whether in or out of the water. Their course is often
oblique, and they can use their claws as well in going backwards
as forwards.

On the Syrian coast there is a crab, the Ocypoda cursor, which

THE CRUSTACEANS. 303

has, by its rapid movements, acquired the name of the horseman ;
but it may be doubted if its pace be equal to that of a horse.

The Large-clawed Porcellana (Porcellana platycheles) is a bad
swimmer ; by certain movements of its abdomen it can just manage
to come up from the water and again descend ; but usually it lies
crouched under a rock for months together, its long antenne
stretched out to examine any object which may be in its immediate
neighbourhood. Its jaw-claws are constantly being thrown out,
and pulled in towards its mouth. These claws are like reaping-
hooks; they are formed of five joints, and on their inner edge are
furnished with rows of stiff bristles; the microscope shows that
these bristles themselves are provided with fine hairs standing out

THE COMMON SHRIMP.

(Crangon vulgaris.)

perpendicularly from their sides. In the movements of retraction,
these numerous filaments cross each other so intimately, that they
form a minute trellis-work, by which all the animalcules in the
water are brought into the mouth of the crab, and when the claws
are thrown forward, all the crab ejects is swept away from its
neighbourhood ; by this means the creature can obtain the nourish-
ment necessary for its existence without changing its place.

Shrimps have at the extremity of their first pair of claws an
appendage not unlike a rake. The teeth of this apparatus are fine
hairs standing out of the membrane perpendicularly. The creature
by this organ gathers together the minute particles which the next
pair of claws passes on to the mouth. This rake also serves the
purpose of a brush with. which the little crustacean cleanses its
bent claws and the lobes of its tail. When busy with its toilet
the shrimp stands erect on its long claws, and its tail is bent under
its body, in order to permit the first pair of claws to brush it.

304 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Crustaceans have separate sexes, the males not differing greatly
from the females. This, however, is not universally the case, for
there are crustaceans which exist as parasites on certain fish—
among which the male is much smaller than the female—and here
the order of governance must be reversed, the women must be the
directors of the men, for they accommodate their husbands with a
lodging in a groove in their backs. The false claws (as we may
term the short appendages in the drawing we give) are employed
by the female for holding her eggs, which she carries about with
her. A shrimp has been known to have 6,807 eggs; a crab,
21,699; other species are still more prolific, producing even as
many as 100,000 at once: three or four such crustaceans would be

THE LARVA OF A COMMON CRAB,

sufficient in six months to engender a crustacean nation equal
to the population of Portugal. The crustacean eggs are generally
red or yellow, and small. They have a property, which although
peculiar, is shared by the eggs of many other species: that is,
they may be preserved dry for a considerable time, and yet retain
their vitality, and under favourable circumstances produce young
crustaceans. When the eggs are hatched, they become more
transparent and larger; the membrane which encloses being thin
and transparent, the eyes of the yellow embryo can be plainly seen
within it.

The yellow, or the yolk, does not communicate with the belly
of the embryo, as is the case in the embryo of a fowl, but with the

THE CRUSTACEANS. 305

back. The larvae do not bear much resemblance to their parents,
indeed, they often appear in most peculiar forms, as may be judged
from the drawing we give of the larva of a crab.

Naturalists used to consider these creatures a separate and
distinct species. They are all roundish, and have a long projection
pointing in advance like the beak of the ibis, and another nearer
the tail like the prick of a gooseberry bush. The body is slender,
terminating ina tail generally ramified. Its claws are long, and |
provided with bunches of vibratory cils, by whose aid they can
swim with great rapidity. As we know, the adult crab is not
organised for swimming ; this is another instance of that peculiar
law which constitutes the young of certain creatures upon a dis-
tinctly different model from their parents.

U

CHAPTER XX XIIT-
LOBSTERS, CRAW-FISH, AND SHRIMPS.

THE crustaceans to whose description this chapter is assigned
are a source of great income to the maritime populations. The
lobsters and the craw-fish are considered to occupy the first rank
in the crustacean nation. The first have very long, prehensile claws
and a long, slender body; the latter have but small claws, but a
larger spiny body, so rough that Tiberius Casar lacerated the
face of a poor fisherman, by causing him to be rubbed with a
craw-fish.

The lobsters commence spawning in October, the craw-fish in
September, and they terminate the period of their reproduction
with the opening of the new year. The females of both species
are very prolific, but it seems that the craw-fish lays considerably
more eggs than the lobster—while the one produces 20,000, the
other lays 120,000. These eggs are in clusters joined together by
a peculiar, humid fluid. The manner in which the lobster arranges
her eggs is interesting, for whether she bends or straightens her
tail, they are never exposed to the light. Sometimes the eggs
are left almost unmoved, and one of the neighbouring claws is
used to slightly paint them with the viscid humour. When first
emitted from the ovary the eggs are small, and seem to increase
during the time they hang under the tail, and before they are
committed to the sand or water, they have become the size of
small shot.

The evolution of the germ is in progress six months. At the
moment of the hatching the female, by a movement of her tail,
shakes the eggs backwards and forwards, and by this means breaks
the shell, and frees the larva; in one or two days she has got
rid of the whole of her burden. As soon as born, the young
crustaceans leave the mother and rise to the surface of the water
in order to gain the open sea. They swim ina circle. This roving

LOBSTERS, CRAW-FISH, AND SHRIMPS. 307

life they do not long enjoy, for in about forty days they lose
their natatory organs, and, no longer able to keep on the surface,
they sink to the bottom, and there betake themselves to the

A CRAW-FISH DISTENDED WITH EGGS.

crawling, hiding life of their forefathers. Increasing in size, they
gradually approach the shore, and at length occupy the places
frequented by their past generations.

The form of the larva differs so much from that of the adult,
that it would be difficult, indeed impossible, to determine their
species, if we did not almost witness the hatching. Hence we

U 2

308 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

cannot wonder that former naturalists considered the young
craw-fish belonged to quite a distinct genus, which they termed
Phyllosoma.

LARVA OF THE CRAW-FISH.

The larvae have one peculiarity in common with their parents,
that is, they moult; they change their carapace four times in the
forty days of their roving life. Each time the carapace is replaced

YOUNG LOBSTERS SIX TIMES THEIR NATURAL SIZE. ,
(Az the period of thetr third moult.)

it is thicker, and as the tail is their chief oar, at last it becomes
so stiff as not to be able to make its swimming movements rapidly
enough, and so the larva sinks to the bottom.

LOBSTERS, CRAW-FISH, AND SHRIMPS. 309

According to M. Coste, the young lobster casts its shell from
eight to ten times in the first year, from five to seven in the second,
from three to four in the third, two to three in the fourth, and in
the fifth year it reaches its full growth, so that the lobsters which
come to our table, have changed their calcareous vest twenty-one
times.

Crustaceans are caught in panniers, or baskets of strong wicker-
work, which are in the form of two cones joined by their bases.
An opening at one end is, as it were, a pipe of willow wands through

LOBSTER CRATES.

-which the animal crawls; but when once in the basket it can never

again find the hole, for the pipe projects into the basket, and the
lobster only crawls on the sides of the pannier and cannot, or does
not rise to find the hole at the end of the pipe. The lobster crates
are not always of the form described; other shapes are drawn in
our illustration; however, the principle is always the same. We
have our chief supply of lobsters from Norway. They are brought
over in vessels specially fitted for the purpose. The hold of the
vessel is so arranged, that sea-water can be admitted into its
compartments, and one vessel can carry 7,000 or 8,000 lobsters ;
the importation is sometimes very great in the season, as many
as 30,000 arriving in a day.

310 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

When they are caught they can always be preserved - until
wanted for the market. In the illustration, a wooden box pierced
with holes is used for this purpose; the captive crustaceans are
placed in this, and it is lowered into the sea.

Mr. Richard Scowell at Hamble, near Southampton, has built
a reservoir of brick lined with cement, and the lobsters are not able
to climb up its walls. Fifty thousand of them can be kept here
for five or six weeks. . They are readily fished out of the water
by touching them with a stick, which they seize with their pincers.
When on land, to prevent them doing harm by their terrible nip,
a piece of wood is fixed between their open claws.

Shrimps are very favourite little crustaceans. They are every-
where eaten. They strongly resemble the craw-fish, save that:
they have no prehensile claws. Fishing for shrimps is simple
enough. It is only necessary to enter the water as high as the
knee, and push in advance a wide-mouthed purse net; the mouth
of the net is fixed to a semi-circular hoop, and a stout stick so
fastened that the shrimper pushes the flat side of the hoop along
the sand before him. A glance at our plate will, if the mode
be not already known, at once indicate the manner of “shrimping.”
Where the beach is not favourable for the operation of shrimpers
the fishing is carried on in boats. A long net is arranged between
two boats which are pulled in the same direction, the net at stated
times being taken out of the water and the captives secured.
This, however, is seldom resorted to, the shore fishing being almost
universally followed. Our French friends are gallant enough to
consign the catching of the shrimp to the women. During the.
winter the shrimps abandon the shore, and betake themselves to
deeper water. To catch them in their retreat, it is necessary to
let down baskets constructed after the fashion of the lobster crates;
but, generally they are made not of wicker, but of net, stretched
on a frame-work; the water, however, so destroyed the twine that
it was found necessary to renew the nets every month; now
galvanised iron wire is used, and proves to be an admirable sub-
stitute, it being able to resist the action of the sea-water for three
years. Like the lobsters, shrimps can be preserved alive in tanks,
into which the sea-water rises at the high tides.

Shrimps when boiled redden, but they never take so brilliant a

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Plate XIII.

LOBSTERS, CRAW-FISH, AND SHRIMPS. 311

colour as the lobsters and craw-fish. There is a species caught at
the mouth of the Garonne which do not change their colour when
boiled, but remain a greyish white; however, this anomaly appears
to be due to the fact that these shrimps inhabit fresh water for
some days before they are captured.

Other crustaceans are less sought after than the lobster, the
craw-fish, and the shrimp; yet, at Venice, not less than £20,000
worth of crabs are consumed in a year—four or five million
crustaceans. In London two and a half millions of lobsters and
crabs are eaten annually.

The alimentary use of the crustaceans is everywhere recognised,
so that the classification proposed by Count Marsigli for the hard
shell inhabitants of the Mediterranean, if not scientific, is eminently
practical. He divided the crustaceans of the “Great Sea” into
those which are eaten, and those which are not eaten.

312

CHAPTER 2033s
THE HERMIT-CRAB.

THE Hermit, or Soldier Crab, is perhaps the oddest and most
curious of the crustaceans which inhabit the sea shore. It differs
from the rest of the crustacean tribe in this, that only its head and
breast are covered with a thick, calcareous crust, the rest of its
body being without protection, and therefore readily eaten by its
voracious brethren. But instinct has not deserted the hermit.
Fully aware of his vulnerable point, he prudently takes shelter in
some empty and deserted shell, whose shape somewhat approaches
what his own would have been, had Nature granted him such a
protection. But the hermit is by no means disposed to spend much
time in searching for a cast-off shell; if there happen not to be
one ready for his use, he attacks the first living shell-fish whose
coveted shell he fancies will serve his turn. Killing the mollusk he
eats the luckless tenant and then inhabits his house. At the
feeding or breeding times, the hermit extends his great claws out
of the orifice of the shell, as the illustration we append will show.
When the crab would change his place, he seizes with his claws the
nearest object, and then drags the shell forward; by this mode of
progression the undefended parts are never exposed.

When the tide has gone out, all over the shore you may see
a great number of shells of all shapes and sizes moving here and
there with a much more rapid motion than mollusks are capable
of. If you touch them, they abruptly stop, and you discover that
the inhabitant of the shell is not a mollusk, but a hermit-crab.

This habit of the creature of occupying a cell so nearly fitted
to his own size, has procured for him his names; for the hermit
occupies but a hole in a rock, and the soldier as he stands in his
sentry-box well nigh entirely fills it.

When the crab grows so that the shell becomes rather uncom-
fortably tight, he leaves its friendly protection and goes upon an

Mi a ’

COMBAT OF HERMIT CRABS.

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THE HERMI7-CRAB. SES

expedition to find another more suited to his increased bulk, and
being unscrupulous as to the means he uses, he has not long to
seek. It is interesting to watch a hermit in quest of a cell. When
the tide retires, the operation may frequently be seen. Carefully
and even defiantly looking around, to see if any of his many
enemies are on the look out, the hermit leaves his domicile;
gliding along on his somewhat distorted abdomen, he reaches a

THE HERMIT-CRAB.

(Pagurus Rernhardus.)

deserted shell. Like a man wishing to take a new house, he walks
round, inspecting it on every side, then he enters. Most probably
with his first choice he is not satisfied, and may be seen to try
several shells “to be let,” always upon the faintest sign of danger
hurrying back to his old and well-tried home.

In his successive removals, the little Sybarite chooses a
hermitage always larger than the last one he occupied, and does
not fail to exhibit a choice as to colour and architecture. The
hermits may be found domiciled in almost every species of shell ;

314 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

but they show a decided preference for habitations which are long
and spiral.

The hermit is very timid—most cowards are—and at the least
noise he draws himself into his shell, closing the aperture with his
large claws, and so tightly does he cling to his stolen house, that

A HERMIT IN HIS CELL.

(Dredged up from thirty fathoms.)

you may almost pull him limb from limb before he can be
dislodged. One great means of this adherence resides in the tail,
which has the power of adhering to the walls of the shell. And
yet with all his timidity he is a great glutton, eagerly devouring
anything which comes in his way. He does not hesitate to attack
live creatures, and when put into an aquarium, he has been known
to throw the whole of its peaceful inhabitants into the utmost
confusion by his insatiable rapacity.

THE HERMIT-CRAB. 315

It has been found possible to keep something like peace among
many hermits in the same reservoir ; but this was due, not to any
love of harmony in the creatures themselves, but only because the
cunningly contrived barricades at the apertures of their abodes so
well sustain the attack of an aggressor, that experience has taught
them that the only hope of conquest is when the attacked is not
in his fortress. In reality, the hermits are most quarrelsome; two
of them cannot meet without exhibiting signs of bitter hostility.
They each extend their claws, and try to find a weak point in the
other’s barricade; the reconnoitre generally proving to each that
an attack would be impracticable, they unwillingly withdraw.

But often such passages of arms as are depicted in Plate XIV.
may be witnessed ; the claws of the two combatants are extended
and the pincers open and shut snappishly; frequently they are
locked in each other’s embrace and roll over, generally, however,
they are more frightened than hurt. Mr. Gosse once witnessed
a contest which did not end so harmlessly. A hermit-crab met
a brother hermit who was better lodged than himself in a more
commodious, and altogether more desirable shell; in an instant,
before the hapless crab could throw up his barricades, he was
seized by the head, and with a violent jerk, dislodged and thrown
on the sand, and with no less rapidity did the victor enter the
coveted shell and take possession. Perhaps the combativeness of
the hermits is moré excusable than that of men, for while the
lords of creation destroy each other frequently for no assignable
reason, the crabs at least fight for a house.

A pretty species of sea anemone (Adamsia palliata) loves
to live with the hermit-crab, and exhibits sympathies with this
Ishmaelite of the shore, quite inexplicable. In an aquarium the
anemone invariably attaches itself to the shell which harbours a
crustacean, and it is almost a rule, that where the hermit is, there
is its friend the zoophyte. These two creatures seem to live in
perfect and intelligent harmony, and Mr. Gosse’s observations cer-
tainly go far to establish between them a reciprocal friendship.
This intelligent observer watched the proceedings of a hermit who
required a new habitation. Having fixed upon a shell in which
to take up his new abode, he returned to the old home, and with

316 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

great care detached from it his friend the anemone, he then carried
it to the new shell and deposited it on the top, actually giving the
zoophyte several gentle taps with his great claw, as though he
would say, “ There, my friend! be quick and attach yourself.”

Mr. Lloyd, when constructing the Portland Road, often witnessed
the same bond of union between the crustacean and its parasite
the anemone. One hermit he watched, which could not leave its
shell, although it had set its mind upon one in the neighbourhood,
because it was not able to detach the anemone and remove it also.

Another species of the crab has a companion in the mantle
anemone, and we are told that when the crab dies, the anemone
appears inconsolable and does not long survive his friend.

It is also well known that one of the annelids, the double-lined
Nereida, enters into a more intimate friendship with the hermit-
crab, it even lives in the same shell and shares with the crustacean
his lodging. The fishers of Weymouth who know this peculiarity,
when they want the worm—which is an excellent bait—seek for it
by breaking the shell tenanted by a hermit.

A hermit has been known, when he could not suit himself with
a shell, to make a home in a sponge. Another was discovered
inhabiting a hole in a piece of pumice-stone. In the Zoological
Gardens in Paris, in 1861, there was a hermit-crab who had actually
taken up his abode inside a living anemone; he trailed it along
with him wherever he chose. The anemone, when not very much
shaken, extended out his tentacles, and appeared not in the least
disconcerted at the strange occupancy of his digestive pouch. But
this singular fact is productive of many questions, to which it is
difficult even to suggest an answer. How did the anemone eat ?
Was it fed by the ejectments of the crab? How came it to pass
that the strong solvent fluids which the surface of the stomach of

the zoophyte exudes, did not take effect on the unprotected body
of the hermit ? .

There is a little creature—a member of this tribe ot crustaceans
—which selects a flat stone and lying down upon it, so protects its
back; it keeps the stone in this position by means of two of its
hindmost claws. The Dromia belong to the order Axnomoura,

THE HERMIT-CRAB. 317

and are generally found covered by the single valve of a shell,
which they also hold in its position by their claws, and thus carry
about with them a shield.

Mr. Spencer Bate put into a glass of water some sea-fleas,
along with some green ulva; he was surprised to find that in a
couple of hours the little creatures had rolled the sea-weed into a
tube, in which they were safely and peacefully housed, thrusting
their head and antennz out of the end of their sea-weed pipe.

The Amphithoe rubricata seeks under stones, or in the crevices
of rocks, or among the stems of the fuci, a sheltered spot where
it constructs a nest, which is composed of a silky material, and
when examined under the microscope appears to be woven most
delicately, while here and there through the fabric run thicker

threads, often spiral.

PINNOTHERES VETERUM.

The Pinnotheres veterum is a pretty, bright, rose-coloured crus-
tacean about the size of a pea; he takes up his lodging in the shell
of an oyster, and lives on terms of the closest intimacy with the
aristocratic bivalve. Pliny believed that the grateful crab returned
the hospitality of the oyster by lending the blind mollusk the
use of his eyes. Whenever a danger threatened, the guest pulled
the mantle of his host; at the signal the valves were shut, and
both the oyster and his friend placed in perfect security. Plutarch,
however, estimated the services which the pinnotheres rendered
the oyster differently. He says that the tiny crab acts as a
watchman, and when a little fish comes within the valves of the
mollusk, which are always open, the crab pinches the oyster,
which immediately closes its shell, and entraps the fish. The
prey thus secured, the pair then consume at their leisure. It is
needless to say that this is not the truth. The presence of the
pinnotheres in the shell of the oyster, is entirely due to the instinct
of self-preservation. This timorous little crustacean is found not

318 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

only with the oyster, but also in the shell of other bivalves, such
as the mussels, the modiolas, and the pinne—indeed it is from this
last mollusk that its name is derived, which literally signifies,
the guardian of the pinne. Mr. Thompson examined eighteen
mussels on the Irish coast, and they contained no less than four-
teen of these fea-crabs. These were all females, but it is not
uncommon to find in the same shell a male, with two or three
females, and many young ones.

The pea-crab is not selfish, for when it finds a good home it
has an immediate desire to share its fortune, and soon the bivalve
is favoured with a little colony of parasites. Thus again we are
reminded of the harmony of Nature. Nothing is isolated; the
order of life is as a chain, all the links fit into each other; not
only is this the case in the economy of life, but in the inanimate
world there is nothing independent. Every act of Nature has a
cause which is not resident within itself, and bequeaths an effect
which becomes the cause of a subsequent movement.

With the crustaceans we terminate the invertebrate kingdom,
and now we enter upon the highest of the divisions of the animal
kingdom—the Vertebrata. Thus we have passed step by step
from the simple to the compound—a word which we have used in
three senses :—first, we applied the term to a moving or a fixed
colony made up of a number of individuals so joined that they
could not be said to be absolutely distinct. Again, in the case
of the zoonites, where a number of distinct organisms were dis-
covered forming the same animal, the creature was said to be
compound ; and now for the third time we use the word to express
a higher and more complicated structure.

319

CHAPTER XXXV.
FISHES.

FISH are, par excellence, the inhabitants of the ocean. They
pass their whole existence in its waters; here they are born, here
they live, and here they die; moreover, they are the most
prominent of its occupants, they are larger, more numerous, and
more varied than any other of the marine races. In the first
chapter of our work, we stated that seven-tenths of the whole
surface of the earth was covered by the seas. It is not surprising
that one struck with the vast extent of the waters, exclaimed,
“ Our globe has been made for the fishes !”

The fish may be considered as the connecting link which joins
the vertebrates and the invertebrates. Their organisation is more
complicated than any of the animals we have as yet considered.
Pliny enumerated ninety-four species of fish, Linnaeus increased
the number to four hundred and seventy-eight, and now we reckon
in the guild of the finny tribes, no less than 13,000 families, one-
tenth of which confine themselves to the fresh waters.

The fish are not scattered over the regions of the ocean without
any order or regulation, but just as is the case with land animals,
instinct teaches them to congregate in those localities best adapted
for their existence ; the habits of many species are strongly defined,
and sometimes the limits of their localities are very restricted, at
other times a species is found extending over a large area.

Unlike the land animals whose distribution is regulated by
latitude, the fish are affected by the depth of the water; this is
another consideration in the regulation of the distribution of species.
Some live quite on the surface; others never quit the depths; and
some pass their existence in the ooze and mud of the bottom.
True salt-water fish dislike the fresh water of the rivers, and are
therefore never found in estuaries; however, there are species which
prefer an estuary life, and some, as the salmon, pass part of their

320 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

time in the sea and the other in the rivers. We find the same
habits of life in the sea as on the land; some fish live in solitude,
others swim in shoals, some occupy the same localities all the year,
others congregate in vast numbers and migrate to warmer waters.

The typical form of the fish is too well known to need
description; it is perfectly adapted for the element which it
inhabits, and its shape is the most favourable for gliding through
a dense medium.

Belonging, as we have said, to the highest class of the animal
kingdom, their construction is very much more complicated than

SCORPAENA, OF THE ISLE OF FRANCE,

(Scorfena nesogallica.)

any which has attracted our attention; yet it is remarkable that,
throughout the very numerous species, scarcely any variation is
made; an evident relationship runs through the whole; still,
though their anatomical structure is so remarkably similar, their
physiognomy is often very different.

Whether these animals inhabit the ocean abysses, the shallows
of the shore, or the river estuaries, whether they are scaly or
shagreened, osseous or cartilaginous, their organic composition
remains the same, or almost the same, in its essential elements.

Amongst the fish, as in all other natural groups, we find
exceptional forms, curious and strange anomalies. Some are
corpulent monsters, round as bottles; some are as thin as boards
and the shark represented by our artist rejoices in a head like a

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FISHES. 321

mallet. Some are as broad as long; some unusually thin, with

scarcely a difference between their head and tail, while their gills

THE HAMMER-HEADED SHARK.
(Zygena tudes.)

are not unlike the holes in a flute. Then there is as much diversity
as can possibly be imagined in their scales—they are of all shapes,

THE TRIANGULAR TRUNK-FISH.

(Ostracion trigueter.)

sizes, and colours. They vary from a point to a plate; but are

always placed symmetrically, and generally overlying each other

like the tiles of a roof. The skin of the fishes is always lubricated
V

322 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

with a viscous secretion, and their tissue is penetrated by.an oily
fat, upon which the salt water has no action.

Some of these creatures are painted with brilliant colours, and
are robed in elegant costumes. They need not fear comparison
with the butterflies or birds of the gaudiest plumage. The mullet
and perch are clothed in scarlet; the mackerel and dolphin wear
coats shot with emerald; the pike has his breast mailed with
silver plates; while the salmon glides through the waters with a
metallic lustre. In fact, the finny tribes can find representatives
to furnish all the colours of the rainbow. However, for the most
part, the tints, vivid and bright though they seem, are evanescent,

THE MONOCENTRIS OF JAPAN.

(Monocentris Faponicus.)

and the least cause changes them from brilliancy to dulness; the
time of the year, the health of the fish, taking it from its native
element, all having their effect upon its colour. It was one of the
pleasures of the Romans to watch the rapidly changing hues of the
red mullet as it struggled in the agonies of death.

The property of phosphorescence seems to be enjoyed by some
of them; and, according to Borda, fish of this kind can be seen at
three fathoms depth in a calm sea.

Bennet describes a shark which emits a green, phosphorescent
light from the whole of the under surface of its body. He found
one individual whose light came as it were from one chamber. The
appearance of this monster was hideous enough in the daylight; but
in the dark, when luminous with an unearthly glow, it can be better
imagined than described. When the shark dies, which happens

FISHES. 323

in some three hours after it is taken from the water, the light
gradually fades, the gills and fins retaining the phosphorescence
longer than the rest of the body. The only part. of the whole
lower surface which was not luminous was a band on the throat.
In this peculiar species the fins are very small, and therefore the
motions of the shark are not quick. Bennet conjectures that the
phosphorescence is given to the fish in order that its prey may be

fy “fd ge

THE RED MULLET.
(Millus barbatus.)

attracted to its neighbourhood at night, for we know that fish
always do approach a light. Salmon and other fish are fre-
quently caught on the lakes by burning lights on the prow of
the boat, from which the fishermen spear the fish thus attracted.

Fish subsist upon the succulent plants of the marine vegetation,
on worms, shell-fish, and small crustaceans; some of them devour
other fish and even members of their own tribe. Might here is
right ; the great ones eat the small ones: irrespective of their race,

2

324 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

they will eat the junior members of their own family. They
swallow their prey without mastication, and frequently without
even biting it. A bull-head has been known to swallow a young
mullet, one and a half times as long as himself! John Barrow
reports that a dog-fish harpooned near Java had in its stomach
a number of bones which belonged to the head of a buffalo and
a calf, as well as fragments of a large tortoise. Briinnich, when

FATHER LASHER—THE MARINE BULL-HEAD.
(Cottus bubalis.\

studying fish at Marseilles, found a dog-fish in whose stomach
were two tunnies and a sailor dressed in all his clothes. Tales even
more remarkable than these are told, but we fear to trespass upon
the credibility of our readers. However, every book of travels
contains accounts of the ferocity of sharks, and how that many a
poor sailor has met his end from these marauders of the sea,
which generally follow in the wake of the ship.

