Glimpses of Ocean Life

CHAPTER III.. Sea Anemones.

SEA ANEMONES.

Animal-flowers--A. mesembryanthemum--'Granny,' Sir J. Dalyell's celebrated anemone--Original anecdote--A. troglodytes--How to capture actiniæ--A roving 'mess.'--An intelligent anemone--Diet of the actiniæ--Voracity of these zoophytes--Defence of certain species--Actiniæ eating crabs--Their reproductive powers--Size of the 'crass.'--The Plumose anemone--Its powers of contraction, 45

CHAPTER IV.. Edible Crab--Shore Crab--Spider Crab, Etc.

EDIBLE CRAB--SHORE CRAB--SPIDER CRAB, ETC.

The Partane--Its character defended--Crustaceous demons--The wolf and the lamb--Interesting anecdote--Reason and instinct--Anecdote of the Shore crab--'The creature's run awa''--A crustaceous performer--The Fiddler crab--A little prodigal--Singular conduct of the Shore crab--The minute Porcelain crab--Maia squinado--Hyas araneus--Maia and C. mænas--Anecdote--The common Pea crab--Pinna and Pinnotheres--The Cray fish--Masticatory organs of crabs--Fishing for crabs--Crab fishers, 63

CHAPTER V.. Hermit Crabs.

HERMIT CRABS.

Enthusiastic students of nature--Aristocratic Hermit crabs--Swammerdam--Hermit crab and its habits--Anecdote--The Hermit in a fright--Soldier crab and Limpet--A crustaceous Diogenes--Prometheus in the tank--The martyr Hermit crab--The author's pet Blenny--Anecdote, 89

CHAPTER VI.. Exuviation of Crustacea (the Phenomena of Crabs, Etc.,

EXUVIATION OF CRUSTACEA (THE PHENOMENA OF CRABS, ETC., CASTING THEIR SHELLS).

The Tower of London--A crustaceous armory--The author's experience on the subject--Reamur and Goldsmith--Rejected shells of crabs--Anecdote--Hint to the young aquarian--Exuviation described from personal observation in several instances--Renewal of injured limbs--Frequency of exuviation--Effect of diet on crustacea--Exuviation arrested--Exuviation of the Hermit crab--How the process is effected, 109

CHAPTER VII.. Prawns and Shrimps.

PRAWNS AND SHRIMPS.

Habits of the Prawn--The Common Shrimp--How to catch shrimps--Conclusion, 135

CHAPTER VIII.

ACORN-BARNACLES--SHIP-BARNACLES.

The Common Barnacle described--Exuviation of the Balani--Anecdote--The Ship Barnacle--Barnacle Geese, 143

CHAPTER IX.. Phyllodoce Laminosa (the Laminated Nereis).

PHYLLODOCE LAMINOSA (THE LAMINATED NEREIS).

A rainy day at the sea-shore--Laminated Nereis--Its tenacity of life--Its unsuitableness for the aquarium--How the young annelids are produced--Evidence of a French naturalist, 151

CHAPTER X.. The Fan-Amphitrite.

THE FAN-AMPHITRITE.

Its renewal of mutilated organs--How to accommodate this annelid in the tank--The 'case' of the Fan-Amphitrite, 159

CHAPTER XI.

THE COMMON MUSSEL.

Dr. Johnson and Bozzy--Habits of the Mussel--Marine 'at homes'--The Purpura and its habits--Enemies of the Mussel--Anecdote--Construction of the beard (or Byssus)--Author's experience--Anecdote of the mussel--Muscular action of its foot--Threads of the beard--The bridge at Bideford--Anecdote--The Mussel tenacious of life--The beard not poisonous--M. Quatrefage--Mussel beds of Esnandes--Branchiæ of the Mussel--Food of this bivalve, 163

CHAPTER XII.. Terebella Figulas (the Potter).

TEREBELLA FIGULAS (THE POTTER).

Anecdote of the Potter--Its cephalic tentacula--Construction of its tubular dwelling--Terebella littoralis--Curious anecdote--Branchial organs of this annelid, 189

CHAPTER XIII.. Acalephæ (medusæ, or Jelly-Fish).

ACALEPHÆ (MEDUSÆ, OR JELLY-FISH).

Introduction--Jelly-fish--Whales' food--Lieutenant Maury--Appearance of the Greenland Seas--Sir Walter Scott--The girdle of Venus--The Beröe--Pulmonigrade acalephæ--Portuguese man-of-war--Hydra-tuba--Alternation of generations--Dr. Reid--Modera-formosa--Cyanea capillata--Conclusion, 201

CHAPTER XIV.. Doris Eolis, Etc.

DORIS EOLIS, ETC.

