IC-NRLF 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
1. Mellita. 
 
 4. Strongylocentrotus. 
 
 (PLATE 5.) 
 2. Echinaraclinius. 
 5. Ophrura. 
 
 3 Asterias. 
 6. Arbacia. 
 
THE 
 
 ANIMAL LIFE 
 
 OF OUR 
 
 SEA-SHORE. 
 
 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEW JERSEY 
 
 COAST AND THE SOUTHERN SHORE 
 
 OF LONG ISLAND. 
 
 BY 
 
 ANGELO HEILPRIN, 
 
 Professor of Invertebrate Paleontology at, and Curator-in-Charge of, the Academy 
 
 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; Professor of Geology at the 
 
 Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "Town Geology : The Lesson of the Philadelphia Rocks," "The Geographical 
 
 and Geological Distribution of Animals," "The Geological 
 
 Evidences of Evolution," etc. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 
 1888. 
 
Copyright, 1888, by ANGKLO HEILPRIN. 
 
H 
 
 1 
 
 PEEFAOE. 
 
 IN my official capacity as Curator of the Acad- 
 emy of Natural Sciences I have been frequently 
 requested to prepare a small hand-book on the 
 local fauna of Philadelphia and on the animal life 
 of the much-frequented New Jersey coast. For 
 a long time I hesitated, knowing what difficulties 
 the preparation of a work intended to meet the 
 requirements of the popular mind and of the more 
 earnest searcher after nature's truths would entail. 
 But finally, yielding to the imputation that scien- 
 tists, while asking much for themselves, are too 
 apt to disregard the claims of the scientifically- 
 inclined public, I consented in part, and now pre- 
 sent to my readers the following pages as a result 
 of my determination to assist in the cause of popu- 
 lar instruction. For a work on the sea-shore fauna 
 there has, doubtless, been considerable demand, 
 and I can but hope that the present volume may 
 in a measure fulfil the mission for which it is 
 intended. 
 
 The illustrations that accompany the text are in 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 part original, but in the main they are culled from 
 the works of DeKay, Gould, Morse, A. Agassiz, 
 Tryon, Smith, Verrill, and Emerton, to whom, 
 consequently, I am placed under obligation. To 
 the last-named gentleman, author of a handy little 
 volume designed for the New England coast, " Life 
 on the Sea-Shore," do I particularly wish to ex- 
 press my acknowledgment. The student who de- 
 sires to enter somewhat more fully into the study 
 of our sea-shore fauna than is possible from the 
 following pages will do well to consult Dr. Leidy's 
 paper, " Contributions towards a Knowledge of 
 the Marine Invertebrate Fauna of the Coasts of 
 Rhode Island and New Jersey" (published in the 
 Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 
 delphia, vol. iii.), and Prof. VerrilPs report on the 
 " Invertebrate Animals of Vineyard Sound," pre- 
 pared for the United States Commission of Fish 
 and Fisheries (1873). 
 
 AISTGELO HEILPRIK 
 
 ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, 
 June 18, 1888. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST 7 
 
 II. SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES 54 
 
 III. STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, AND SEA-CUCUMBERS 73 
 
 IV. OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS 81 
 
 V. WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC 108 
 
 VI. SOME COASTWISE FISHES 120 
 
THE ANIMAL LIFE OF OUR SEA-SHORE. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE SHELL-FISH OP THE COAST. 
 
 ALTHOUGH it can scarcely be said that the New 
 Jersey shores constitute favorite haunts of the 
 molluscous animals, yet interesting forms of one 
 kind or another can at almost all times be found. 
 Apart from the commoner species that are habitu- 
 ally met with on the sands, the ' harvester of the 
 seas' who follows in the track of recent high- 
 water, or gleans the product of a stiff south-easter, 
 is almost sure to meet at this time with some of 
 the rarer specimens, which are generally strangers 
 to the visitors to the shores. Among these may 
 possibly be a cuttle-fish, whose body has been hap- 
 lessly cast upon the sands, and left by the retreat- 
 ing waters as a food-offering to the gulls and other 
 sea-birds that frequent the region. 
 
 The cuttle-fishes of the New Jersey coast are not 
 numerous, and they are rarely met with along 
 the sands, except under the special circumstances 
 that have just been indicated. In the deeper and 
 quieter waters of the numerous inlets, especially 
 around the mouths of outflowing streams, where 
 the chances of stranding are less imminent, they 
 are not exactly uncommon, and have even been 
 scooped up by means of the landing-net. The 
 
 7 
 
8 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 common form, and the one that is almost alone 
 met with, is the squid or calamary, the Loligo 
 Pealii of naturalists, an animal measuring some 
 
 9 inches in the length of its body, or 18 inches 
 
 including the length of 
 its longest arms. None 
 of the fabulous mon- 
 sters that have wrung 
 from the poet and the 
 novelist their mythi- 
 cal conceptions of the 
 4 devil-fish,' or any- 
 thing that at all ap- 
 proaches in dimen- 
 sions the famous 20- 
 foot specimen for- 
 merly preserved in the 
 New York Aquarium, 
 has ever been noted 
 from this part of the 
 Atlantic coast. But 
 whether large or small 
 our animal is alike in- 
 LOLIGO PEALII. teresting. The beauti- 
 
 ful tints of the body, which, chameleon-like, vary 
 as different patches of pigment-particles are ex- 
 posed to the surface, cannot fail to elicit admiration, 
 even though the general appearance of the creature 
 prove at first a trifle repulsive. There are, however, a 
 number of interesting points about this animal which 
 stamp it at once as being no ordinary specimen. 
 In the first place, a cuttle-fish, of whatever form 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 it may be, is next to the backboned or vertebrate 
 animals the fishes, reptiles, birds, and quadru- 
 peds about the most complex, or, if you choose, 
 most highly organized, of the entire animal series. 
 It takes precedence over the star-fish, insect, crab, 
 and lobster, and, among its own class, over the 
 snail, clam, and oyster. It alone among the thou- 
 sands nay, hundreds of thousands of invertebrate 
 animals, or those lacking a backbone, possesses a 
 distinct covering or capsule to its principal nerve- 
 mass, the brain, thus foreshadowing the structure 
 which is so distinctive a feature of all the higher 
 animals. The skull 
 of the cuttle-fish has 
 not yet, however, 
 been converted into 
 bone, but remains in a 
 cartilaginous condi- 
 tion, recalling in great 
 measure the condi- 
 tion of the skull in 
 some of the lower 
 fishes, the sharks 
 and rays and stur- 
 geon, for example. 
 Again, we note a 
 special development 
 of the sense organs. The great round eyes that 
 are situated on either side of the head have a per- 
 fection but little inferior to that of the eyes of the 
 highest animals, and are provided, although in a 
 somewhat different order of arrangement, with the 
 
 EGG-CASES OF LOLIGO ('SEA-GRAPE'). 
 
10 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 various tunics and bodies which belong to the most 
 perfectly constituted eye. 
 
 Should you have succeeded in catching or finding 
 a squid, then follow me in the examination of its 
 parts. Observe the ten arms (or more properly feet, 
 as it is by means of these that the animal walks or 
 creeps about, head downward), two longer (ten- 
 tacles) than the remaining eight, and the peculiar 
 cup-like bodies with which they are furnished at 
 their extremities. These so-called i acetabula' are 
 in reality organs of adhesion, each one acting on 
 the vacuum process which is familiar to all boys 
 who have experimented in brick-lifting with the 
 leather ' sucker' and string. The animal can, there- 
 fore, not only entwine its arms about the object of 
 its special search, but can stick to it by means of its 
 sucking disks. Look between the arms, and at their 
 base you will observe the mouth : gently separate 
 the mouth, and you will bring to light a pair of re- 
 markable jaws or beaks, almost exactly like those 
 of a parrot, only reversed, i.e., the larger beak is 
 below, and the small one above. On one side of the 
 animal which would be the rear, if the creature 
 were held head downward you will observe in the 
 gill-cavity, which is enclosed in a lap of the body- 
 mantle, the peculiar tubular organ known to nat- 
 uralists as the ' funnel.' Through this funnel much 
 of the water that is contained in the gill-cavity, and 
 is used in the aeration of the blood, is periodically 
 passed out by the animal. The stream of ejected 
 water, reacting upon the surrounding medium, 
 causes a rebound in the animal, the extent of which 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. H 
 
 will naturally depend upon the force and quantity of 
 the water ejected. This retrograde motion appears 
 to be the more general form of movement of the 
 animal at such times when it is not actually creep- 
 ing about, head downward, along the oceanic floor, 
 although through a twisting of the funnel, or even 
 by means of the fin attached to the hinder part of 
 the body alone, the animal is enabled to pursue a 
 forward course as well. The funnel also serves as 
 an exit to that very remarkable ink-like substance, 
 known as sepia, or true India ink, which is secreted 
 by a special glandular body (ink-bag) lodged in the 
 body-substance. Most of the cuttle-fishes are pro- 
 vided with this inky material, which, indeed, consti- 
 tutes their principal weapon of defence. Instead of 
 boldly sallying forth to meet their would-be assail- 
 ants, wisdom has guided these animals to avoid their 
 more powerful opponents, which they do by cloud- 
 ing the waters with a heavy discharge of sepia. 
 Under cover of the darkness thus produced they 
 generally manage to escape. The effect of the 
 sepia-discharge not only suffices to discourage 
 the enemy, but frequently from its copiousness 
 proves deadly to it. I well remember my first 
 dredging exploits in the Bay of Naples, when, flushed 
 with the excitement attending a rare capture, I un- 
 guardedly dropped a cuttle-fish into a tub contain- 
 ing my choicest specimens from the deep. In an 
 instant the vision of sea-horses, star-fishes, sea- 
 anemones, etc., faded off into a cloud of increasing 
 blackness, through which no beam of -life again 
 penetrated to the surface. 
 
12 
 
 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 A form of squid very similar to the one just de- 
 scribed, and largely replacing it in the northern 
 waters, is the Ommastrephes 
 sagittatus, in which the ten- 
 tacular arms are of compara- 
 tively short length, and the 
 cornea of the eye perforated, 
 so as to permit of the entry 
 of sea-water to the lens. 
 "While rare with us, this 
 animal sometimes appears 
 in the northern waters in 
 immense shoals, following 
 in the wake of the mackerel, 
 which constitutes its selected 
 food. In this condition it 
 does not hesitate to enter the 
 pounds and weirs, or to nav- 
 igate between the piles of 
 wharves, darting with the 
 swiftness of an arrow into 
 the midst of its prey, and 
 pouncing upon the neck of 
 a selected victim. In this 
 pursuit of the mackerel the 
 squid may be observed to 
 change color frequently, adapting itself in tone, 
 by an intuitive manipulation of the pigment-bodies 
 (chromatophores), to the surroundings which it 
 traverses. The squid, like many other, cuttle- 
 fishes, is in a measure nocturnal in its habits, and 
 is thought to be fond of gazing at the moon. 
 
 OMMASTREPHES SAGITTATUS. 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 13 
 
 This habit appears to account for the numbers fre- 
 quently found stranded at the time of full moon, the 
 animal, while gazing at the luminary, incautiously 
 swimming backward 
 and befouling itself 
 on the sands. 
 
 A word or two 
 about the cuttle-bone. 
 "We frequently hear 
 of this substance in 
 connection with the 
 keeping of canary- 
 birds, but probably 
 there are not many 
 who associate it with 
 a creature at all re- 
 sembling our squid. 
 
 If we slice open the back of our animal, 
 or that side which lies opposite to the 
 funnel, we observe embedded within 
 the flesh a long, horny style, which is 
 usually designated the ' gladius' or pen. 
 It may be said to constitute a sort of in- 
 ternal skeleton, giving a certain amount 
 of rigidity to the body; but its exact 
 functions are not known. In some of the 
 cuttle-fishes, notably those which have re- 
 ceived the name of sepia, the gladius is replaced by 
 a limy plate, which is in reality the cuttle-* bone' 
 of the canary-bird cage. 
 
 It may be your good fortune in walking along 
 the beach to stumble upon a very beautiful and 
 2 
 
 SEPIOLA ATLANTICA. 
 
 PEN OF 
 SQUID. 
 
14 
 
 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 delicate coiled shell, looking somewhat like that 
 of an ordinary snail, but differing in that the coil 
 is open, and that it is distinctly chambered, besides 
 having a pearly lining. This is the shell 
 of another member of the cuttle-fish 
 group, known to fame as the Spirula. 
 Myriads of these shells are sometimes 
 found about favored coast- lines, but, sin- 
 gular though it may appear, the sight of 
 the living animal is one of nature's rari- 
 ties. The record of observed specimens 
 thus far indicates less than a dozen individuals. Ac- 
 cordingly, we know but little of the habits of the 
 animal inhabiting the shell, and equally little of its 
 
 distribution. This holds 
 also true of the ' Pearly 
 Nautilus/ a not very dis- 
 tant ally of the Spirula, 
 whose beautiful shells are 
 offered for sale at nearly 
 all the marts along the 
 sea-shore, and are even 
 thought by many to have 
 been gathered in the vi- 
 cinity. But the home of 
 the Nautilus is a distant 
 one, and its cradle not 
 improbably the deep-sea. 
 Chance has on more than one occasion brought 
 to our shores a rare specimen in the shell of the 
 ' Paper Nautilus/ or Argonaut, that singular crea- 
 ture whose Ulyssean journeys were supposed to 
 
 SHELL OF PEARLY NAUTILUS. 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 15 
 
 have been performed under full sail. The broadly- 
 expanded, uplifted arms, which are seen on many 
 of the older illustrations, and which were supposed 
 to catch the gentle zephyrs of the purple sea, are 
 now known to be closely appressed to the side of 
 
 SHELL OF ARGONAUT. 
 
 the shell, which they in truth secrete. Far, there- 
 fore, from presenting the graceful outlines to which 
 we have been accustomed, the Argonaut in swim- 
 ming much more nearly calls forth the image of a 
 retreating sneak. But the shell, considered apart 
 from the animal, is perhaps the most beautiful and 
 delicate that has been fashioned by nature. Owing 
 to its great frailness it is but rarely found unin- 
 jured, the free margins usually exhibiting nicks 
 and cracks of greater or less extent. Hence the 
 value attached to perfect specimens. For one such 
 specimen of unusual size, formerly in the posses- 
 sion of the Boston Society of Natural History, it is 
 claimed that the purchase-money amounted to $500. 
 The shell belongs exclusively to the female, and its 
 
16 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 sole purpose appears to be the protection of the 
 eggs which are deposited within it. 
 