Fish not only have their teeth set upon their jaws, but fre-
quently the roof of the mouth is also covered. The mammalia

FISHES. 325

have only three bones which are able to bear teeth, but fish
have eight. Their teeth vary in form ; generally they are conical
and pointed, sometimes they are depressed and flat. The
members of the ray family have their mouths furnished with
small ivory plates which are arranged like tesselated pavement.
Some teeth are long and curved, indeed more like hooks than
teeth. Perhaps of all the sea monsters the Sea-wolf, which
frequents the northern seas, has the most formidable dental array.
It has two kinds of teeth—incisors which are triangular and
serrated upon their edges, and flat grinders. Steller recounts an
adventure with a sea-wolf off the coast of Kamtschatka, in which
he says that the creature seized an iron lever between its jaws, and
snapped it like a rod of glass. Schoenfeld assures us that the wolves
can even leave the mark of their teeth upon the anchors. It is
said, but we have no absolutely authentic account, that there is
a fish in the southern seas which can browse upon the stony coral
stems as a cow crops the meadow grass. We know that some fish
have so many teeth, that they are so close together, that to the
touch of the finger the mouth seems lined with velvet.

The respiratory organs, or branchiz, exhibit very varied orga-
nisations. They are generally filaments, or little tubes, fixed in
parallel series to a kind of bony arch, and so forming a species
of fringe. In the Sea-pipe (Syugnathus acus) and in the Sea-
horse (Hippocampus) the branchiz rise in tufts.

The continued movements of the mouth and gills have induced
the popular idea that fish are constantly drinking water, hence
the proverb, “To drink like a fish.” This notion is, however,
erroneous, for the fish is not employed in drinking water, but in
breathing the air the water contains. The gills are apparatus
fitted for the separation of the small quantity of air the water
holds in solution from its liquid solvent. The truth of this is
easily proved. If gold and silver fish be placed in water which
has been boiled, and which therefore is not aerated, the suffocating
creatures come up to the surface of the water, finding that there

the liquid contains some little air.

It is the general notion that fish have no means of making any
sounds. This is not strictly true; though the most of them are

326 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

mute, yet some are capable of making noises. The Pristipoma
anas makes a groan which may be imitated in pronouncing the
syllables cozn-coin. The Wrasse gives a similar though a more
shrill cry. The Zwznzes cry like children when taken from the
water. The /7le-fish at the breeding time make a noise like
drawing a stick over the head of adrum. There has lately been
discovered in South America, in the Bay of Panguapi in the
province of Esmeraldas, a little white fish, with blue spots on
its back. Not only has it a voice, but it can sing. M. O. de
Thoron stayed a day at the place; he was pulling in his boat near

THE CIRCULAR AMPHACANTHUS.

(Amphacanthus doliatus.)

the water's edge, when he was struck by hearing several prolonged,
musical notes. Looking about, and seeing nothing, he asked a
boatman what the noise was. The man replied that it was the
singing of the fish, of which there were two kinds—the Szren@ and
the A/usico. Stopping the boat, he listened more attentively, and
heard a concert of voices; the tones were deep and sonorous, much
resembling the sound of a distant organ. They commence their
singing as the sun sets, and sing on—like the nightingale—through
the night; the presence of an audience does not deter their
performance.

Fish are provided with fzs, by which they are sustained and
propelled through the water. The fectoral fins take the place of

arms, and the wertral fins are in the position of legs. The relative

FISHES. R27,

position of these pairs of fins admits of some variation in the
different species; sometimes the pectoral fins are just above the
ventral, and sometimes the latter approach the tail. The other
fins are usually single. The cazda/ fin is the tail; the azaZ, which
is sometimes double, is on the under surface, near the tail; while
from the ridge of the back rise the dorsal fins, of which there are
sometimes one, two, or three. Hence the maximum number of
fins is ten—four in pairs, and six single. The fins are traversed
by rays, which vary in their consistence in different species.

It is needless to say that fish are perfect swimmers, being able
to turn in any way with the greatest rapidity, to dart forward, or
to stop suddenly at will, and with the greatest ease and precision,
The “gait” of their motion differs just as the walk of the members
of our species ; this is mainly owing to the different positions and
size of the fins as well as the shape of the body. They do not
all swim with the same strength. Some can resist the rush of the
most violent waves; while others, like the tunny and the diodon,
are borne upon the breast of. the currents, and transported, even
against their will, from one place to another.

A great variation is found in the form of the tail. Indeed,
from the mode in which this caudal appendage is formed, the fish
tribe is divided into two great classes. When the backbone is
prolonged into the tail, one lobe of the caudal fin is much larger
than the other, and therefore such fish are said to be heterocercal
(unequal lobed). This construction will be noticed in any of the
illustrations given of sharks. Upon this type were formed all the
Paleozoic fish, which are now found fossilised in the geological
formations below the new red sandstone. It was when the hetero-
cercals were predominant, in the old red sandstone period, that
fish-life on our globe reached its maximum. Ever since that now
remote age, the fish have gradually retreated from the supremacy
they held.

The heterocercals are now the exceptions, most of the members
of the finny race being homocercal, that is, having tails with equal
lobes; the fact being that the tail is a veritable fin, appended to
the end of the vertebral column; the backbone does not enter
the tail.

There is great diversity in tails. The Sea-horse (Hippocampus)

328. THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

has a long, lithe tail, which can be wrapped round the stems of the
algee and the coral, and even by its means many of these singular
creatures can hold themselves together. Some—like the Gurnard
—have very broad, thin fins, which look like sails. These extended
fins are used by some fish to make aérial flights, for there are
flying fish just as there are swimming birds. These fish rise some

THE GURNARD.

(Trigla gurnardus.)

few feet above the surface of the sea, and some of them can even
fly a mile; but as soon as their fins become dry they lose their
flexibility, and the fish falls down into its native element.

When the flying fish are pursued by a John Dory or a dolphin,
the poor creatures in their terror leap out of the water, only to
find an albatross, or some other of their winged enemies hovering
above to seize them ; dangers surround them on every side, and in
flying from one they run into another, and with difficulty is it that
they escape an untimely end.

The 7rigla lucerna is a flying fish, the interior of whose mouth

HISHES. 329

is luminous, so when a number of them at night, fly above the
surface of the water, they seem like shooting stars. At Malabar is

A SENNAL-FISH UPON A PALM TREE.

found a small fish called the Sennal, which loves to leave the
water, not, however, on wing, but it climbs two or three feet
up the stem of a palm tree which grows on the water's edge.

THE SENNAL.

Anabas scandens.)

Its respiratory apparatus must have the power of retaining a
certain quantity of water, and thus enable the animal to live some
time out of its native element.

330 THE WORLD OF THE SEA:

The Hassar (Doras costata) of Central America, when the swamp
it inhabits dries up, makes even long journeys across the country
by the aid of its scales and fins, in search of water. It is said that
it can endure even the hottest sun for many hours. If it find that
all the water has evaporated. like the leech, it forces itself into the
moist earth, and there remains until the water returns ; a proof that

fish are by no means wanting in intelligence.

The Remora, or Sucking-fish, has upon its head a flat disc, made
of a flexible and contractile material, and crossed by several ridges.
By means of this organ, the animal can attach itself to submarine
bodies, and so can put itself under the protection of a larger fish,
who carries his little attache with him wherever he goes. So the

THE SUCKING-FISH,

(Echeneis remora.)

remora passes through the water in perfect safety, and without the
slightest danger.

It was the belief of the ancients, that this curious fish could
impede, and even arrest the progress of a large vessel ; nay, their
credulity and love of the marvellous was such, that they asserted—
no amount of rowing, no sails, not even a tempest, could move
the ship from the spot where the remora first attached itself.
At the battle of Actium—Pliny seriously relates—the vessel of
Antony was held by this invisible object firmly in its place, and
from this cause Augustus gained the battle and the empire. In
speaking of this nautical wonder, the historian says, “Let the
winds blow as they will, let the tempests exert their rage, this
little fish commands their fury and sets a bound to their power.”

The ays lie in ambush to seize little animals which happen
to come within their reach.

The Epzbulus resort to the same stratagem, and when a young

FISHES. 331

fish comes in its neighbourhood, it has the power to shoot out its
jaws and so to engulf the imprudent wanderer.

The Azgler possesses some flexible appendages, which take
their rise just above its mouth; at their extremity hang lumps of
flesh. This peculiar arrangement is precisely as if a number
of fishing-rods with baits at the ends of their lines, had been
stuck into the head of the fish, in such a position that the baits
hung some little distance before its mouth. The angler lies hid
in the sedge, and he exhibits these lumps of flesh to attract the
attention of any curious passers-by, who come to nibble, and
are caught.

The Scorpena audaciously attacks, and even cruelly tears the
largest cod-fish, which is often twenty times larger than itself.
So that it is not invariably the case that the greater eat the less.

The Chelmons, which are found on the Asiatic coasts, are
remarkable for their long, tubular snout. They live on insects,
which they capture in a most peculiar manner. When a chelmon
observes a fly seated on a leaf overhanging the water, he cautiously
approaches, and elevating his snout above the water, brings down
the fly with a well-directed jet of water.

The Archer-fish of Java employs the same means, with the
same success in securing its food.

Nature has furnished fish with different means for resisting
their enemies. Some have their bodies covered with horny plates,
or garnished with sharp hooks. Some have the rays of their fins
so long and sharp, that they pierce the hand which incautiously
seizes them. Others have their whole body so covered with spines,
that they approach the appearance of a hedge-hog.

The Spiny Globe-fish or Diodon is defended in this manner.

The Sword-fish acquires his descriptive name from the fact
that the upper jaw is prolonged and flattened out into a species
of sword—a terrible weapon—with which he attacks the largest
of the marine inhabitants. In the British Museum there is a piece
of the keel of a vessel pierced through by the sword of a Xiphias.

The Saw-fish (Pristis antiquorum) has not a sword, but a
saw, a blade sometimes nine or ten feet long, projects out of its
muzzle. This weapon is very strong, and its edges are armed with
strong-pointed, sharp, osseous spines, placed at regular distances

332 THE WORLD OF THE SEA,

from each other. These saw teeth might be supposed to be the
teeth of the animal fixed in a prolongation of the jaw; this,
however, is not the case, the true teeth are small plates which
pave the interior of the mouth. With this terrible weapon the
monster can rip open the stomachs of the whales, or make horrible
gashes in the flanks of the seals.

The Surgeon (Acanthurus chirurgus) and the Doctor (A canthurius
ceruleus) are also armed with sharp blades; but these do not
spring out of their head, but are attached to the tail; the blades
are not long, and have some resemblance to lancets.

Almost all fish are furnished with a means of attack or defence.
But one—the electric-eel—has borrowed from the heavens one of
its destructive powers, and has taken into the world of the sea a
charge of that mysterious fluid which flashes from cloud to cloud,
terrifying the world beneath with the loud voice of its thunder.

The reproduction of the fish, we may almost say, is left to
chance; this is the reason why out of such multitudes of eggs
comparatively only a very small number of fish are hatched. At
the season of spawning, the females, led by instinct, make for the
shore, or for sand-banks which occupy shallow water, through
which the rays of the sun can penetrate, and here they deposit
their eggs; guided by the same mysterious power, the males soon
after arrive and impregnate the ova. It is not necessary that the
males and females should come together, or even see each other.

The 7Z2ttlebats (Gasterostens aculeatus) are exceptions to this
rule; and although they are not members of the ocean society,
but live in fresh water, yet we ask permission to leave our path
since they have left the ordinary track of fish production. When
the male

the proper period arrives—their St. Valentine’s day
begins to construct a nest of vegetable fibres, artistically interlaced.
The nest has two entrances, and when the work is completed Mr.
Tittlebat sallies forth in search of a wife. He soon finds some belle
of the stream, to whom, in a most unceremonious manner, he offers
his hand and heart, for, dispensing with all unnecessary forms, he
seizes the lady fair by her fins and drags her into the nest, escaping
himself by the second opening. The eggs being laid, the lady
leaves her room, and again joins the life of the stream. The

FISHES. 222

husband now enters, and gliding backwards and forwards over
the eggs impregnates them; if he considers that there is not a
prospect of a sufficient number of little tittlebats, he goes in quest
of a second lady, and compels her to go through the same process.
If now satisfied with the prospect of his family, he closes one end
of his nest, and places himself above the other orifice, where, as a
sentinel, he guards his treasure from any passing marauder.

Pellicier, Bishop of Montpellier, some time since, found that
the Godzes and the Sea-horses also construct nests for the reception
of their eggs.

Certain kinds of fish are not able to spawn in salt water,
therefore they leave the sea, and run up the streams, where they

THE FLYING HORSE.

(Pegasus volans.)

deposit their eggs. The most noted of this class are the Surgeons,
which leave the Caspian and Black Seas, which they inhabit in vast
shoals, and ascend the Danube and the Volga, and other rivers
which flow into them.

The Skhad-fish, whose flesh is not esteemed when it is in the
sea, is considered a delicacy when caught in the fresh water which
it periodically enters to spawn.

The most prized of these emigrating fish, however, is the
Salmon. The firm consistence of its flesh, its fine flavour, and its
rosy colour, make it preferred for the table perhaps more than any
other fish. The salmon seems to have the same instinct as the
storks and swallows; it returns year after year to the same river.
Some salmon were taken near Brest, and copper rings thrust
through the membrane of their tails; by this means they could
be recognised, and it was found they regularly returned each year.

The fecundity of fish is marvellous, and were it not that a

334 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

thousand causes tended to destroy their offspring, they would
multiply beyond all conception. An immense number of eggs
never hatch; the currents disperse them, the tempests injure them,
the sun dries them, and other animals destroy them. Hardly one
egg out of a hundred produces an embryo, and thousands of the
little fry are devoured. The chances of existence are so much
against them, that in this we can see the reason why they are
so prolific. It has been calculated that—

The red mullet produces ... a a ae $1,586 eggs.
The sole se S56 ‘A an mae 100, 362
The mackerel ... et te hse es 546, 681
The carp ee ee an si ts: 700, 000
The sturgeon ey = se ee as 1,467,856
The plaice * cb = BF ... 6,000,000
The turbot ans ae a a ... 9,000,000
The grey mullet ... se ye st ... 13,000,000

Soon after the egg has been laid, there appears upon the surface
of an interior globe a white spot, which upon close examination
appears like several small drops of oil; in some eggs one or two
hours are sufficient to produce this spot, but in salmon roe it does
not make its appearance for eight or ten. The interior membrane
begins to fold itself, at first enwrapping half the egg; this coat
increases until only about a tenth of the interior globe is visible,
and this begins to give signs of organisation. In a little time the
embryo can be discerned occupying a quarter of the circumference
of the egg; gradually the form of the little fish appears, with its
eyes as black points. After this the hatching is soon completed.
This process requires a week in the case of the carp, twenty days
in the roach, and two or three months in the trout and salmon.

Generally, the young fish swim off as soon as they are hatched.
The salmon fry, when they come out of the egg, carry a large
bladder-like vesicle attached to the abdomen. This seriousiy
encumbers their flight from their many enemies, but it contains
nourishment by which the young fish is supported until it can
feed itself. Until this time, it hides itself away, even from the
light, dwelling in seclusion five or six weeks. Ordinarily, the
mother takes no care of her progeny, and yet there are exceptions
to the rule.

The Hassar (Doras costata), whose travelling propensities we

FISHES. 335

have noticed, constructs a flat nest something like the magpie’s.
This, however, is only the roof, for the real nest is in the centre
of the structure, a hole being left for the entrance of the fish.
When the natives wish to catch the fish, they surround the
nest with a net, then tap it; the hassar, enraged at the dis-
turbance, bristles his spines, darts out, and is caught. The male
fish shows much affection even for the eggs before they are
hatched, and consequently before they exhibit any signs of life.
It is said that the tittlebat, after having defended his nest and
its eggs, undertakes the protection of the young progeny, just
as a hen looks after her chickens.

The Pzpe-fish (Syngnathus acus) presents a still more remark-
able instinct. Beneath the tail of the male fish are two soft
projections, so close together that they form a pouch. In this
are deposited the eggs of the female. Thus in this remarkable
fish the eggs are submitted to a process of incubation. When
the young are hatched they follow their father, and whenever a
danger threatens they seek protection in the pouch, like the young
kangaroos, only the marsupials fly to their mother, not their father.

We can hardly believe Plutarch when he says that the shark
takes as much care of its young as any living creature. He
asserts that the parents even dispute who shall feed, and teach
their offspring to swim, and when an enemy bears down upon
them, the little creatures retreat for protection into the mouth of
the parent. Happily, the historian’s account of the habits of the
shark do not affect his credibility when he describes the habits
and lives of great men.

The sea is full of treasures which she gives out of her ample
bosom to the inhabitants of her shores. With fishing lines, nets,
drags, and numberless implements, the denizens of the ocean world
are secured. No laws are made to regulate the pillage, and a
source of great wealth is permitted to be abused. Many millions
of fish and crustaceans are yearly caught, which are either too
small for use, or are perhaps gravid with spawn, and thus a reckless
waste of a valuable commodity goes on. Our French neighbours
are alive to the evil, and are engaged in finding a remedy, in
framing restrictive laws, which may regulate the taking of fish,

3360 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

and what is probably of more use, large establishments are being
erected for pisciculture. This branch of industry is not new.
The Chinese have pursued it from time immemorial, and the
Romans bred fish, partly for amusement, and partly to supply
their tables. There is but one method. Reservoirs are built near
the shore, so that the waters of the high tides can sweep into
them ; in these tanks the fish are kept, looked after, fed, and
preserved, precisely as we do with our cattle.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE PISCICULTURE ESTABLISHMENT AT HUNINGUE.

There are many of these establishments upon the French
coast, and we are slowly following the good example. As
yet our attention is chiefly turned to salmon and trout culture.
Already the attempts have been crowned with great success, and
we have been enabled to increase the number of river fish
materially ; besides stocking the rivers of New Zealand and
Australia. This idea of preserving and watching over the hatching
of the eggs of salmon and trout, dates back to the middle of the
seventeenth century.

FISHES. 337

It is known that when the salmon ascend the streams from the
sea, they do so in order to deposit their eggs in the fresh water.
The female fish by means of her nose and tail, hollows out a
furrow, throwing up the gravel in such a position, that the force
of the stream is broken and cannot carry away the roe which
she deposits. By adopting this plan, she secures for her eggs a
constant change of fresh water, which is absolutely essential for

THE EXTERIOR RESERVOIRS, HUNINGUE.

their development. Guided by unerring instinct, the male fish
discovers the deposit of eggs, and covers them with “soft spawn,”
or “milt;” this matter disseminates itself ina milky cloud through
the water and coming in contact with the eggs, imparts to them the
power of development, and immediately the process of life com-
mences its wonderful course.

The clever naturalist Jacobi, conceived the idea of placing the
eggs thus impregnated in an artificial stream of water, so that the
process of their hatching could be closely watched, and the

W

338 THE WORLD OF THE SEA,

young fish perfectly protected from harm. This was the origin of
pisciculture, a branch of industry which is daily being pursued upon
a larger scale. Many experiments were made under the direction of
the French Academy of Sciences, in the streams which flow down
the valleys of the Vosges, and models were made from the apparatus
sent from all parts of the world to our Exhibition in 1862. The

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A GENERAL VIEW OF THE FISH-PONDS OF CONCARNEAU

best suggestions of these were embodied in an apparatus erected
in the laboratories of the College of France. Upon the success
of this experiment, M. Coste was commissioned to plan upon a
large scale, an establishment for the culture of fresh-water fish at
Huningue, and for salt-water fish at Concarneau.

The former establishment is really a large hatching apparatus.
The buildings contain tanks for incubation, and basins for the
reception of the embryos just hatched. Reservoirs outside the
building are provided for the fry, in order to harden them to the

changes of temperature.

FISHES. 339

A great number of young fish are sent from this establishment
to the rivers and lakes of France, as well as to neighbouring
countries.

EGGS OF THE BLACK=-MOUTHED DOG-FISH.
(Squalus Catulus.)

The fish-ponds of Concarneau are for the rearing of salt-water
fish. There are some reservoirs in which the fish are preserved,
and others still larger for rearing crustaceans, which seems to be the
most profitable part of the undertaking. In the aquariums, every

Wi

340 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

possible phase of marine life may be seen in full vigour—the
voracity of cuttles; the moulting of the crabs; the incubation of
the plaice; the nests of the sea-horse, and all the wonders of the
world of the sea, may here be witnessed. We give an illustration
taken from the aquarium at Concarneau. The black-mouthed
dog-fish lays some eighteen eggs, these it attaches by tendrils
to the rocks, or to the submarine vegetation, and here they are
anchored until they are hatched.

Nothing can be more interesting than to watch the process of
submarine life, every day bringing something new to rivet our
interest or excite our wonder. An attempt is being made to raise
a company for the purpose of building similar reservoirs at
Brighton. We sincerely hope they will succeed, and thus bring
before the public the wonders which the water shields from
ordinary observers. It is only by observation that we can arrive at
the habits of the inhabitants of the sea, and close observation is
only possible when the animal is enclosed within the transparent
walls of an aquarium; and when we remember that our success in
pisciculture is entirely measured by our knowledge of the wants
and habits of the fish, we at once recognise the absolute necessity
of closely attending to the life of the aquarium, and by this means
we shall arrive by the shortest route at the commercial success of
the undertaking.

341

CHAPTER, XXXVI.
THE HERRING.

THE constant demand made upon the boundless resources of the
sea, yields every year to fishermen an enormous income. It is
said that the product of our English fisheries amounts to no less
than 60,000,000 sterling. A large proportion of this immense sum
is yielded by the herring, a fish so common, that it is unnecessary
to describe it, for every one has seen it, if not in its native element,
at any rate, in its dried and salted condition. The dark blue of
the back, the silver of the belly, only need a little freshening, and
the fish as it was taken out of the water is easily imagined.

THE HEAD OF A HERRING,

(Clufea harengus.)

The herrings congregate in shoals so immense, that their
number defies all calculation. At certain times of the year, they
leave the northern seas and descend upon the coasts of Europe.
Philippe de Maiziéres wrote to Charles VI.—“ The herrings in
their passage from the North Sea into the Baltic, during the
months of September and October, are in such numbers, that
they may be cut with a sword.”

The herrings glide rapidly upon the surface of the water, and
the light flung back by their scales seems reflected from bands
of nacre or strips of burnished metal, contrasting pleasingly with
the azure of the sea, and covering the whole surface with a
glimmering light.

From our engraving, it will be seen that the lower jaw of the
herring protrudes a little beyond the upper, both being furnished

342 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

with small teeth; and the tongue is covered with papille strong
enough to retain a hold on their prey. They love to thrust their
noses out of the water, as if to inhale the air, and as the millions
of their hosts rush along, a sound is produced as if a shower of
heavy rain were falling.

Certain species of whales and flocks of sea-birds accompany the
migratory shoal, destroying the fish in great numbers. Wherever
they go, they always find a warm reception; they are universal
favourites; and yet, in spite of the triple alliance of men, birds,
and fish, whose powers of destruction are all levelled against them,
they seem not in the least diminished, but come on in intermin-
able phalanxes. Their powers of reproduction are quite capable
of coping with the vigorous efforts made to destroy them. When
we find some of these fish carrying 70,000 eggs, we can very well
imagine that as many are born as are captured, and thus the
population of the herring nation is always kept up to its comple-
ment, And is it not something more than chance which has
ordained that a fish so admirably adapted for the sustenance of
man, should exist in inexhaustible numbers ?

From the earliest times the herring-fishery has been a source
of wealth to maritime people; as far back as 709, we find from
a chronicle of the monastery of Evesham, that the fishermen of
that time were occupied in it.

Authentic accounts record, that in 1030, fishing-smacks left
Dieppe for the North Sea to catch herrings, and in 11095, the city
of Dunwich equipped vessels for the same purpose. It was in the
twelfth century that the Dutch discovered the mine of wealth
the sea brought to their very coasts; ever since that time, the
herring-fishery has been to that persevering people the main
source of their income.

It was a Dutchman named Benkel who first discovered the
art of herring-curing, and laid the foundation of the great industry
of his country ; in recognition of his services, 200 years after his
death, the Emperor Charles V. did him the honour of eating a
herring on his tomb.

The quantity of herrings taken in our seas is astonishing. The
fishermen of Yarmouth equip 400 boats, from forty to seventy
tons each ; the largest of these are manned by a dozen men. The

THE HERRING. 43

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x

produce of the season yields as much as £700,000. Three boats
in 1857, belonging to one man, had taken 3,762,000 fish. The
Scotch fishers are not behind the English in their war upon the
herrings. Even as far back as 1826, there were 40,000 boats sent
from the Scottish ports to the fishery. In 1854, from Wick alone
920 boats were sent. In 1603, the value of the herrings exported
from Holland was £50,000,000; 2,000 boats were employed in
the undertaking, and 37,000 sailors.

Block says, that in his time the Dutch salted nearly 624
millions of herrings, and it is a saying in the Low Countries, that
Amsterdam is founded on the heads of these fish. But with the
decay of the nation, this branch of industry has fallen off.

FISHING FOR HERRINGS.,

However, the herring-fishery still holds its position as the first
of the sea industries. The fishers of Northern Europe call it the
great, and that of the whale the //¢¢/e, fishery. There is some
reason in the transmutation of the terms ; for, although the size
of the individual herring is not to be compared to that of the
cetacean monsters, yet the numbers of the herrings compensate
for their size. Cuvier tells of a Dieppe fisherman, who in one
night captured 280,000, and threw as many back into the sea—
560,000 herrings would bear a favourable comparison with a whale.

In 1781, the village of Gothembourg, in Sweden, exported
136,649 barrels of herrings, each containing 1,200 fish, giving a
total of 163,978,800.