Anecdote--Young Dorides--Doris spawn--Nudibranchiate gasteropoda--Dr. Darwin--Mr. Gosse--A black Doris--Bêches de mer--A Chinese dinner--Bird's nest soup, and Sea-slug stew, 221

CHAPTER XV.. The Crab and the Dainty Beggar.

THE CRAB AND THE DAINTY BEGGAR.

Anecdote--The Pholas and Shore-crab--The hyaline stylet--The dainty beggar--The gizzard of the Pholas--Of what use is the stylet? 233

CHAPTER XVI.. The Pholas, Etc. (rock-Borers).

THE PHOLAS, ETC. (ROCK-BORERS).

Pholades at home--Habits of the Pholas--P. crispata--The pedal organ--Finny gourmands--How is the boring operation performed?--Various theories on the subject--Mr Clark, Professor Owen--The Pholas at work--The boring process described from personal observation--Author's remarks on the subject--Pholas in the tank--Conclusion, 241

CHAPTER XVII.. The Sea-Mouse.

THE SEA-MOUSE.

The Sea-mouse--Bristles of the aphrodite--Its beautiful plumage (?)--Its weapons of defence--The spines described--Shape of the aphrodite, &c., 263

CHAPTER XVIII.. Star-Fishes, Etc.

STAR-FISHES, ETC.

The Coral polypes--The Lily-stars--St. Cuthbert's beads--Pentacrinus europæus--Rosy feather star Ophiuridæ--Brittle-stars--Ophiocomo-rosula--British asteridæ--Uraster rubens--Habits of this species--Submarine Dandos--Sir John Dalyell--Professor Jones--Star-fish feeding on the oyster--Bird's foot Sea-star--Luidia fragillissima--Cushion-stars--Professor Forbes, 269

CHAPTER XIX.. Sea-Urchins.

SEA-URCHINS.

Sea Urchins in the tank--Growth of the Echinus--Its hedgehog-like spines--Suckers and pores--Ambulacral tubes--Professor Agassiz--Movements of the Echinus--Pedicellariæ--Masticatory apparatus--Common Egg Urchin--Echinus sphæra--How to remove the spines--'Do you boil your sea eggs?'--The Green-pea Urchin--The Silky-spined Urchin--The Rosy-heart Urchin, 287

CHAPTER XX.. The Sea-Cucumber.

THE SEA-CUCUMBER.

Its unattractive appearance out of water--Trepang--Several varieties eaten by the Chinese--Common Sea Cucumber--Habits of the Holothuriæ--Their self-mutilation and renewal of lost parts, 301

CHAPTER XXI.. The Aplysia, or Sea-Hare.

THE APLYSIA, OR SEA-HARE.

Anecdote--The Sea Hare plentiful at North Berwick--Its powers of ejecting a purple fluid at certain times--Sea Hares abhorred by the ancients--Professor Forbes--Spawn of the Aplysia, 307

CHAPTER XXII.. Serpulæ and Sabellæ.

SERPULÆ AND SABELLÆ.

Tubes of the Serpulæ--Dr. Darwin--The harbour of Pernambuco--Its wonderful structure--Reproduction of the Serpulæ--Sabellæ--Their sandy tubes, &c., 313

CHAPTER XXIII.. The Solen, or Razor Fish.

THE SOLEN, OR RAZOR FISH.

How it burrows in the sand--How specimens are caught--Cum grano salis--Bamboozling the Spout Fish--Amateur naturalists, and fishermen at the sea-shore, 321

CHAPTER XXIV.. A Gossip on Fishes--Including the Rockling, Smooth Blenny,

A GOSSIP ON FISHES--INCLUDING THE ROCKLING, SMOOTH BLENNY, GUNNEL FISH, GOBY, ETC.

Punch's address to the ocean--Old blue-jackets and the 'galyant' Nelson--The ocean and its inhabitants--Life beneath the wave--Fishes the happiest of created things--A fishy discourse by St. Antony of Padua--Traveller's ne'er do lie?--The veracious Abon-el-Cassim--Do fishes possess the sense of hearing--Author's experience--An intelligent Pike fish--Dr. Warwick--The Blenny in its native haunts--A 'Little Dombey' fish--Anecdote--The Viviparous Blenny--The Gunnel fish--Five-bearded Rockling--Two-spotted Goby--Diminutive Sucker-fish--Montagu's Sucker--The Stickleback--Its nest-building habits described--Conclusion, 327

CHAPTER XXV.. On the Formation of Marine Aquariæ, Etc.

ON THE FORMATION OF MARINE AQUARIÆ, ETC.

Mimic oceans--Practical hints on marine aquariæ--Various tanks described--The 'gravity bubble'--Evaporated sea-water--Aquariæ in France--Sea-water a contraband article across the Channel--An aquarium on a fine summer's day--The Lettuce Ulva--Author's tank--'Excavations on a rocky shore'--Tank 'interiors'--Various centre pieces--New siphon--Aquariæ difficult to keep in hot weather--How to remove the opacity of the tank--New scheme proposed--Conclusion, 353

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

No.