 A live Argonaut was captured at Long Branch 
 in August, 1876, and its habits in confinement 
 watched for a period of some eight or nine days. 
 When not swimming, the animal frequently re- 
 verses its position, crawling about with its shell on 
 its back in the manner of a snail ; at other times, 
 again, t it is said to paddle about much like an 
 oarsman. 
 
 MARINE SNAILS. 
 
 The ocean has retreated, and upon the broad 
 
 strand that shelves grad- 
 ually to the still breaking 
 crest, myriads of shells 
 and shell-fragments lie 
 scattered about in curling 
 zigzags. Among these 
 we recognize the spiral 
 shell of the snail, and the 
 half-shell of the clam and 
 its allies; more rarely, 
 both valves of the latter 
 are found, still firmly 
 united by the binding 
 ligament. Some of these 
 contain the living animal, 
 but by far the greater 
 number have been robbed 
 
 PEAB-CONCH (Fulgur carica). Q f their possessors by the 
 
 billows that consigned them to futurity. 
 
 Of the snails the form that is most apt to at- 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 1<J 
 
 tract immediate attention is the pear-conch, which 
 is about the largest shell of the coast, indeed, one 
 of the largest shells of the entire North American 
 coast. Not uncommonly the animal is found within 
 the shell, where, it will be observed, it has closely 
 withdrawn itself, partially closing up the aperture 
 by means of a horny disk attached to its foot, known 
 as the ' operculum.' Thus shut up in its house the 
 animal is fairly secure from its enemies, and, if suf- 
 ficiently fortunate to regain the incoming waters, 
 may again rejoice in its favorite haunts. But too 
 long exposure to the dry 
 atmosphere will prove 
 fatal to it, as it like- 
 wise would to the greater 
 number of marine snails. 
 The pear-conch, of 
 which we recognize two 
 species, one furnished 
 with tubercles on the an- 
 gles of its whorls (Fulgur 
 carica), and the other 
 practically devoid of tu- 
 bercles, and showing a ca- 
 nalicule running around 
 the tops of the whorls (F. 
 canaliculatus), inhabits the 
 tidal zone, where it buries 
 itself to the depth of a few 
 inches in the sand. Its FuLGUR C ^ALICULATUS. 
 presence can frequently be detected by hollows in 
 the sand, into which it has introduced itself by bur- 
 b 2* 
 
18 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 rowing. There are probably few visitors to the 
 beach who have not observed and pondered over 
 the coiled strings of parchment-like capsules which 
 here and there dot the shore. They have been 
 likened by some to the rattlesnake rattle, by others 
 they are loosely spoken of as < sea-weeds/ under 
 which designation many a helpless animal form has 
 been compelled to fall. The capsules on the string 
 are in reality the egg-cases of the pear-conch, 
 and in order to satisfy yourself on this point 
 slice open one such, and note the number of 
 embryo conchs that it contains. In the dry cap- 
 sules probably only the minute shells will be 
 found, but in the ribbons that appear fresh and 
 elastic the tiny embryos present themselves in 
 full activity. It will be observed that toward one 
 end of the ribbon the capsules become smaller and 
 smaller, and more distantly removed from one an- 
 other, while toward the opposite end they become 
 larger and more crowded. The attenuated end, if 
 entire, will almost invariably be found to terminate 
 in a pebble or shell-fragment, to which, as to an 
 anchor, it has been secured by the animal imme- 
 diately after extrusion, and for the purpose of ob- 
 taining a firm base of attachment. It may appear 
 remarkable that such a large ribbon should ever 
 have been contained within a single body, for really 
 if wound up it would form a mass even larger than 
 the entire animal. It can only be supposed that 
 the capsules are a long time in making, appearing 
 gradually one after the other during a considerable 
 period of ribbon-manufacture and extrusion. They, 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 19 
 
 doubtless, also to a certain extent become swelled 
 up by the water which they must necessarily imbibe. 
 
 The exact period of spawning of these pear- 
 conchs upon our coast has not yet been definitely 
 ascertained, but from the frequency with which 
 the fresh ribbons are found, it is not unlikely 
 that the spawning-season extends over a considera- 
 ble part of the year. So secretly and quietly does 
 the conch attend to its- 
 affairs, that it is only at 
 the widest intervals that 
 it has been observed in 
 the process of spawning ; 
 indeed, it is well known 
 that there are but few 
 naturalists who have ob- 
 served it in this condi- 
 tion. There are two 
 kinds of ribbons found 
 
 on the beach, one in which the individual capsules 
 have a sharp median edge, and the other in which 
 the capsules are doubly carinated or keeled, appear- 
 ing like a wheel with a double flange. The former 
 belongs to Fulgur canaliculata^ and the latter to 
 Fulgur carica. Each capsule of which there may 
 be some 75 or 100 on a single ribbon shows a round 
 opening at about the middle of its outer border, 
 through which the embryo conchs make their 
 escape. 
 
 A word may not be amiss here with regard to 
 the blue or blackish specimens that you have col- 
 lected. The suspicion has for some time existed 
 
 1 2 
 
 EGG-CAPSULES OF 1, FULGUR CARICA; 
 
 OP 2, F. CANALICULATA. 
 
20 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 that these dark-stained conchs, and other shells of a 
 like character, have heen washed out of a subma- 
 rine deposit, or from some clay-bank containing 
 fossil remains. That there is some reason for con- 
 sidering all such as fossils is indicated in the fact 
 that, on and off', specimens not now known to in- 
 habit the "New Jersey coast are thrown upon the 
 beach, some of which have been recognized as 
 fossils elsewhere. But for the present it is not 
 safe to accept the hypothesis for an established 
 fact, especially as a number of the more brightly- 
 colored shells, such as the scallops, have at least in 
 part the distinctive deep-blue tinge. 
 
 Among the rarer shells of the coast is the whelk 
 (Buccinum undatum\ whose habitat is more prop- 
 erly the region lying north 
 of Cape Cod peninsula, ex- 
 tending thence eastward to 
 the European continent. 
 With us it is generally 
 found in a largely dilapi- 
 dated condition, indicating 
 considerable wear, and a not 
 improbably distant home. 
 It inhabits a zone extend- 
 ing from low water very 
 nearly to the greatest depths, 
 where it plies its trade as 
 one of the most voracious 
 of the marine snails. Great 
 numbers of the whelk are 
 caught (more especially on the north European 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 21 
 
 coast, where it is extensively used as an article of 
 food, and as fish-bait) by dropping dead cod in a 
 wicker-basket to a muddy bottom, where the ani- 
 mals are easily attracted. The whelk-fishery of 
 Whitestable flat, England, is said to have yielded 
 12,000 yearly immediately prior to 1866. 
 
 The whelk is a favorite article of food with many 
 fishes, particularly the cod, and as many as 30 and 
 40 of its shells have been taken 
 from the stomach of a single 
 fish. Eventually these shells 
 may become the habitations of 
 one of the numerous species of 
 hermit crab. - Indeed, on the 
 New England coast it is rather 
 a rarity to meet with a fresh 
 
 inn,! -o i i EGG-CAPSULES OF WHELK. 
 
 shell of the Buccmum which is 
 not already tenanted by a hermit. 
 
 Cast your eyes for a moment from the glistening 
 sands towards the mud-flats and tide-pools which 
 have been left by the retreating waters. Here, in 
 these quieter realms, you are almost sure to meet 
 with a number of interesting molluscan forms, 
 among which are two or three near cousins of the 
 whelk. They are small snails, whose shells barely 
 measure three-quarters of an inch in length. They 
 are figured on Plate 1, Figs. 5, 11, 6, and are known 
 as dog-whelks (Nassa trivittata, Nassa vibex, and 
 Nassa obsoleta). It will be seen that, while the 
 shells differ considerably from those of the true 
 whelk, they still have much the same general char- 
 acter, especially noticeable in the form of the aper- 
 
22 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 ture, and its direct truncature ; but the base of the 
 inner side of the aperture shows more or less of a 
 fold, which is wanting in the whelk. These active 
 creatures of the tide-water pools, whose long and 
 slender foot constitutes so marked a feature of 
 their anatomy, offer an interesting study to the 
 lounger on the sands, and even if their habitat is a 
 little moist a pair of rubbers will readily bring you 
 to them without discomfort. Observe them gliding 
 along the surface of the mud, furrowing the soft 
 bottom with their extended foot. A few, possi- 
 bly, are floating, with the foot directed upwards. 
 The dog-whelk is decidedly predaceous in its habits, 
 boring rapidly through the shells of other mol- 
 lusks in quest of animal food, and creating gen- 
 eral havoc in its neighborhood. Indeed, it feeds 
 not only upon live flesh but upon dead flesh as 
 well, acting the part of a scavenger. Hence the 
 use to which this little creature has been put to 
 clean out the foul animal matter from aquaria. 
 Its own shell appears frequently pierced with a 
 hole, and rumor points towards cannibalism on the 
 part of the animal. One of the foreign dog-whelks 
 (Nassa reticulata) is known to prove exceedingly de- 
 structive to the oyster-fares of the French coast, 
 and so numerous is it that a single tide has yielded 
 upwards of 14,000 specimens on a shore area of 
 about 100 acres. This species has been known to 
 bore through the shell of a three-year oyster within 
 eight hours, and to destroy an oyster of a single 
 month in a half-hour. 
 
 A large proportion of the dog-whelk shells of our 
 
1. 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Natica heros. 
 
 2. Melampus bidentatus. 
 
 3. Natica pusilla. 
 
 4. " duplicata. 
 
 5. Nassa trivittata. 
 
 6. " vibex. 
 
 7. Eupleura caudata. 
 
 8. Urosalpinx cinerea. 
 
 9. 10. Purpura lapillus. 
 
 11. Nassa obsoleta. 
 
 12. Scalaria multistriata. 
 
 13. " lineata. 
 
 14. Triforis nigrocinctus. 
 
 15. Crepidula fornicata. 
 
 16. Columbella lunata (X 2). 
 
 17. " avara. 
 
 18. Turbonilla elegans (X 2). 
 
 19. Cerithiopsis Greenii (X 4) 
 
 20. " Emersonii 
 
 (XU). 
 
 FIG. 
 
 21. Cerithiopsis tercbralis 
 
 (XU). 
 
 22. Littorina rudis. 
 
 23. " palliata. 
 
 24. Littorinella minuta (X 2). 
 
 25. Crepidula convexa. 
 
 26. " plana. 
 
 27. Odostomia producta, 
 
 28. " fusca (X 3). 
 
 29. " trifida. 
 
 30. Actseon puncto-striata 
 
 (X3). 
 
 31. Cylichna oryza (X 2). 
 
 32. Crucibulum striatum. 
 
 33. Bulla solitaria. 
 
 34. Utriculus canaliculatus. 
 
 35. Odostomia trifida. 
 
 36. Eulima oleacea. 
 
 37. Odostomia impressa (X 2). 
 
 V* The representation X 2, etc., indicates that the figure has been enlarged 
 to two linear dimensions. 
 
PL. 1. 
 
 I/ 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 23 
 
 coast are inhabited by hermit crabs, which in many 
 cases, possibly, obtained possession through the right 
 of force of arms. Be this as it may, it is certain 
 that the hermit has been providentially provided 
 for, and that it has much to offer by way of grati- 
 tude to the dog-whelks. The Nassas are probably 
 all very tenacious of life ; a specimen of Nassa obso- 
 leta submitted to me from Atlantic City survived 
 for a full year the dry atmosphere of a closet with 
 an artificially-heated wall. 
 
 The Nassas are not the only inhabitants of the 
 tide-pools either, for with them we find associated 
 one or more forms of periwinkles, various small 
 fishes, and the ever-active hermit. Other organ- 
 isms, whose existence would scarcely have been 
 thought of, also lurk here. One of these is the 
 founder of a colony which has settled on the back 
 of old Nassa obsoleta, and there spread out a crisp 
 brown covering, much resembling dry moss, which 
 might be readily mistaken for the horny covering 
 (epidermis) which belongs to most 
 shells. The colony is one of polyps, 
 next of kin to the Sertularia or sea-fir, 
 whose delicate bunchy masses lie scat- 
 tered over the beach, or gently oscil- 
 late in the calmer waters of favored 
 
 POLYP COLONY 
 
 localities. Indeed, our polyp is a near OF HYDRACTI- 
 ally of the common fresh-water hydra, NIAECHIN ^- 
 and, what may at first sight appear incredible, also 
 of the free-swimming Medusa or jelly-fish. Under 
 a magnifier the brown covering is seen to rise up 
 into simple and compound spines, from between 
 
24 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 which, in the living condition of the organism, the 
 tiny white polyps, with their circle of tentacles, 
 may be seen to rise to a height of perhaps a 
 quarter inch or so. Between these tentacular 
 polyps again, which are strictly those elements 
 of the compound organism which secure nutrition 
 to the colony at large, may be found at times a 
 number of smaller bodies, without tentacles, which 
 give origin to, and carry, the egg-capsules, in each 
 of which there are from one to five eggs. Thus 
 does this diminutive colony live in concert, dif- 
 ferent parts administering to the different wants of 
 the assembled multitude. Most of the crusts of the 
 Hydmctinia echinata, for so the polyp is called, are 
 found on the hermit-inhabited shells, but naturally 
 where these have been exposed for too long a time 
 to the dry atmosphere only the crust remains. 
 