The fishing is conducted during the night. Each boat carries
a lantern, not only to avoid collisions, but also to attract the fish.
It is right to say, that the idea of herring migration, although still

344 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

popular, is giving way to observation which tends to prove that the
fish inhabit the open sea, and approach the shore at the spawning
season. As proof positive that the migration theory is incorrect,
herrings may be found at some point or other round our coasts at
all seasons of the year; but when they come in vast shoals, they
are gravid with roe, this aceounts for the fact that the herrings we
eat are usually full of eggs or milt, as the soft roe is called.

As soon as the eggs are deposited, they again swim out to
the open sea, and frequently, as their visit to the shore is but short,
the shoal retires before the boats have time to assemble from the
neighbouring villages. This proved so often the case in Norway,
that constantly the inhabitants of a fiord, who almost depend on
the herring-fishing for their living, were left in destitution till the
next season. To remedy this, in 1857, the Norwegian govern-
ment erected an electric telegraph along the coast, so that one
village might communicate with the rest, when a herring-shoal is
discovered in the offing.

The people who live in the interior, leave their farms and wood-
cutting, and migrate to the shore to gather in the harvest of the
sea; they carry with them nets, which they have made in the
winter evenings. When a shoal of herrings runs up one of their
narrow fiords, they place a long net over the bar at its mouth, and.
so entrap the whole. The fish are sold either to merchants in the
neighbourhood, or taken in the boats to Bergen, where there
are great storehouses for the salted and dried herrings.

As the season advances, the shoals go southwards, where they
find the population on the alert for their arrival; finally, having
deposited their spawn, they leave the coast and make off into the
deep sea, When not enclosed in the fiords, they are taken in the
ordinary manner, that is, a net two or three hundred yards long, is
let down in the midst of the shoal; it is supported on floats, a large
skin float, “the dog,” being attached to its end. The meshes of the
net are of such a size, that the fish as they thrust their heads
against the perpendicular wali of net, find themselves caught by
their gills, or fins, so that they cannot extricate themselves. The
nets are allowed to remain all night, and in the morning the fishers
haul them in. Sometimes from the number of fish entangled, it
is necessary to use the capstan. They are packed in casks, which

THE HERRING. 345

are made of oak—for other woods impart a flavour to the fish—
each layer being completely covered with salt. Red herrings are
those which are opened and then smoked.

In 1862, the Norwegian fisheries produced 659,000 tons of
herrings; about a quarter of this was used for home consumption,
and the rest exported, bringing a return of about £360,000.

Oil can be extracted from the herrings as well as from the
whales. They are boiled for five or six hours in fresh water, and
upon cooling the oil rises to the surface. It is purified by filter-
ing, or by simple decantation, and then put into barrels. The
residue is called fangrum, and is considered an excellent manure.

346

CHAP Tila 2 xieex ay
THE SARDINE.

THE Sardine (Clupea Sardina) is the commercial name of the
Pilchard ; a name which it derives from the Island of Sardinia,
around whose shores it is taken in great abundance. ‘This little
delicate fish has long been a favourite, even in times before the
present mode of preserving it came into vogue. It is mentioned
by the ancient mythologists, as forming one of the many dishes
which graced the wedding breakfast of Hebe. It is an elegant fish,
has a slender graceful body, generally three or four inches long.
When in the sea, its back is a bright greenish blue ; but, when life
has gone, the freshness of its colour fades; the lower part of its
body is a silvery white, and as it darts through the clear, blue
water in the sunlight, it forms a pretty object, its graceful motions,
its clear colours, its glittering sides—covered as if with nacre—all
combining to give it a place among the beauties of the world
of the sea.

The pilchards are found, not only in the Mediterranean, but in
the North Atlantic and the Baltic. Like the herring, they traverse
the seas in huge columns; but whence they come, or whither they
go, no one can tell. They inhabit the deep seas, approaching the
shores at the spawning season, yet, like the herring, the pilchard
is to be found at every period of the year. On the coast of
Cornwall, pilchard fishing is one of the staple industries. The
whole line of coast is on the gue vzve from the appearance of the
first shoal, which generally finds its way to the shore about the
beginning of October. The Cornish villages employ a man as a
look-out, or “ huer;” he is posted on a cliff, where he commands an
extensive sea view. A shoal of pilchards in the distance appears
like the shadow of a cloud upon the sea; as it approaches the
shore, thousands of fish may be seen jumping from the water and
spangling the surface with the tiny reflections from their silvery

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THE COAST OF

SARDINES OFF

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Plate XVI.

THE SARDINE. 347

sides. Ata signal from the huer, the village boat is manned and
put out into the bay, carrying the great net—the seine—which is
five or six hundred yards long, and about twelve fathoms deep.
This net has a very small mesh, and costs some 4120. The
“shooters” who man the boat, keep their eye upon the huer, who
stands with a bush in his hand, by which he guides the boat; as
soon as the shoal is well in the bay, he gives the signal, and the
men begin to pay out the net; the lower side is weighted with lead
and rapidly sinks, while a line of cork floats keeps the other edge
on the surface of the water. Cautiously and silently, the seine is
cast outside the doomed shoal. Now all anxiety is at an end, the
extremities of the net are gradually pulled near the shore and
made fast, and an impassable barrier is between the pilchards and
their native sea.

Another boat, with another net—the “tuck’”—now arrives upon
the scene of action. This net is cast inside the seine, in order to
bring the fish to the surface. When all is ready, a flotilla of boats
and barges puts off from the shore, every man, woman, and child,
full of excitement, either finds a seat in the boats, or stands upon
the beach. The men shout, the dogs bark, and above the din rises
the steady chorus of the haulers, “Yo! heave ho!” At last the
shoal is borne upon the surface, a glittering mass of captives, each
one in a frenzy of fear making leaping efforts to escape; but their
captors dip amongst the thick live mass, buckets and baskets, and
empty the fish into the boats; laden to the very gunwales, they are
rowed to shore, and again go off for another load; thus the whole
shoal is secured, and the villagers celebrate their day’s success in
drinking prosperity to the nation of pilchards.

On the opposite side of the Channel, the mode of fishing is
more like that which we have described in taking the herring ;
they cast their nets at night, the meshes being just large enough to
admit the head of the sardine, but not allowing the fish to pass, it
is thus detained by its fins or gills. The net having been cast in
a curve, they frighten the fish towards it, and as soon as the
corks which are attached to its upper edge sink beneath the sur-
face, it is a sign that a great many pilchards are entangled in the
meshes. The fishers then haul in their nets and secure the fish.
This operation is exhibited in Plate XVI.

348 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

When the sardines are plentiful, a ton can be taken at one
sweep of the net, and after one expedition, a boat will return with
25,000 or 30,000 fish. The pilchard fishing continues five or six
months, and in this time the Bretagne fishers have been known
to take 7,500,000,000 of the fish, which when sold fresh, would
realise £300,000. The Basque fishermen use a net of a different
description, a sack net with a ring of horn, which is drawn through

the water.

Sardines are prepared in many ways; sometimes they are
merely salted, sometimes they are packed in cases, and between
each layer a quantity of salt is strewed, and in this way they are
sent to the market. Or, again, after remaining packed in barrels
for a month, they are then washed, and submitted to pressure, and
by this means the oil and brine they contain are squeezed out.

Sardines prepared with salt mixed with red ochre, are fre-
quently sold for anchovies.

Generally, however, sardines are preserved in oil. The mode
in which they are thus prepared, is as follows :—When they come
from the boats, they are packed in baskets, 200 or 300 in each,
women receive them, and with a dexterity acquired by practice,
they cut off the head, open the fish and clean out the interior with
one cut ; they are then tossed into brine, where they are left for a
few hours; and on being removed they are thoroughly washed and
then laid on wicker panniers to dry, when dry they are plunged
into boiling oil, where they cook for some minutes; they are then
packed in the well-known tin boxes, filled with oil and the lid
soldered down. In order to ensure perfect preservation, the
boxes are boiled in water. In some of the Arabian countries,
according to Marco Polo, the inhabitants dry the sardines, and
after reducing them to powder, make them into cakes.

But to enjoy the delicate flavour of the pilchard, it must be
eaten a few hours after it has been caught. When quite fresh the
skin easily peels off, and the flesh leaves the bones in two small

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fillets. These are perhaps the most delicate eating of all fish.

We cannot leave our subject without mentioning the Azchovy,
a little fish of great eminence in the culinary science. The anchovy

THE SARDINE. 349

accompanies the sardine. However, it is seldom found in the
ocean, the Mediterranean being its proper habitat. Upon the
south coast of France the anchovy trade is vigorously plied. The
women prepare the little fish, taking off the head and tail, and

SS
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THE COMMON ANCHOVY.

(Clupea encrasicholus.)

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completely clearing the inside with their thumb-nail. The fish
then pass through a pickling process, and packed in miniature
barrels, are sent off to Beaucaire, where the merchants from all

parts of the country congregate to buy them.

35°

CHAP TERA OX x Vat.
THE COD.

THE herrings and the pilchards may be classed among the small
inhabitants of the ocean; but their importance is advanced by
the vast population of their tribes, and though lilliputians in the
oceanic world, yet they are a notorious people. But the Cod-fish

THE COD.

(Morrhua vulgaris.)

are both large and numerous. They frequent the northern seas,
and every year, about the middle of January, arrive in vast
numbers among the Lofoden Islands, to spawn; but when they
reach the neighbourhood of the shore, instead of enjoying a quiet
time of retirement, they are attacked on every side, and a terrible
slaughter awaits them. Yet no amount of destruction seems to
thin their ranks; they yearly reassemble in incredible numbers
on the summit of that submarine mountain, the Newfoundland
Bank, where, for a space of 600 miles long, and 680 broad, the
sea is all but alive with them. The appearance of the cod is too
well known to need description. It belongs to the Gadide@, a
family characterised by their slender and pointed ventral fins.
We have already cited the cod as an example of extraordinary
fecundity. Leuwenhoeck has calculated that a moderate sized
female can carry 9,384,000 eggs. The mind is lost in interminable
numbers, when we endeavour to calculate what would be the

THE COD. 25a

offspring of the millions of fish which frequent the Newfoundland
Bank. No wonder they are found in huge shoals when they can
so greatly add to the numbers of their species in a single season.

The cod-fishery is a source of revenue to every maritime nation.
The right of fishing upon the Newfoundland Bank is a matter of
international treaty, and many times has the infringement of this
treaty threatened to disturb the peace of Europe. Formerly, it was
a matter of greater moment to England than it now is. In the
war in 1844, the French were not able to pursue the fishing, and that
year the produce was more than 42,800,000. . This was the highest
sum ever received by our fishermen for their labours on the bank.
Since that year our income has steadily decreased, until in 1851, it
only reached 4920,117, and this included the salmon and seals,
which are often found with the cod. The reason of this decline, is
not only the aggression of the fishermen of other nations; but it is
ascribed to the fact, that there is not so strict an observance of
fasts in the Catholic countries. In the Low Countries, and Spain
especially, large quantities of dried cod were consumed during
Lent; but the faithful have found other means of obeying the
Church; or, perchance, they even dare to disobey. We now
employ about 2,000 vessels, and 30,000 men in cod-fishing, the
Americans have 3,000 smacks, and 45,000 sailors engaged in the
same undertaking.

The Norwegians have a fishery of their own off Cape Lindes-
ness, where it is said they take annually 20,000,000 fish. It was
officially reported to the king of Sweden, by the chief inspector of
the fisheries in the neighbourhood of the Lofoden Islands, that in
1856, 4,623 boats put to sea, and in 1860, 5,675; these carried
7,775 line fishers, and 13,038 who employed the net. According
to the same report, they salted on the east of Lofoden 10,080,000
flat cod, and 2,640,000 on the west coast of the islands. They
disposed of 9,000,000 not opened and cured ; making a total of
more than 20,000,000. The roe filled 16,000 tuns, and the cod-
liver oil 40,000.

As we have already hinted, two modes are employed to take
the fish, the net and the line. On the Newfoundland Bank, the
net is chiefly in vogue; it is constructed like a herring net, but of
stouter twine ; one end is fastened to the shore, the other carried

352 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

=

seaward, the boats then cause it to sweep a curve and gradually
bring the one end to the other, they then make the haul, and often
enclose a number of fish sufficient to fill many boats.

The Norwegian boats carry about sixty nets, some fifty yards
long, and eight or nine deep; these are cast at night and taken up
in the morning, twenty or thirty are strung together, buoys are
attached to the upper side of the net, and heavy stones to the
other. Upon some of the buoys the name of the owner is painted.
The English boats are clipper built and constructed with wells in
the hold, so as to preserve the fish alive; they cost some 41,500
each, and are manned by ten or twelve men; each of the men
has a line fifty fathoms long, to which are fastened at different
places along the line, one hundred hooks, baited with mussels or
pieces of herring. On arriving at the fishing ground, a float
carrying a flag-staff six feet high, is heaved overboard, and is kept
in its place by a line called the “ pow-line,” which reaches to the
bottom of the sea, where it is held either by a stone or a grapnel ;
the lines are then fastened to each other, and the end of the long
line made fast to the float. As the boat sails, the men pay out;
when the whole length is in the water, they return to the flag-
staff, and haul in the line. Very often eight hundred fish have
been found on the eight hundred hooks.

Almost anything will do to bait for cods; they are most
voracious. Their chief food, however, is the capelan, a little fish
which descends in the spring from the north seas. Shoals of cod
charge amongst them, and in their terror the capelans even rush
on shore. The Newfoundland people catch them, and carry them
to St. Pierre, where the fishers come in for fresh bait. Some
of the cod-fish are carried to England, and to the ports from
which their smacks hail, but the greater portion are cured at
Newfoundland. St. Pierre and the Miquelon Islands are granted
to the French for this purpose, on the condition that they build no
fortifications, and that they afford no rendezvous for the French
fleet. The capital, St. John’s, is the resort of the English boats.

The fish are opened, the interior cleaned out, the liver being
put on one side. The opened fish have the vertebra taken out,
and then they are salted, being placed in vats covered in salt
and submitted to pressure; when taken from the vats they are

THE COD. 369

washed to remove any impurities, and then exposed in long
sheds, or built up in stacks on the shore, in order to expose
them to the united action of the sun and wind. They soon dry,

DRYING COD-FISH AT NEWFOUNDLAND.

and when they assume the white, bleached appearance which is
termed the “bloom,” they are ready for the market.

The livers are put in oak tanks, where they are allowed to
decompose. The first oil which strains from them is the cod-
liver oil used in medicine; a second quantity is obtained by
pressure, but this is of a darker colour, and less valuable.

In the Lofoden Islands, a fish guano is made of the dried
heads and entrails of the fish.

354

CHAPTER 2OOMX:

EEE SOU ININW

THE tunny and the mackerel are both members of the same
family, the Scomberoides. The tunny is larger and rounder than
the mackerel, indeed it is larger than the cod, as generally it
is between 100 and 200 lbs. in weight. It is common in the

THE TUNNY.

(Scomber thynnus.

Mediterranean. Its back is a deep blue, the rest of its body
being a silvery white. Its dorsal rays are a golden colour, and
its anal fins have six or eight iridescent zig-zags. The spinous
rays of the fins are strong, and denote great swimming power.
The large dorsal fin is armed with a strong spine, which can be
used as a weapon of defence in case of need. As the drawing
represents, the fish is provided with.a range of little fins, which
connect the dorsal and anal fins with the tail. Thus the system
of natatory organs is very complete, and at the same time sym-
metrical.

Like the other members of their family, the tunnies have
the habit of leaping out of the water, seeming to swim with rapid
bounds. When a number of them are together in a shoal, they
follow the example of the wild duck, and advance in a triangular

THE TUNNY. 355

body, the vertex being in front. Like the herrings and the cod,
they move through the Mediterranean waters in large shoals, and
at stated periods. At one time of the year they are going west,
at another east. Although the Mediterranean is the chief resi-
dence of the tribe, yet they are found in the ocean.

Various means are employed for their capture. The Basque
fishermen use the grand couple, which is a huge line, carrying
hundreds of baits; this is attached to a boat manned by eight
or ten men. The fishers of Provence enclose the tunnies in nets
some miles long. These are cast in a long line, and gradually
their extremities are brought together; the enclosure is then
dragged to the shore, a purse net is attached, into which the
tunnies rush, and are thus secured. But the most curious mode
of taking these fish is by the madrague, or as the Americans
term it, “the pig catcher.”

The madrague is a vast enclosure of net walls permanently
fixed in the sea, cork floats support the upper edge, lines attached
to heavy stones resting on the bottom, anchor the lower side of
the net. The nets are arranged so as to form a kind of labyrinth
leading into a chamber at the further extremity of the structure.
A straight net is run to the shore, the tunnies swimming against
it, and not being able to pass—for they invariably swim near the
surface—run along the net wall until they reach the enclosure,
which they enter; they are soon entangled in the labyrinths and
unable to find their way to the open sea. The enclosure is so
constructed, that by following the outer wall at length, the chambre
de mort is reached ; this has a net for a floor, so that it is impossible
for the fish to escape even by diving. Here the doomed tunnies
may remain for even weeks. When the fishers arrive to secure
their prize, they raise the floor of the prison, and as the captives
are brought to the surface of the water, there ensues a scene which
defies description. A yawl has been allowed to pass the nets
and floats in the chamber of death. As soon as the tunnies reach
the surface and find themselves close to the boat, terrified out of
their lives, they bound and leap with violent desperation ; but the
boatmen with unerring aim transfix them with harpoons, others
are felled with the blows of poles, and bleeding fall back into the

xX 2

356 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

writhing mass of their fellow-prisoners. The blue water becomes
stained with blood as the slaughter proceeds, and the wounded and
terrified fish cry like children. It is a sad massacre, and the sight
is described by those who have witnessed it, as most painful.
Finally, the fish are secured, and the laden boats bear their prize to
the land. The undertaking is not devoid of danger; indeed, when
there is a large “take,” the fishermen dare not approach; but
they row near the wall of the enclosure, and after a fashion, lasso
the fish; it often requires two or three men to drag on board a
tunny thus secured.

In 1861, in the Bay of Porto Ferrajo, one hundred and sixty
tunnies were taken in a madrague ; many of them weighed 300 lbs.,
so that altogether there were some four or five tons of fish.

When Louis XIII. visited Marseilles, for the diversion of the
monarch a tunny fishing was inaugurated, and His Majesty wit-
nessed the haul we have briefly described, and was pleased to
remark, that it was the most enjoyable thing he had witnessed
on his tour.

The flesh of the tunny is exceedingly firm, and is even preferred
to that of the salmon. We cannot, however, but regret that the
fishing is not conducted more humanely.

357

Gr A PoE EARo CE.
THE, BUR TERS:

THE Reptiles have but few representatives inhabiting the ocean
world, and yet those which are found are celebrated as much for
their peculiar construction, as for their culinary eminence. As
the land tortoise, the marine tortoise or Zzztle is enclosed in a

slo

TURTLES.

wonderfully hard cuirass. This is not calcareous but horny. It
is so constructed that the creature is very secure against the
attacks of any of the marine marauders.

The appearance of the Chelonia, for such is the family name,
is most peculiar. A countryman once saw in the market fair
of his village, a merchant who offered for sale some land tortoises.
“ How much are these queer things?” asked Roger. “ Eighteen-
pence a piece,” answered the dealer in live curiosities. “Eighteen-

358 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

pence! It’s a good deal for a thing like a frog ;

g; and what will you

take for one w7thout the box ?” :

The Logger-headed Turtle (Caouana caretta) is often cast up
upon our coasts; it is common in the Mediterranean, the Red
Sea, Madagascar, and the Maldive Islands. It is the queen of
the turtles; it is usually about four feet long, and weighs 400 or
500 Ibs. Its carapace is covered with horny plates, the well-
known tortoise-shell.

The Green Turtle (Chelonia viridis or midas) is a native of

THE LOGGER-HEADED TURTLE.

(Caouana caretta.)

the Atlantic Ocean. It is met with sometimes a great way
from land, and may be easily taken when asleep on the surface
of the water, where it has come to breathe. This turtle attains
a larger size than the logger-headed turtle, being often found
six feet long. Its carapace is a chestnut colour, shot here and
there with green patches.

Many have been the fables about the size of turtles. Pliny
writes that there are found in the Indies turtles whose shell
can completely cover a house, and that the inhabitants of the
shores of the Red Sea frequently make their ships of the cara-
pace of a turtle. Some travellers assert that in the Antilles it is
not an uncommon occurrence to find a turtle upon whose back

THE TURTLES. 359

fourteen men could stand at once; but these-are travellers’ tales.
The nearest authentic approach to such exaggerations is related
by Dampier, who saw a fisherman who had actually constructed
a boat from a turtle’s shell large enough to hold his little son,
who was some ten years old. As is the case with the cuttle-fish,
many accounts of remarkably large turtles are in existence. In
1752 a specimen was cast up near Dieppe, which measured eight
feet. Two years later, not far from the Island of Ré, a similar-
sized turtle was captured. When its head was cut off, it bled
twelve pints of blood. There were 100 lbs. of the far-famed

THE HAWK’S-BILL TURTLE.

(Caretta imbricata.)

green fat, and if we are to believe the reports, its liver was
so enormous that it was sufficient for the repast of more than
a hundred.

The Hawk's-bill Turtle (Caretta imbricata) is a native of the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It does not reach the large
dimensions of the logger-headed, and its carapace is made, not in
one piece, but of several plates, which overlie each other like the
slates of a house.

There are two other species which have their shells constructed
on this principle. There is also a very rare species which inhabits
the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, which has its carapace enclosed
by a coriaceous skin, and down the back appear three long parallel
ridges or blades. This turtle is the Sphargis coriacea.

369 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

The sea turtles have jaws which are destitute of teeth, their
gums are of a hard, horny material, sharp at the edges, like the
beaks of the birds of prey. The utility of this form of mouth will
be at once recognised, when we remember that the turtles feed on
submarine vegetables; the fronds of the algae would be more easily
severed by these scissor-like jaws, than even by teeth. Some of
the Chelonia are not entirely herbivorous, for they eat mollusks,
and also cuttle-fish, and other soft, pulpy creatures.

From the clumsy appearance of the turtle, we might well
conclude that the motions of the creature were slow and lazy; but
this is by no means the case; when in its native element, its arms
are powerful oars, and with their assistance it can glide easily and
swiftly through the water. The turtle can remain under water a

THE HEAD OF THE TURTLE.

long time, the orifice of its nasal canal, through which the air enters
to the lungs, is covered by a lump of flesh, which acts as a valve,
and at the will of the creature can hermetically seal the orifice,
thus effectually preventing the entrance of any water, or the exit
of the air,

Often, hundreds of miles away from land, a number of turtles
may be seen floating on the surface of the sea, perfectly motionless ;
they are asleep, more gently rocked than even an infant in its
nurse's arms. Although protected to a great extent by the horny
covering of their carapace, yet the turtles are not invulnerable,
neither when attacked are they capable of resistance, but are at
the utter mercy of their foe. To compensate for this, they are
endued with a peculiar tenacity of life, and a turtle will show signs
of sensibility, even after it has been decapitated.

These creatures are oviparous, producing their young by eggs.
At the time of depositing her eggs, the female comes on land, and

THE TURTLES. 361

by means of her hind fins, makes a hole in the sand. This process
is very rapid, and a hundred eggs have been known to have been
deposited in less than ten minutes. The number of eggs laid by a
turtle is exceedingly various ; the maximum, however, seems to be
two hundred and sixty. After all the eggs are laid, the creature
throws sand over them, and so completely covers them and
smooths the disturbed surface, that it requires a practised eye to
discover the nest. The eggs, which are much sought for, have no
calcareous shell, but are enveloped in a thick skin ; their shape is
not the ordinary “ egg-shape,” but they are somewhat flat.

Instinct has taught the turtle that her eggs so deposited, will be
hatched by the heat of the sand, and without a shade of maternal
longing, she dives into the sea; contented that Dame Nature should
nurse her progeny. In some three weeks, the young turtles make
their appearance ; they are not unlike frogs, and immediately make
their way to the water.

Although the turtle professes no interest in her family, yet the
fishers assert that she invariably returns to the same place to
deposit her eggs, and even if she be carried away hundreds of miles,
true to her instinct, she will either immediately come back to her
home shore, or appear there the next season.

Different modes are pursued in taking the turtle. Generally,
at the time of depositing the eggs, expeditions are made to the
desert islands, or to lonely and unfrequented parts of the beaches.
As soon as the sun is set, and the brief tropical twilight faded
into night, a party of men walk along the edge of the water,
and by the marks on the sand, find the path of a turtle which
has passed up the beach. Following the tracks, the creature
is readily found, and by dint of their united efforts, or by the
help of levers, it is turned on its back. When once in this
position it is safe, not being able to regain its feet. In this
manner, many turtles are secured in one night, which are taken
off to the ships in carts or boats in the morning.

Between Vera Cruz and Tampico, there is a little desert
island, about a mile square, called zsla de los Lobos. Why it
should merit the name of “the island of the wolves,” is difficult
even to conjecture, for certainly no wolf ever placed his foot

362 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

=<

upon such a desolate shore. This island is a favourite retreat
for the turtles. It is surrounded by reefs, which prevent the
approach of their enemies, and the shores are gently sloping,
admirably fitted for receiving their eggs. In 1862, a party of
sailors, under the cover of night, made a descent on the island.
They found on the shore a huge female turtle, evidently in
search for a place to deposit her eggs. Six men seized her’to
attempt to prevent her return to the sea, but their united efforts
only had the effect of slightly retarding her progress, and she
would have easily escaped, had it not been that another party
came to their assistance, and they managed to turn her upon
her back. By tying the fins to a spar, they were able to convey
their captive on board, and found it weighed nearly 300 lbs. It
had 347 eggs, and furnished food for the whole crew.

The logger-headed turtle having a more convex carapace than
the green or common turtle, is more rapid in its movements
and is capable of turning itself back upon its legs; therefore,
to keep it in its upturned position, a heavy stone is_ placed
upon it.

Another mode of taking these reptiles is to stretch a net
made of thick ropes across the passage by which they seek
the shore to lay their eggs. In the meshes of this net, they
manage to entangle their heads and fins, and thus being pre-
vented from rising to the surface of the water to breathe, they are
drowned. It is necessary to dye this net a dark colour, for if it
be grey or light-coloured, the reptiles are frightened, and return
into the sea.

Some turtle fishers seek them in the open sea. Knowing
they must come up to breathe, they watch for the opportunity,
and with great expertness fling a harpoon which penetrates the
shell of the creature. A line is attached to this weapon, by
which the wounded turtle is kept at play until exhausted, it is
then drawn to the boat and secured.