FRONTISPIECE, 1

COMPOUND VORTICELLÆ, 2

"GRANNY," Sir John Dalyell's celebrated Anemone, 3

A. TROGLODYTES, 4

A. CRASSICORNIS, 5

EDIBLE CRAB, 6

EDIBLE CRAB casting its Shell (from Nature), 7

SPIDER CRAB, 8

SHORE CRAB, 9

PORCELAIN CRAB, 10

HERMIT CRAB, 11

HERMIT CRAB in Shell of Large Whelk, 12

SHIP BARNACLES, 13

ACORN BARNACLES attached to Shell of the Limpet, 14

THE LIMPET, as seen from beneath, 15

LAMINATED NEREIS, 16

COMMON MUSSEL,--Shell open, 17

COMMON MUSSEL,--Shell closed, 18

THE BERÖE, 19

FAN AMPHITRITE, 20

TEREBELLA FIGULUS, 21

TEREBELLA LITTORALIS, 22

THE SEA-MOUSE, 23

DORIS, 24

YOUNG OF DORIS, 25

EOLIS, 26

THE PHOLAS, and Valves of its Shell, 27

THE BRITTLE STAR, 28

COMMON CROSS-FISH, 29

COMMON SUN-STAR (with 14 rays), 30

PURPLE-TIPPED SEA-URCHIN, 31

PURPLE-TIPPED SEA-URCHIN, Spine of, 32

PURPLE-TIPPED SEA-URCHIN, Suckers of, 33

THE APLYSIA, or SEA-HARE, 34

TEETH of the SEA-URCHIN (two views), 35

THE SEA-CUCUMBER, 36

SERPULÆ attached to piece of rock, 37

THE SOLEN, or RAZOR FISH, 38

THE BLENNY, 39

THE VIVIPAROUS BLENNY, 40

THE SPOTTED BLENNY, or GUNNEL-FISH, 41

THE MONTAGU SUCKER-FISH (three views), 42

THE MONTAGU SUCKER-FISH, Sucker of (magnified), 43

CHAPTER I.. Introductory.

INTRODUCTORY.

On the Pleasures derived from the Study of Marine Zoology.

'Woe to the man-- Who studies nature with a wanton eye, Admires the work, but slips the lesson by.'

As every fresh branch of investigation in natural history has a tendency to gather around it a rapidly accumulating literature, some explanation may probably be looked for from an author who offers a new contribution to the public. And when, as in the present instance, the writer's intentions are of an humble kind, it is the more desirable that he should state his views at the outset. Nor can the force of this claim be supposed to be lessened, from the gratifying fact, that the present writer has already received a warm welcome from the public.

But, before entering upon any personal explanations, it may not be out of place, in an introductory chapter such as the present, to bring under review some of the objections which have been, and still continue to be urged against this, in common with other departments of study, which are attempted to be made popular. No branch of natural history has been subjected to more disparaging opposition, partly, it must be owned, from the misplaced enthusiasm of over zealous students, than that of marine zoology.

There are two classes of readers, different in almost all other respects, whose sympathies are united in dislike of such works as this. The one, represented by men distinguished for their powers of original research, are apt to undervalue the labours of such as are not, strictly speaking, scientific writers. There is another class who, from the prejudice of ignorance, look upon marine zoology as too trivial, from the homeliness and minuteness of its details. The wonders of astronomy, and the speculations suggested by geological studies, nay, the laws of organization as exhibited in the higher forms of animal life, are clear enough to this class of readers; but it is not easy to convince them that design can be extracted from a mussel, or that a jelly-fish exhibits a marvellous power of construction.

Now, in my belief, the opposition of the better educated of these two classes of readers is the more dangerous, as it is unquestionably the more ungenerous. If Professor Ansted, when treating of the surprising neglect of geology, could thus express himself--'How many people do we meet, otherwise well educated, who look with indifference, or even contempt on this branch of knowledge,'--how much oftener may the student of the humble theme of marine zoology bewail the systematic depreciation of persons even laying claim to general scientific acquirements. This may be illustrated by an observation, made in a northern university, by a celebrated professor of Greek to a no less celebrated professor of natural history. The latter, intently pursuing his researches into the anatomy of a Nudibranche lying before him, was startled by the sudden entrance of his brother professor, who contemptuously advised him to give up skinning slugs, and take to more manly pursuits.

There is one light in which the study of marine zoology may be regarded, without necessarily offending the susceptibilities of the learned, or exciting the sneers of the ignorant. The subject may be pursued as an amusement--a pastime, if you will; and it is in no higher character than that of a holiday caterer, that the author asks the reader's company to the sea-side. No lessons but the simplest are attempted to be conveyed in this little volume, and these in as quiet and homely a style as possible.

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