Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/104

Rh shelled, both univalve and bivalve; crabs, prawns and shrimps; worms; sponges; sea-weeds; all presented claims to notice; and all contributed representatives to my stock, in the successive emptyings of the dredge, for we worked pretty nearly all the way home. And when we came to bring on shore the bottles, jars, pans, pails, and tubs, we found them all well tenanted with strange creatures, the greater part of which were despatched on their way to London by that same evening's Mail Train.

The Plate on the opposite page represents a group from the interior of an Aquarium. Over the stone in front is crawling the Eyed Cribella (Cribella oculata), while a specimen of the Bird's-foot Starfish (Palmipes membranaceus) is mounting up the mass of broken rock behind. On the right of the picture is a small frond of the much folded and crumpled Sea-lettuce (Ulva latissima); the pencilled plant of a darker green that rises in the rear of the Ulva is Cladophora rupestris; while a tuft of Polysiphonia urceolata springs from a crevice in the rock above the Star-fishes. Almost all the species have been already described in these pages.

THE SEPIOLE.

My notions of the Cephalopoda, derived from figures of the various species in books, were anything but agreeable. I thought of them as hideous, repulsive, fierce, atrocious creatures, hated and feared whenever seen. But an acquaintance with the pretty Sepiola vulgaris has not a little modified these ideas; and its beauty, sprightliness, and curious habits have