In the southern seas, expert swimmers softly approach the
animals as they are asleep, and when close upon them, plunge
the harpoon through their carapace. If the turtle be not of
large size, the harpoon is dispensed with, and the creature
secured by its fins.

THE TURTLES, 363

A story is related of an Indian slave, who when out fishing
in his canoe, near Martinique, happened to find a turtle asleep
on the water; paddling cautiously until he was close to it, he
passed a running noose over its fins, having previously fastened
the other end of the line to the prow of his canoe. The turtle
was not long in awaking to the new situation, and made off,
dragging the boat as if it were a straw, this the Indian had not
bargained for; but had hoped that with his paddle he would be
an equal match for the creature; however, he soon found himself
compelled to give all his attention to steering his boat, as it met
the waves. At last he was capsized, and lost in the accident
his lines, his paddle and his knife, and had he not been a good
swimmer he could not have regained his canoe. Fortunately,
however, he managed to retain his hold of the fugitive boat, and
to reseat himself ; being now without a paddle he had no command
over the canoe, and was unable either to cut the cord, or untie it.
Frequently the waves capsized him, and for two nights and a day,
the turtle held on its course; but at last began to show signs
of fatigue, as it neared an island. The Indian himself, almost
famished with hunger, was just able to secure his prize and reach
the shore, where the flesh of his captive revived his failing strength.

In the neighbourhood of Cuba, a most peculiar method of
securing the turtle is pursued. They train, or, at least they take
advantage of the instinct of a fish, a species of remora, only larger
than the one we described in Chapter XXXV._ This fish is called
by the Spaniards Revé (reversed); because its back is generally
taken for its belly. Like the remora it has an oval plate attached
to its head, whose surface is traversed by parallel ridges; by this
plate it can firmly adhere to any solid body it may choose. The
boats which go in quest of turtle each carry a tub containing some
of these revés. When the sleeping reptiles are seen, they are
cautiously approached, and as soon as they are judged to be near
enough, a revé is thrown into the sea. Upon perceiving the turtle,
its instinct induces it at once to swim towards it, and fix itself
firmly upon it by its sucking disc.

Colomb, who is accountable for this almost incredible narrative,
asserts that the revé would allow itself to be pulled in pieces before
it would leave its hold. A ring is attached to the tail of the fish,

364 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

to which a cord, made of the fibre of the bark of the palm tree, is
fastened. As soon as the revé is firmly affixed to the turtle, the
fishermen haul in the line, bringing the fish and the turtle. By a
peculiar manipulation, the revé is induced to let go his hold, and is
returned to his tub ready for the next hunt.

Turtle-fishing, as is the case with oyster-fishing, is carried on
regardless of the future, and without any discrimination, the conse-
quence is, that turtle is becoming scarce, and unless, as we English
say, there is something done, there will be great difficulty in
supplying the aldermen of London with that celebrated soup,
upon which, according to the popular belief, the aldermanic
existence depends.

In some way to obviate such a terrible disaster as the extinction
of turtles and aldermen, turtle parks have been established in
different parts of the world; but these reservoirs are more for
keeping the turcle, than for encouraging their breeding, and will do
little, therefore, towards the propagation of the race. The plan
pursued in the Isle of Ascension is of far more practical importance.
There, the authorities strictly protect the turtle eggs, and also the
young reptiles, until their carapace is so grown that they can
protect themselves.

Admiral Anson, in 1752, brought the first turtle to England,
and ever since that day, the importation of the turtle has been a
commercial undertaking ; but it is gradually becoming dearer, and
“mock turtle soup,” in which the gelatinous parts of a calf’s head
take the place of the green turtle fat, is becoming more general,
and the real turtle soup more rare.

The carapace of these reptiles supplies the “ tortoise-shell,”
which at one time was greatly used for combs; but the discovery
of vulcanite has almost excluded it from the market. According
to Pliny, Carvilius Pollio, an extravagant but ingenious gentleman,
was the first to apply the shell of the sea-tortoise to ornamental
purposes. The fashion for this style of decoration increased, and
in the days of Augustus, the patricians ornamented their doors and
the columns of their rooms with tortoise-shell. Julius Caesar found
in Alexandria such a collection of these shells, that he had them
carried in his triumphal entry.

THE TURTLES. 305

The best tortoise-shell is brought from China and the Philippine
Islands; it is from the carapace of the caretta. The plates of the
caouana are not so much prized, being more like horn. The green
turtle gives shell which is thin and flexible; its general colour is
yellow, streaked with patches of black.

CHAP tie kh. ake,
THE SEA-BIRDS.

BIRDS are children of the air, just as fishes are of the water; yet
there are many of the feathery tribes which ought to have a place
amongst the creatures of the ocean, seeing that they live upon the
water as much as they do in the air. The sea-birds are said to be
one-fourteenth part of the whole bird family ; a family which can
number 9,400 species.

Since aquatic birds generally have their toes connected by a

THE TWO KINDS OF WEB FEET.

thin web, or skin, they are said to be web-footed. Nearly all the
marine species are thus distinguished. Generally only three of the
four claws are connected by the web, as in the case of the duck;
but sometimes the skin extends to the fourth claw; this formation
is exhibited in the cormorant.

A glance at our illustration of these two kinds of web feet,
will show that the latter form is the more powerful oar. These
natural oars are greatly superior to the blades by which we propel
our boats, for they need not be lifted out of the water to repeat the
stroke. When the leg has reached its furthest stretch, the foot
collapses, and is thus brought forward without offering any resist-
ance to the water, and again spreads out to make another stroke.

THE SEA-BIRDS. 367

The marine birds may be divided into groups, according to

the waters they frequent.
The Long-wings, such as the albatross and the petrel, live on the

SEA GULLS.

(Larus argentatus.)

open sea. They are found at great distances from land, and
seldom approach the shore.

The Ordinary sea-birds, such as the gulls, never are seen far
from land, because they always roost on shore.

The Riverside-birds, such as wild ducks, which prefer the ponds

368 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

and marshes to the sea, and are usually found in flocks near the
mouth of a river; they always make their nests on the bank.

The Sw7mmers, such as the penguins, who never are found but
close to the shore; they are not able to fly, save for short distances.

“Yj

THE ALBATROSS.

(Dromedea exulans.

The Gulls, or the Larid@, are the best known of the sea-birds.
Their general appearance is almost too well known to need
description ; their bodies are white, touched here and there with
lavender, while their wings and tails are sometimes tipped with

THE SEA-BIRDS, 369

black. Their beaks are yellow, and their eyes peculiarly beautiful ;
but in their extensive tribe there is much diversity of shade, vary-

ing from a pure white to a dark grey.

THE STORMY PETREL.

( Thalassidroma pelagica.)

Gulls are shy birds, and are caught with difficulty. They
fly in flocks, and carry on their fishing avocations in the sea
near the shore. Sometimes they cover the rocks, and when
disturbed they rise with frightened screams. Occasionally, they
may be observed on the shore, crouched with wings half extended,

=

370 THE WORLD OK, LH VSIGA.

and apparently enjoying the warmth of the sand. They walk
with a most dignified carriage. On water they swim with ease,
but seldom dive, preferring to take their prey as it appears at
the surface. In the air they fly slowly yet gracefully, and often
sweep in circles, as if displaying their agility. The web-footed
birds glory in the agitations of the sea; nothing gives them
so much delight as a violent storm, for instinct or experience
has taught them that a storm casts up the mollusks, and other
of the sea inhabitants which are usually beyond their reach, and
brings them to the surface or leaves them on the beach.

How often, as we have watched the horizon darken, and
the storm-clouds gather, have we marked the striking contrast,
as the white gulls and sea-swallows now rose and now fell above

the waves, waiting in eager expectation for their coming feast.

The largest of the sea-birds is the A/batross. No species of
it exists in the North Atlantic, but it is abundant below the
tropic of Capricorn. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the
other, it often measures more than twelve feet. Strange to say,
the largest of the sea-birds is nearly allied to the smallest, the
Stormy Petrel, and both of them tread the waves in the manner
indicated in the accompanying illustration.

Those birds which remain long on the wing have small, light
bodies, long tails, and large, powerful wings. The swimmers, on
the other hand, have large bodies, small wings, and an apology
fora tail. Their feathers are very downy, and they are lubricated
with an oily secretion which prevents themfrom being wetted.

The sea-birds, taking their whole nourishment from the water,
live on marine vegetables, mollusks, and fishes. Fishermen
hail the appearance of the Skua gulls, for they are the constant
accompaniers of the herring-shoals. The gulls and the petrels
throw themselves upon the sperm-whale and the dolphins, and
tear out of them pieces of oily flesh. The albatross, the vulture
of the ocean, can scent a dead whale from a great distance, and
soon is found enjoying the carrion.

The ducks have broad, flat bills, which are edged with rows
of minute teeth, with which they tear the food they find on the
surface of the water. The MWergansers are intrepid fishers, near

THE SEA-BIRDS. 7p!

Ww

relatives of the ducks. By means of the jagged edge of the
bill, the bird can hold live fish with ease, and especially as the
teeth are bent inwards, so that the prey in its struggles only
brings itself nearer the bird’s throat. The gulls have the
extremity of the bill bent into a sharp hook. This they strike
into the fish, and so retain it. Frequently, they may be seen

THE HEAD OF THE MERGANSER.

(Mergus serrator.)

to descend like an arrow into the trough of a wave, and come
up with a struggling captive.

The Sea-swallows do not strike their prey by coming down
vertically upon it, but as they skim along the waves, they
dexterously pick up the fish as it happens to show itself on the
surface. They may often be seen following in the wake of a
porpoise, and as the creature frightens its prey near the surface,

THE HEAD OF THE SKIMMER.

(Rynchops nigra.)

the sea-swallow, which is hid for a moment in the seething water,
snatches the fish from the very mouth of the porpoise.

The Skimmers have their bills arranged like a pair of scissors.
They skim the surface of the water, and absolutely cut in two
any fish which has the misfortune to come in their path.

The Pelicans have a large, extensible bag attached to their
under bill. In this they carry the fish they take to their young.
M. Nordmann relates a singular fact concerning these birds.
They are very plentiful on the shores of the Black Sea, especially

Mie

372 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

in the lagoons, or salt-water lakes which line its banks. Early in
the morning, great numbers of the pelicans gather together for
a fishing expedition. They arrange themselves in a horse-shoe
form, looking towards the shore, and they place themselves at
regular intervals from each other. As soon as the cordon is
complete, they commence striking the water with their out-
stretched wings, and thus frighten the fish shorewards. With
neck outstretched, the pelicans gradually near the land. The

WHITE PELICANS.

(Pelecanus onocrotalus.)

fish are thus hemmed in, and as soon as the space is suffi-
ciently narrowed, then begins the feast. M. Nordmann, speaking
of one of these fishing expeditions, says :—‘ Besides the forty-
nine pelicans which made up the company on that occasion,
there were assembled on the sea-weeds, shells, and other débris
thrown up by the waves and collected on the beach, hundreds
of gulls, jackdaws, and sea-swallows, ready to seize the fish
as they were driven out of the water, and to devour the remains

THE SEA-BIRDS. aF3

of the meal. Finally, some grebes swam into the space cir-
cumscribed by the half-circle, before it was too much enclosed,
and took their share of the feast, plunging frequently after
the frightened fish. When all were satisfied, the whole com-
pany assembled on the shore while the work of digestion was
going on. The pelicans smoothed their plumage, and bent back
their long necks to rest them on their backs, their colossal
forms in strong contrast with the little gulls. The troop
comprised birds of all ages; some were entirely white, some
streaked, and some grey. Now and then, one of these birds
would empty his well-filled pouch, spread the contents before
him, and enjoy the contemplation of it. Those fish that were
still struggling soon had their heads crushed by one stroke of
the beak.”

Cormorants have a pouch of the same kind as the pelicans,
but much less developed. The Chinese train these birds, and
employ them in fishing. They put tight rings round their necks
to prevent their swallowing the prey that they seize, but when
the birds have worked for some time for their masters, the
rings are taken off, and the cormorants are allowed to fish on
their own account.

There are some aquatic birds possessing neither a guttural
pouch, nor a sharp bill, which feed on shell-fish, and when these
fish are tightly barricaded and shut up in an impenetrable shell,
they have the sense to carry them high up in the air, and let
them fall on a rock to break them open.

Petrels, which eat nothing but fish, become so oily that the
inhabitants of the Faroe Islands kill them and put a wick through
their bodies, thus using the bird as a lamp.

Many fish-devouring birds are full of fat, which is hardly in a
state of consistency ; this is due to the food they eat. From this
circumstance certain kinds are called Penguins, from the Latin
pinguis, signifying oily. On the coasts of Patagonia, where
they are abundant, these birds are stripped of their skin ; under
the skin is a lining of fat; by means of a heavy weight all
the oil is expressed, and nothing left but the down and outer
cuticle. Nearly a pint of oil is thus obtained from each bird.

It would take 2,000 of these penguins to supply a tun of oil.

374 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

When the /'w/mar, or stormy petrel, is seized, it vomits an oil
the colour of amber, which is highly valued by the inhabitants
of St. Kilda as a good external remedy in many disorders,
particularly rheumatism. This oil is also burnt, the best being
procured from old birds. They catch the fulmars at night,

THE BLACK DUCK.

(Anas nigra.)

and press their beaks, when each bird yields about two spoonfuls
of oil.

The valuable material known as gzano, or, properly speaking,
huanu, so prized by agriculturalists, is a product of aquatic birds.
Guano is a mass of excrements deposited far out at sea on
rocks and islets. It is calculated that a bird of average size
furnishes about one ounce a day. Now, on certain rocks, beds of
guano are formed as much as 100 feet deep; it must have taken
hundreds of years and millions of birds to form these deposits.

The Island of Cincha, near Peru, 100 miles south of Callao, is

THE SEA-BIRDS. 375

one of the richest sources of guano. The upper layer of these
beds is of a greyish brown, and the inner part is the colour of
iron-rust. The hardness of the guano becomes greater as the
depth increases.

The voice of sea-birds is never soft and harmonious, like that
of many of the songsters of our groves; it is nasal and ringing,
and often hoarse and lugubrious. Gulls and sea-mews utter sharp
cries, which are heard above the roar of the tempest. Some ducks
send forth a piercing clang like a clarion. There are water-fowl
which, owing to their wide and curved windpipe, are able to imitate

THE COMMON PENGUIN.
(Alca torda.)

exactly the sound of a trumpet. Some seem to cry like little
children, or to chuckle like old women. The Greeks designated
the pelican, “ onocrotalé,” or ‘bray of the ass,” because this bird
seems to imitate that inharmonious noise. Penguins make a
croaking as melancholy as it is disagreeable. Lesson says, that
in the Falkland Isles, towards sunset, they utter in chorus a
loud cry which reverberates to a great distance, and resembles
the clamour of a tumultuous army.

A very original observer studied the language of the sea-
swallow for eight years, and compiled a dictionary on the model of
Dupont’s “ Dictionary of the Raven.” He has distinguished fifty
words, expressing, he considers, each of them a distinct idea :—

‘Tei; la; en avant ;.en arriére; a droite; a.cauche; plus vite; plus

376 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

-

lentement; halte; garde a vous; nourriture; danger; je t'aime;
moi de méme; méchant; marions-nous; quel bonheur; un nid;
nos ceufs; couvons; nos petits; maman; papa; j’ai faim; tais-toi.”
The beginning of the dictionary is as follows :—“ Kia, kié, kii, kioi,
kioui. Djia, djié, djii, djioi, djioul. Tsia, tsié, tsii, tsioi, tsioui.”

THE PATAGONIAN PENGUIN.

(Aptenodytes Patagonica.)

Sea-birds often have short legs, placed far back; they neces-
sarily walk ungracefully, balancing their bodies with difficulty,
and some even appear to be lame. The swimmers, when standing
upon their feet, are quite upright. The Patagonian penguins,
seen at a distance, look as if they were seated on their tails ;
they might be taken for a party of young choristers with
hoods. Others drag themselves with difficulty over the sand,
crawling almost on their breasts. Sometimes they use their

we

THE SEA-BIRDS. ah

small wings as feet, which converts them for the moment into

quadrupeds.

There are species which live constantly on the water. The
Cape Pigeon, which is distinguished by alternate black and white
marks on its back, follows in the wake of a vessel for days together,
where, in the eddy, he finds numberless little mollusca. The
name of petrel, or /z¢t/e Peter, contains an allusion to the miracle
of St. Peter walking on the water.

All web-footed birds can swim with equal elegance and ease.

THE CAPE PIGEON.

(Procellaria Cafents.)

Ducks and goosanders -balance themselves gracefully on the surface
of the water, and play tranquilly in the midst of the most rapid
streams. These birds have tails shaped like the keel of a boat ;
their feet, as we have seen above, serve for oars, and their wings,
partly spread, furnish sails for this little living vessel.

Those species of birds which have not the faculty of flight are
the most dexterous in swimming and diving. Their wings, which
are usually short, act as fins, so that the bird possesses four oars,
two in front and two behind, exactly like a fish. By this arrange-
ment their swimming powers are not very inferior to the fish upon
which they prey, save that they cannot remain long under water,
nor yet dive deep, unless, like the northern geese, they can descend

378 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

from great heights, and gathering a vast momentum, shoot beneath
the waves like an arrow.

The power of flying is the distinguishing function of birds.
The atmosphere is to them what the ocean is to fish. Flight and
swimming are only, says Lacépeéde, the same motion carried on in
different fluids. The bird swims in the air, and the fish flies in the
water.

Those sea-birds which are fitted for flying always excel in
the art, and are capable of being a long time on wing. The
Sea-swallows are remarkably agile, rivalling their terrestrial repre-

THE SEA-SWALLOW.

(Sterna hirundo.)

sentatives in describing aerial labyrinths, and crossing each other’s
paths with dangerous velocity. But the great master in the art of
flying is the Frigate-bird (Lachypetes aquila); its body weighs
only a few ounces, while its wings have a great expanse. The
frigates keep mostly in the higher regions of the atmosphere, and
precipitate themselves like an arrow, regaining their balance with
ease and rapidity; one moment they may be seen resisting the
most violent wind, at another, drifting with the lightest zephyr.
They are bad fishers, but they compensate for their want of skill
by bold and fearless robbery. They are the highwaymen of
the sea. From his aerial height the frigate watches an honest,
laborious gull seize a fish, and mount into the air, either to carry
its prey to shore or to enjoy its. feast. In an instant the frigate is

———

THE SEA-BIRDS. 379

upon him; the terrified gull either lets go his hold, or disgorges
the fish, which is caught long before it reaches the sea by the
marauder.

Audubon one day observed a frigate which had just carried
off rather a large fish from a sea-swallow. The bird was carrying

AN ARCTIC GULL IN PURSUIT.

his victim cross-ways in his beak. He threw it into the air, in
order that he might swallow it head foremost ; as it fell, he caught
it, but by the tail. Three times he threw it, and each time caught
it again by the tail, the weight of the head always causing
that end to descend foremost. Once more the attempt was
made, and this time perseverance rewarded the robber, and he
swallowed his booty.

380 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

But it would seem that retributive justice exists in every
part of the kingdom of Nature. Nowhere can a marauder enjoy
his ill-gotten gains in peace. When an albatross or a frigate-
bird has seized the fruit of a poor gull’s toil, he generally makes
off with it to the upper regions of the air, but here he encounters
many of his friends on the look out, who have been anxiously
awaiting his arrival. They evidently consider it no robbery to
rob a thief, and immediately the whole troop are upon him;
the wretched fish, tossed from beak to beak, torn, and killed,

THE PHAETON OR TROPIC-BIRD.

(Phaeton phanicurius.)

often ends by falling into the waves, while the robbers are
fighting with each other.

The Avetic Gull, the pirate of the air, chases birds smaller
and weaker than himself, giving them a blow with his beak,
he makes them disgorge at least part of their prey, and greedily
eats the disgusting morsel.

The flight of the 7vopic-bird, or Phaeton, is calm and peaceful,
performed by frequent strokes of the wings, at times interrupted
by a brusque movement or kind of swoop. These birds defy
the fury of the storm; in the midst of the most horrible tempest,
they retain their composure. Tranquil and serene, they rise
with the wave, and descend again into the abyss. Phaetons

THE SEA-BIRDS. 381

travel more than 500 miles out to sea, and yet return every
evening to the islands or rocks where they make their home.
In fact they scarcely stop even for necessary sleep. They seem
made to fly and fly for ever.

Birds are commonly looked upon by mariners as indicating
land. Old seamen know how to interpret their appearance, and
are rarely mistaken. The petrel announces the neighbourhood
of the Cape of Good Hope. The phaeton indicates that the
tropics are near. The frigates, gulls, and sea-swallows, predict
according to the direction and height of their flight, fine weather,
a rough sea, or the rising tempest. The book of Nature is an
inexhaustible source of instruction.

Oo
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Gan AGP la ae ate
NESTS AND EGGS.

IN the pairing season, sea-birds abandon the waves and waters,
and come to the shores and rocks. Many species assemble in
large flocks on rocks or on desert islands. Faber considers that
these birds obey an instinct of sociability. Boje thinks that
they are attracted thither by the abundance of food. Both reasons
may be equally true; but probably there are others also; for
instance, the aspect of the rocky fortress, in whose clefts and
cavities excellent shelter is to be found; the absence of all car-
nivorous animals, and safety from their enemy, man; in short,
solitude, tranquillity, and security.

Graba observes that water-fowl always choose rocks turned
westward or north-west, for their nests, and disdain every other
situation. Amongst the islands most frequented by nest-building
birds, the little archipelago of Faroe, between that island and
the Shetland Islands, ranks first. This archipelago is formed of
twenty-five great rocks, called Vogelberg (Bird-rocks). These
have often been described. One amongst them deserves special
notice. Imagine a black rock composed of horizontal layers, rising
1,600 or 1.800 feet above the level of the sea, which roars and
seethes at its foot. The water dashes up to the height of one
hundred feet during tempests, and rebounds from the face of the
cliffs, falling in foaming cascades. In calm weather, the waters
undulate gently and ripple softly round the rocks. The steep sides
of the cliff present a very singular appearance; millions of birds
are perched side by side on the projecting ledges; the females on
their nests, the males close to them, or at no very great distance.
An amphitheatre full of spectators would give but a meagre
idea of the prodigious number of birds thus symmetrically placed,
their heads all turned towards the sea. The arrival of man hardly
troubles them, and the report of a gun only makes the male birds

NESTS AND EGGS. 383

y

fly away; the hens remain on their eggs, which they never leave,
unless the nests themselves are approached, and they generally
allow themselves to be taken as they are sitting.

The different species of birds congregated on these rocks are
not scattered promiscuously ; each kind appears to have its own
encampment. Highest above the water are to be found the Larus
marinus, black-coated, or black-backed gull, and the sea-parrot, or
black monk. In the second rank, on spots covered with plants,
are the silver gull (Larus argentatus). Above these, on the most
unsheltered rock, slumber the stupid cormorants (Phalacrocorar

THE, SE A-=P AR ROT,

(Mormon fratercula,)

carbo). A little further, on the rocky beach washed by the sea, the
elegant three-toed gull (Larus tridactylus), and the white guille-
mots (Uria grylle), assemble in large flocks. Close by, among
heaps of sea-weed, the capuchin guillemot (Ura ¢roi/e), and the
penguins (Adlca torda), may be seen pluming themselves. All these
birds live together on good terms. Females of different species
are often seated on their eggs, side by side, and it might be
imagined from their movements, and the clacking of their beaks,
that they were whiling away the long, tedious time of incubation
by agreeable and animated conversation.

The general rendezvous, or meeting-place of the marine birds,

384 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

is the Hebrides, and particularly the Island of St. Kilda, which is
about one hundred miles in circumference. It rises perpendicularly
from the bosom of the water, and forms at its eastern extremity the
highest promontory of the British Isles, being 1,430 feet high.

On approaching the Island of St. Kilda, a sight presents itself
that well-nigh baffles description. The rocks are almost hidden
by myriads of aquatic birds, all busy on their nests. Numberless
swarms of the white gannet (Sz/a alba) absolutely whiten the
summits on which they congregate; so that from a distance the
crests and slopes appear to be covered with snow. The three-
toed gulls and the blue-footed gulls have taken possession of all
the less elevated peaks; lower down, the fulmars, or northern
petrel, the puffins, and guillemots, have established themselves
on all the slopes and declivities, and every spot where grass is
to be found. On the edge of the sea, at the mouth of caves or
hollows, perch the cormorants, upright and still, like sentinels at
their posts. All around in the water, millions of birds of every
species plunge, and dabble, each gathering its daily bread.
Others fill the air with their harsh, sharp cries, flying from their
nests to the sea, or from the sea to their nests ; calling their mates,
and whirling in the air above them; or caressing their little ones,
playing ‘with their comrades, and manifesting in a clamorous and
lively manner their wants and fears, their joys and griefs.

When a fragment of rock becomes detached, and rolls from
the top of the island into the waves below, it becomes the signal
for an extraordinary tumult. The whole colony is seized with
alarm. The falling of the mass crushes the unlucky fulmars
as they sit on their nests, and as it bounds along, it drags with it
grass and sand, eggs and young chicks. The frightened birds rise
into the air in clouds, but they soon come back to their nests, and
all resumes its habitual tranquillity. In Holland, innumerable
troops of gulls and sea-swallows make their nests every year in
the Island of Eierland (land of eggs), and in other southern islands
of the Texel, and also in Schleswig and Jutland. In the season
for laying eggs, water-fowl arrive by millions. Many waders join
the troop, and the rocks are literally covered with the eggs of gulls,
sea-swallows, guillemots, penguins, and ducks, and even of oyster-
catchers, plovers, and lapwings.

NESTS AND EGGS. 385

Aquatic birds place their nests either in a simple recess
behind two or three stones, or among grass and rushes sheltered
by a shrub, or sometimes in the hollows of the rocks. The
three-toed gull instinctively chooses the most inaccessible spot
for her retreat, and she is rarely disturbed by the collector of
eggs. Penguins and Patagonian penguins dig a horizontal hole
in the sand. Puffins take possession of rabbit-burrows; they
love society, and a number of them make their nests together,
and hatch side by side. The place which they choose for their
abode is often so perforated, that any one stepping on it would
sink in to the knee.

