Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/234

Rh its fellows by several series of pale bands, forming concentric arcs sub-parallel to each of the four margins of the body. Mr. Yarrell speaks of this as very rare, but I obtained three examples in one day. The Bordered Ray (R. marginata) is another rarity which I have taken here, distinguished by the wide band of dark brown that margins the disk. The Angel (Squatina angelus) also sometimes comes up in the drag, a species intermediate between the Rays and the Sharks; but he is too hideous to dwell upon.

Some lovely little Nudibranch Mollusca frequently are found clinging to the meshes of the net; especially one of extraordinary beauty, when examined with a lens, though to the careless eye it appears dull and insignificant. I refer to Ægires punctilucens, a little slug of pale reddish-brown hue, covered with tubercles, but studded here and there with black spots, in the centre of which is a speck of most lustrous green or blue, looking exactly as if a minute sapphire or emerald had been set there.

But perhaps most characteristic of this particular beat are the Crustacea. Various sorts of Crabs that occur in deeper water are also found here, as the Long-legged Spider-crabs (Stenorhynchus and Inachus); and the more sluggish sorts, as Pisa, Hyas, and Maia, whose rough shells are frequently so covered with a forest of growing sea-weeds, that, as they crawl and stagger along, they remind one of Birnam wood coming to Dunsinane. The true Shrimps (Crangon), or Sand-raisers, as they are not inappropriately called by the fishermen, are, however, peculiar to the shallow sands. Of this genus we have