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 1904] full three fect in depth, possessed of powerful yet flexible flaps or wings, with which he drives himself furiously in the water, or vaults high in the air.” There are well-authenticated stances of this fish entangling its horns in the anchor ropes of small vessels and towing the vessels rapidly for long distances, to the mystifcation of the people on board, The expanse of body is greater in this species than in any other known animal. Examples sixteen feet wide are common, and those twenty feet across and over four feet thick are not rare. The maximum width is stated by authors to be from twenty-five to thirty feet. One specimen, of which the writer has a photograph, caught in Lapaz Bay, Mexico, many years ago, by the crew of the , of which Admiral Dewey was then captain, was seventeen feet wide and weighed nearly two tons. A fish of the largest size mentioned would weigh not less than six tons. .

cannot breathe through their mouths as can most of the higher forms of animal life, nor do they have their breathing-openings near the mouth.

The early part of the insects’ lives is chiefly spent in eating, and their mouths are so largely



engaged in this work that it would not be possible to use them also for breathing; while to have their nostrils in the immediate vicinity of their mouths would be very inconvenient. They must therefore be supplied with air in some other way.

Accordingly Mother Nature has little breathing-openings on the various segments of which their bodies consist. Scientists call these openings spiracles, Hold a locust between your fingers and watch the breathing movements of the body. Professor Packard says: “There were sixty-five contractions in a minute in a locust which had been held between the fingers about ten minutes.” How does that compare with the number of breaths you take each minute? Insects of swiftest fight breathe most rapidly.

Each spiracle is guarded by little projecting spines which form a latticework or grate to keep out dust, etc. After passing through the spiracle the air is conducted to all parts of the body by tubes made by tiny spiral threads, This microscopic tube is something similar in form to a curl of hair made by brushing the hair around a curling-stick and then pulling out the stick.