Sheldrakes (Aas tadorna) also have the custom of burrowing
under the earth. The ancients gave these birds the name of
“o1es-renards,” or fox-geese. Naumann saw in the little island
of Sylt, a great number assembled in groups in artificial exca-
vations. He counted as many as thirteen nests in a square space,
with an entrance common to all. Above each nest was an
opening, covered by a tuft of grass. When this tuft was lifted
up, a sheldrake was found seated on her nest. Every inhabitant
of the village appropriated several of these subterranean nests,
from which he took twenty or thirty eggs every day for three
weeks, taking care to leave six in each nest for incubation.

In the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, albatrosses
assemble in colonies to make their nests. They divide the land
into regular squares, one for each nest. These squares com-
municate with each other by means of roads, and the whole is
defended by a wall of stones.

Cormorants make their nests in the midst of reeds and rushes,
or sometimes on the trunks of old willows, or on rocks, but always
in the immediate neighbourhood of the sea. They build large,
irregular nests, made of branches and pieces of wood roughly
put together. Many of these nests may sometimes be seen on
the same tree.

At the beginning of this century, cormorants were rarely seen
on the shores of the Baltic Sea. About the year 1810, several
couples came to the neighbourhood of the Isle of Fioni, and built
their nests among the rocks of the coast or in the woods. They

gradually increased in number. In the spring of 1812, four pairs
Z

386 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

of these birds took up their abode in the country of Neudorf, near
the town of Leutjenbourg, and settled in a wood close to the sea, on
some large beech trees, which for many years had been the resort
of a number of herons and rooks. These the cormorants
drove from their nests, and they laid their own eggs in May and
again in July; in the autumn they quitted the country. The

THE COMMON CORMORANT,

Phalacrocorax carbo.)

number then had increased to thirty. During the spring of 1813,
and for some years after, they returned regularly, and it was soon
calculated that there were 7,000 pairs. In the month of June, 1815,
hundreds of nests might be seen on different trees, and innumerable
flights of cormorants, mingling with herons, filled the air with
their hoarse cries. Their excrements destroyed the foliage of the
trees; and the refuse of bad fish, with which they strewed the
land, poisoned the atmosphere for some distance around. By
order of the government, they were driven away. Five hundred

NESTS AND EGGS. 387

were frequently killed in one day, and it was not till the next
year that they were exterminated.

In some islands the nests of marine birds are so close together
that it would hardly be possible to take a step without crushing
an egg; and it often happens that a bird will lay its egg in
another bird’s nest. Thus, Naumann found the egg of a long-
tailed sea-swallow in the nest of an oyster-catcher, and the egg
of the latter bird in a penguin’s nest. Yet every mother knows

THE GREAT PENGUIN.

(Penguinis intpennis.)

her own eggs, and never makes a mistake. We should think this
incredible, if the instinct of animals had not accustomed us to
marvels.

Most of the eggs of aquatic birds have one end larger than the
other, resembling in this respect the egg of the common fowl.
Those of the cormorant are long, and both the ends are small.
But the eggs of some of the penguins are quite round. The
eggs of the cormorant are small compared to the size of the bird ;

those of the guillemots, on the contrary, are large. The capuchin
Z2

388 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

cuillemot, which is a little smaller than the wood-pigeon, lays an
egg larger than that of a goose.

Of all European birds the great penguin lays the largest egg.
It is eagerly sought after by amateurs, and is becoming every day
more rare. At the present time £20 or 430 is paid for a specimen.
Petrels lay white eggs, goosanders yellow, and those of the duck
are greenish. Gulls lay olive-coloured eggs, with a brown marbling
which is generally closer and darker towards the thicker end. The
great penguin, just mentioned, lays an egg of a yellowish-white
tint, with rays and spots, not very numerous, which, Temminck
says, remind one of the singular forms of Chinese characters.

THE NORTHERN DIVER.

(Colymbus glacialis.)

The guillemot produces an egg still more remarkable for the
lines or zigzags with which the shell is decorated. The eggs of the
northern diver are the darkest of all that are known. They are
chocolate, with an olive tint, and are marked with irregular black
spots. The eggs of the cormorants and gannets are covered with
a white cretaceous, or chalky plaster, which may be easily removed
with the nail. This plaster is so friable on the egg of the red
cormorant (Phenicopterus ruber), that if the shell be gently passed
along the sleeve of a coat, it will be whitened as if it had been
rubbed with a piece of chalk.

NESTS AND EGGS. 389
When a bird has prepared its nest, the young mother must be
much surprised, after the trouble she has borne, to find in her nest,
instead of a delicate little chick resembling herself, an inanimate
spheroid, which can say nothing. She has brought into the world
a sort of ball, white like chalk, or light blue like turquoise, or
perhaps it may be red, and streaked like mahogany, or dotted
and veined like marble or agate. An egg is not a bird, any more
than a grain is a tree ; it is something antecedent, something which
contains the rudiments of an animal; but which, as yet, shows no
signs of life; resembling a mineral production, rather than an
organic germ. The instinct of the mother comes to the help of
her inexperience. She attaches herself to this inanimate body with
a devotion that we do not and cannot understand. Is it maternal
affection ? certainly not. It isa kindred feeling very nearly related
to it, and possibly preliminary to it, but certainly different.
Maternal love does not exist yet, it will come later, and will be first
felt when the little ones are hatched. This attachment to their
eggs, induces the birds to remain seated on these peculiar pro-
ductions, and to keep them warm. They press these stones to their
hearts. When parents are hatching for the first time, do they
know what the results of their long incubation will be? Doubtless
the thought never troubles them, for instinct is their director and
motive power. The female and, what is still more astonishing,
the male, may actually be seen to forget to eat and drink, so
great is their love for an egg. During the time the sea-swallow
is sitting on her eggs, her mate comes from time to time, and
rests near the nest. There he disgorges a little fish within reach
of his partner, he then looks at her tenderly, the pair make
various inclinations of the head, sometimes, rather singular move-
ments, but no doubt in this manner they assure each other of
their tender affection, and their happy content.

The development of the young bird is not a mystery ; for if a
number of eggs, in different stages of incubation, have their shells
delicately broken, the process is easily seen. At the commence-
ment of incubation the ball of yolk is surrounded by a thick layer
of albumen, which is enclosed first in a skin, and then in the
calcareous shell. This yolk or vtellus is suspended by two

399 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

filaments, and is really the germ which contains all the organs of
the young bird in an undeveloped state. At one point of its circum-
ference a white spot appears. This gradually expands until about
a quarter of the yellow ball is white ; this may be distinctly seen
to be divided into two parts. The upper layer soon begins to
give signs of organisation—a red vein runs round its edge, from
which numerous branching vessels are given off, and tend towards,
not a point in the centre, but a long, dark line, which is surrounded
by a white border. All the veins collect into four main branches,
which enter this lineal opening in pairs, one on each side. As the
wonderful process goes on, the outline of the brain and heart appears,
from which organs the blood-vessels take their rise. The respira-
tion had hitherto been conducted by the vascular net-work of the
yolk, but now a temporary lung is established, and the development
proceeds rapidly ; the contour of limbs begins to be traced, and the
eye is defined at an early period. The scales of the legs and the
germs of the feathers are very visible. The air-chamber, with
which all are familiar, which is situated at the thick end of the egg,
has gradually increased, so that when the young bird is fledged,
and ready to make its début, it occupies almost one-quarter of the
whole egg. This is a wise provision in order that the little prisoner
may have room to move in the shell when its instinct prompts it to
break the walls. The bird, at the right moment, tears the mem-
brane of the air-chamber, and enters this open space. Now more
at ease in its prison, it attacks the shell, striking it with a little
hard substance, fitted at the extremity of the beak, the prison
walls are broken, and the captive emerges into the external world.

Sea-birds defend their eggs and their little ones very bravely.
When Captain Ross discovered the Island of Possession, he found
there an immense quantity of penguins, covering even the tops of
the hills. These birds advanced towards the shore in close columns,
and with their beaks bravely attacked the Englishmen who wished
to take possession of the land in the name of Victoria! All honour
to the courage and patriotism of the penguins!

The female of the wild duck, when going to her nest, alights a
hundred paces or more away from it. When on land she moves
towards her nest obliquely and tortuously, with her eye fixed on

NESTS AND EGGS. 391

any one who may be standing near, to make sure that there is no
enemy watching her. What pleasure may be enjoyed by those
who study Nature! We are assured that the plover, “If she sees
a child or a dog approach her nest, does not wait for their arrival,
but advances resolutely ; then suddenly takes flight, with a loud
cry, as if surprised upon her eggs, when in fact they may be thirty
paces off. Then she will flutter and let one wing fall; or she will
run dragging a leg; in fact, will actually feign lameness, till she
has decoyed the intruder to a safe distance from her nest, and thus
averted the danger.”

Collecting eggs forms a branch of considerable industry in many
countries. The poor inhabitants of the Faroe Isles feed on the
eggs of almost all the waterfowl which frequent their shores. They
eat the young chicks also, and the parent birds when they can
manage to catch them. They will hang by a rope, at the peril of
their lives, or climb the perpendicular sides of the rocks, or walk
along the narrowest ledges, on which the birds make their nests.
In this perilous position one false step must be inevitable death ;
and every year many of the Faroese fall victims to this dangerous
sport. This pursuit may be carried on without danger in a canoe.
The fowler takes a conical-shaped net, not unlike those used to
catch butterflies, but it is woven of wool, and consequently stronger.
As these birds are not wild they suffer themselves to be approached ;
the net is thrown over their heads, they are entangled in it, and
easily caught. In this way birds swimming on the surface of the
water, or fishing on the rocks, can be seized with equal facility.
But the greatest number of birds are to be found on the craggy
points of the steep rock. In order to reach these, parties of at
least four men set out together. One armed with a pole, at the
end of which is a small horizontal shelf, pushes his companion up
to the level of a ledge, who then hoists him up with a rope. There
they seize the birds as they are brooding, or catch them with the
nets as they fly off their nests. They partly kill them and throw
them to the men below, who stand ready in a boat under the cliff.
In this way they go from point to point, and often in a few hours
catch hundreds of birds.

The most profitable though the most dangerous of all methods

392 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

is the following :—The fowlers provide themselves with a cable two
inches thick, and 600 or 1,200 feet long, on which is fastened a
kind of seat. A beam is placed at the edge of the rock, to prevent
the rope being cut by the rough stone ; the bird-taker ( fugelmand)
is let down by six other men, and holds a small cord in his
hand, by means of which he can make certain signs agreed upon,
and understood by his comrades. It rcquires a peculiar skill to
prevent the cable being twisted, and turning the man round
and round, by which he would be knocked and bruised against the
rocks. The fugelmand, on reaching a ledge, lets go the cord,
ties it to any convenient projection, and kills as many birds as
possible, catching them in his net, or seizing them with his hand.
If he should spy a hollow, or a niche, beyond his reach, where
many water-fowl are perched, he sits down again on his little plank,
and jerks the rope, so as to give an oscillation of sometimes as
much as one hundred feet, and thus swings himself to the spot
he wishes to explore.

It is said, that in one little rocky islet of the Faroe group, as
many as 2,400 sea-parrots are caught every year. The governors
of the Isle of Texel have the exclusive right to all the eggs taken
there; but they pay a considerable sum to secure this monopoly.
It is asserted that 300 or 400 eggs, of the silver gull alone, are
gathered every day. After St. John’s Day, no more eggs may be
taken, the birds being allowed to hatch in peace any they may lay
after that period. Naumann says, that 50,000 eggs of the large
gulls are collected annually in the little island of Sylt, and quite as
many of smaller species, and of sea-swallows. Among the larger
eggs, there are at least 10,000 of the silver gull.

Three men are engaged in collecting these eggs from eight in
the morning till late at night. They receive in payment the eggs
of all the smaller kinds of birds.

The fulmar is to the inhabitants of St. Kilda the most precious
production of their island. The bird-nesters risk their lives to take
these birds. Two men generally go together; one firmly tied
round the waist with a thick cord, is let down by the other to some
steep rock thickly peopled with fulmars. He collects all the eggs
and birds he can, and is then drawn up by his companion. The
dexterity of these men is very great, and the smallest surface is

NESTS AND EGGS. 393

enough for them to stand on. They may be seen loaded with their
booty crawling on hands and knees, and treading on the narrowest
ledges, and on the least possible projecting points. The strength
of the man who holds the cord is such, that if the bird-nester

i
i na My
ni

SEA-BIRD CATCHING.

makes a false step, and falls into the air, he is able to bear the
shock and save his companion. In the Hebrides, it is calculated
that more than 20,0co gannets are killed annually, and in Green-
land, 200,000 eggs of aquatic birds are consumed in the year.
Audvbon has scen collectors of eggs from Havannah, in the
Ile aux Oiseaux, Gulf of Mexico, carry off a cargo of about eight

3904 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

tons of eggs, of two species of the sea-swallow. He inquired what
they calculated was the number of eggs, and they replied that
they never counted them, even when selling them; but they sold
them at the rate of seventy-five cents per gallon. By one cargo
they make sometimes two hundred dollars, and the following week,
they would return and collect another ship-load. Other dealers
who arrived from the west, sold their eggs at twelve and a half
cents per dozen.

Before concluding, we will say a few words about the famous
eider-duck. This remarkable bird is nearly twice the size of the
common duck. Its neck is comparatively short, and its legs are
rather long. It lays its eggs chiefly in Iceland, where it is pro-
tected by law. Any one who is tempted to kill a wild duck during
the breeding season, is liable to a fine of not less than thirty dollars.
A safeguard is thus provided for one of the most lucrative produc-
tions which we owe to marine birds. Of the collection and sale
of the soft down, known as eider-down, Mackenzie relates in his
“Voyage in Iceland,” that, when his boat approached the island,
he had to make his way among troops of this much-prized fowl.
They did not take the trouble to move out of his way, but were
quite calmly unconcerned, as if they knew they were under the
protection of government. From the shore to the house of the
bailiff, the ground was literally covered with birds, so close together
that the visitors had to walk very cautiously to avoid treading on
them. The eider-ducks were sitting on their eggs, upon the tops
of walls, on roofs of houses, even in the houses, and actually in the
church! When approached, they never stirred, but allowed them-
selves to be touched, and would peck the stranger’s hand lightly
with their beaks. The nests of these ducks are round, and rather
deep; they are built of small dead branches, carefully interlaced
with moss and marine plants. The bird lays five or six eggs, and
occasionally, though rarely, eight. Audubon once found ten in
one nest. They are larger than those of the common duck, smooth,
and of a clear olive-grey colour, and are considered a great delicacy.
Every nest is lined and carpeted with down, which the bird tears
from her own breast, and in which the eggs are completely buried ;
while around and above them are more feathers, with which the

NESTS AND EGGS. . 395

bed can be covered, when the parent leaves her nest at low tide
to go and seek for food.

One can hardly contemplate without emotion that Divine good-
ness which gives industry to the feeble, and forethought to the
ignorant. The nest is robbed of its down twice, and sometimes
a third time. The poor mother has to replace it from her own
breast. She reproduces her plumage, and again robs herself to
keep her nest at the right degree of warmth. When her provision
of brownish down is exhausted, her mate comes to her help, and
sacrifices, in his turn, his beautiful snow-white or rose-tinted
eider-down. Each nest furnishes, on an average, half a pound of
down.

When we consider the immense swarms of aquatic birds that
inhabit the coasts of all the islands of Northern Europe, we are
really lost in wonder! The most arid sands, the steepest rocks,
the most inaccessible clefts, all are invaded, and even crowded, by
nests and brooding birds. Many birds lay only one egg, and often
place it in such a spot that it is difficult to understand how incuba-
tion can be accomplished. Sea-eagles, falcons, gulls, suck the eggs,
or carry off the young birds. The arctic gull nourishes her brood
with young gannets, penguins, and fulmars, which she steals from
their parents. Many large fish, too, feed on more than one kind
of bird, large as well as small.

Hundreds of birds die of cold during winter. Whole colonies
are destroyed by the tides, or swept away by hurricanes. And
who can say how many are sacrificed to our wants and our
pleasures? Notwithstanding all these calamities, the number of
marine birds is undiminished, and the dreary expanse of the ocean
is ever animated and enlivened by their presence.

396

CEUAE TE Recline
THE CETACEA.

IN animals of a simple construction the tissue of their substance
is homogeneous, all their organs being composed of the same kind
of matter; the functions of these organs, moreover, are reduced to
the lowest limit, their exercise being expended upon that only
which is absolutely necessary to existence. As we ascend the
scale, we find that the functions of the various organs become more
definite or localised, that is, one organ only performs a special
office, and does not undertake several functions.

The division of labour in the body, among the various organs,
is one of the most curious and intcresting of the laws of Nature,
and the higher the position occupied by an animal in the scale of
creation the more organs it possesses. Just as in the humbler
position of our society the work of the household is done by a
“maid of all work,’ and as a higher grade is reached, more
numerous become the domestics, the several duties of an establish-
ment being allotted, each to a separate servant; and thus the
number of retainers is a good measure of the position of the
householder.

In the higher orders of life—in those animals which approach
the master-piece of creation, man—the various functions of the
body are performed by organs which are either single or double.
The brain and heart, the essential organs of vertebrate life, are
single, while the organs of vision and hearing are double.

In the annelids all the organs are repeated an incredible num-

ber of times. Some species have ten jaws, some 300 claws, and
in some the eyes are legion, even reaching 30,000.

As we saw in Chapter XXIX., the Zoonites are composed of an
assemblage of organs, so arranged that the animal is built up of
segments, each segment having a complement of organs; and yet
the zoonite is far below the vertebrates in the scale of life ; a single

THE CETACEA. 397

zoonite is a very imperfect creature, but the joining of many together
makes an animal which takes a somewhat high rank. Thus the
division of labour in the animal economy may be classed under four
heads :—1. Where many individuals are joined together to do the
work of an association, as the corals and polypiers. 2. Where these
individuals are in a yet closer union, as in the zoonites. 3. Where
many instruments are concerned with the performance of the same
functions. 4. Where special organs, single or double, are designed
for special functions.

The mammifers, or as they used to be called, the viviparous
quadrupeds, are the vertebrates which most nearly approach man.
Those members of the class which are inhabitants of the world of
the sea form three classes, according to their construction and
habits. 1. The mammifers having anterior members, which are
transformed into fins, but are devoid of hind limbs—these are
the cetacea. 2. Those which have all their limbs converted into
flappers and fins, such are the sea Jions and the morses. 3. Those
which possess members like ordinary quadrupeds, as the z/zée
bears. The first two classes are the marine mammals proper ; the
construction of the cetacea being the least complicated.

The cetacea are essentially aquatic ; the greater number never
leave the water ; but since they breathe by lungs they are compelled
to rise to the surface to respire. The head of the cetacea is joined
to the body by a neck so short and thick that there appears no
contraction, but it seems as though the head grew out of the body.
The trunk terminates in a thick, fleshy tail, which is horizontally
flattened, not vertically, like the tails of fishes, so that the cetacea
strike the water, not from right to left, but up and down. On the
head the whales have a hole which communicates with the mouth :
through this channel the animal ejects the air which it has inhaled ;
and as it carries with it a large quantity of water, a fountain jet
rises from the surface of the sea; the sailors then say the whales are
“blowing.” The best divers are not able to remain under water
more than a minute and a half, tut the cetacea can keep beneath
the surface for some hours. The I’rench anatomist, Professor
Breschet, discovered that the whales possessed a net-work of veins

398 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

running in the neighbourhood of the vertebral column. It would
appear that these veins serve the purpose of a reservoir for the
blood, during the time that the animal is beneath the surface of
the water, thus keeping the most important organs from being
overcharged. As soon as the whale reaches the surface and
breathes, the veins discharge themselves, emptying their contents
into the lungs, and the full process of circulation is renewed.
The whales live in troops, or “schools,” frequently very numerous.
There are about 100 species. The cetacea are either carnivorous
or herbivorous ; the latter kind frequent the neighbourhood of the
shore, moving gently among the marine vegetation. They graze
like ruminants, thus forming an exception to the general rule.

Most of the species when they suckle their young—for strange
as it may seem, the whale performs this office—place themselves
in an upright position, with their upper part above the water ;
they then embrace their offspring in their fins, holding it to their
breast. So much does this resemble the mode in which our
infants are nourished, that whales have been called sea women,
marine nymphs, sirens, &C.

399

CHAPTER «Xx LIV.
THE SPERM-WHALE.

THESE creatures are among the largest of the cetacea, being
characterised particularly by the remarkable size of the teeth
of the lower jaw. Their size often reaches eighty feet, of which
the head occupies thirty. Although these cetacea are so large,
they are not so well known as many of the smaller members
of the animal kingdom, for it is yet an undecided point whether
there be ten different species, or only one.

The sperm-whale is also known by the name of Cachalot. It
is scientifically termed Physeter macrocephalus. Its habitat is
widely extended, for the sperm-whale is an inhabitant of almost
every sea. Its colour is bluish-black, darker upon the back. The
upper jaw is destitute of teeth, or has only the rudiments covered
by the gums. The lower jaw is narrower and three feet shorter
than the upper, looking much out of proportion. We shall
notice presently the formidable teeth with which it is furnished.
The cachalot has only one spiracle. Its eyes are prominent. Its
dorsal fin is reduced to a mere scaly protuberance, and its tail
is bi-lobial. The body is thick, heavy, and ungraceful; in its
ungainly appearance there is more resemblance to a gigantic
bull-head, than any other fish. The blunt-headed cachalot swims
chiefly on the surface of the water, showing his back and the
fleshy hump about the spiracle. He thus gives vent to the
water drawn into the nostril while feeding, just as a Dutch
peasant comes into the sun to smoke his pipe! The movements
of the cachalot are not rapid, and in shallow seas he may some-
times be seen to raise the whole of the upper part of his body
upright out of the water. When these animals journey, the
largest and strongest takes the lead, and keeps at the head
of the phalanx. It is his duty also to give the signal for attack.
In the year 1741, an enormous sperm-whale was stranded at

400 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the mouth of the Adour; near Bayonne. In 1769 another was
cast on shore a short distance from St. Valery, in the Bay of

the Somme. In 1784, thirty-two of these monsters were grounded
in the Bay of Audierne, on the coast of Lower Brittany. A
skeleton, bought in London in 1821, is preserved in one of the

—————— —— SSS SS
THE GREAT-HEADED SPERM-WHALE,
(Physeter macroceph ilus.)

courts of the Museum in Paris. Very recently (November, 1862)
a small cachalot was found by some custom-house_ officers,
amongst the breakers of the Darmon (Var). Its length was
forty feet and its girth twenty-six feet. The mouth when
opened would admit of a man standing upright, and he could
be swallowed without any difficulty. The weight was estimated

—

~

THE SPERM-WHALE. 401

at forty tons. It was bought by M. Bienvenu, ex-master of the
port, for fifty francs, and the skeleton was sold to the Museum of
Draguignan.

The capture of the sperm-whale is a source of extensive
employment. We are indebted to Commander L. Hautefeuille
for some details of this interesting and lucrative fishery. Every
captain has on board his ship two men keeping a look out from
the mast-head, and four or five canoes, pointed at both extremities,
called whalers. The moment an unfortunate whale is perceived,
the canoes are launched, each one being manned by four strong
rowers, an officer who steers the craft by means of a paddle, and
also an experienced harpooner, generally a well-seasoned tar, gifted
with presence of mind, a keen eye, and a strong arm. The animal
no sooner feels the harpoon than he plunges rapidly towards the
bottom of the sea. Before many minutes, he comes to the surface
to breathe. The column of air and water which he spouts is
frequently dyed with blood. He again plunges, but taking with
him a second or third harpoon, thrown from other canoes. The
fishermen sometimes use a peculiar harpoon, which is shot like
an arrow by a powerful spring from a copper tube penetrating
far through the skin of the whale. In recent times, another
and still more terrible means of destruction has been invented
—a kind of shell, which explodes after having sunk into the
flesh! These new plans are not, however, much adopted. In
the meantime, the animal rises again to the surface; but he
is becoming exhausted, and he appears more frequently, and
at last can scarcely plunge a few fathoms to prolong his life
for some minutes. Now the canoes all join in a circle and sur-
round the victim, and dispatch him with lances. But it often
happens that a whale defends himself, and sells his life dearly ;
then woe betide the unhappy canoe which has advanced too
rashly: with one blow of his mighty tail, the monster sweeps
to destruction all that are within his reach. The whale, when
dead or dying, is dragged by the boats to the ship, where it is
taken on board and fastened to the fore-part by the tail. The
crews then celebrate their victory in the true English fashion—
by a dinner—and afterwards proceed to cut up the carcase, an

AA

402 THE WORLD. OF THE SEA.

=

operation carried on amid songs and bumpers of spirits. The
first thing is to take from the body the large rolls of fat in which
it is enveloped ; these are melted in huge copper vats. The oil
or fat is then extracted from the body, and especially from the
head, where it is gathered up with pails. The oil from the cephalic
region is the thickest, and alone forms one-third of the total pro-
duce. When all is extracted from the body, it is severed from
the head, and abandoned to the birds and sharks. The head
only is hoisted on to the deck, where it is soon stripped of its fat.
This can only be effected with animals of a moderate size. The
cutting up, boiling, and preparing, occupies from twenty to thirty
men for forty-eight hours. When purified, the oil is put into tuns.
One sperm-whale will furnish from 80 to 150 tuns of oil, according

A TOOTH OF THE SPERM-WHALE.

to its size. One sixty feet long, and weighing sixty tons, was
found to yield 100 barrels. More than this is seldom obtained
from any single whale. A three-masted vessel can take about fifty
whales, which may be caught in the space of one or two years.
This fishery is carried on in the present day by the English,
French, Portuguese, and Americans.

The sperm-whale furnishes for art and commerce not oil only,
but also ivory, spermaceti, and ambergris. Ivory is obtained from
the teeth, but is of inferior quality. The lower jaw has on,either
side, from twenty to five-and-twenty large teeth, they are cylin-
drical, and conical at the summit, slightly curved inwards, sharp,
and not closely set in the jaw. We have seen one that was seven
inches in length, and another that weighed more than thirty-one
pounds. Spermaceti is found in the large cavities in the upper
part of the head, beneath the brain, which is small, compared

THE SPERM-WHALE. 403

to the bulk of the head. Camper discovered, that in a head twenty
feet long, the cavity of the cranium was only ten inches. While
the fish is alive, the spermaceti is in the form of an oily fluid, and
it solidifies after death. The spermaceti is obtained pure by com-
pressing this secretion in a woollen bag, and then boiling it in
an alkaline liquor, to separate the remaining oil. It is then
washed and poured into jars.