 Along with the dog- whelks, we find many of the 
 tide-water pools inhabited by a number of small 
 round-mouthed shells, known as periwinkles or 
 Littorinas, a northern species of which 
 (Littorina litorea\ inhabiting both the 
 American and European coasts, is the 
 common periwinkle of the English 
 markets. These interesting creatures, 
 of which there are three species* on 
 the New Jersey coast, are truly marine 
 in habit, but still prefer for their habi- 
 tations localities that are only partially 
 
 * Since the above was written Littorina litorea has been found 
 at Atlantic City ; it is a much less elevated shell than the common 
 large periwinkle of our coast (L. irrorata). 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 25 
 
 covered by the sea. We find them clinging to rocks, 
 to old wharf-piers and other immersed timber, to 
 sea-weeds and the grass-culms of marshes, as well 
 as enjoying the more placid retreats afforded by the 
 sluggish waters of the tide-w r ater marshes, pools, 
 and ditches. The positions selected by them, usu- 
 ally just within the reach of high-water, would 
 seem to indicate a positive aversion on the part of 
 the animal to the full waters of the sea, and they 
 appear rarely to venture into the embrace of the 
 surf. One species" of our coast (Littorina rudis) has 
 been known to live a week out of water, while an- 
 other, from the West Indies, survived similar depri- 
 vation for a full year; a species from the North 
 European coast, again, has been found to bear with- 
 out apparent discomfort a submersion of eighteen 
 hours in fresh water. 
 
 The largest species of the New Jersey coast is 
 the big brown periwinkle (Littorina irrorata\ which 
 not infrequently measures upwards of an inch in 
 length. It is readily distinguished by its robust, 
 deeply-colored shell, which shows numerous prom- 
 inent revolving lines on its surface. A much smaller 
 form is the somewhat flattened and obtuse Littorina 
 palliata (PI. l,Fig. 23), whose yellowish color, more 
 or less speckled with brown, serves to distinguish it. 
 It does not appear that the periwinkle is anywhere 
 extensively used for food on the American coast, 
 although prodigious quantities are periodically 
 brought to and sent from the British markets. It 
 is estimated that about the year 1865 the English 
 periwinkle-supply amounted -to not less than 2000 
 B 3 
 
26 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 bushels per week during the months of March to 
 August inclusive, and 500 bushels per week for 
 the remaining six months. At least 1000 persons, 
 mainly women and children, were employed in the 
 gathering. 
 
 All the periwinkles are vegetable feeders, and 
 are thus sharply defined in habit from the strictly 
 carnivorous forms that have been thus far consid- 
 ered. It may be said en passant that with compara- 
 tively few exceptions all the snails whose shells 
 have an even, round mouth are phytophagous in 
 habit, living exclusively on vegetable substances, 
 while those which have the shell aperture either 
 truncated or produced into a canal of greater or 
 less length are carnivorous. But both forms have 
 the mouth provided with a peculiar chitinous or 
 horny ribbon, known as the ' lingual ribbon' or 
 6 radula,' which is closely beset with minute teeth, 
 and by its backward and forward movement serves 
 to rasp down objects that are brought in its way. 
 It thus largely assists in the process of mastication ; 
 but probably one of its functions is the boring of 
 the holes in 4 foreign' shells through which an at- 
 tack is made upon the enemy. The coiled lingual 
 apparatus of the common European Littorina litorea, 
 which has also been introduced on the JSTew Eng- 
 land coast, measures two and a half inches in length, 
 and contains about 600 rows of teeth. The action 
 of this ribbon may be well observed in the case of 
 snails that creep up the glass walls of aquaria. 
 
 An exception to the rule which defines round- 
 mouthed snails to be vegetable feeders is the 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 2*7 
 
 Natica (PL 1, Figs. 1, 4), one of whose best repre- 
 sentatives is the common globular shell, of about 
 the size of an apple, which is found almost every- 
 where along the beach. The natics, with strong 
 carnivore propensities, are markedly predaceous in 
 their habits, moving about rapidly in their sandy 
 homes in quest of food, which they usually find in 
 the shell-fish buried at some little depth beneath 
 the surface. The making of the larger round holes 
 which appear in such perfection on the shells of 
 many of the bivalves is commonly attributed to the 
 Natica, but the exact amount of guilt attaching to 
 this creature has never yet been determined. The 
 
 NATICA EXTENDED. 
 
 Naticas have certain peculiarities of structure which 
 it will be well to notice. You will observe, if you 
 have succeeded in finding more than the empty 
 shell, that the animal is completely retractile, and, 
 further, that it has cased itself in by means of a 
 horny lid or ' operculum/ which is attached to the 
 under surface of the creeping disk or foot. This 
 foot is greatly produced in front, where it is re- 
 flected back in the form of a hood, covering the 
 
28 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 head and tentacles. It is a powerful excavating 
 implement, and by it the animal is enabled to bur- 
 row in the sand like a mole. The Natica is blind, 
 being destitute of eyes. 
 
 Of the three species of our coast the commoner 
 forms are the two large species known as Natica 
 her os (PI. 1, Fig. 1) and Natica duplicata (Fig. 4): 
 
 NIDUS OF NATICA HEBOS. 
 
 the first may be recognized by its larger size and 
 more globular outline, and in having a deep hole 
 (umbilicus) immediately alongside the aperture. 
 In Natica duplicata the shell is more depressed and 
 
 NIDUS OF NATICA DUPLICATA. 
 
 somewhat oblique, while the umbilical aperture 
 is closed by a thick ( callous' expansion. The 
 third species is Natica pusilla. In your rambles 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 29 
 
 along the beach you cannot fail to have noticed 
 peculiar gray, collar-like bodies scattered about, 
 some of them forming almost complete circles, and 
 measuring six inches or more across. Examined, 
 these collars are seen to be made up of minute sand- 
 particles glued together, and if held up to the light 
 exhibit an almost innumerable number of translu- 
 cent spots. These spots correspond to the positions 
 of egg-cases which are distributed throughout the 
 mass in a single layer, and in quincunx order. 
 The whole is, in fact, the egg-ribbon or ' nidus' of 
 the Natiea a construction unlike that of any other 
 mollusk. Just how it is made still remains a mys- 
 tery, but it appears that as it is extruded in the 
 form of a viscous mass it is immediately moulded 
 over the external face of the shell, which gives to 
 it its peculiar spiral curve. The coating of mucus 
 then draws to it the sand-particles which line it on 
 either side. Two forms of this ribbon occur on 
 our coast one, a simple collar with a constricted 
 neck, the other, sharply ruffled on its border. The 
 former belongs to Natica heros, the latter to N. du- 
 plicata. The crowded little pouches, each of about 
 the size of a spangle, which are frequently found 
 on one side of the collar, are the egg-capsules of 
 the dog- whelk (Nassa). 
 
 Of the several other species of marine snails 
 occurring on our coast a few are found only at rare 
 intervals, and not unlikely their shells have been 
 merely washed hither without the animal itself 
 living along the immediate coast-border. Among 
 these are the auger-shell (Terebra dislocata), a com- 
 
 3* 
 
30 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 nion species of the Southern shore, wentletrap 
 (Scalaria, PL 1, Figs. 12, 13), and purple (Purpura 
 lapillus, PL 1, Figs. 9, 10). By pressing on the oper- 
 culum of the last-named a fluid is released of a dull 
 crimson color, much resembling some of the purples 
 of antiquity; indeed, it was from one of the species 
 of this genus that the ancients obtained some of 
 their more highly prized dyes. The purple is a 
 rough customer among the oyster- and muscle-beds, 
 where its depredations extend as well to the dead 
 as to the live animal. It is not, however, satisfied 
 with these delicacies alone, but will also venture on 
 limpets, barnacles, dead fish, etc. If by habit a 
 pirate, the purple in turn suffers from the piracy of 
 other animals, and largely so from the seemingly 
 harmless hermit-crabs. These have on more than 
 one occasion been observed to sally forth under 
 protection of their borrowed castles, and clean out, 
 so to say, the purple, dragging their unfortunate 
 victim from the shell. In one such encounter, as 
 narrated by Mr. Crowther, of Whitby, England, 
 the attacking party were shielded by the shells of 
 four distinct species of snails a dog-whelk, peri- 
 winkle, troque, and purple. 
 
 Partaking largely of the habits of the purple is 
 the < drill' (Urosalpinx cinerea, PL 1, Fig. 8), a name 
 suggestive of the methods employed by this animal 
 to obtain its food. Like the last-named, it is a great 
 destroyer of the oyster. 
 
 Our description of this section of the shore-fauna 
 would not be complete without a special reference 
 to the sandal or slipper-limpet (Orepidula) and the 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 31 
 
 very common (cylindrical) small shell that is found 
 almost everywhere among the tide-water sedges or 
 grasses. The latter is the Melampus Udentatus (PL 
 1, fig. 2), an air-breathing or pulmoniferous mollusk, 
 like the common garden-snail, but requiring a cer- 
 tain amount of salt water for its happiness. Why 
 this should be necessary is not exactly known, the 
 animal breathing by means of a true lung, as in 
 the case of all true land-snails (Palmonatd). The 
 slipper-limpets are readily recognized by their some- 
 what boat-shaped shellsj which are found either 
 loose by themselves, or attached to other shells and 
 stones, their outlines being largely modified accord- 
 ing to the receiving substance. This modification 
 extends in such varying directions that it is not yet 
 clear what proportion of the ordinarily accepted spe- 
 cific characters is founded upon it. For the pres- 
 ent, however, we recognize some three or four spe- 
 cies as occurring on our coast : Crepidula fornicata 
 (PL 1, Fig. 15), the largest form, which not rarely 
 measures an inch and a half, or more, in length; 
 Crepidula glauca or convexa (Fig. 25), a small humpy 
 shell, whose presence appears to be generally asso- 
 ciated with that of the small hermit and of Nassa 
 obsoleta ; and Crepidula plana or unguiformis (Fig. 26), 
 with a nearly flat shell, which is frequently found 
 within the apertures of other shells. The slipper- 
 limpets have the habit of crowding upon themselves, 
 or of ' bunching,' so to speak; they may accord- 
 ingly be picked up in accumulated masses, and this 
 is especially true of the more northerly shores. 
 Closely related to the preceding is the crucible- 
 
32 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 shell (Grucibulum striatum, PI. 1, Fig. 32), which is, 
 however, rarely seen with us. 
 
 No true limpets, which are rock-loving animals, 
 are known to inhabit the New Jersey coast. 
 
 CLAMS AND THEIR ALLIES (BIVALVES). 
 
 We call these shells ' bivalves' because they are 
 each made up of two pieces or valves, which lie on 
 either side of the animal, and are respectively desig- 
 nated the ' right' and the < left' valve. But how 
 do we determine which 'is which? Barring the 
 case of the oysters, scallops, and a few of their 
 friends, the bivalves or headless mollusks have the 
 valves of the shell almost invariably equal, and, 
 with insignificant exceptions, the beaks of the 
 valves, known to systematists as the l umbones' 
 (singular, ' umbo'), are directed forward. Bearing 
 this fact in mind, i.e., knowing which is front 
 and which back, it is an easy matter to determine 
 the two sides. Possibly you may have stumbled 
 across one of the hard-shell clams from which the 
 animal has been dislodged, but which still holds 
 both valves together. The valves in this case will 
 be wide open, and are pulled and held in this posi- 
 tion by an elastic ligament which runs along the 
 back of the shell. Look on the interior surfaces 
 of the valves, and you will observe, both in front 
 and in the rear, a nearly round, impressed scar, the 
 positions of which correspond in the two valves. 
 Uniting the scars of the opposite valves, there were 
 in the living condition of the animal two stout mus- 
 cular bundles, whose contraction, regulated by the 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 33 
 
 will of the animal, operated in the closing of the 
 shell. It is the action of these ' adductor' muscles 
 pulling together which renders the opening of clams 
 such a hopeless and discouraging task to the un- 
 initiated. But traverse the adductors with a knife- 
 blade, and the shell immediately opens. And so, 
 on the death of the animal, when the adductors no 
 longer possess vitality, the valves of the shell are 
 pulled apart hy the elastic ligament, which always 
 suffers compression in the closed condition of the 
 shell. This accounts for the apparent anomaly that 
 dead shells are almost invariably open. 
 
 If a living clam be carefully opened, it will be 
 found that a delicate membrane lines the shell on 
 each side, reaching almost to the free edge of the 
 shell ; this is the so-called ' mantle.' Immediately 
 following the mantle we meet on either side with 
 a pair of membranous, leaf-like organs, the gills, 
 and between the gills again, occupying the cen- 
 tre, is the tough, fleshy mass which constitutes the 
 * body' and ' foot' of the animal, the part which is 
 so generously partaken of by all lovers of the 
 shell-fish. Into this fleshy mass the aperture of 
 the mouth opens, and in it is contained the greater 
 part of the alimentary tract. At the back of the 
 animal the mantle-margins are united to one an- 
 other, and the mantle is itself drawn out into a 
 double tube or < siphon,' through which water 
 enters and leaves the interior of the shell. Not 
 all bivalves have these siphons, but where they 
 are well developed and retractile, a peculiar inflec- 
 tion may be observed in the impressed line which 
 
34 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 on the interior of the shell connects the adductor 
 impressions. This sinual inflection, or ' pallial sinus,' 
 is one of the most important characters to be "noted 
 in the shell, since it serves to indicate a prominent 
 feature in the structure of the animal. 
 
 We recognize two hard-shell clams on our coast, 
 one having an obliquely oval shell, the quahog 
 (Venus mercenaria), and the other, with a more nearly 
 
 SURF-CLAM (Mactra solidissima). 
 
 triangular or equilateral shell, the Mactra (Mactra 
 solidissiina). The former is the edible species, al- 
 though by some the Mactra is not completely de- 
 nied a hearing. The latter, also known as the 
 6 sea-clam' or ' surf-clam,' inhabits the sandy coasts, 
 where it lies buried just beneath the surface ; 
 but it may be occasionally seen skipping about 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 35 
 
 by means of its active and greatly elongated foot. 
 It seems never to construct a permanent burrow, 
 thus differing from the ' long-clam' or ' sand- 
 clam,' to be noticed hereafter. The shells, which, 
 when full grown, measure as much as six inches 
 in length and four inches in height, were formerly 
 used by the Indians as hoes in the hilling of corn. 
 Two smaller species, Mactra ovalis and M. lateralis, 
 are abundant at some tides. 
 
