Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/189

148 family are weapons of offence, [sic] On being alarmed or rudely handled, from several of the warts on the body the animal shoots forth these threads, which exactly resemble white sewing-cotton, to the length of four or even six inches; and under circumstances of great irritation an immense bundle of such threads is projected from the mouth. These filaments are not wasted: they are shot out in a straight line, but remain attached to the animal, and presently all trace of them has disappeared. They are withdrawn again into the body.

This curious result, which I did not anticipate, I proved by carefully watching the process with a lens. The naked eye can readily perceive that each thread is gradually corrugated into small irregular coils at that end which is next the animal, while the free end remains straight. By applying a pocket lens with a power of 15 diameters to the affixed end, I perceived that it was sucked in to the wart from which it had proceeded, the orifice of which was clearly visible. Fixing my attention on some part of the thread near the wart, I saw it rapidly approach, and at length disappear within its cavity, and the same process went on constantly, and with all the projected threads together, until all were retracted.

These threads have, I feel assured, no direct connexion with the generative function; they are weapons of offence, and very effective ones. The fatal effects produced by their adhesive contact upon a little fish I have already described (vide ante, p. 115). Their power of adhesion is remarkable, and must have been felt by every one who has handled the species with the fingers;