M. Quoy calculated, that a cachalot from the Moluccas, sixty-
two feet long, yielded twenty-four barrels of spermaceti, each one
containing two and a half cwts. Consequently, this one animal
furnished three tons.

Spermaceti is a solid white substance, glistening like mother-of-
pearl. It is very soft to the touch, and breaks easily into flakes.
It is used in making candles; it is also one of the ingredients of
pomatum, and of the cold-cream so much recommended for soften-
ing the skin. Ambergris is nothing more than a kind of intestinal
calculus, or a portion of the food of the whale imperfectly digested.
This substance, which is in such demand for perfumery, and is so
valued by fair ladies, has a very ignoble origin. The unpleasant
source whence it is derived makes the delicacy of its scent the
more astonishing ; for ambergris, the most valuable product of the
cachalot, is a morbid secretion or disease.

Some zoologists consider that all whales in their normal state
furnish this substance; others suppose it to be only the result of
certain diseases, and therefore an accidental product. Ambergris
is frequently found floating on the water, or deposited on the beach.
The places where it is most collected, are the coasts of Japan, the
Molucca Isles, India, Madagascar, and Brazil. The food of the
cachalot appears greatly to influence this substance. It seems that
it is produced by pulpy mussels, cuttle-fish, and even offensive
refuse, agglomerated and ill-digested. Many of the secretions of
the inhabitants of the ocean world exhale the strong odour of musk,
for which ambergris is noted. The whalers learn the shores
frequented by the animals, by this excrement which the waves cast
upon the beach. It is a solid fatty substance, resembling wax,
tolerably hard, and lighter than water. Its colour is dark or ashy .
grey, it is sometimes of a yellow, or brown tint, and often covered
with a white efflorescence which forms on the surface, and even

AA 2

404. THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

exists to some depth in the interior. It possesses a soft, agreeable
scent, capable of imparting its perfume to an unlimited extent.

It consists of irregular masses, composed of concentric layers,
one over the other, or sometimes granulated, the grains being
unequal and more or less rounded. As a central nucleus are often
found the solid remains of mussels and fish. These masses weigh,
commonly, from two to twenty ounces ; but some have been found
weighing as much as twenty pounds.

The cachalot grounded near Bayonne in 1741, had in its inside
a piece of ambergris of twelve pounds weight. A whaler obtained
forty pounds from the entrails of one single whale, and more than
100 pounds from another. The East India Company possessed
one mass of 150 pounds. Valmont de Bomare saw a pile in 1695,
weighing two hundredweight. It is said that foxes have a great
partiality for ambergris, and that they come to the sea-coast in
search of it. They eat it and return it exactly in the same state
as they swallowed it, as regards its perfume, though changed in
colour. To this taste is due the existence of white ambergris,
which is found at some distance from the sea, in the province of
Aquitaine, and which the inhabitants call ambre renardé This
second produce of perfumed substance has thus travelled through
the digestive systems of two different mammals, and still retains
its delicate odour!

405

CHAPTER OULYV.
THE DOLPHINS.

AMONG the smaller members of the cetacean family are the
Dolphins. According to Oppien, they are “the pride and delight
of the waves.” In every sea they are found, glancing through the
water, darting hither and thither with great agility, and .at the
same time flinging back from their shining skins a play of colours,
pleasingly mixing with the spray which flies as they bound and
play upon the surface. The common dolphin (Delphinus delphis)
is distinguished by its long, pointed snout from the porpoise (Del-
phinus phocena). Its mouth is furnished with a regiment of teeth.
There is the head of a dolphin preserved in the Paris Museum,
which exhibits no less than 104 teeth in the upper jaw, z2., fifty-
two on each side; and ninety-eight in the lower jaw, forty-nine on
each side, making altogether 202! These teeth are very small and
even, white, sharp, and slightly curved. Dolphins are not deficient
in intelligence, but Greek and Roman writers have singularly
exaggerated their talents. They believed that they were sensible
to the charms of music, and that they often rendered signal services
to man. Pliny relates very gravely, that, in his own time, on the
coast of Narbonnensis, dolphins used to help the fishermen in their
work by catching fish for them, and were rewarded for their trouble
by a portion of the fish, and often by bread soaked in wine. It is
even said that dolphins have been known to carry men on their
backs ; and a tale is told of one which was very tame, and upon
losing sight of the child it loved, died of grief.

Dolphins swim more rapidly than a bird can fly. They are
often harbingers of a fresh wind, and flock from the farthest point
of the horizon, gambolling upon the waters, as if to salute the
vessel. Sailors look upon their arrival as a happy omen. Whole
troops will follow ships for many days, bounding along in front,

406 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

chasing each other, diving under the keel, and re-appearing to
begin afresh their gambols. These shoals consist of five or six,
rarely of more, though troops of twenty may occasionally be seen.
When they are hunting their prey, they always go in packs, like
wolves.

They show to each other a sympathy which is truly remark-
able, and far more real than their supposed affection for the
human race. As soon as one of a party is taken, the rest come
near and surround it till it has been drawn up on deck. Then
they all go off together, and will not eat anything, whatever may
be thrown to them. This is the case only with old ones that
have grown cunning and suspicious. If a troop of little dolphins
are met with, they will all remain feeding round the vessel, |
as if they were curious to ascertain for themselves what had
become of their companion, and by this means they are all
captured.

The largest known kind is the Delphinus orca. One was
caught in the Thames in 1787, twenty-six feet long, and another
in the Loire in 1793, twenty feet long. It is asserted that they
sometimes measure even thirty-four feet. A female and its young
were cast on shore near Ostend in 1844. This fine dolphin was
black on the upper part of the body, and white underneath. It had
a white spot, in the shape of a cross, on the head, above the eyes.
Its teeth were conical, and rather hooked. This dolphin is
considered the most formidable of the cetacea which visit our
shores, and will attack the largest animals of the sea: it will even
pursue the whale; a troop will torment the king of the cetacea
till he open his mouth, and then they will devour his tongue
(Cuvier). Nothing is more interesting than to hear the tales of the
ferocity and gluttony of these dangerous animals related by the
fishermen of Greenland and Spitzbergen.

On the Ist of August, 1862, a fine dolphin was stranded on
the coast of Jutland. Information was immediately sent to
Professor Eschricht, of Copenhagen, who repaired to the spot.
The first thing the naturalist wished to discover was how the
monster had been fed during the last hours of his life; and, on
examining, ¢hirteen porpotses and fifteen sea-calves were found in
his stomach!

THE DOLPHINS. 407

The dolphin fishery is one of the most important and lucrative
occupations of the inhabitants of the Faroe Isles. The species
chiefly frequenting these islands is the Delphinus globiceps, or
round-headed dolphin—remarkable for the extreme projection of
its forehead, which has the appearance of an ancient helmet. This
dolphin lives in large flocks, headed by one great leader. Lemaout,
Professor of Pharmacy at St. Brieuc, found seventy cast on
shore near Paimpol. In 1806, ninety-two were washed on shore
in the Bay of Scapay, in Pomona, one of the Orkneys. As many
as three hundred were driven on the coast of Shetland the year
before. Scoresby has seen a thousand in one single troop.

No sooner does a fisherman on the Faroe Isles discover a shoal
of dolphins, than he immediately makes known the fact to the
inhabitants of the coast by hoisting a particular flag. They
hasten to the top of the mountain, light a turf fire, and by
this telegraphic signal, announce the joyful news to all the
islanders. Columns of smoke float in the air, fires gleam from
point to point; their number and position indicate to the farthest
dweller in those islands where the dolphins are to be found. The
fisherman instantly launches his boat from the shore, his relatives
and neighbours’ hasten to join him; women make ready their
provisions, and they eagerly rush on board. To this day, at Thors-
haven, the capital of the Faroe Isles, there is a commotion excited
on these occasions, which no stranger would imagine. Women and
children run wildly through the town, crying out, “ Gryndabud!
eryndabud !” (News of the dolphin). At this welcome cry, every
door opens, and every family is in uproar. Each one tries who can
first reach his boat, who will first spread sail, and whose oar shall
be the first to cut the wave. The governor and the “ Landfogde”
hasten also, heading the expedition in their barge, manned by ten
huntsmen in uniform, and with the Danish flag flying at the mast.

When all the fishermen are assembled at the place indicated,
they arrange themselves in order of battle, and advance, according
as the position of the ground permits, either in a close column, or
in a semi-circle. They enclose in this barrier the astonished
dolphins, pursue, and drive them till they reach the end of the bay,
where the circle closes upon them, and they are captured between
the boats and the land. On one side, they are attacked by the

408 THE WORED OF PHE “SEA:

fishermen armed with lances or pikes, and on the other side is the
shore, where the first imprudent movement will inevitably strand
them. Soon follows a horrible carnage. The fishermen strike,
strangle, massacre by any means; blood pours till the sea becomes
quite red, and those fish which might have a chance of escape, lose
their characteristic agility in the poisoned waters, and perish like
the rest, by the thrust of the harpoon. The victims may often be
counted by hundreds. When all are killed they are dragged to the
beach. The “sysselmand” estimates the value of each animal, and
chalks his estimate on the back. The governor makes the division
of the spoil; first, a portion, which is called “#¢he, is taken for the
king, the church, and the priests; another for the authorities and
functionaries ; a third for the poor ; and a fourth for those who join
in the fishery, so much for each man, and for each boat. The man
who was the first to discover the shoal, has a right to choose the
finest dolphin. Those men who have been wounded, or who
have suffered any loss during the expedition, have an additional
share; another portion must be reserved for the proprietor of the
land where the fish were caught, and this portion generally falls
also to the king, who is the supreme owner of the whole land.
When the division is over, the animals are cut into pieces ; the skin
is taken off to be made into leather, the flesh and fat form the best
provision for the Faroene household. Oil is procured from the fat;
and the bladder, when dried, serves as a vessel for the oil. The
entrails are carried by the boats out to sea, to avoid any infection
arising from their decomposition on the land. A dolphin of
average size yields usually a tun of oil, which sells at Thorshaven
for twenty-five or thirty shillings. The flesh and fat are worth
about as much.
Audubon relates that during a long calm a troop of splendid
dolphins played about the sides of his ship, sparkling in the light
like burnished gold, and equal in brilliance to meteors at night.
The captain and sailors cleverly contrived to catch some of them
with hooks, or by piercing them with an instrument with five
points, called a pike. When the dolphin feels the hook he struggles
violently, and rushes impetuously to the end of the line, when,
finding himself suddenly stopped, he leaps high up out of the water,
and often manages to detach himself. When he has been fairly

—_ wr), Se

~~

THE DOLPHINS. 409

caught, the experienced fisherman allows him to play, when he
soon becomes exhausted, and is drawn upon deck. Some people
prefer to draw up the fish at once, but they seldom secure him, for
his rough jerks, when out of his own element, generally enable
him to escape.

The most common of all the cetaceans is the porpoise or porpesse
—a name derived from the Italian porco pesce—hog-fish. It
appears in almost all the European seas and on the American
coast. It is about six feet long, bluish black on its back, and
white underneath. The dorsal fin is placed in the middle of the
back ; both jaws are furnished with numerous small teeth. The
whole body of the porpoise is covered with a layer of fat an inch
thick, and the flesh which is found beneath is pink, and eats not
unlike pork. The porpoises swim in shoals, called schools by the
sailors ; and thus in company hunt mackerel, herrings, and salmon,
spreading terror and consternation wherever they appear. They
frequently approach the shore, where they are found rooting up the
marine vegetation with their snouts, like pigs.

The grampus is a larger though less common cetacean than the
porpoise. Though a native of the north seas, it is frequently found
on the coasts of these islands. Its length is some twenty-four feet ;
it is extremely fierce, and proves a destructive enemy to its rela-
tions the dolphin and porpoise ; it is said even to attack the giant
of the tribe—the whale.

Narwhal or Sea Unicorn, an inhabitant of the Arctic seas, is a
huge cetacea, bold and active, armed with a powerful and terrible
instrument of attack. The narwhal is from twenty to thirty feet
long. He has projecting from his snout a sort of great halberd, a
long sword of ivory, spirally drawn to a point. This enormous
tusk springs from a socket in the maxillary bone of the upper jaw,
and measures often Six feet from the end of the snout. This
weapon used formerly to be called the unicorn’s horn. There are
two preserved in the Museum of the Faculty in Paris, the larger
is six or seven feet long, and at the base measures twenty inches
in circumference. These tusks were formerly part of the treasure
in the Abbey of St. Denis. With what object these unicorns’ horns
were preserved by the abbots we are not informed. The corre-

410 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

sponding tusk, that is, the one in the under jaw, is never so much
developed, and frequently remains hidden in the jaw.

The narwhal is of a greyish white colour, with white spots
which seem to penetrate the skin. In the stomach of one the
arm of a cuttle-fish was found, and also pieces of'a flounder.
Scoresby relates that during his voyage to Greenland he met a
great number of these animals, which swam near the vessel in
troops of fifteen or twenty. Most of them were males. They
seemed very lively, and often lifted their weapons above the water
and crossed them, as if presenting arms. They produced a most

NARWHAL,

(Monodon monoceros.)

extraordinary noise, resembling the gurgling of water in the throat.
Most of the troop followed the ship, and seemed led by curiosity.
The water being transparent, they could be seen dipping down as
low as the ship’s keel, and playing with the rudder. The nar-
whal is hardly to be recognised in the passages in which Pliny
describes the sea-unicorn. He attributes to it the head of a stag,
the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a wild boar, all which, he
adds, does not prevent its resembling a horse! Its horn, he says,
is black, and springs from the middle of the forehead !

Some kinds of dolphins are eaten. What, indeed, is there that
man does not eat? The smallest are reckoned the most delicate.

THE DOLPHINS. 4II

In the middle ages, the flesh of the porpoise was much esteemed.
In 1426, several were bought for the table of Henry III. The
Bishop of Swinfield, who lived at that period, feasted upon por-
poises whenever he had an opportunity.

At a sumptuous banquet
prepared for Richard II., at Durham

House, some of these
animals were served. It is said that, at the solemn installation

of Archbishop Neville, four of these cetacea occupied a prominent
place in the feast. In 1491, the bailiffs of Yarmouth presented
a fine porpoise to Lord Oxford, accompanied by an address,
in which they said that they made him this present because
they thought nothing could be more acceptable to his lordship.
At the wedding banquet of Henry V., many highly-flavoured
dishes appeared, prepared from the flesh of the dolphin. At
the coronation feast of Henry VIL, porpoises were again found
in the menu,; they were both boiled and roasted, and pies and
puddings were made of the flesh. Queen Elizabeth herself, who
had a very refined taste, was fond of porpoise. It was sold in
English markets up to the year 1575, when it ceased to be
esteemed.

CHAP TERK 2b Vil
WHALES.

WHALES are the largest of all the inhabitants of the sea, and
the greatest of all known animals. The Greenland whale
(Balena mysticetus) in very early times attracted the attention
of mariners and naturalists. It has been observed that this gigantic
beast must necessarily have been aquatic. If it had been a terres-
trial animal, what legs could have supported y? If it had been
aerial, what wings could have borne its weight? Providence there-
fore placed the whale in the water, and gave it the form of a
fish, to enable it to move with ease and celerity. The dimensions
of the whale are such, that we may compute them by the greatest
terrestrial measurements. Authors declare that specimens have
existed whose length equalled the hundred thousandth part of an
arc of the meridian! Lacépede affirms that a whale placed
upright against Notre Dame would be one-third higher than the
tower. Making allowance for the exaggerations of sailors and
naturalists, we may consider that the largest whales are from
80 to 100 feet, and even sometimes 130 feet long. Quite recently
—April, 1863—on the coast of Dunkirk was found an enormous
whale, cast on shore by a violent gale from the south-east. This
leviathan of the deep was ninety-seven feet long, and sixty-five feet
in circumference. The agony of the poor animal lasted nearly
two hours after he was thrown on the land. In his last struggles
he made the sand fly 300 feet from the shore, and a frightful
hissing announced that nature had at length succumbed. It has
been asserted that the weight of this prodigious creature reaches
even 250 tons. A whale which was found by Scoresby to be
more than sixty feet long, weighed seventy tons.

The body of the whale is a colossal and irregular cylinder, the
diameter of the smallest part being about one-third that of the

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WHALES. 413

greatest. It has no hair or scales, but is covered with a smooth
black leather, hard and thick, under which there is a cushion of fat
one foot thick. There are, however, some hairs on the skin of this

giant of the ocean, particularly when young. The head is so

THE GREENLAND WHALE,

(Balena mysticetus.)

enormous as to form one-third of the total weight of the animal;
it is in the form of an arch. This truly colossal head, when seen
at a distance rising above the surface of the sea, resembles a dark
brown hillock.

The mouth is prodigious; so huge is it that two men were able

AI4 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

to stand without stooping inside the mouth of a whale seventy-
eight feet long, caught in the Bay of the Somme. The upper jaw
has about 700 vertical plates of a horny substance, edged with a
pendant fringe on each side of the mouth. These plates, known
in science by the name of dards, and in commerce by that of zwhade-
bone, are often twelve or fifteen feet in length. The tongue is mon-
strous ; it is said to be often twenty-four feet long, and twelve wide,
and the oil expressed from it fills five or six hogsheads. Properly
speaking, it is not a tongue, but a thick, soft, heavy mattress,
consisting entirely of fat, spread out on the lower jaw. It is
fastened down throughout the whole length, and is consequently
immovable. We can hardly imagine a tongue that cannot be
put out of the mouth.

The whale feeds upon medusa, mollusks, and other small
marine animals, which are washed into his mouth by the water.
The monster swims on the surface of the sea, with his mouth
open; he has only to close the huge portals, and he imprisons a
whole population; the water, strained through the sieve or net
formed by the barbs, which are like a forest of close fibres, leaves
behind it all the small fish and other animals which form his prey.
For each meal thousands of victims are required. It is a law of
Nature that large animals feed upon small ones, and sometimes the
very large consume the minute,.as in the case we are considering,
for the animalculee swallowed by this giant of the deep are only
a few inches long, but the number consumed compensates for their
diminutive size. It has been shown that these tiny inhabitants of
the waters multiply by millions ; and if their destruction were not
so provided for as to counteract their fecundity, their numbers
would in a few generations absolutely crowd the ocean. It is a
strange sight to see this huge leviathan pursue pitiful creatures
made of gelatinous matter, without shape, without consistency, and
so small as to be barely discernible. It is supposed, however, that
from time to time the whale does eat fish, and even tolerably large
fish ; a tunny was once found whole in a whale’s stomach.

Though whales live like fishes yet they breathe like quadrupeds.
It is said that their breath is tainted with an insupportable odour,
putrid, and almost cadaverous, and that their snoring can be heard
from afar! Their circulation is on no less gigantic a scale. In the

a

WHALES. 415

Museum of the Faculty, in Paris, there is a vertical section of the
aorta, one of the large blood vessels of a whale; it is so immense
that a child might pass through the pipe, which is eighteen inches
in diameter, the walls being two inches thick. What an enormous
column of blood must this vast channel have conveyed.

The weight of the brain of a whale is scarcely the twenty-five
thousandth part of his total weight. Though endowed with tre-
mendous strength, this animal is very timid; and when pursued, he
invariably tries to escape and will not fight. He has many
tormentors, from which he cannot always escape, or even defend
himself. Sword-fish pierce him, and porpoises tear away large
pieces of his flesh.

The diameter of the eye is equal to the one hundred and
ninety-second ‘part of the total length. Professor Carus compares
the whole volume of the ocular globe to an orange, and Dr. Gros,
to the head of a new-born child. The pupil is transversal, and oval
like that of a ruminating animal. Though these immense mammi-
ferous fish have no legs, they swim with great swiftness, and they
gambol in the mountains of water lashed up by the storms. They
use their two arms admirably, as fins, or oars, and their enormous
tail, which is composed of two great lobes, is a tremendous power
to propel them through the water. Accordingly, when the whalers
wish to lessen the speed of a whale which they have harpooned,
they aim all their blows at the tail; with a very sharp triangular
pike they inflict sometimes as many as fifty vigorous slashes in
the root of the tail, and thus lessen by one half, the speed of the
retreating animal. When the whale strikes the water with its tail,
it causes a loud clapping.

A whale is said to swim on an average ten miles an hour; but
when pursued or wounded, he moves much more swiftly. Some-
times he will lift himself entirely out of the water, and fall down

violently, thus producing a miniature waterquake—if we may be
allowed to coin a word—which may be felt at a considerable

distance.

Whales are not insensible to affection; the male always accom-
panies his mate. In 1723, a pair were met travelling through the

416 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

ocean; perhaps it was their honeymoon! They were attacked
and wounded ; one being killed, the other threw himself upon the
beloved body, uttering frightful moans. At the mouth of the Elbe,
the same year, eight females were stranded on the bank; soon
after, their eight husbands arrived to visit their corpses. The
male always follows his wounded partner and remains with her.
The female does not show the same tenderness or care.

Like all mammalia, the whale suckles her young. How
much of the precious nourishment does she give at each meal?
She exhibits for her nursling very ardent and courageous attach-
ment. When a little whale has been harpooned, the mother will
not be long in coming to his help; she comes close to him when
he rises to the surface of the water to breathe; she seems to
excite him to flee ; sometimes she dives beneath him, and bears
him on her back; while he, slipping, and often upset by the
action of the waves, tries hard to support himself, by clinging
to his mother with his two fins. She very rarely abandons her
young while he lives. While so engaged, the mother whale may
easily be wounded, for she forgets entirely her own safety, that
she may devote herself to the preservation of her offspring. She
rushes amongst the enemy, disregarding all dangers; even, after
being several times wounded, she will stay near her young one,
if she cannot drag him away with her. In her maternal agony,
she swims to and fro, beats the sea violently; and the wildness
of her movements is a certain sign of the poignancy of her grief.

Those species of whale which have a fin on their backs, and
large folds on the belly, are called Rorguals, or razor backed.
The body is not so cumbrous as that of the ordinary whale ; hence
they swim more rapidly, and when they dive, they can remain longer
under water, for these reasons the fishermen seldom give them
chase.

Rorquals are, as a family, still larger than whales; Scoresby
speaks of one that was one hundred and twenty English feet in
length. These animals are the real giants of creation. In 1828,
a very fine rorqual was cast on shore at St. Cyprien, in the eastern
Pyrenees, which has been described by M. Companyo.

Of all the great fisheries which are carried on in different

WHALES 417

parts of the ocean, that of the whale or the rorqual is without
doubt the most famous, difficult, and perilous. Formerly, large
whales used to be caught in the temperate regions of the ocean,
and in the Mediterranean Sea. We learn from various legislative
enactments that until the twelfth century, these animals were found
in tolerable numbers in the Bay of Biscay, and were the source
of a regular fishery. At the present time, these large mammals
have become so scarce that their appearance in these very seas is
looked upon as an actual phenomenon.

Cuvier believed the whale of the Bay of Biscay to be the
same as the polar whale, but Professor Eschricht, of Copenhagen,
has decided that they are two different species.

The first whalers appear to have been Basques; subsequently
the Asturians joined in the fishery, then the English, and after-
wards the Dutch. The scene of these fisheries has frequently
changed shores, and has passed from the south to the north. In
ancient times, the eastern coast of Greenland was considered one
of the best stations, but that part of the sea is now entirely
deserted. For a long period the Esquimaux have ceased to
depend upon these colossal animals, for they only resort now to
the neighbourhood of Holsteinborg, and that very rarely. English
fishermen have entirely banished the whale from Baffin’s Bay.
Thirty years ago, as many as one hundred ships, belonging to
different nations, were employed in whale-fishing in Davis’ Straits.
Now, hardly five or six vessels visit those shores, and their booty
is very uncertain. The fishery has travelled gradually from the
Azores to Brazil, from Brazil to the south coast of Africa, thence
to Chili and Terra del Fuego, and then to New Holland and New
Zealand. At present it is carried on in the Sea of Japan, and on
the shores of Kamtschatka.

The ships employed in the whale-tishery are generally of 350
or 450 tons, and their crew consists of from thirty to five-and-
forty men. Each canoe is provided with a harpooner, who stands
in the prow, four rowers, and a steersman who takes the hindmost
oar; they carry with them four harpoons and two lances. The
harpoon is about three feet long; the shank is of iron, its lower
end is flattened into a triangular shape, with two diverging points
turning inward like a hook. To this shank is fixed the handle

BB

418 THE WORLD OF THE SEA,

by means of which the weapon is hurled. This handle is a stick
about three feet and a half long. Below the socket is fastened a
ring of twisted hemp, in which runs a line or rope 300 fathoms
long and an inch thick. The spear or lance is of iron, ten or
twelve feet long, including the shaft; at the extremity it is
flattened into a pointed oval, with very sharp edges. |

When the ship has arrived in the regions frequented by the
whale, two sailors are generally appointed to keep watch on the
main-topmast, and the mizen-mast. The moment either watch-
man perceives one of these animals, he gives the signal. Small
boats are immediately launched, and the whale is approached
quietly, so as not to alarm it. Whichever boat first gets to a
convenient distance, commences the attack. The man standing

A HARPOONED WHALE,

in the bow, hurls his harpoon, which he must do with all the
skill and strength that he can command. The giant of the
waves, on feeling himself wounded, gives a violent blow with his
tail, and plunges into the depths. The line attached to the harpoon
runs out with tremendous rapidity, and drags the boat with
frightful swiftness, ploughing the waters which rise in mighty waves,
and shut out the horizon from the sailors’ view. The boats are
very carefully kept away from the posterior part of the whale, for
this dangerous neighbourhood might prove fatal to the expedition.
When the whale plunges, he erects his tail, which vibrates for a
moment in the air, and falls flat upon the water with a crash which
would dash a boat in pieces. Imagine for a moment, the huge
monster wounded and enraged, and there can be no doubt that
these convulsive movements are very formidable. The line runs
out with such force and rapidity, that the sides of the boat would

santa

puree

WHALES. 419

catch fire, if water were not poured over it from time to time. If
by any mischance, the cord is’ stopped or entangled, the boat is
instantly upset and the crew thrown into the water. After awhile
—ten or fifteen minutes—the whale reappears on the surface; often
at a great distance from the place where he was last seen. A
terrible accident sometimes happens at the moment when the whale
rises. The boat may be thrown up from below and upset ;
but this rarely occurs. Scoresby relates, that Captain Lyons, in
1802, when fishing on the coast of Labrador, perceived near his
ship, an enormous whale. He immediately sent four boats to give
chase, two of which overtook the animal at the same time
and darted their weapons into him. The whale, feeling himself
wounded, plunged, but quickly rose to the surface immediately
under the third canoe, which had endeavoured to take the lead, and
hurled it into the air like a bomb. The boat was flung more than
fifteen feet out of the water, and being turned completely over,
came down keel upwards. The men clung to another boat that was
within reach, and one only was drowned. When the whale comes
up to the surface he is struck by a second or third harpoon.
Finally, he is dispatched by blows of the lance. No sooner is the
animal dead than he is towed to the ship, made fast to the side,
and cut up into pieces. First, the fat portions of the head, the lips,
throat, and tongue, are taken off with the bone of the upper jaw,
and the barbs. Then a strip of fat, about two feet broad, is torn off
round and round the body, and hoisted up by means of proper
tackle. This operation may be illustrated by peeling a pear
spirally, from the large end to the stalk. When the strip is hoisted
to the top, a longitudinal incision is made with a double-handled
knife, into which the second hook of the pulley is fixed, and this
again is drawn up to the top. The strip, when entirely cut off, is
lowered into the hold, and cut into small pieces for melting. In
order to peel off the strip of fat, two of the officers of the whaler
stand outside the ship, on small scaffoldings. The foremost one
marks the band round and round the body, the other helps in
separating it from the flesh; the remains are finally abandoned to
the porpoises, bears, and aquatic birds.