 The round clam or quahog, which is the clam of 
 the New York and Philadelphia markets, inhabits 
 the muddy bottoms of bays more particularly from 
 
 QUAHOG ( Venus mercenaria). 
 
 low-water mark to about 30 fathoms. Its habitat 
 extends along the entire American coast from Cape 
 Cod to Florida, but north of Cape Cod it is of 
 rare occurrence. The quahog is a large and pow- 
 erful shell, whose outer surface frequently shows 
 signs of considerable erosion. From the interior 
 
36 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 purple margin the Indians cut their purple wam- 
 pum (shell-money), the white wampum "being ob- 
 tained from the columellar axis of the pear-conch 
 or winkle (Fulgur). The word ' quahog' appears 
 to he a corruption of the plural 
 Poquahock, or, as it is written, 
 4 Poquahauges.' 
 
 Careful observers of the 
 ocean beach will have noticed 
 from time to time little jets of 
 water issuing from scattered 
 holes in the sand; or fre- 
 quently the shallow waters of 
 pools may be observed twirled 
 round into eddies by suction 
 and ejection currents coming 
 from below. The author of this 
 play of water is the sand- clam 
 (Mya arenaria), which lies 
 buried a few inches below the 
 surface, whence it communi- 
 cates with the outer world by 
 means of its extended siphon. 
 Through this siphon, which is 
 in reality a double tube, water- 
 currents are passing both in- 
 ward and outward, bringing 
 necessaries to the secluded 
 
 SAND-CLAM (Mya arenaria). .. p 
 
 creature, and carrying from it 
 the waste products. The depth to which the animal 
 burrows will depend closely upon the length of its 
 respiratory siphon. Although it measures but a 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 37 
 
 few inches in our sand-clam, in other forms it con- 
 siderably surpasses a foot, and, indeed, in a species 
 from the California!! coast (Glycimeris generosd) it 
 reaches a full yard, with a thickness somewhat ex- 
 ceeding that of a stout hroom-handle. The sand- 
 clam, which is abundant almost everywhere in the 
 North in the tidal zone estuaries, muddy inlets, 
 and sandy shores is a broadly distributed species, 
 extending its range eastward to the British Isles 
 and the continent of Europe. In the New England 
 markets it is a common article of sale, but in New 
 York and Philadelphia its place is almost entirely 
 taken by the hard-shell clam or quahog. The In- 
 dians appear to have been very fond of these clams, 
 which were . known to them as Sickishuog. John 
 Wmthrop, in a communication made to the Royal 
 Society of England in 1634, thus describes the 
 species : " Clams white. Their broth is most ex- 
 cellent in all intermitting fevers, consumption, etc. 
 These clams feed only on sand." 
 
 On the New Jersey coast the sand-clam is some- 
 times called, after the Indian name, * maninose' 
 (corrupted to ' nannynose'), and, to distinguish it 
 from the quahog, the ' soft-shell clam.' 
 
 It frequently happens as the result of a storm that 
 large cakes of a stiff gray or blue clay, more or less 
 firmly matted together by vegetable fibres, and in 
 some localities having a peaty aspect, are cast upon 
 the beach. These masses are the abiding-place of 
 great numbers of an interesting boring mollusk 
 known to conchologists as Petricola (PL 2, Fig. 20), 
 the ' stone-dweller,' which has forced its way in by 
 
 4 
 
38 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 a process which has not yet been clearly made out. 
 The animal is provided with a double respiratory 
 siphon, which can be extended to a length consid- 
 erably in excess of that of the shell itself. When 
 placed in a dish of sea-water, the animal, after it 
 has fully recovered from its consciousness of danger, 
 slowly begins to thrust out this respiratory appa- 
 ratus, whose action can now be clearly followed. 
 If there should happen to be minute particles of 
 foreign matter in the water, it will be observed that 
 these are attracted in the direction of the lower 
 division of the siphon, while they are just as posi- 
 tively repelled from the upper. This indicates that 
 a current of water sets in through the lower or < in- 
 current' orifice, and that a similar current passes out 
 at the same time through the upper or ' excurrent' 
 orifice. A perpetual circulation is thus kept up 
 about the body of the animal, feeding the gills, and 
 taking with it a certain amount of nutriment neces- 
 sary to the existence of the animal. This arrange- 
 ment is found in all the siphonated bivalves. 
 
 Like other shell-fish that bury themselves in the 
 sand or mud, the Petricola doubtless seeks its se- 
 clusion from motives of self-protection. By many 
 it has been supposed that the boring is accomplished 
 by a peculiar revolution of the shell, during which 
 the serrated ridges on the surface would act like a 
 rasp, wearing and tearing as the work of excavation 
 progressed. That this is not likely to be the true 
 method of operation is indicated by the fact that 
 there are a number of true stone-borers, which have 
 an ornamentation almost identical with that cover- 
 
2. 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Solen ensis. 
 
 2. Solecurtus gibba. 
 
 3. Solenomya velum. 
 
 4. Teredo navalis. 
 
 5. Solecurtus divisus. 
 
 6. Siliqua costata. 
 
 7. Anatina papyracea. 
 
 8. Cochlodesma Leana. 
 
 9. Pandora trilineata. 
 
 10. Tellina tenta. 
 
 11. " tenera. 
 
 12. Teredo navalis. 
 
 13. Pallets of ship- worm. 
 
 14. Saxicava Arctica. 
 
 15. Corbula contracta. 
 
 16. Lyonsia hyalina. 
 
 17. 18. Xylotrya fimbriata. 
 
 19. Pallets of Xylotrya. 
 
 20. Petricola pholadiformis. 
 
 21. 22, 23. Pholas costata. 
 
PL, 2. 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 39 
 
 ing the shell of Petricola pholadiformis, and in which, 
 after the completion of the work of horing, the 
 projecting points on the shell are perfectly clear and 
 sharp, and not rubbed down as we should naturally 
 expect to find them after the hard work of rock- 
 abrasion. Such a shell is the Pholas, of which three 
 species are represented on the New Jersey coast. 
 The largest of these, Pholas costata (PI. 2, Figs. 21- 
 23), which measures about six inches in length, is 
 very generally represented only by fragments of the 
 shell, and it is still doubtful whether it normally 
 inhabits this part of the -coast. It is more properly 
 a species from the South (although observed as 
 far north as New Bedford), where it may be found 
 at some little distance beneath the surface in the 
 mud-banks which are exposed at low water. The 
 other two species, Pholas truncata and P. crispata 
 (PI. 3, Figs. 1, 2), are very much smaller, and, while 
 their shells are ribbed anteriorly, they lack the full 
 series of spinose riblets which so regularly diversify 
 the shell of the larger form. In the latter species 
 the shell 4 gapes' broadly at the two ends, the pos- 
 terior opening permitting of the extension of a very 
 powerful and muscular siphon. It is a common 
 habit with Pholas crispata to bore into rock, and 
 specimens of bored-rock fragments in museums 
 are not rare. The collections of the Academy 
 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia contain a re- 
 markable block of gneiss which is bored in this 
 manner. It has been suggested that the process 
 of boring may be entirely performed by the foot 
 taking up particles of sand and rubbing these 
 
40 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 against the rock in concentric lines. However this 
 may be, it is certain that the hole is very evenly 
 cut, and that it is increased in size in conformity 
 with the development within the rock of the animal 
 itself. 
 
 A rather remarkable form of borer, which was 
 first detected within the shells of the oyster at 
 Tottenville, Staten Island, is the Diplothyra Smithti, 
 a very much smaller shell than either of the pholads, 
 and perhaps more nearly recalling the true ship- 
 worms. The latter (PI. 2, Figs. 4, 12, 13), by rea- 
 son of their depredations, are the most interest- 
 ing of the boring Mollusca. They are largely in- 
 habitants of the tropical waters, but have in the 
 timber of ships been introduced almost everywhere 
 over the wide sea. The body proper of this 
 singular creature is usually very small, but through 
 the great elongation backward of the siphons the 
 animal is made to appear worm-like (although it 
 has no near relation to the worms), and to attain a 
 length varying in the different species from one 
 to three or even six feet. The shell is compact, 
 ridged, and open at both ends, and only sufficiently 
 large to cover the anterior or body-portion, the 
 animal thus appearing naked. Beginning in very 
 early life, when frequently not over two weeks old, 
 and when only of about the size of the head of a pin, 
 the young ship-worm or Teredo puts itself to the 
 task of boring, selecting for its base of operations 
 all forms of wood or timber that may be immersed 
 in water, whether the belongings of ships, dikes, 
 piles, or piers ; indeed, one or more forms even 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 41 
 
 attack the floating cocoa-nut. The rapidly-forming 
 burrow follows in a sinuous line the grain of the 
 wood, passing out of the way of knots, and con- 
 scientiously avoiding the burrows of confederate 
 workers. In this manner a piece 
 of wood is soon honey-combed. 
 The entrance is made by a minute 
 hole, the size of the burrow in- 
 creasing with the growth of the 
 animal. A lining of white calca- 
 reous matter usually extends along 
 the entire length of the burrow, 
 to the farther end of which the 
 two valves of the shell are at- 
 tached. 
 
 It is well ascertained in the case 
 of the ship-worm that the burrow 
 is largely, or even principally, ex- 
 cavated by shell-abrasion, although 
 perhaps the exact process has not 
 yet been clearly made out. Large 
 quantities of the wood-dust are 
 frequently found within the intes- 
 tine of the animal, and it appears 
 not unlikely that some of it is 
 intentionally swallowed, and even 
 used for nourishment. The rav- 
 ages of the ship- worm may be such 
 as to destroy within a very short 
 time the stoutest timber; indeed, it is said that 
 piles that had been driven only six or seven weeks 
 on the Dutch coast were found at the end of that 
 
 4* 
 
 WOOD BORED BY 
 SHIP-WORM. 
 
42 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 time to have been completely eaten through. It 
 seems not unlikely that some of the breakages in 
 the Holland, dikes are to be attributed to weakness 
 caused by this enemy to wood. The metal casing 
 of ships' bottoms has pretty effectually stopped all 
 attack in this direction, and much the same result 
 has been obtained from painting wood with creo- 
 sote oil. 
 
 The best-known species of ship-worm is the Te- 
 redo navalis, which appears to have been introduced 
 upon our coast from Europe; its calcareous tube 
 measures as much as two feet, or more, in length. 
 It breeds in middle spring, and the eggs are said 
 to be developed by millions from a single individ- 
 ual. The young are provided with eyes, which, 
 however, disappear in later life. Closely related 
 to this species is the form known as Xylotrya fim- 
 briata (PI. 2, Figs. 17, 18, 19), which differs mainly 
 in the outline of the minute stylets or * pallets,' 
 which project from the posterior portion of the 
 siphonal tube. 
 
 Another form of borer, much rarer with us than 
 in the North, is the Saxicava Arctica (PI. 2, Fig. 
 14), a small shell somewhat resembling the sand- 
 clam, which not infrequently attacks the softer lime- 
 stones. 
 
 Not the least interesting of our coast Mollusca is 
 an individual which has thus far escaped the clutch 
 of the epicure, but which, if delicacy of flavor counts 
 for anything, is not unlikely to gain a prominent 
 position on the table in the near future. This is 
 the razor or so-called razor-fish (Solen Americanus, 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 43 
 
 PL 2, Fig. 1), whose long and narrow parallel-sided 
 shell is familiar to almost every one on the beach. 
 The clean pinkish- or yellowish-white flesh, the 
 greater portion of which forms a narrow cylindrical 
 ' foot/ is even now esteemed a delicacy by many. 
 The animal may be found at low-water mark, buried 
 almost vertically in the sand, and to a depth not 
 seldom of two or three feet. Where thus deeply 
 buried it comes frequently to the surface, so that 
 it may receive the necessary food-supplying water 
 through its short siphonal tube. It has been ob- 
 served that the razor takes cognizance of passing 
 shadows on the water, as when the hand is passed 
 over the position occupied by the siphonal orifices, 
 and this, too, when the rest of the animal is com- 
 pletely covered over. The supposition that the 
 animal was by some means enabled to see from the 
 rear will to most persons appear erratic; never- 
 theless, careful examination of the siphonal margin 
 has revealed the existence there of minute black 
 specks, which appear to have the structure of visual 
 organs. Thus we are taught that the special sense 
 organs need not be situated in the head, a condition 
 which also obtains with many other forms of ani- 
 mals. A second species, allied to the preceding, is 
 the green razor (Solen viridis), which rarely attains a 
 length much exceeding two inches, while the for- 
 mer not infrequently measures full six inches. 
 Several other species of bivalves have more or less 
 the elongated form of the razor, but in none does 
 the shell attain the proportional length seen in that 
 species. Eye-specks, of an orange color, are pres- 
 
44 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 ent in the siphonal region of Solecurtus gibbus, a 
 common mud-burrower of the ocean front (PL 2, 
 Fig. 2). 
 
 Before finally parting from our siphonated friends 
 of the coast it may be well to turn our attention for 
 a moment to a number of small and insignificant- 
 looking shells, which are at times fairly abundant, 
 their fragments, indeed, frequently making up much 
 of the long white lines which define the boundaries 
 of the surf. These are the tellens and their allies 
 the wedge-shells (Donax, PL 3, Fig. 13). In both of 
 these groups, as a distinguishing peculiarity, the 
 beak of the shell is placed nearer the posterior 
 margin than the anterior, thus making the front of 
 the animal very long in comparison with the back. 
 In by far the greater number of the bivalve shell- 
 fish the reverse is the case ; in a few, again, the two 
 sides are nearly equal. The shells of Tellina (PL 
 2, Figs. 10, 11) may be recognized by their rounded 
 outlines, the position of the beaks, and the minute 
 teeth by which the valves hinge. In the wedge- 
 shells, which, though small, are conspicuous by their 
 beautiful coloring, the shell is clearly wedge-shaped, 
 with nearly direct outlines. 
 
 One of the rarer shells of the coast, although ex- 
 tending in its range from Maine to Florida, is the 
 delicate Pandora (PL 2, Fig. 9), which can be almost 
 immediately recognized by the flatness of its beau- 
 tifully-arched valves, and their pearly structure. 
 Observe that one valve is considerably smaller than 
 the other. 
 
3. 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Pholas truncata. 
 
 2. " crispata. 
 
 3. Cardium Mortoni. 
 
 4. Cytherea convexa 
 
 5. Astarte castanea. 
 
 6. Lucina divaricata. 
 
 7. Cardita borealis. 
 
 8. Anomia ephippium. 
 
 9. Gouldia mactracea. 
 
 10. Nucuhi proxima. 
 
 11. Yoldia limatula. 
 
 12. Area transversa. 
 
 13. Donax fossor. 
 
 14. Tellina tenera 
 
 15. Area pexata. 
 
 16. " ponderosa. 
 
PL. 3. 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 45 
 
 OYSTERS, SCALLOPS, MUSCLES, AND ARKS. 
 
 The oyster is so familiar to everybody that it 
 scarcely needs description. Still, there are a num- 
 ber of points connected with its structure and his- 
 tory which may not be generally known, and may 
 consequently be touched upon with advantage. In 
 the first place, let it be said that there are two gen- 
 erally recognized species or varieties on our coast, 
 one known as the Virginia oyster, of an elongated 
 form, and the other, deeply scalloped, the Northern 
 oyster (Ostrea borealis). But the shell of the oyster 
 varies so greatly, depending for its form so much 
 upon the shape of the object upon which it immov- 
 ably attaches itself in later life, that it becomes a 
 matter of great difficulty to determine the proper 
 limits of specific variation ; and, indeed, as far as 
 the two forms above noted are concerned, it is very 
 doubtful if they do not in reality belong to a single 
 species. In both, as in nearly all oysters, the left 
 valve is the larger of the two, and it is upon this 
 that the animal rests. The two are brought to- 
 gether by means of a single powerful muscle (ad- 
 ductor), whose attachment to the shell leaves the 
 dark sub-central impression which is frequently 
 called the l heart.' 
 
 Oysters are marine in habit, but they seem able 
 to endure a certain amount of exposure to fresh 
 water, as in the mouths of estuaries and bays, 
 which constitute their chief abiding-place. The 
 i banks' or ' reefs' rise to within a few feet of the 
 surface, and in many regions are even exposed 
 
46 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 dry during low-water. One or more forms grow 
 on the roots of trees, such as the mangrove, on 
 which they remain exposed for hours at a time 
 above water. The great thickness of the shell in 
 many individuals indicates a long life-period for 
 the animal, which has been estimated by some, but 
 probably without sufficient basis, to be as much as 
 a hundred years. The different layers of the shell 
 indicate distinct periods of rest in its develop- 
 ment, but at what regular (if regular) intervals 
 these periods follow one another is still an open 
 question. In the east-coast oysters, whose most 
 extensive head-quarters appear to be Chesapeake 
 Bay, the shell rarely attains a greater length than 
 one foot or 15 inches ; but foreign and fossil species 
 are known which far exceed these dimensions. 
 Thus, a species from the Middle Tertiary deposits 
 of Europe (Ostrea crassissima) measures nearly or 
 fully two feet in length ; the Ostrea Titan, from a 
 somewhat later deposit in California, measures six 
 inches through the thickness of the two valves, 
 while a recent species (0. Talienwanensis), from the 
 Bay of Taichou, Japan, grows to a length of even 
 three feet. Careful investigation has shown that 
 the American oyster will grow to a length of 
 nearly four inches in about two years, and it is 
 conjectured from this that in some four years after 
 its escape from the egg the animal is approximately 
 adult and marketable. 
 
 Oysters appear to thrive best in estuarine coves 
 and inlets where the bottom is not liable to shift 
 to any great extent, and where the depth of water 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 47 
 
 does not much exceed 18 or 20 fathoms. Their 
 food consists principally of minute larvae, infusori- 
 ans, and the lowly-organized plants known as Di- 
 atoms, but they do not refuse either crustaceans 
 or mollusks, provided these be small enough, and 
 even the inorganic earths form part of their nutri- 
 tive material. In a general way they might be said 
 to be omnivorous. The principal spawning season 
 about the Chesapeake extends through the months of 
 June and July, but some individuals may be found 
 with spawn throughout almost the entire year. The 
 eggs, which have been estimated to be contained to 
 the extent of 100,000,000 in a single large female, 
 measure about the one-five-hundredth of an inch in 
 diameter, and give birth to active little creatures, 
 the fry, which are early provided with a rudimen- 
 tary shell. It appears that under favorable circum- 
 stances the fry becomes attached within a day after 
 its liberation ; in this condition the oyster young is 
 known as * spat.' Spawning begins at about the 
 age of one year. The notion that oysters are harm- 
 ful during all but the so-called seasonable months 
 has nothing to support it beyond the fact that in 
 the warmer months the flesh loses in general deli- 
 cacy and flavor. 
 
 A near ally of the oyster is an irregular lustrous 
 shell, about one inch in diameter, which more gen- 
 erally occurs black or bluish-black on our coast, and 
 is known to conchologists as Anomia (PI. 3, Fig. 
 8). It is rarely found with both valves attached, 
 the valve commonly found being the upper convex 
 
48 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 one. The lower valve is nearly flat, and contains a 
 deep fissure or hole at one extremity through which 
 the animal passes a bundle of horny threads the 
 byssus for the purposes of attachment. Our Ano- 
 mia appears to be undistinguishable from the com- 
 mon European species (Anomia ephippium), and this 
 may also be the case with some of the varieties of 
 the oyster just described. 
 
 He who has but once trod the Jersey sands knows 
 the scallop, whose radiately-ribbed and symmetri- 
 cally-formed shell is one of the commonest objects 
 on the beach. Indeed, during recent years it has 
 been steadily growing in favor as an article of food ; 
 and why it should be less 'palatable than its first 
 cousin, the oyster, is a little difficult to say. The 
 scallop, so called from the service to which the shell 
 was formerly put in ' scalloping' oysters, inhabits 
 the sub-tidal zone to a depth of some 250 feet or 
 more, frequently forming by its aggregations vast 
 banks. The animal rests on its right valve, which 
 is in almost all cases more convex than its fellow. 
 Beneath, or at the base of, the anterior ' ear' of this 
 valve will be found a fairly profound notch, which 
 marks the passage of the byssal fibres secreted by 
 the foot. Considerable interest attaches to this 
 animal as being the first among the bivalve Mol- 
 lusca in which, it was claimed, the presence of 
 visual organs had been detected. If the margin 
 of the mantle be examined it will be found to be 
 double, the inner piece hanging like a finely-fringed 
 curtain. Along its base are scattered a number of 
 small black or blue specks, to which, for apparently 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 49 
 
 good reasons, the function of eyes has been ascribed. 
 Possibly, however, they may be only phosphorescent 
 or illuminating organs, without in themselves being 
 capable of receiving images. 
 
 SCALLOP (Pecten irradians). 
 
 The scallop of the New Jersey coast is the 
 Pecten irradians, a shell measuring some three 
 inches each way, and crossed by about twenty 
 elevated ribs. On account of its varied and beau- 
 tiful coloring, ranging from white through shades 
 of orange, brown, red, and purple, it is eagerly 
 sought after for mantel-ornamentation, the making of 
 card-holders, pincushions, etc. A much larger and 
 more northerly species (Pecten Magellanicus), which 
 is almost entirely wanting on the sands, has been 
 dredged in abundance in Raritan Bay and else- 
 d 5 
 
50 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 where. The scallop, unlike the oyster, is a fairly 
 active creature, moving about with rapidity by 
 means of its finger-shaped foot. In the young 
 condition the animal swims freely through, and on 
 the surface of, the water, propulsion being effected 
 mainly by the sudden opening and closing of the 
 valves. A scallop placed high and dry will at slow 
 intervals open its shell, and then suddenly close it 
 with a peculiar thud, a performance that is re- 
 peated until the animal is well nigh dry. The part 
 of the scallop that is used for food is the thick 
 white muscle which holds the two valves of the 
 shell together. 
 
 A few words about arks and their allies. These 
 can be immediately recognized by the large num- 
 ber of teeth on the hinge-line, by means of which 
 the two valves are kept firmly interlocked. In the 
 arks proper (PI. 3, Figs. 12, 15, 17) these minute 
 comb-like teeth are arranged in a continuous linear 
 series, but in the pearl-lined Nucula (Figs. 10, 16) 
 and in Yoldia (Fig. 11) the series is interrupted, 
 and broken in outline. In the arks the shell, when 
 not badly worn, is coated with a heavy epidermis, 
 usually of a dark brown color. Many of the species 
 spin a stout byssus, which serves as an anchor- 
 line of attachment to the surfaces of stones, 
 rocks, etc. The shells of three species are found 
 on our coast, each well defined by peculiarities in 
 their outline. The rounded form (Area pexata, 
 PI. 3, Fig. 15), which differs from most arks in 
 having a minimum of space between the two valves, 
 is further distinguished by the possession of red 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 51 
 
 blood; hence it has acquired the name of bloody 
 clam. 
 
 A visit to the muscle-shoals, which are to be 
 found on the borders of salt marshes, or where 
 along inlets the muddy bottom is exposed for some 
 time during low water, cannot but prove interest- 
 ing and instructive. Two forms of muscle will 
 very generally be found here, aggregated in large 
 numbers and clusters. One of these, pointed and 
 wedge-shaped in outline, with a dark blue epi- 
 dermis and a purplish or horn-colored shell, is the 
 edible muscle (Mytilus edulis), a common form of 
 both the American and 
 European coasts, and per- 
 haps the most widely dis- 
 tributed of. all known 
 Mollusca. It occurs in 
 great clusters, matted to- EDIBLE MUSCLE. 
 
 gether by byssus, which also attaches it to stones, 
 piles, wrecks, and floating bodies of all sorts. 
 Although more commonly an inhabitant of the 
 tidal zone, it is also found in depths ranging to 300 
 feet or more. This species has been put to little 
 economical use in this country although by many 
 considered to excel in flavor the ordinary clam 
 but in various parts of Northern Europe it is 
 esteemed a very desirable article of food. The 
 annual muscle-consumption in the markets of 
 Edinburgh and Leith is estimated at 400 bushels 
 (about 400,000 muscles). In some of the German 
 waters the muscle-fishery is conducted by placing 
 boughs of trees in the shallows inhabited by the 
 
52 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
 
 mollusk, and allowing the shells to accumulate on 
 these boughs for a period of several years. They 
 are then raised, the quantity sold hy weight, and 
 distributed over the interior of the country. 
 
 The muscle when first hatched is an active 
 free-swimming little creature, which attaches itself 
 when no larger than the head of a pin. But much 
 later in life it still possesses the power of disen- 
 gaging the attaching byssus, and securing a new 
 anchorage when such is needed. By alternately 
 passing forward its delicate threads, the animal 
 pulls itself along to a selected locality, much in 
 the manner that is adopted by many spiders in 
 securing their prey. 
 
 Eeadily distinguished from the edible muscle by 
 its rounded anterior outline and the plications or 
 
 HORSE-MUSCLE. 
 
 - 
 
 radiating lines extending down the sides of the 
 shell, is the so-called horse-muscle (Modiola plica- 
 tula), like the former an inhabitant of the shallows 
 about tide-water. Here, in the somewhat peaty 
 soil, they are frequently found burrowing in vast 
 numbers, so closely packed together as to form a 
 true stratum. The shells are often much eroded 
 
THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 53 
 
 over the beaks, and in acidulated waters sometimes 
 nests of the epidermis alone will he found, the 
 limy parts having heen completely dissolved away. 
 This species enters freely into brackish water. 
 A second species, smooth, and of much larger size, 
 measuring as much as six inches in length, is the 
 Modiola modiolus, a common form of moderately 
 deep northern waters. 
 
II. 
 
 SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 SOME of the pleasant minutes whiled away in the 
 water can be advantageously put to collecting, and 
 the bather who loiters among the grass-grown piles 
 that here and there lift their hoary heads out of the 
 water, or examines the wreck of some unfortunate 
 merchantman, cannot fail to meet with a number 
 of curious and interesting objects, which otherwise 
 might have readily passed among the unknowables 
 of the sea-border. One or more forms of sea- 
 urchins or t sea-eggs,' various squirts, polyps, and 
 corallines, and the goose barnacle, find here a con- 
 genial home, which already in olden time had 
 been discovered and made useful by the edible 
 muscle. Unfortunately, almost the entire New 
 Jersey coast is destitute of real rock, and conse- 
 quently lacks those cool rock-bound retreats which 
 on the New England shores delight the star-fish and 
 the sea-anemone. This deficiency is in a measure 
 made good by the enclosed areas of piers and 
 wharves, which offer a safe harbor to a number of 
 forms which, in the matter of home comforts, could 
 obtain but little encouragement from the arid sands. 
 
 Among these, perhaps the first to attract our 
 attention will be a small rounded yellowish body, not 
 much more than a half-inch across, which is found 
 
 54 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 55 
 
 adhering to the piles. Press gently with the finger 
 the animal contracts, % and while contracting throws 
 out a double jet of water from two chimney-pot open- 
 ings situated on its surface. The animal is one of our 
 commoner forms of sea-squirts, known to naturalists 
 as Molgula Manhattensis. Through its pel- 
 lucid outer tunic the color of the viscera 
 can be indistinctly seen. This species 
 also frequently attaches itself to floating 
 sea-weed, and is then drifted in to shore ; 
 or it may be found attached to the nod- 
 ding fronds which battle with the waves. 
 