The whale-fishery has still greater perils to encounter than
those we have mentioned. It is related, that an American ship,

BB 2

420 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

the Lssex, in November, 1820, when in the South Seas, descried a
number of whales, and directed its course towards them. Having
arrived in the midst of these animals, according to custom, the
small boats were let down into the water. The little fleet advanced
rapidly, and the ship followed at a short distance. Suddenly, the
largest of the whales, which seemed to consist of a family party,
left the rest, and disdaining the small boats, rushed straight at the
ship, which he justly suspected to be his principal enemy. At the
first shock, a portion of the keel was broken; the animal then
endeavoured to seize the ship in several places, with his gigantic
jaws, but not being able to manage this, he retreated about six
hundred feet, and dashed with all his strength against the prow
of the vessel, driving it with a velocity of four knots a second.
This caused an immense wave to rise, and the water pouring into
the windows, filled the cabin, and laid the ship on her side. The
boats vainly tried to save her; when they arrived it was too late.
All they could do was to break in the deck, and snatch a small
quantity of bread and water, for the supply of the boats’ crews.

In the northern seas, the capture of a whale is quite a fortune.
When the Esquimaux catch sight of one of these monsters, they
at once put on all their best clothes. These are probably the
only occasions on which men and women indulge in washing and
adorning themselves. It is asserted that they are specially careful
not to put on any garment which has ever been in contact with a
human corpse. If this precaution were not observed, the whale
would instantly take flight when the wearer of the garment
approached, even if it already had several harpoons in its body.
We venture to question this assertion! However this may be, all
suitable arrangements being made, the little fleet starts; they
harpoon the animal, perforate it with blows from javelins and
spears, till it becomes exhausted and dies. The whale is then
dragged to the coast and divided, while half the body is under
water. Those who have been present merely as spectators of the
struggle have a share in the partition, as well as all those who
have actually taken part in it. Men, women, and children,
scramble round the prize, each one tries to help in cutting it up,
and every one is anxious to seize the largest piece. For some

WHALES. 421

days the whale becomes a sort of larder, to which every one
comes to take his daily portion.

Linnzus says that the oil furnished by a single whale is often
so abundant,as to form the cargo of a vessel. This quantity is
estimated at twelve tuns. The fishery of this valuable animal
in the polar seas has yielded in 1859, 2,078 hogsheads of oil; in
1860, 1,909 hogsheads, and in 1861, 1,710. These last 1,710
hogsheads were all taken by ships from Dundee, except 697
belonging to ships from other ports.

In 1861, a great change was made in the material of the
weapons and vessels employed in whale-fishing. Screw-steamers
were substituted for sailing vessels, and the results of the second
season were sufficiently encouraging to induce fishermen to continue
their attempts. In consequence, a great number of sailing vessels
were sold, and it seems acknowledged now that the question is
settled, and that in future operations will be carried on by screw-
steamers. Thus the polar seas have not been inaccessible to the
onward march of science.

CHAPTER XLVIL.
SEALS.

SEALS are less aquatic than whales, coming on land from time
to time. They. possess four fins, and have a thick, hairy skin;
being but little removed from quadrupeds. The form and habits
of the seal have given rise to the fables of tritons, and sea-nymphs.
The legend of Proteus keeping the flocks of Neptune sprang
doubtless from the imperfect observation of these aquatic mam-
mals, for they may be seen in large numbers sporting in the
waves, or scrambling up the shores when the tide is out, or
resting on the rocks which lift their peaks above the water, as if
enjoying the pleasant rays of the sun.

The Phoca vitulina, or common seal, is pretty abundant in
our latitudes. Many are found in the Adriatic Sea, and the
Archipelago, and in some parts of Africa. They are also to be
met with in the Atlantic ; troops of them live in the estuary of
the Somme. Fishermen give the names of sea-wolf and sea-calf
to the seal.

The body of the seal is long and slender, covered with a close
and silky fur. Its head is like a dog’s head with the ears cut
off. It has strong whiskers, a moustache like a cat, fine eyes
of the greenish hue of the sea, soft and limpid like a child’s. Its
sight and hearing are very keen. The nostrils are provided with a
sort of tiny door or valve, which can be shut or opened at pleasure,
and which prevents the water running into the nose. Two strong
and very long pairs of fins serve instead of arms and legs; the
hind fins are united to the tail and form on each side a flap
resembling two great ears. .The food of the seal consists prin-
cipally of naked mollusks, crabs, and fish, but it will readily eat

vegetables and fruit, and exhibits a decided partiality for moistened
bread.

Though the seal is a wild and timid animal, yet he has a very

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SEALS. 423

gentle and soft expression, and a pleasant countenance. He is not
wanting in intelligence, and is capable of being tamed and even
educated. A poor, unhappy seal may sometimes be seen in a
menagerie, kept a prisoner in a tub, looking badly fed, sick, and
pitiful; but the keeper will boast of its fine qualities, which consist,
after all, in knowing the voice of the keeper and coming familiarly
to take a fish or bit of bread when he offers it.

The cry of the seal is soft and flute-like, and recalls certain
sounds common to all languages, such as the syllables pa-pa, or
ma-ma,; hence the credulous conclude that these animals have
learned, or might ‘learn to speak. It is quite incredible that they
can pronounce words—“ Cake,” “Coffee,” “ Bat’ Thankyou.
and still more that they should say, “Vive le Roi,” “ Bonjour,
monsieur,” “Je suis francais,” as a seal exhibited in Paris was
declared to be able to do.

Seals may be kept alive for many years, if they are fed with
fresh fish, and allowed water enough to swim in.

Some modern naturalists believe that it would not be impossible
for man to subdue these agile animals completely, and make them
useful. Frederick Cuvier says it is astonishing that fishermen
have not trained seals to fish, just as the huntsman trains dogs for
the chase. M. Babinet, recently, has dwelt upon the numerous

‘services which seals might, with proper training, be taught to

perform. He would like to see them even in our rivers.

For many years, two seals have lived in the Zoological Gardens,
at Amsterdam. They are kept in a large pond of salt water, and
we are told that they have twice had young ones. They not only
distinguish the voice of their keeper, but they hear afar the sound
of his footsteps; and no sooner do they recognise his approach,
than they utter joyful cries, and rush to meet him. An old

man, accompanied by a little girl and a tiny French poodle,

g
often came to see these two seals, and brought them delicacies
to eat. The seals would come out of the water, crawl to their
friends, and sit down with them, and enjoy themselves on the
sand. They would frolic about, play tricks, and share like
brothers the fruit or cakes from the little girl’s basket. One day
in the midst of these games, the dog missed his leap, and jumped

over the seal’s head and fell into the pond. The poor dog

424 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

struggled for a moment, and disappeared. The two seals instantly
uttered a cry, crawled as fast as they could to the water’s edge, and
plunged in. In the twinkling of an eye the male reappeared,
holding carefully in his mouth the half-drowned dog, which he
placed at the little girl’s feet.

The seal swims well, is an excellent diver, and can hold his
breath for a considerable time. His movements are remarkable
for their elegance and swiftness. He comes occasionally to lie
down or sleep on the sandy beach, but takes care not to go further
than eighteen or twenty feet from the water's edge. On the
slightest alarm he leaps into the sea, and swims out to deep water.

The seal has an ugly, ungraceful gait on land; he drags himself
rather than walks, advancing by means of frequent, short jumps,
produced by the contraction of the whole body, the front fins
being pressed tightly against his sides.

Each seal repairs to one portion of the rocky shore, with his
family, and makes it his home and exclusive property; the in-
trusion of any stranger leads at once to a terrible fight. Every
family lives at some distance from its neighbours. The male
assembles together a sort of harem of females; he seems to have
great affection for them, and defends them boldly; he has some-
times as many as fifty.

When young, the males fight with fury for their mates, but
when they are old, the females abandon them. When the female
is about to bring forth her young, her mate conducts her to the
shore, to some spot carpeted with marine plants. Here the mother
deposits her young, and evinces towards it a devoted attachment.
The little ones play and gambol together. But when they have
attained the age of five or six months, the father considers them
strong enough to live alone, and he drives them away to find a
home for themselves.

The seals of the Somme are the objects of a sport full of
attractions for those who are fond of it, and they furnish a branch
of maritime industry which is of some importance. M. de Rylé
has published very interesting accounts of these hunts. The most
favourable season is the month of June, when the females are

——————

SEALS. 425

accompanied by their young. The little ones are not so cunning
as their parents, and are easily surprised; the old ones being
reluctant to abandon their young, are thus decoyed within the
hunter's reach. There are two ways of hunting seals, either on
water or on land. In order to shoot them on land, the hunter
must seize the moment when the animals happen to be at a short
distance from the shore, which he is seldom able to do. The
hunters pull down the stream in boats, and fire on any seal they
may surprise on the shore. Guns of great precision and of long
range are used, for the animal, frightened at the sight of the
boats advancing towards him, runs off very quickly, and it is
necessary sometimes to fire at a distance of 200 or 300 yards. At
other times the hunter silently steps on shore, leaving a sailor in
charge of the boat. He creeps along the beach, crawling like a
savage who wishes to take his enemy by surprise; and often goes
in this way for a mile or more, pushing his rifle in front of him.
He stops at intervals to give the animal he is aiming at time to
recover itself if it has been disturbed, and, in fact, takes every
precaution to conceal himself, till he finds that he is within range.
M. de Rylé has graphically described the cunning and patience
necessary for a successful expedition. The pursuit of the seal
in water is more simple, but not so certain. The seal is fired
at the moment he shows his head above the surface. But it
must be remembered that the animal only raises his head for
one minute, and immediately dives again; and even where the
huntsman is skilful enough to make sure of hitting him, there
is still risk of losing the prize; for if the seal be only wounded,
he makes for the open sea; and if he is killed outright, he sinks
to the bottom of the water, and is not easily recovered.

Seals are. classed in two different groups:—The Oé¢ary has
an external ear, an aperture of a peculiar form. This species
may be met with in the Pacific Ocean. Seals, properly so called,
have no external ear, and have a pointed incision or aperture.
Greenland is frequented by many different kinds of the common
species of seal—the Hooded Seal (Phoca cristata); the Muller or
Greenland Seal (Phoca Grenlandica); the Schreber or Ursine
Seal (Phoca hispida). These northern seals are hunted in the open

426 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

sea, with harpoons. The harpoon is about six feet long, and has
at the end a movable point of iron, set in bone, and fastened by
a leather strap which can be loosened the moment the harpoon
strikes the animal. <A bladder floats at the end of the line, which
is attached to the loose point, and thus marks the spot where
the wounded seal has dived. The harpoon slips on a swivel of
highly polished wood, this gives it more force, and ensures its
following the right direction. Other projectiles are arranged in
the same way, and are darted by similar means.

The seal is obliged to come to the surface of the water in
order to breathe; the moment he shows himself, the Esquimaux
tries to surprise him by keeping on the windward side, and
turning away from the sun, so as to be neither seen nor heard.
He crouches down in his little ‘boat, to conceal himself as much
as possible behind the waves. When within thirty yards, he
snatches his paddle in his left hand, adjusts the harpoon upon
the swivel, and hurls it with all his might. If his aim is correct,
and the seal is struck, the iron head detaches itself from the
shaft, and the rope unwinds from the bobbin. The bladder at
the end of the line is instantly thrown into the water. The seal,
when pierced, plunges with extreme velocity; for, like all marine
animals, it seems to be impelled by instinct to dive when
wounded. The fisherman gives a turn to his paddle and draws up
his floating harpoon. It happens sometimes that the seal drags
the bladder with him, but as he must come up for breath, it will
soon be seen again, and there is no fear of his escaping. The
Esquimaux makes his way up to the animal, and wounds him
deeply with his lance, and finally dispatches him with, blows
from his javelin.

When the seal is dead, the wounds are stopped up with small
wooden plugs to prevent the loss of blood. The Esquimaux
then inflates the body by blowing between the flesh and_ skin,
makes it fast to the side of his canoe, and paddles home.

This sport is not without danger. Sometimes the line in
unwinding gets twisted round the arm or neck of the fisherman.
At other times, in the contortions of his agony, the seal leaping
upon the kayack, overturns it, and often the man is drowned.
Again, it may happen that when the pursuit is over, the seal is not

SEALS: 427

dead, and throws himself upon the Esquimaux and tears his arm
or face. These animals are particularly terrible when they are

defending their young ; they will then rush upon the kayack, and

tear it i e 2 > fis
a - n shreds. The waves then fill the boat, and the fisherman
has little or no hope of escape.
Seal fishing is carried on in winter in the same country in
quite a different manner. The Esquimaux discovers openings
in the ice which the seal contrives to make when he comes up

THE SEAL.

(Phoca vitulina.)

to breathe. He watches till the animal makes his appearance,
and then crawls softly along the ice, imitating the cry of a seal,
and thus deludes the creature, who takes. him for a brother, and
only discovers his mistake on receiving a mortal blow.

The skin of the seal is much valued. The Esquimaux use it
for making boats, kayacks, and tents; they also make of it belts,
clothes, and shoes. An oil is made from the seal, much in request
for burning, and it is frequently sold as cod-liver oil! The flesh
of the seal serves the Esquimaux for food; of the blood a thick,
substantial soup is made; its sinews are twisted into thread; of a
transparent skin from the intestines they make curtains to their
tents, shirts, and bladders for their fishing tackle. The bones are

used to point all their instruments.

428

CHAPTER: SGEvir
THE MORSE.

Is there such an animal as the sea-horse, the sea-cow, or the
sea-elephant ? Certainly not, but there is a huge marine mammal,
the morse (7richechus rosmarus), which has been called by all
these names more or less appropriately.

The morse inhabits the Arctic Regions, amid ice and icebergs.
It is to be met with in Behring’s Straits. It is larger and more
ugly than the seal. Some have been known as much as twenty-
five feet long; it may therefore justly be ranked amongst the
monsters of the deep. The skin of the morse is thick, corrugated,
and thinly covered with short hair, of a reddish, fallow colour.
Under the skin is a thick layer of fat. The eyes are small. Its
lip bristles with yellow hairs, semi-transparent, and of the thickness
of straw. Out of its strong, heavy muzzle spring two large
ivory tusks, long and slightly greenish, which form very hard
and strong weapons of defence. These tusks are bent back
like the head of a pick-axe; and the animal uses them to grapple
solid bodies, or to root up plants in the sea, or even to scrape
the ground at the bottom of the sea, and turn up the small
animals which furnish its food. The morse has also grinders,
and strange to say, the teeth in the upper jaw fit into the lower
teeth like a pestle into a mortar. This animal evidently has
nothing which claims for it any affinity to the horse, cow, or
elephant. In fine weather hundreds of morses may be seen
gambolling in the water, rending the air with their roars,
which are like the bellowings of a bull. Others may be seen
dozing or reclining idly in the sunshine. When they sleep there
is always a vigilant sentinel, watching with outstretched neck

and open eyes, who gives instant alarm to the troop if any
danger threatens.

—w- -

‘qOl- HHL NOdN SNOIT Vas TIIAX 2? 1d

St r=

wl] Wz A

THE MORSE. 429

Several morses have been bred in the north of Europe. Their
food was always oats or millet boiled in water. Some years ago
one was brought to London, but he only lived a few days. He
was fed on crabs, which seemed to be better food than oats or
grain. A young morse of three months old also reached England.
He used to be very angry—even furious, whenever he was touched,
and the only thing that he could ever be taught was to follow his
keeper, growling when he offered him anything to eat. All agree
that the morse has less intelligence and gentleness than the seal.
He is not fierce, and never attacks man, but he defends himself
with indomitable courage. When pursuing the morse in the open
sea, great caution is necessary, for a troop of these animals will
often rush boldly against a vessel, surround, and overturn it.

In 1818, Captain Buchanan sustained a fight—a real battle
—with some: morses on the coast of Spitzbergen. One evening,
a great number were seen from the vessel, moving in the
direction of a plain of ice. Boats were immediately equipped
to follow them. The herd in advance took to flight, but those
behind arranged themselves on the ice so suddenly that the plans
of the attacking party were thwarted, and they could not intercept
them as they intended. The morses were in great force, and the
battle began with serious preparations. When the first shots were
fired, they rushed towards the sailors, growling and roaring with
rage, and seized the boats with their long tusks, or struck them
with their heads. During this violent struggle, which was very
dangerous for the fishermen, the morses were led, or, as it were,
commanded, by one large male, more powerful and terrible than
all the rest. The sailors aimed all their blows at this leader, but he
received their heavy clubs without flinching, and the lances, which,
unfortunately, were not sharp, could not penetrate his natural
armour. The troop was so numerous, and their attacks so quickly
repeated, that the sailors had no time to reload their carbines.
Happily, the purser had not discharged his gun; he skilfully aimed
at the chief morse,-and the huge animal, mortally wounded, fell
on his back in the midst of his companions, who immediately
abandoned the combat, and assembling round their general,
kept him from sinking by supporting him with their tusks.

430 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

Probably they acted thus from natural instinct, to prevent his being
suffocated.

There is a tale told of some fishermen, who, having discovered
a little morse at Spitzbergen, in a cave on the edge of -the sea,
seized it and put it in their boat. The father and mother, furious
at the loss of their offspring, followed ; and one of them, fastening
on to the side of the boat, made it incline so much towards the
water, that one of the fishermen slipped into the sea. The other
morse flung himself upon him with such rage, that it was impossible
to save the unfortunate man.

On another occasion, also at Spitzbergen, a canoe attacked

A MORSE AND ITS LITTLE ONES,

( Trichechus rosmarus.)

a pair of these animals. The female was wounded while she was
suckling her young, which was clinging to her breast. The male,
to avenge her, gave the boat a tremendous shake. The mother
made her way, in spite of her wounds (and she had three lances
deep in her breast), towards a block of ice, all the while clasping
her little one with her left fin. Having reached the ice, she set
down her burden, but the little creature instantly returned to the
boat with such fury that he would certainly have upset it if he
had had strength. He received a wound on his head, and went
back to his mother, who was crawling painfully from block to
block. The male, dreading a second attack, took his unfortunate
mate with his teeth, and dragging her to the water swam away
until they were beyond the reach of their enemies.

——————

THE MORSE. 431

Generally, however, these poor animals suffer themselves to be
killed without showing much skill or cunning in evading their
.assailants. A fishing-boat takes usually from two to three hundred
in one season. In 1608, the crew of the Welden killed more than a
thousand on the coast of Cherry Island. According to Gmelin’s
account, the English took in 1705 and 1706, seven or eight
hundred in six hours; in 1708, nine hundred in seven hours,
and in 1710, eight hundred in a week. It is asserted that in
the northern seas three or four thousand of these animals are
destroyed every year. When a morse is caught on the land and
wounded, he becomes really dangerous, and often breaks the
arms of the incautious hunter, or even tears them off. If he cannot
reach his enemy, he will strike the sand from side to side with
his tusks, and, at last, as if driven to desperation, he will put his
head between his fins, and, taking advantage of the sloping ground,
will roll into the sea.

Like the seal the morse furnishes a quantity of oil. Part of
the skin is peeled off, and used for traces for carriages. The skin
was formerly much prized in navigation; it was cut into thongs
and twisted, and thus a strong cable was obtained, capable of
great resistance. The teeth of the morse are preferred to
ivory because they are harder, and less likely to turn yellow.
Unfortunately they have not the size or weight of elephants’ tusks,
though some are found forty inches long, and nearly ten inches
in circumference at the root. The ivory of the morse is compact,
susceptible of a fine polish, but not striated. Most of it has the
appearance of little round grains accumulated without regularity,
like pebbles in the conglomerate known as pudding-stone. These
tusks are useful in a variety of ways. Russian prisoners work them
very skilfully, in the same way that the galley-slaves at Toulon
chisel cocoa-nuts. They make little boxes, cases, chains, and
other little elegant knick-knacks, which are really master-pieces of

patient work.

432

CHATTER] Xinix
THE’ SEA-OTTER.

MARINE mammals, as we have explained in preceding chapters,
have not the same organisation as the terrestrial mammalia. The
body is more or less in the form of a fish, and the limbs resemble
fins. We have now to speak of a little quadruped which scarcely
differs in structure from those which live on land, and which is
nevertheless exclusively a marine quadruped, and perhaps is the

THE SEA-OTTER.

(Enhydris marina.)

only one that exists. Everybody knows the common otter (Lucra
vulgaris), a little carnivorous animal with palmated feet, furnished
with claws, and a long tail, broad and rounded.

The sea-otter is somewhat larger, being three or four feet
long. Its head is moderately large, round, and not unlike a cat’s.
It has short ears, eyes black and almost circular, and white, long,
pendant moustaches. The tail is less developed than in the com-
mon otter, the paws are smaller, and adapted for marine life; the

THE SEA-OTTER. 433

hind limbs resemble fins rather than feet, yet they differ con-
siderably from the fins of the seal or morse; though the toes
are joined together by a membrane, thus making serviceable
oars with which they can strike the water, the sea-otter, in its
structure and organisation, is actually more a terrestrial mammal
than a marine animal. This little creature inhabits a great
portion of the North Pacific Ocean, between fifty and sixty
degrees of north latitude. It is found even on the shores of
Japan. It may often be seen lying on the floating banks of the
nereocystus, basking in the sunshine, or watching for its prey.

THE FEMALE OTTER AND HER YOUNG ONE.

From this circumstance these vegetable productions are called
otter-cabbages (choux aux loutres). The otter feeds on fish, crabs,
shell-fish, and, if compelled by necessity, it will eat marine plants.
It plunges like the seal or morse, but does not remain so long
under water. It is of a chestnut brown on the back, but more
light and silvery underneath. The sca-otter lives in couples ;
the female has but one young one at a time, which she seldom
leaves, rearing it with much tenderness. A mother may often be
seen with her nursling, and also the young one of the preceding
year. She plays with them on the ice and in the waves, throws
them into the sea, and teaches them to swim and dive. When
she sleeps on the surface of the water, back downwards, and
abandons herself to the play of the waves, she takes her little
C.-C

434 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

one upon her, and holds it in her paws. — Steller has represented
a mother in this position. Hunters very frequently surprise these
poor creatures thus asleep, and almost always succeed in killing
them.

When robbed of her young the sea-otter utters plaintive cries.
She follows the spoiler from a distance, calling her little one in a
supplicating manner, and it often replies by similar wailing.

The fur of the otter is very close, soft, and glossy. It is of
great value, and justly so, for it is one of the most beautiful
furs known. The male adults are called dobry, the female
matka ; little ones of one year old are called osch/loki; and small
ones of a few months old, mediviekt. The Russians and Americans,
who chiefly carry on the trade in these skins, sell them principally
to the Chinese, by whom they are worn as an ornament or as a
distinctive badge by functionaries of high rank. Very few are
brought into Europe; but many Russian noblemen value this
remarkable fur as much as Chinese mandarins. These skins are
worth, in China, from £30 to £50 a-piece, according to their state
of preservation, and the glossiness and fineness of the hair. It
is stated that the number of sea-otters is yearly diminishing in
those parts where formerly they abounded ; therefore, the price
must rise considerably. We are assured that recently many skins
have been sold at St. Petersburg for as much as 480.

In the time of Steller, the crew of one ship might kill 800
otters in a single season. In the present day, the otter-fishers
are not so fortunate. They have a good deal of trouble in pro-
curing a few couples. On some coasts, particularly in Japan, the
sea-otter is no longer seen, except accidentally. The capture of
this valuable animal should be regulated by law, lest at no very
distant future the species should completely disappear.

The sea-otter has an historical interest. It was chiefly in
pursuing this chase that the Russians arrived first on the coast of
Kamtschatka, and afterwards in America.

This otter is rarely to be seen in museums; the reason is
evident. In the cabinet of Munich there is a skeleton, given by
the Duke of Leuchtenberg. The Museum of Natural History
in Paris was enriched in 1853 by two skeletons, of a male and
female, presented by Professor Nordmann.