 The sea-squirts are in many ways interesting 
 animals, especially since it has been shown that in 
 their young condition they present many points 
 of resemblance to the vertebrate or backboned 
 animals. Thus, the larva of most species has a long 
 tail, a rudimentary spinal column, and a long nerve- 
 tract, terminating in a brain, which occupies the 
 same relative position to the spinal column that the 
 same tract does in the higher animals. Indeed, so 
 similar is the larva of 
 certain forms to a tadpole 
 as to carry with it a con- 
 viction that the two can- 
 not be very far removed 
 from each other. But in the mature form of 
 nearly all squirts the tail becomes absorbed, and 
 with it disappears what there was to represent the 
 spinal column, and also much of the nerve appa- 
 ratus a case of true degeneration. One of the 
 chimney pot openings on Molgula conducts into 
 
 LARVA OF TUNICATE. 
 
56 SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 a peculiar sieve-like chamber whose walls are 
 made up of delicate vessels into which food parti- 
 cles are carried, and through which the admitted 
 water passes into a second chamber, 
 which also receives the alimentary 
 canal. From this second chamber 
 the water, which bathes the blood- 
 vessels forming the meshes of the 
 sieve-like respiratory sac, is expelled 
 through the second chimney-pot 
 opening, and thus a constant circu- 
 
 STRUCTTJRE OF A TUNI- n , . . ^ A 111 
 
 CATE. M, mouth ; s, lation is kept up. A remarkable 
 respiratory sac ; A, f ac connected with the circulation 
 
 atrial chamber. . . 
 
 of this animal is that the heart, 
 which lies near the base of the respiratory sac, after 
 beating a short time suddenly stops, and that with 
 each renewal of action the direction of the blood- 
 current is reversed. From the peculiar external 
 tunic which encases the animal, the group to which 
 the squirt belongs has been designated the Tuni- 
 cata. 
 
 A considerably larger form than Molgula is that 
 which has received from fishermen the name of 
 ' sea-peach' (Cynthia), in allusion to the similarity 
 in form and coloring existing between it and the 
 peach. Other species of nearly identical, structure 
 and habit are the ' sea-pears' (Bolteiiia), which are 
 supported on long slender stalks, measuring as 
 much as a foot or more in length. These are almost 
 invariably covered with foreign associations of plant 
 and animal matter, presenting a coarse and untidy 
 appearance. 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 57 
 
 In the tangle of eel-grass which here and there 
 shows itself you may have had occasion to notice 
 that many of the blades are encased 
 in a gelatinous or slimy substance, 
 whose surface exhibits beautiful 
 stellate impressions or markings. 
 The whole encrusting mass is a 
 compound tunicate or ascidian, the 
 rays of the different stars being the 
 individuals that make up the colony. 
 The sharp eye, or, still better, a 
 magnifier, will detect in eadh ray a 
 minute speck, which corresponds to 
 the incurrent opening in the com- 
 mon sea-squirts, and through which 
 the water passes in the ordinary 
 fashion. In the centre of the star 
 is a second speck, which is the 
 common excurrent aperture for the 
 different individuals of the group. 
 Although much reduced in size, 
 this compound tunicate, known as 
 Botryllus, is constructed on the 
 same general plan as the larger 
 forms above described. In color it varies con- 
 siderably, but generally it is of a livid green or 
 a slimy white. Another interesting form which 
 can be sometimes found in the grass occurs in 
 more or less globular or flattened jelly-like masses, 
 ranging in size from an orange to a big cake, 
 and having a color much like that of boiled salt 
 pork, whence the name ' sea-pork/ The stellate 
 
 BOLTENIA. 
 
58 SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 markings are here similar to those seen on Bo- 
 tryllus. 
 
 There are a number of free-swimming or pelagic 
 tunicates, some of which approach our coast. One 
 of the commonest of these is Salpa spinosa, whose 
 
 BOTRYLLUS. ' SEA-PORK' (Amorcecium). 
 
 compound chains, measuring as much as a foot in 
 length, of perfectly transparent individuals, some- 
 times cover the sea over a vast expanse. Another, 
 the Pyrosoma, a much rarer form in this region, is 
 highly phosphorescent, and lays just claim to being 
 considered one of the lamps of the sea. 
 
 POLYPS. 
 
 The same unsightly sticks of timber that offer 
 refuge to the squirts will probably also be found 
 to harbor quantities of the delicate feathery tufts 
 which are almost everywhere scattered over the 
 beach, and which in the popular mind are associ- 
 ated in structure with the ' sea-weed,' a term that 
 has much to answer for in receiving under its wing 
 a multitude of objects that do not belong there. 
 These feathery tufts, which are familiar to many 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 59 
 
 under the name of sea-fir, sea-moss, or Sertularia 
 (PL 4, Figs. 7, 10), are, indeed, far removed from 
 plants, and even far above the 
 lowest forms of animal life. 
 To those who are acquainted 
 with the little polyp of our 
 fresh-water streams and ponds, 
 the hydra, it is but necessary 
 
 to Say that the Sea-fir is prac- POLYP OF SERTULARIA, 
 
 tically only a compound colony 
 of this animal, which has become covered over by, or 
 encased in, a horny sheath. Cast your eye over a 
 single twig of the Sertularian, and note the minute 
 scale-like bracts which run off at an acute angle 
 with it. These, when magnified, are seen to be 
 hollow sheaths or cups (thecae), each of which, 
 during the life of the animal, contained a minute 
 polyp, to all intents and purposes identical with 
 the hydra. The different polyps were united 
 with one another by means of a common stalk 
 which occupied the centre of the connecting axis 
 or twig. But what is the polyp itself? A hollow 
 little body, with an opening at one end, the mouth, 
 and a circle of hollow arms or tentacles, an out- 
 growth of the body-cavity itself, surrounding the 
 mouth. It might be likened to a glove closed at 
 the bottom, and with a single rupture (correspond- 
 ing to the rnouth of the polyp) at the base of one 
 of the fingers. This colony has become compound 
 through repeated budding, the individual polyps 
 after they have once budded out contributing by 
 way of nourishment to the welfare of the commu- 
 
(JO SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 nity at large. Each little active polyp is situated in 
 its own chitinous cup, the different cups being ar- 
 ranged in a double series along the connecting axis. 
 Between these cups, at certain seasons of the year, 
 may be observed a number of larger and somewhat 
 urn-shaped bodies, the gonothecae, from buds con- 
 tained in which the eggs necessary for the perpetu- 
 ation of the species are developed. These liberate 
 minute ciliated bodies, known as ' planulse/ which, 
 after enjoying a short independent existence of their 
 own, attach themselves, and grow up into the grand- 
 parental form. 
 
 The commoner of the two forms of sea-fir found 
 on our coast is the silver sea-fir (Sertularia argentea, 
 PL 4, Fig. 7), so named from the general white- 
 ness of the fronds, and found from low-water 
 mark to a depth of 100 fathoms or more. It is 
 the common < sea-moss' that is so extensively dis- 
 played in the shops along the sea-shore, and used 
 by florists for decorative purposes. A smaller spe- 
 cies, the dwarf sea-fir (Sertularia pumila, Fig. 10), 
 attaches itself to the ordinary brown rockweed or 
 fucus, also to pebbles, and to various dead ana 
 living shells. 
 
 Growing in bunches much like the sea-firs, but ap- 
 pearing thinned out by reason of the distance of the 
 polyps from one another, is the form known as Pen- 
 naria (PI. 4, Figs. 3, 12), whose fronds can be easily 
 distinguished by the black color of the branches. 
 The polyps which terminate the branches are ex- 
 ceedingly minute, of a bright red color, and fur- 
 nished with three circles of tentacles. In probably 
 
PLATE 4. 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Aurelia flavidula. 
 
 2. Strobila of Aurelia. 
 
 3. Pennaria tiarella. 
 
 4. Early strobila stage of Aurelia. 
 
 5. Parypha crocea. 
 
 6. Dactylometra quinquecirra. 
 
 7. Sertularia argentea. 
 
 8. Young Aurelia. 
 
 9. Velella mutica. 
 
 10. Sertularia pumila. 
 
 11. Obelia oommissuralis (highly magnified). 
 
 12. Hydroid of Pennaria " " 
 
 13. Tubularia indivisa. 
 
PL. 4. 
 
SqUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 61 
 
 all the animals of the class we are now considering 
 the extremities of the tentacles are provided with 
 peculiar ' nettle-cells/ which by a special arrange- 
 ment can discharge from their interiors small barbed 
 bodies or styles useful as weapons of both offence 
 and defence. In Pennaria nettle-cells similar to 
 those of the tentacles are also contained in the 
 axis of the body, but what their function is in 
 this position remains untold. 
 
 Many of the wrecks that appear on our coast 
 bring to us bunches of slender hollojv tubes, meas- 
 uring as much as three or four inches in height, in 
 each of which lived at one time a delicate polyp. 
 Possibly your cluster is still alive, in which case 
 many of the tiny creatures will be seen expanded 
 at the summits of the tubes, their double circle of 
 tentacles spread out in the form of a double coronet 
 (PL 4, Fig. 13). Hanging from some of these, 
 like bunches of grapes, are the reproductive buds, 
 which ultimately detach themselves and, medusa- 
 like, swim about in the open sea. It is not gener- 
 ally known that a large number of ordinary jelly- 
 pads or jelly-fishes, whose graceful movements on 
 the oceanic surface have from time immemorial 
 challenged the admiration of the intelligent ob- 
 server, are the products of tiny fixed colonies such 
 as we have been considering. The discovery of 
 this fact of the dual existence led by these lower 
 organisms is one of the most surprising in the 
 entire range of zoological investigation, and one 
 that cannot but carry with it an impressive lesson 
 of the wonderful resources of the world of nature. 
 
 6 
 
62 SQU1IMS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 The delicate tubes which in Tubularia ensheathe' 
 the elongated body- stalk are in a number of forms 
 expanded at their extremities into a cup or bell 
 for the reception of the body of the animal itself. 
 These are the bell-polyps, or campanularians, which 
 grow usually in shrubby clusters, some so small as 
 readily to elude observation, others attaining sev- 
 eral inches in length. I am not sure that the bell- 
 polyp proper (Campanularia) has ever been officially 
 reported from our coast, but if not yet noticed it 
 will almost surely be found in the near future, and 
 it can but afford pleasure to make a sharp search 
 after it. Examine the piles, the stones, and the 
 sea-weeds, and let not even the grass-covered shells 
 escape you. Its near ally, the Obelia commissuralis 
 (PI. 4, Fig. 11), has already secreted itself among 
 the time-worn timbers of ancient wrecks, where it 
 hangs in bunchy clusters three inches or more in 
 length. It is also found attached to stones and 
 sea-weeds, giving birth at certain seasons to deli- 
 cate free-swimming medusae, which may be recog- 
 nized by their sixteen tentacles. 
 
 A second species of Obelia (0. geLatinosd), differ- 
 ing from the preceding in its compoundly united 
 stems, also finds a favored home among the piles, 
 although it is not infrequently found growing from 
 the surfaces of oyster-shells. One of the most 
 beautiful and abundant of the pile-inhabiting polyps 
 or hydroids, especially where the water is in a meas- 
 ure brackish, is the Parypha crocea (PI. 4, Fig. 5), 
 which " forms large clusters of branching stems, 
 often six inches or more in height, each of which 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 63 
 
 is surmounted by a beautiful, flower-like, drooping 
 head of a pink or bright red color. These heads are 
 often broken off, or even voluntarily cast off, when 
 the animals are unhealthy, but new ones are soon 
 reproduced, and therefore this does not seem to be 
 a very serious accident, though certainly a very in- 
 convenient one, for the mouth, stomach, tentacles, 
 and most other organs are all lost when these 
 heads drop off" (Yerrill). As in Tubularia, the re- 
 productive buds hang down in drooping (red) grape- 
 like clusters, but they do not develop into free 
 medusae. 
 
 JELLY-PADS AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 The favored few among the ' dwellers by the 
 sea' to whom a bright and warm summer's day is 
 something more than a source of unmitigated 
 discomfort and complaint cannot easily pass a 
 more delightful hour than by navigating the quiet 
 waters in search of medusae. These exquisite creat- 
 ures, for all the world like water- 
 bubbles, will almost surely be out 
 in greater or less number; but 
 some of them are so minute, al- 
 most microscopic, others so trans- 
 parent, that, unless the sea is ac- 
 tually covered by them, a sharp MEDUSA. 
 watch must be kept, or else they 
 will escape us. A glass jar will be of service in a trip 
 of this kind, as through its aid a rapprochement may 
 be effected between us and the tiny creatures whose 
 habits we wish to study. Some appear nearly tor- 
 pid on the surface, dragging their tentacles wearily 
 
64 SqUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 after them ; others, again, are darting actively along, 
 propelled by successive pulsations of their trans- 
 parent bells. It is at first difficult to conceive that 
 these delicate films are indeed masses of organized 
 
 o 
 
 animal matter, so frail and evanescent do they ap- 
 pear as they noiselessly slip by. But scoop up a 
 Clytia, or a Dactylometra (PL 4, Fig. 6), and ex- 
 amine the animal leisurely in the jar that has been 
 brought for that purpose. Structures that escaped 
 our attention before are now distinctly visible. The 
 pulsating bell is the first object to attract our no- 
 tice. Its perfect transparency permits us to see, 
 suspended from the centre of the interior, a pe- 
 culiar pouch-like body, at the extremity of which 
 is situated the mouth. The water entering by the 
 mouth- passes into the hollow of the pouch or manu- 
 brium, whence it is in great part distributed to the 
 four radiating canals which descend the sides of the 
 bell to its base and divide it into four equal parts. 
 These vessels, which constitute a part of the circu- 
 latory system of the animal, merge into a common 
 marginal ring which surrounds the base of the bell. 
 From this ring are given off" a number of long pro- 
 cesses, known as tentacles, each of which is pro- 
 vided with the very remarkable stinging nettle- or 
 lasso-cells to which reference has been made in our 
 description of Pennaria. 
 