THE SEA-OTTER. 435

Male otters have teats, but imperfectly developed. This is
commonly the case with all mammalia. Often has the use of
this formation been a subject of conjecture. The organs of
animals have usually distinct functions—the wing for flight, the
eye for sight, the ear for sound. In some circumstances, the
want or the excess of development modifies the constitution of
the parts, and adapts them to a different purpose. Thus, the
wing with only one joint becomes a fin, while the fin of two
joints becomes a wing. Frequently the modified organ retains
the old use, while it becomes, also, capable of serving another
purpose. The nose of the tapir and the elephant are still fur-
nished with olfactory nerves, though they are used as arms;
that is to say, they serve to dig or to seize. But when the
development is arrested at an early stage, and the organ appears
only as a rudiment, what is its object or use? Can it serve
any purpose? What is the use of eyes covered with skin, as the
mole’s ? or how does the leech profit by his ocular tubercles ?
How is it we find stunted organs amongst many quadrupeds?
Etienne Geoffroy St. Hilaire looked upon these incomplete develop-
ments as the elements of a primitive plan of organisation, and
therefore as the signs of general symmetry, preserved in particular
cases. Many eminent zoologists have wished to trace in these rudi-
ments a tendency of Nature towards some determinate end, which,
in fact, would mean schemes abandoned and efforts unsuccessful !
Is this explanation preferable to that of St. Hilaire? The activity
of Nature—in other words, creative power—does not resemble
human intelligence, which tries and makes attempts, but does not
always succeed. God never makes any attempt, or tries any
experiment, even for the most transcendent combinations or the
most ingenious organisms. With him to will is to do, both as
he pleases and when—whether the result be complicated or
simple, whether the effect be a union of organs or defective organs,
or even the deceptive appearance of organs. There is, however,
in the word ¢endency, a philosophical idea. It would be perfect
if animals were the creation of man. What word shall we use
to express it, as animals are the work of God?

If it be asked, then, what is the use of these imperfect organs,
we can only frankly acknowledge that we do not know.

C-€ 2

436

‘CHAPTER Tz.
THE WHITE BEAR.

THE dreary wastes of the Arctic Regions are not destitute of
inhabitants. There is even a joyous and happy population amid
mountains of snow and interminable fields of ice, amid the coldest
waters and the thickest fogs. The white, or polar bear, the
Thalarctos maritimus, is the king of these wilds, and reigns like a
cruel despot over the animals of the Arctic Regions; dwelling in
all the northern seas, he is found on every ice-bound shore.

There were in ancient times so vast a number in Cherry Island,
that it was called “ Beeren Eiland,” or Isle of Bears. The white
bear is really a terrestrial quadruped, it differing chiefly from its
namesake, the bear of the Alps, by its superior size. It is more
upright, and has longer limbs, stronger feet, a longer neck, and
a narrower and straighter head. Its size is sometimes enormous.
Some have been known as much as seven feet long. In 1596,
the traveller William Barentz killed two and preserved their
skins. One was four feet long, and the other about five feet.
We are assured that large ones sometimes weigh ten hundred-
weicht.

The polar bear is covered with a coat of close, soft, long hair,
generally perfectly white, but occasionally of a light yellow colour.
The Norwegian fishermen call him the “great man with a cloak.”
One can understand that with this excellent coat he may resist the
extremely cold temperature of his country. His eyes are dark, his
nose, the inside of his mouth, and his nails are black.

The white bear feeds upon seals, fish, and many other marine
animals. He is said to attack young whales. He also eats
vegetable substances, particularly in summer. He can endure
very long periods of abstinence. To catch seals he squats down
on his fore-paws, advances gradually his hind legs without stirring
his body, and when within a few feet, he springs upon his victim.

THE WHITE BEAR. 437

The whiteness of his coat, which prevents his being distinguished
amid the snow and ice, enables him to approach the timid seal.
When the thaw begins, springs of water collect in the southern
regions, and glide silently down the snow, looking like silver
ribbons upon white velvet, and here these fierce animals resort to
slake their thirst. |

Unlike his brown cousin, the white bear has his toes united
by a membrane, an addition to the foot by which he is enabled
to swim with force and rapidity. However, he shares with all
his tribe the peculiarity of walking upon the flat of his foot, and
can stand erect on his hind-quarters.

In the summer he leaves the water and returns to the woods.

THE HEAD OF THE WHITE BEAR,

(Thalarctos maritimus.)

Although not so active on land as among his native bergs, yet
he can run at the rate of about three miles an hour. During the
winter, when the snow covers the ground, the bear returns to the
sea, accompanied by a little family. As the cold increases, they
may be seen prowling about the ice, climbing over the huge
blocks, and plunging into the water which is still unfrozen. They
congregate at this time in considerable numbers, being the only
mammals of this kind that show any inclination to sociability.
This is the more remarkable as they are extremely cruel, and
animals of ferocious natures generally live more or less isolated.
Sometimes white bears will repose on floating ice, permitting
themselves to be carried, like drifting timber, to other countries.
Thus bears have been drifted to the coasts of Iceland and
Norway; and it is said that some have in this way crossed
Behring’s Straits, and even travelled as far as the Japanese Archi-

438 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

pelago. It has happened that they have been borne along to the
open sea upon an iceberg, and, being unable to get to land ©
or to leave their island, they have died of hunger or devoured
each other.

This animal is more terrible than the Alpine bear. The
strength of its jaw is such that it has been known to bite in two
a bar of iron half an inch thick. When a bear lands on an island
with a scattered population, he attacks flocks, and even their
owners, with ferocity. He strangles and devours all that is so
unfortunate as to come in his way; and will even sacrilegiously
rob a graveyard, where the corpses, preserved by the cold, furnish
him an abundant meal.

“Rien n’est stir en son passage,
Ce qwil trouve il le ravage.”

On the appearance of a white bear in Iceland, the inhabitants
assemble to fight the depredator, and to protect the cattle. The
coasts of Greenland are most exposed to the invasions of these
rapacious animals. Captain Scoresby saw so many on these shores
that he compared them to flocks of sheep.

Some years ago, three young hunters, who were spending the
winter together in Labrador, left their hut to go and look at
some traps they had set in the forest. On their return, they were
astonished to find the door of their hut torn down and laid
upon the snow. At first they thought that some neighbour
had played them a trick in their absence. Everything was
turned topsy-turvy ; the stove and the chimney were on the
floor; the cupboard empty; the store of bacon gone; the sack
of flour had disappeared; even a tin cup, a paletot, and a
pair of boots were taken. There had been robbery and burglary.
The three young men set out in quest of the robber or robbers.
They searched, and discovered that all this destruction had been
committed by two white bears. At a little distance from the
hut they found the sack empty and torn; a little further lay
the cup, bearing the marks of strong teeth. As for the cloak
and boots, the thieves had carried them off!

White bears do not usually attack men; unless they are

THE WHITE BEAR. 439

famished, they even avoid meeting them; but if provoked, or
obliged to defend themselves, the combat may prove dangerous
to the assailants; on this account, the bears are greatly dreaded
by small boats. Yet it is asserted that these animals are not really
so brave as one would be inclined to suppose, and that they quickly
desert the field of battle when they feel themselves wounded.

A whaling vessel was once blocked in by the ice in Davis’
Straits, on the coast of Labrador. A white bear approached
within a few yards of the ship. A sailor was tempted to attack
it alone, while his comrades were at dinner. He got down
upon the ice, armed with a javelin, and ran to the animal. The
bear did not retreat, but disarmed his feeble enemy, seized him
by the middle of the back, and bore him off so swiftly that it
was impossible to rescue him.

Another whaler was lying off the coast of Greenland, moored
to an iceberg. The sailors saw a bear a long way off, watching
for some seals. One of the men, whose courage had been warmed
by a strong dose of rum, took it into his head to go and attack
this formidable animal. -No remonstrance could cool his warlike
ardour, and he set out across the snow with no other weapon
than a harpoon. After a tedious run of half an hour over the
broken ice and crisp frozen snow, he suddenly found himself face
to face with Bruin. His run had worked off the valorous ardour
inspired by the fiery rum, and for a moment he wished himself
back at the ship. But the thought of the jeers with which his
comrades would greet him, made him hesitate before he took
to his heels. However, with a loud growl, the bear came towards
him. The huge lank monster, with his white glistening teeth
contrasting with the black skin of the mouth, was much too
terrible to be attacked with a small harpoon. The bravery of
the sailor vanished, and in hot haste he beat a retreat. The bear,
being more accustomed to a journey on ice than his enemy, easily
gained on him.. In his hope to escape, the sailor threw away
the harpoon. The bear’s curiosity being excited, he stopped to
examine the weapon, turning it over with his paws, and_ biting
it. This gave the sailor time to put some distance between them,
but his advantage was soon lost. However, he had learnt a
lesson, and flung away one of his mittens. This occupied the

440 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

curiosity of the bear some minutes—precious minutes to the
sailor, who was nearly exhausted. Again the bear approaches,
and again a mitten is thrown to distract his attention. The
crew, who had been intently watching the chase, saw matters
were becoming serious, and sallied out to their comrade’s assist-
ance. The bear was again in chase, and the man had parted
with his cap when his friends arrived. Having received a wound
from a rifle, and, thinking that discretion was the better part of
valour, the bear retreated to hunt the less dangerous seals, having
taught the adventurous sailor a lesson he was not likely to forget.

In the month of September, 1596, a Dutch vessel, commanded
by William Barentz, had arrived on the further coast of Nova
Zembla, and was overtaken by a drift of ice, and so enclosed
on all sides, that no human power could extricate it. Barentz
was reduced to the sad prospect of spending the winter in this
desolate region. The vessel, shaken and tossed by the movement
of the ice, was cracking in many places. It was resolved, there-
fore, to drag the small boat to land; and, with this object, the
crew moved into it all the biscuit, wine, powder, and weapons.
A tent was erected near the boat; subsequently, a hut was
built. On the 15th of September, while they were at work,
three bears of different sizes were seen coming towards them.
The smallest remained behind a large block of ice, the others
advanced. One dipped his head into a tub where some meat
was soaking. The men fired, and the animal fell dead. The
other bear stopped short, as if amazed, snuffed his companion,
and then, as if he perceived the danger, decamped. By the
order of the captain, the bear was opened, disembowelled, and
then placed on his four legs, that he might be frozen in that
position, and taken to Holland if the vessel should ever be
released. On the 23rd, the crew had the misfortune to lose
the carpenter; he was buried in a cleft of the rock, as it was
not possible to dig a grave in the hard, frozen ground. The
crew now consisted of only sixteen. On the 27th, the frost was
so intense that if one of them put a nail into his mouth, as
workmen do, he could not take it out without the skin of his
lip coming with it! On the 25th of October, as they were

THE WHITE BEAR. 44I
carrying some rigging upon sledges, Barentz saw behind the
ship three bears coming towards them. They all shouted
hallooed, but the bears were not to be so easily frightened,

and

and
the sailors made up ‘their minds to fight. Fortunately, they found

two halberds; Barentz took one, and Girard de Veer the other.
They all ran towards the ship; but, in crossing the ice, one of
the men fell into a crevasse; this accident made them tremble
for him, for they felt sure he would be the first devoured. But
the bears followed those who were running to the ship. Barentz
and De Veer made a circuit, in order to enter on the other side.
The sailor who had fallen, got up and joined the crew, and all
reached the ship safely. The bears furiously tried to climb up to the
deck. This was prevented by throwing pieces of wood and various
utensils at their heads; as each thing was thrown, they rushed
at it, as dogs do when stones are flung at them. There were
no weapons on board except the two lances before mentioned.
Some one proposed to light a fire, and let off a few handfuls
of powder. But in the confusion nothing that was suggested
could be done. In the meanwhile, the bears returning to the
assault with renewed fury, there were no longer any pieces of
wood or anything to divert them. The Dutch owed their safety
to the most unexpected good fortune. Barentz, reduced to
extremity and acting in despair rather than with prudence, hurled
his lance against the largest of the animals. The bear was struck
on the nose, and so much hurt that he gave a loud cry, and
retreated. The two others followed him, though with slower
steps. The bears did not appear again until day-break, when
they found the sailors prepared to receive them. On the 6th
of April, one came up to the door of the hut which stood
open. It was immediately shut and held tightly, and the bear
departed. But he returned two hours afterwards, and mounting
on the top of the hut, made a frightful noise. He tried to knock
down the chimney, and the poor men thought he was master
of the situation. He tore the sail with which the hut was
surrounded, and left at last after doing irreparable damage. The
following month, when the ship was being prepared for sea,
an enormous bear appeared. The sailors instantly shut them-
selves up in their hut, and the most skilful shots placed themselves

442 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

at the door, firmly awaiting the animal’s approach. One of the
men climbed up the chimney gun in hand. The bear marched
on boldly to the hut. One shot from a musket knocked him
over, and he was soon killed. In his stomach were found whole
pieces of seal, with the skin and hair. On the 3oth, the sailors
while at work re-fitting the ship, were interrupted by a_ bear
coming boldly up to them. They all fled immediately
into the hut. The bear followed, but a salute of three euns
laid him dead upon the snow. This victory nearly cost
the poor mariners their lives, for having cut up the creature,
they cooked the liver, and ate it, but’ it proved poisonous,
and some of them laid for hours in a state of insensibility.

In Manby’s voyage to Spitzbergen, Captain Lewis wished to
attack a white bear. Four sailors fired at forty paces distance,
and wounded the animal. Upon which the bear, infuriated, ran
towards his assailants with open mouth. As he approached with
frightful howling, a sailor and the captain, who had not yet fired,
took aim and wounded his shoulder; before they could re-load
the bear was close upon them. They made for the shore, the
animal following, though lame; he was on the point of catching
them, when two of them jumped into the boat, and the others
hid themselves behind some blocks of ice, and fired as soon as
they could. The new wounds only increased his rage. At last
he came so near that the sailors leaped into the water from a
perpendicular rock of some height. The bear leaped in after them,
and he had almost seized one of the men, when his strength
became exhausted, and he breathed his last. When his body was
dragged to the coast, it was found that he had received eight balls.

The cry of the white bear is said to resemble the hoarse
barking of a dog rather than the low growl which other bears
make. This quadruped has both intelligence and sagacity. A seal
was once lying on the ice close to a hole into which it intended to
retreat if a danger threatened. A bear, discovering it, approached,
silently and under cover, as near as he could; he then plunged
into the sea, swam to the hole which was to secure the safety of
the seal, and making his way through it, he seized his prey.

The captain of a whaling vessel wished to have the skin of a

THE WHITE BEAR. 443

white bear whole and perfect ; and to obtain this, it was necessary
to kill the animal without shooting him. He thought he would
lay a cord on the snow with a running knot, within which was
put a bait. A bear, climbing about on the ice, was attracted by
the bait; he seized the treacherous cord, and was caught by his
paw; however, he managed by the help of his other paw to get
away, and bore off his prize to eat in security. The snare was
laid again. The bear came a second time, and remembering
what had happened before, he put aside the cord, and snatched
the bait. A third attempt was made; the cord being hidden
with snow; but this did not succeed. For a last trial, the bait
was put into a hole, so deep that the bear could not take it
without putting in his head; a noose was arranged round the
opening, concealed by snow. Success seemed certain; but alas,
vain hope! the suspicious animal began by delicately removing
the snow, discovered the cord, put it carefully aside, took up
the prize, and disappeared.

Scoresby believes that when a bear is wounded, but is able to
get away, he retires behind some height, and applies snow to

the wound with his paw, as though he knew the styptic property
of cold.

The female has her young in the month of March. She usually
has one or two at a time, very rarely three. The little ones are
remarkably small. The attachment of the female for its young
inspires her with a courage well worthy of admiration.

The following occurrence was observed by the frigate on which
the famous Nelson began his naval career. This frigate was in the
polar regions in 1773. At daybreak one morning, three bears were
seen from the top of the mast coming very quickly over the ice
towards the vessel. The men made out that it was a female,
accompanied by two young bears almost as strong as their
mother. All three ran to a stove, into which some remains of a
porpoise had been thrown; they drew out the pieces of flesh which
the fire had not consumed. The mother distributed the pieces,
giving the largest share to her young ones. The sailors seized this
moment to fire at the two young bears, who remained at the stove,
and also at the mother, whom they wounded without killing. Her

444 THE WORLD OF THE SEA.

despair would have touched the hardest hearts. Without paying
attention to her own wounds, or to the blood she was shedding, she
only attended to her two little ones ; she called them with sorrowful
cries, put before them her own share of food, and broke it up for
them. As they remained motionless, her groans became still more
melancholy. She tried to lift them up, and finding her efforts
useless, she went away a few steps and renewed her calls; then
returning to the two dead bodies, she licked the wounds, and -
would not leave them until convinced that life was quite gone;
then, with frightful howlings towards the vessel, she seemed to
accuse the murderers, and they answered with another discharge
from their guns. Fatally wounded, the poor mother came to die
by her young ones, licking their wounds to the last.

White bears easily become accustomed to our menageries. As
they always suffer from heat, pails of cold water are continually
thrown over their bodies, and a tank is always arranged in their
den, in which they can constantly bathe.

These animals are often seen panting like a dog in hot weather
after running. They keep up with their head, neck, and the
fore part of their bodies an incessant swaying, which attracts the
attention at first by its singularity, but fatigues by its monotony.

During captivity, the bear does not seem to be susceptible of
instruction or attachment; he retains always a brutal and stupid
ferocity. We find this species was known to the ancients. Cuvier
considers that it was a white bear which Ptolemy Philadelphus
sent for to Alexandria, and which is alluded to by Athenzus and
Callixenus the Rhodian.

A.

Acalephe .

Acephalous Mollusks
Actinaria . ;
Action of waves
Agara

Alaria

Albatross .

Albione

Algze

Ambergris

Ammonite

Ameoebinze : ;
Amphorina Alberti .
Analysis of Sea-Water
Anatifera .

Anchovy .

Anecdotes of the Polar Bear
Anemones

Anemones as food
Anemone and Hermit- Crab
Angler, The

Annelida .

Aplysize

Apolemia .

Aquariums

Archer Fish

Arctic Gull

Area of Seas
Aristotle’s Lantern .
Artificial eee Banks
Ascidize

Asterias

Astreea

Atlantic Ocean.
Aurelia phosphorica .

B.

Bay of Arcachon
Beautiful-haired Medusa
Beroe : P
Biphora

Birth of the Anemone
Birth of the Medusa .
Bivalves é

Black Duck, The
Bladder Wrack, The
Bloody-mouthed Purpura .
Bone of the Cuttle-Fish
Boring of the Teredo

445

PAN DoE xX:

Boucholeur in his Acon
Brain of Cephalous Mollusks
Branchions

Breakers .

Bryozoa

Byssus of the Bivalves

(Cc.

Calmar :
Campanularia .
Cape Pigeon
Capture ‘of the Dolphins
Caulerpa . ‘
Cephalopod, A
Cephalopods . :
Cephalous Mollusks .
Cetacea :
Chain of Salpas F
Chalk (Work of Life)

Chemical Constitution of Sea- W ater.

Chinese Pearls .

Cils or Cilia
Cirrhopoda :
Claires of Marennes .
Clio Borealis

Coast Line

Cod, The.

Colour of Sea

Coral :

Coral Island

Coral Ornaments
Common Teredo
Cormorants

Coronula of ihe W fale
Conus marmoreus
Crab moulting .
Craw- Fish
Crinoidea .
Crustaceans A
Culture of the Wuscel
Curing the Cod
Currents: their Causes
Cuvier 5
Cypreea cervina

dD.

Dendronotus arborescens .
Depth of Ocean

3. | Development of Algze

446 INDEX.

PAGE
Beveepeent of the Chicken in the
pips da . : 5 ily
Distribution of Marine Life. Py
Dolphins . : : : : - 405
Dragon Leech . : : , 5 hy
Dredging . . : 4 : 3 £9
E.
Earthquakes, Action on Sea. 5 ue)
Echinil * j : : ; =) 16n
Echinus mamillatus . ; ; E62
Eggs of the Albione. d ; 270
Egys of the Cuttle-Fish . : 2249
Eggs of the Dog-Fish : : - 339
Eggs of the Oysters . : : . 200
Eider- Duck . : F =) 304!
Embryo of a Mollusk : : . 230
Eolis : : 2 e227)
Equinoctial Current . : : A JETT
Eschara . ; ; : i els
Eunice sanguinea. F : rae 202
Expanded Polypes : 102
Extraordinary Powers of Sea-Cucum-
bers. ; ; : ; . 168
F.
Fecundity of Fish : 1 334:
Fields of Ice . , : : 2 e) oie
Fins . : 2 3 : ‘ 3277
Fish . : : « 319
Fish Ponds at Concarneau : 5 atte)
Fishing for the Tunny, . : 5 29S
Flustra, The . 5 ‘ : a 1/5
Flying Horse . : . : a Bie}
Foraminifera. : E : 7 160
Fresh-water Polype . . : 5 WS
Foot of the Gasteropods . : . 187
Frozen Seas. : : , | 12
Fur of the Sea Otter ; F - 434
G:
Geoffroy St. Hilaire . : : 25H
Gerardia (magnified) : : 5 8
Gilded Botrylla 5 ; 2 180
Glaucus . ; : : ; E227,
Gorgonia . : 3 : ; IOK
Group of Oysters : : : =, 200
Great Penguin . : ; : 5 ateh/
Greenland Whale. : : 5 Hit}
Gurnard, The . : ; : a 325
Gulf Stream. : : : 5 tn
Gulf Weed : : : : 5 85
Te
Hammer-headed Shark. ‘ eS
Hassar, The . : : ; J e35
Hawk’s-bill Turtle. : , S50
Head of the Merganser. ‘ Sit

Head of the Skimmer
Head of the Polar Bear
Herring Fishing
Herrings .

Hermit Crab
Holothuria

Humboldt’s Canents
Hydra viridis

Icebergs

Indian Ocean F

Influence of Temperature on the
Motion of Water .

Infusoria .

Instinct

Isidze é :

Island of St. Kilda ;

Janthina communis .
Jaws of the Univalves

IK

Kelp

Large Sea Weeds
Larvee of Medusa

re Ascidize

ie Craw-fish .
Laminaria, The
Leeches
Lethargy of Rotifers :
Life in the Ocean World .
Lizzia Koellikeri
Lobster Crates .
Logger-headed Turtles.
Long-horned Corophium .
Locomotion of Star-fish

9 Echinus

M.

Mascaret, The .
Malstrom, The
Madrepores
Macciotta .

Mantle of the Mollusks
Mantis Crab.
Marine Bull-head
Meandrina
Medusa, Birth Gf
INicdieee

Melitza
Melanosperms .
Milky Sea, The
Microscopic Plants
Monads

50

Monozoa . ;
Modiola lithophaga :
Modiolas in rock
Mother-of-Pearl
Monocentris of Japan
Morse 5 es ‘
Musical Coral . F
Mutilation of the eenione
Multivalves

Mussel, The

Murex
N.
Natives
Nacre
Nautilus
Narwhal
Nereocystis
Neptune’s Glove
Nerita polita
Nereidz é
Nests and Eggs
Northern Diver
O.

Oceans, The
Olivia Peruviana :
Organisation of Bryozoa .
Origin of Mussel Culture .
Oysters :
06 Fishing
», Culture

Pacific Ocean

Padina pavonia <

Parasites of Infusores
p Star-fish

Paramecium aurelia .

Paris, a Necropolis

Patagonian Penguin .

Perforated Thallassiophyllium .

Pennatula .

Pearls

Pearl Fishery

Pelicans

Penguin

Phosphorescence :
Pholas in a Piece of W ood

Physiognomy of Sea Animals .

Physalia

Physophora

Pinna nobilis

Pinnotheres veterum .

Pipe Fish -

Pilchard Fishery
Pisciculture at Huningue .
Plants of the Sea
Pororora, The .

Poritidze

INDEX.
PAGE

67 | Portuguese Man-of-War
187 | Porpoise ;
189 | Polyzoa
216 | Polypes
322 | Polypiers .

28 | Propagation of Plants
100 53 56 Infusores .
129 4 3) EOlypes) = :
177 30 ,, Coral Polypes .
210 36 s» Star-fish
240 | Pyrosoma .

R.
Razor Shells
ae Remarkable Pearls
254 Red Mullet oi
409 Reproduction of Fish

41 Red Coral Polype

72 Red Dock-leaved Delesseria
226 | Rhodosperms
ey Rorquals .

285 | Rotifera
382
388 ?
5:
Saltness of Sea.
Sardine, The
I | Sargasso Sea, The
232 | Scorpzna, The.
174 | Sea Birds .
212 | Sea Cucumbers
195 | Sea Eggs .
203 | Sea Fleas .
204 | Sea Grapes
Sea Hares.
Sea Horse
Seals : :
2 | Seals of the Somme .

33 | Sea Lungs

58 | Sea Mouse
157 | Sea Nettles

Fon sea Otter.

67 | Sea Parrot
B7 ON Seaneusie

31 | Sea Spiders
117 | Sea Swallow
216 | Sea Unicorn
218 | Sea Urchins
372 | Sea Weed as Manure
375 | Sea Wolf. :

2 Sennal-Fish, The
188 | Serpulz

17 | Sertularia .

145 | Sheldrakes

148 | Ship-Barnacles .

223 Shrimps

317 | Solar Microscope :

335 | South American Pearl- Fishery .
346 | Sperm Whale

336 | Spiculee of Coral

29 | Spitulz of Sponges .

9 | Spiral Shells: Reason of Construc-

tion

448

Spirorbis nautiloides
Sponges -

Stem of Coral enlarged
Stem of Red Coral enlarged
Stinging Power of Anemones
Stormy Petrel .

Synapta Duvernzea

Tails of Fish

Taking the Turtle
Terebella .

Teredos :

The Orange Pterocera
Thorny Sea- ensimae.
Tittlebats, Nests of .
Tongue of the Periwinkle.
Tooth of the Se Whale
Tree-Crab

Trepang-F ishing
Triangular Trunk-Fish
Trichodesmium Ehrenbergit
Tridacna gigantea
Trilobite .

Tritons

Tropic Bird.
Tubicinells of the Whale .
Tunny, The

Turtles ‘

Tyrian Purple .

we
Ulva, The

Umbellularia
Under Surface of a Sian Bish

INDEX.
PAGE
268 | Univalves.
69 | Unity of Composition
109 | Urchins ina Rock
113 | Use of Currents
125
369 | V.
170 |
_ Value of Coral .
| Velella :
| Vibracule of the Bryozoa :
327 | Virgularia.
361 Volume of Water of the Oceans
268 | Volvocee .
191 | Voracity of the Anemone .
232
118 W.
332
234 | Waves
402 | Weight of Salt in the Seas
301 Weight of Water in the Seas
169 Whales : c
321 | Whaling
30 | White Bear : c
190 | Whitstable Oysters .
302 | Woolly Ascidia
226 |
380 | r
389 | Y..
354 | Young Cirrhopoda
357 | Young Lobsters
239 | Young Oysters .
Zi
36 | Zoantha thalassanthos
120 | Zoonites
153 | Zoophytes.
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EL eae ee

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