 This, then, is the substance of our medusa a 
 quantity of water encased in a thin film of animal 
 matter. Place your finger gently on the bell, and you 
 will probably be unable to detect its presence there. 
 Take the animal from the water and expose it to 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 65 
 
 the sun, and in a short time it will have almost com- 
 pletely disappeared through evaporation. Whence 
 came these singular creatures, and whither do they 
 go ? The greater number of them begin life in a 
 quiet way as minute buds on the stems of the cam- 
 panularians and their allies. After expanding and 
 acquiring definite shape they drop off from the 
 parent, and pass into that stage which fits them for 
 a free existence on the oceanic surface. The me- 
 dusa thus formed for some time leads the life of 
 an independent rover, but after a certain period it 
 gives birth from eggs to elongate tiny bodies, known 
 as planulse, which soon attach themselves and grow 
 up into the grandparental form of the hydroid 
 colony. Thus a complete cycle of changes is 
 brought about. Some of the medusae give birth 
 directly to other medusae, without passing through 
 any of the intermediate conditions that have just 
 been noted. 
 
 The transition from the delicate sea-bubbles, 
 whose existence, it would seem, could be wiped 
 out by a mere blow of the breath, to the large un- 
 sightly jelly-pads that lie scattered over the shore 
 after high-water, is an abrupt one, but yet the two 
 objects are much the same thing. One is merely a 
 large jelly-fish, while the other is a small one. But 
 on the open sea even the large Cyanea, whose disk 
 or bell measures two yards in diameter, and whose 
 wilderness of tentacles floats out to a distance of 
 a hundred feet or more, is a beautiful object, re- 
 flecting its brilliant tints of pink, yellow, blue, and 
 brown to striking advantage. When cast on the 
 
 e 6* 
 
66 SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 shore lifeless and tentacleless, deformed and decay- 
 ing, it cannot but present a more or less repulsive 
 appearance, and it is little wonder that, from what 
 is generally their first experience, most people want 
 to have little to do with jelly-fishes. In the case 
 of the Cyanea this aversion has much in its favor, 
 since the animal is a powerful stinger, and can in- 
 flict injury that few would like to have repeated. 
 
 The Cyanea arctica, which is the largest form of 
 jelly-fish known, is one of the commonest of the 
 Atlantic coast species, and some of its ill-shaped 
 pads can at almost all times he found upon the 
 shore. About equally common is the ' sun-jelly/ 
 or Aurelia (PL 4, Fig. 1), whose disk, however, 
 rarely measures more than fifteen inches across. 
 Both species are the product of tiny attached hy- 
 droids measuring less than an inch in length. 
 
 Among the rarer species of jelly-fish occurring 
 on the New Jersey coast is the Portuguese-Man- 
 of-War (Physalia), which is wafted thither from 
 the southern waters on the current of the Gulf 
 Stream. In this species of remarkable form and 
 exquisite coloring we have a compound colony of 
 free-swimming hydroids and attached medusae, all 
 united, as it were, under a single roof the large 
 swimming bell or float. Equally rare are the 
 closely-related Yelella (PL 4, Fig. 9) and Porpita, 
 although the disks of the latter, particularly in the 
 southern parts of the State, have been thrown up 
 by hundreds as the result of a single storm. A 
 small round jelly-fish, of much the size and appear- 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 67 
 
 ance of a gooseberry, but of an exquisitely deli- 
 cate structure, is occasionally thrown on our shores. 
 It is the Pleurobrachia rhododactyla, the type of a 
 
 group known as the comb- 
 bearers ( Ctenophora), which 
 differ in some essential 
 
 PORPITA. 
 
 points of structure from 
 the normal jelly-fishes. 
 
 Probably all jelly-fishes 
 are phosphorescent, and 
 
 PLEUROBRACHIA. 
 
 the glow of golden light 
 which they emit consti- 
 tutes one of the splen- 
 dors of the oceanic waste. 
 From far and near, if the sea be agitated, the 
 mellow lights may be observed to illumine the en- 
 veloping darkness, while along the surf-bound coast 
 
 PORTUGUESE-MAN-OF-WAR. 
 (after Tenney.) 
 
68 SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 a continuous fiery crest is apt to mark the action of 
 the breakers. At other times, in a quiet sea, there 
 may he but little luminosity, unless the water is 
 stirred up by the passage of a boat or the dip of 
 an oar, when the scattered golden drops appear as 
 though cast in metal. How much of the phospho- 
 rescence of the sea is produced by these creatures 
 alone still remains to be determined, but that they 
 contribute very largely to the phenomenon there 
 can be no doubt. 
 
 SEA-ANEMONES. 
 
 In her charming description of the animals of 
 Massachusetts Bay Mrs. Agassiz says, " Nothing 
 can be more unprepossessing than a sea-anemone 
 when contracted. A mere lump of brown or whit- 
 ish jelly, it lies like a lifeless thing on the rock to 
 which it clings, and it is difficult to believe that it 
 has an elaborate and exceedingly delicate internal 
 organization, or will ever expand into such grace 
 and beauty as really to deserve the name of the 
 flower after which it has been called." And such 
 is the truth. Only when the animal has again ex- 
 panded, and thrown out its crown of delicate feelers 
 or tentacles, are we placed in a position to appre- 
 ciate fully the beauty and grace of the flower of the 
 sea. The rock-bound tidal pools and grottos are 
 the favored haunts of the sea-anemone, whose vari- 
 ously-tinted bodies of orange, purple, pink, and 
 white, placed in relief against the sombre walls, 
 produce an effect rivalling that of the artist's pa- 
 lette. On our shores, unfortunately, the absence 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 69 
 
 of favoring conditions prevents the development 
 of these interesting animals, which only at com- 
 paratively rare intervals may be picked up adhering 
 to sheltered pieces of timber or to rocks that have 
 been cast into the sea. One of the species occur- 
 ring with us is of about the size of a carrot or a 
 turnip (Actinia rapiformis), of a pink or light flesh 
 color, and with a compound cluster of coarse ten- 
 
 ANEMONE IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF EXTENSION (after Agassiz). 
 
 tacles. The bands that are seen to run up and 
 down and across the body are the muscular bundles 
 which promote expansion or contraction on the part 
 of the animal. When cast up by the waves the 
 animal frequently draws itself into a more or less 
 globular form, which has been likened to that of 
 an onion or a turnip. A much more delicate, and 
 apparently rarer, species is the common form of 
 
70 SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 the New England shores, Metridium marginatum, 
 whose rich and varied coloring of pink, chestnut, 
 white, orange, yellow, and brown stamps it as one 
 of the gems of the sea. 
 
 The sea-anemones are next of kin to the hy- 
 droids and jelly-fishes, and, like them, their plan of 
 structure is that of the radiate type. Properly to 
 understand the organization of these animals you 
 have but to imagine a cylindrical tube, closed at 
 the bottom, and tucked back upon itself on top in 
 such a manner as to make a tube within a tube, 
 precisely as the finger of a glove is pulled within 
 itself when it does not readily leave the hand. The 
 smaller inner tube of the Actinia, which constitutes 
 the stomach proper of the animal, communicates 
 with the outer world by means of the upper open- 
 ing, the mouth, while it empties below into the 
 general body-cavity of the animal. This body- 
 cavity, into which sea-water freely penetrates, is 
 divided by a number of vertical partitions into 
 as many distinct chambers, from which, as out- 
 growths, arise the hollow tentacles. This practi- 
 cally represents the sum total of the organization 
 of a sea-anemone. Were we now to cut one of 
 these animals transversely across the body, we 
 should find an inner circle within an outer one, 
 and the two connected by a number of radiating 
 walls or partitions. 
 
 The majority of the sea- anemones attach them- 
 selves firmly by means of a stout muscular disk, 
 whose tight hold secures the animal against the 
 wash of the sea. A few are free-swimming on the 
 
SQUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 71 
 
 surface of the ocean, while still others bury them- 
 selves to considerable depths in the sand and mud. 
 The beautiful Cerianthus, whose purple-tentacled 
 crowns recall the asters of our meadows, is an abun- 
 dant form of the southern sand-shallows, which in 
 the north is replaced by the singular worm-like 
 and mud-inhabiting Halcampa. Like all other sea- 
 anemones, the Halcampa is an exceedingly vora- 
 cious animal, and, if unguardedly placed in a vial 
 of sea-water containing marine worms and like 
 treasures of the shore, will without compunction 
 almost immediately begin a meal. And it is won- 
 derful to what an extent their meal may be drawn 
 out. 
 
 Another sand-inhabiting form, frequently found 
 attached to the under surfaces of stones, is Sagar- 
 tia leucolena, also known as the ' white- 
 armed anemone.' It is a much less 
 slender species than the preceding, 
 and differs in addition in the greater 
 number and length of its tentacles. 
 
 These animals multiply from eggs, 
 by budding, and by fission i.e., by 
 constriction and subsequent separa- 
 tion of the body into two or more 
 parts. The latter process is repeated 
 among many corals, although in the 
 greater number of cases their com- 
 pound colonies are built up through 
 continuous budding. If' you can con- 
 ceive of a budded or compound colony of sea- 
 anemones with the individual animals reduced in 
 
 HALCAMPA. 
 
72 SqUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. 
 
 size to the dimensions of small polyps, and each 
 individual polyp secreting for itself an outer cover- 
 ing of lime and an inner series of lime partitions 
 (septa) corresponding to the fleshy ones that have 
 been described, you have before you the struc- 
 ture of a true coral, such as we find among the 
 great reefs of tropical waters. A single species 
 (Astrangia astrceformis), which forms encrusting 
 colonies on stone or shell from one to three inches 
 across, is found on our northern coast, and has been 
 occasionally picked up on the New Jersey shores. 
 
III. 
 
 STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, AND SEA-CUCUMBERS. 
 
 IT is not often that one has the pleasure of meet- 
 ing with star-fishes on the New Jersey coast, but 
 yet they are occasionally seen, perhaps more fre- 
 quently in the north, and thus they deserve a place 
 here. The commoner form (Asterias berylinus, PL 
 5, Fig. 3) is a fairly large species, of a more or less 
 greenish color, sometimes inclining to brown, and 
 roughly covered with tubercles. Its five arms, at 
 the extremity of each of which is situated a single 
 red ' eye-speck, are somewhat irregularly disposed, 
 and not rarely one is stumpy through breakage or 
 unequal development. 
 
 It is "interesting to watch the movements of the 
 star-fish. From the under surfaces of the arms, at 
 whose union is situated the central mouth, a great 
 number of delicate tubules, each one terminated by 
 a minute sucking-disk, may be seen to be vigor- 
 ously in motion, the whole series undulating like 
 wind-swept grain. These tubules are hollow and 
 fed from within with sea-water, the increase or 
 diminution of which within the tubules, regulated 
 at the will of the animal, determines the length to 
 which they may be extended or protruded. At- 
 taching themselves to foreign objects by means of 
 their sucking-disks, the animal may in this way be 
 D 7 73 
 
74 STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 
 
 either drawn forward, or the object of its search 
 drawn to it. The system of vessels which supplies 
 the tuhules with water, governing as it does the 
 walking apparatus of tube-feet, is known as the 
 1 ambulacral' system. The area, again, along which 
 the tube-feet (ambulacra) are placed has been 
 called the ambulacral zone, and the intermediate 
 spaces the sides and backs of the arms the inter- 
 ambulacral. On the back of the animal, a little 
 sub-central, and in the angle between two of the 
 arms, is a tumid little body, of a bright orange 
 color, called the * madreporic tubercle,' through 
 which the sea-water gains access to the ambulacral 
 system of vessels. 
 
 Star-fishes are voracious animals, and they have 
 a method of securing their food which is at once 
 novel, and, to say the least, effective. Seizing their 
 prey, which consists largely of shell-fish, they arch 
 themselves over it, turn their stomachs inside out, 
 so as completely to envelop the delicate morsel, and 
 then deliberately proceed to make a meal. On some 
 of our northern coasts the star-fish is the principal 
 enemy of the oyster and scallop, vast quantities of 
 the former being annually gobbled up by this five- 
 armed demon. According to the reports of fisher- 
 men the appearance of the star-fishes on the coast 
 is frequently dependent upon the earlier appearance 
 there of the scallop. Star-fishes are very tenacious 
 of life, and they will bear much injury without suc- 
 cumbing. Indeed, each individual ray, when torn 
 from the body, has the power of reproducing the 
 entire animal. 
 
STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 75 
 
 The brittle-stars, or, as some choose to call them, 
 feather-stars (PI. 5, Fig. 5), are closely related to 
 the star-fishes, differing mainly in that the arms 
 radiate from a clearly-defined central disk, and, 
 being more nearly solid, do not contain prolonga- 
 tions of the stomach or of the ovaries in their in- 
 teriors. The tube-feet pass out from the plates 
 along the sides of the arms, instead of from the 
 under surface as in the star-fishes proper. 
 
 The brittle-stars are fairly active creatures, help- 
 ing themselves rapidly over the sands by means of 
 their long flexible arms. Their home is largely 
 among the tangle and eel-grass, where their pro- 
 tective coloring affords them a safe harbor. 
 
 SEA-EGGS AND SAND-DOLLAES. 
 
 Most visitors to the sea are acquainted with 
 the appearance, at least, of the < sand-dollar' (or 
 < sand-cake,' as it is sometimes termed) a thin 
 shelly piece, from an inch and a half to three inches 
 across, with a peculiar stellate ornamentation on 
 one side, and irregular grooves and channels on the 
 other. It immediately suggests a relationship with 
 the star-fishes through its well-made star, although 
 in a general way it appears to be a very different 
 animal. Many people, indeed, scout the idea when 
 informed that an animal inhabits this frail habita- 
 tion, so unaccommodating does it appear ; but an 
 animal dwells within it nevertheless, and this ani- 
 mal is truly a near relation to the star-fish. 
 
 In its living condition, or when freshly removed 
 from the water, the sand-dollar (Echinarachnius, PI. 
 
76 STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 
 
 5, Fig. 2) is of a reddish-brown color, and com- 
 pletely covered over with minute silken bristles. 
 These, on the death of the animal, are rapidly re- 
 moved, and then the flat disk can be plainly seen 
 to be made up of a large number of closely-fitting 
 polygonal plates, arranged in twenty series around 
 the circumference. The petals of the central star, 
 which now becomes visible, will be found to be 
 made up of transverse slits, and if the direction of 
 the petals is followed to the border of the disk, it 
 will be seen that the slits are continued by pores. 
 Through these slits and pores, which occupy five 
 pairs of plates, the tube-feet, similar in character to 
 those of the star-fish, pass out, and hence define 
 ambulacral zones. The intermediate five pairs of 
 plates, from which pores are absent, will then be 
 the interambulacral areas. Tow, imagine the arms 
 of a star-fish turned over the back of the animal so 
 as to have the tips meet, the animal then flattened 
 out, and the sides of the arms so expanded as to 
 close in the interspaces: you would then have a 
 construction much as in the sand-dollar and in other 
 sea-urchins. This appears really to be the relation, 
 but just how the diverging modification has been 
 brought about still remains to be determined. The 
 eye-specks, which in the star -fish are placed at the 
 extremities of the arms, are in the urchin situated 
 centrally on top, or just where we should expect to 
 find them on the assumption above stated. 
 
 Alternating with the eye-specks are the ovarian 
 apertures, through which the eggs are passed out 
 from the body. In the cluster of small plates which 
 
STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 77 
 
 form the apical disk is also situated the madreporic 
 tubercle. The entire surface of the shell, seen to 
 better advantage in a second species of our coast, 
 the sea-egg (Strongylocentrotus, PI. 5, Fig. 4), 
 bristles with spines, between which rise the very 
 delicate tube-feet, swaying to and fro in search of 
 objects to be placed within their grasp. The sea- 
 urchins like to conceal themselves, and they will 
 thus frequently cover their habitations with sea- 
 weed, grass, pebbles, and shell-fragments. In this 
 condition they can be readily passed over without 
 being noticed by their enemies. A southern species 
 when placed in a bucket of gravel and shell will 
 almost immediately disappear beneath the surface, 
 lifting the material over its back. Progression is 
 effected almost exclusively by means of the tube- 
 feet. 
 
 Two other species of sea-urchin occur on our 
 coast one, the purple sea-urchin (Arbacia punctulata, 
 PI. 5, Fig. 6), a convex form, readily distinguish- 
 able by its comparatively stout and purple spines ; 
 and the other, the sand-cake proper (Mellita quin- 
 quefora, PI. 5, Fig. 1), a flattened species much like 
 the sand-dollar, easily recognized by the five slits 
 in its shell. 
 
 It would scarcely be proper to complete our 
 notice of these interesting animals without calling 
 attention to their peculiar five-toothed masticatory 
 apparatus and to the singular bird-beaked bodies 
 pedicellariae which rise up between the spines. 
 The full function of the latter has not yet been as- 
 certained, but that they in part assist in removing 
 . 7* 
 
78 
 
 STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 
 
 obstructions from the surface of the test, where this 
 
 is necessary, can be easily seen. 
 
 * 
 
 SEA-CUCUMBERS. 
 
 The sea-cucumbers, or holothurians, constitute an 
 interesting group of animals whose members live 
 both upon the rocks and buried in the sand or mud. 
 Although so different in gen- 
 eral appearance, they repre- 
 sent only extreme modifica- 
 tions of the structure seen in 
 the star-fish or the sea-urchin. 
 Take for example that singu- 
 larly attractive creature the 
 Synapta, whose elongated 
 leech-like body can be se- 
 cured from the mud-flats by 
 the aid of a garden-trowel, and 
 examine it. The transparent 
 cylindrical form, permitting 
 the yellow intestinal canal to 
 be clearly visible in the in- 
 terior, shows at first little to 
 connect it with either star-fish or sea-urchin, but 
 soon you will perceive five well-defined bands 
 traversing the length of the body from one ex- 
 tremity to the other. These are indeed the am- 
 bulacra, although in this instance the tubes are 
 closed and, so far as locomotion is concerned, func- 
 tionless. In its fundamental structure, therefore, 
 the sea-cucumber is only a greatly elongated sea- 
 urchin, being pushed out axially, as it were, to its 
 
 SYNAPTA. 
 
STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 79 
 
 farthest limit. But it differs in many details of 
 structure. The mouth in the Synapta is surrounded 
 by a wreath of branched tentacles, into whose in- 
 terior the sea-water is admitted through a system 
 of vessels connecting with a madreporic tubercle. 
 The latter structure, as in all other sea-cucumbers, 
 is placed near the mouth. 
 
 Closely examined, the transparent wall of the 
 body will be found to be speckled with minute 
 wart-like processes, giving the animal a rough feel 
 when taken in the hand. These processes under a 
 microscope reveal most extraordinary forms, which 
 are most nearly likened in outline to an anchor : 
 hence we speak of the anchor-like spicules em- 
 bedded in. the body-substance, which of themselves 
 frequently offer good characters in the determina- 
 tion of species. In some forms, as in the remark- 
 able pangolin-like Psolus of the E"ew England 
 coast, these processes, or rather their representa- 
 tives, are developed into an armor of stout over- 
 lapping scales or plates. 
 
 Placed in a dish of sea-water, the habits of this 
 interesting creature can be studied at leisure, the 
 regular rhythmic or wave-like motion of the body 
 proving a never-failing source of surprise to those 
 to whom the animal is a novelty. At some mo- 
 ments it has contracted into a nearly perfect ball, 
 at other times it has straightened itself to double 
 its usual length. Frequently it throws off parts of 
 the posterior end of its body, accomplishing this 
 curious freak either by close constriction, or by the 
 forcible expulsion of its intestines. In feeding, the 
 
80 
 
 STAR-FISHES, SEA-URCHINS, ETC. 
 
 Synapta takes in large quantities of fine pebbles, 
 sand, and shell, from which it doubtless extracts 
 considerable nourishment. These objects are dis- 
 tinctly visible through the walls of the body and 
 intestine. 
 
 A much stouter form of the sands is the Caudina, 
 
 CAUDINA ABENARIA. 
 
 which is sometimes thrown up in considerable num- 
 bers after a storm. Its color is light yellowish, the 
 texture is tough, and in a distant way the animal 
 might be likened to a cucumber greatly attenuated 
 at one extremity. 
 
IV. 
 
 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 AMONG our first acquaintances of the sea-shore 
 are sure to he a number of those merry sprites 
 which have not yet mastered the lesson of how to 
 walk straight or rather, we should say, walk 
 straight ahead, for if many of the crabs have 
 failed to acquire the habit of following in the 
 direction towards which the head points, they have 
 well acquired the art of diverging straight from it 
 at a right angle. It is certainly one of the most in- 
 teresting sights of the shore to observe these appar- 
 ently one-sided creatures hurrying off. in their lat- 
 eral progression, making probably for their burrows 
 in the sand or mud ; pass them, and note how rap- 
 idly some of them reverse their motion, without 
 even so much as stopping to glance at their pur- 
 suer. The machinery appears to have given' out at 
 one end, when they immediately reverse, and travel 
 back over their old course. Among the more pro- 
 nounced offenders against the commonly accepted 
 law of proper walking are the little c fiddlers,' or 
 ' calling crabs' as they are sometimes termed. 
 Their burrows, indicated by holes about as large 
 as would be made by a thrust from an umbrella- 
 point, are scattered all over the salt marshes and 
 mud-flats at about high-water mark, and from 
 / 81 
 
82 OUR CARCINOLOQICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 them you can frequently see the little animal 
 peeping forth, preparatory to a sally. At another 
 part of the flat, where the thud of your footsteps 
 has not given advance signals of danger, hundreds 
 of these merry crablings are probably busily occu- 
 pied with their out-door labors. Approach them, 
 and away they scamper to their habitations. There 
 are both males and females in the throng, the for- 
 
 PIDDLEK (Geladmus vocator) 
 
 mer recognizable by the very undue development 
 of one of the claws, which is carried transversely 
 in front of the head. When provoked, the animal 
 brandishes this claw in a somewhat threatening 
 manner, which has been likened to the pulling 
 of a violin-bow hence the name of ' fiddler' and 
 by others to the action of beckoning or calling 
 (hence ' calling crabs'). 
 
 Taking the necessary precaution to hold the big 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 83 
 
 claw, examine somewhat more closely one of these 
 animals. Observe the two bead-like compound 
 eyes, supported on long stalks, which can be read- 
 ily withdrawn into the protecting shield of the 
 carapace. The manner of this support, allowing 
 of vision in almost every direction, has given to 
 the group in which this structure is found the 
 name of the stalk-eyed crustaceans, to which, in 
 addition, the lobsters, crayfishes, hermits, and 
 shrimps, etc., belong. The two pairs of feelers in 
 front of the eyes, known as antennae and anten- 
 nules, are of peculiar interest as examples of 
 combined organs, for, apart from acting in their 
 capacity as feelers alone, they seem to subserve the 
 functions of smelling and hearing, the auditory 
 apparatus being lodged in the base of the smaller 
 pair. The feet are ten in number, a feature dis- 
 tinctive of the so-called ten-footed or decapod crus- 
 taceans. At first sight a crab appears to have no 
 tail, but if the animal is turned over on its back, 
 the tail it is true, a comparatively short one 
 will be seen to be safely tucked under the body. 
 If we take by way of comparison in our studies 
 a lobster or a crayfish, we soon perceive that there 
 is an entirely different disposition of this part of 
 the body that the tail, or more properly the abdo- 
 men, is stretched out beyond the body proper, and 
 that it is greatly elongated in relation to the length 
 of the animal. We thus recognize two distinct 
 groups of ten-legged stalk-eyed crustaceans : the 
 short-tailed forms, or crabs (Brachyura), and the 
 opposite or long-tailed forms, such as the lobster, 
 
84 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 the shrimp, etc. (Macrura). An intermediate type 
 is represented by the hermit-crabs, with some of 
 whose habits we have already become acquainted. 
 
 There are two species of fiddler found on our 
 coast, much resembling one another in both color 
 and ornamentation. The more common form (Gela- 
 simus vocator) has a smooth and shining carapace, 
 whereas in the second. (Gelasimus minax) the carapace 
 is minutely granulated and in part tuberculated ; 
 in both the back appears impressed with a figure 
 much like that of the letter H. 
 
 The second species, which appears to be a vege- 
 table feeder, is much the larger of the two, and its 
 burrows are not infrequently one and a half inches 
 across, or even more. It inhabits the estuarine re- 
 gion, in immediate proximity to fresh water, rather 
 than the tidal flats, and, indeed, it appears to be 
 able to get along for weeks, or even months, with- 
 out absolutely requiring salt water. 
 
 In excavating, the fiddlers throw or push up the 
 pellets of moist earth by means of their anterior 
 walking legs, depositing their burden usually at 
 some little distance from the mouth of the burrow. 
 At the approach of winter they close up the domi- 
 ciliary apertures, and pass into a condition of tor- 
 pidity until the advent of spring. 
 
 Leaving to their capers the noiseless musicians 
 of the shore, let us examine somewhat more closely 
 the forms that nature has fashioned with a little 
 nearer approach to symmetry. The ' regular' 
 crabs, in a general way, look very much alike, dif- 
 fering seemingly only in the proportion of parts 
 
6. 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Cancer irroratus. 
 
 2. Libinia canaliculata. 
 
 3. Carcinus moenas. 
 
 4. Callinectes hastatus. 
 
 5. Platyonichus ocollatus. 
 
 6. Gebia affinis. 
 
PL. 6. 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 85 
 
 and ornamentation. This is, however, a false con- 
 ception, for they differ among themselves not only 
 in important structural characters, but largely also 
 in habit. Some are habitually walkers of the sand, 
 others burrowers in the mud, a few parasitic on dif- 
 ferent animals, and others, again, good swimmers. 
 A number use the floating sea- weed for their home, 
 drifting far into mid-ocean. The famous Sargasso 
 Sea is a carcinological world of itself. Down to 
 a depth of several thousand feet in the sea the 
 lonely crab lurks about in the darkness, finding 
 companionship with the mollusks whose shells it 
 frequently robs. Again, on mountain heights of 
 4000 feet elevation or more the land-crab (Birgo) is 
 not uncommonly met with on its travels. 
 
 Look at the extremities of the last pair of legs 
 of the soft-shell crab (PL 6, Fig. 4) the crab par 
 excellence of the Atlantic coast and compare them 
 with the similar parts of the spotted or sand-crab 
 (Cancer irroratus, PL 6, Fig. 1), the common trans- 
 verse species, whose empty boxes' are to be found 
 at almost all times on the beach. In this species, 
 which can be readily recognized by the nine blunt 
 teeth projecting from each side of the anterior edge 
 of the carapace, they are merely pointed blades, but 
 in the soft-shell, the edible form, they are flattened 
 out into paddles, forming efficient swimming organs. 
 The soft-shell (Callinectes hastatus) is thus the type 
 of a group of swimming crabs, of which the beau- 
 tiful ' lady's crab' (Platyonichus ocellatus, PL 6, 
 Fig. 5) is another representative. It is not to be 
 assumed that these swimmers constantly float on 
 
 8 
 
86 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 the ambient waters, for they appear to delight in 
 the mud-flats as much as the other species; but 
 they possess, in the art of swimming, one advan- 
 tage over their fellows. 
 
 When the embryo crab escapes from the egg it 
 is liberated in the form of a very remarkable little 
 body known as the Zoea, whose real nature was for 
 
 ZOEA OF CRAB (magnified). MEGALOPS (magnified). 
 
 a long time a sealed chapter to the naturalist. This 
 Zoea is furnished with a big head and an elongated 
 body, but the features that most readily arrest one's 
 attention are the three or four long spines which 
 appear to be carelessly thrust out from different 
 parts of the body and head, and which give to the 
 tiny creature a singularly uncouth aspect. For 
 many years before the connection between the Zoea 
 and the crab was known, the former was looked 
 upon as a mature animal, and naturally regarded 
 as a distinct species. From the Zoea the crab 
 passes by gradual stages to the Megalops con- 
 dition, when, as the name indicates, the eyes are 
 developed to a disproportionately large size. In 
 this process of growth to maturity the crab is com- 
 pelled at repeated intervals to cast its skin or shell, 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 87 
 
 so that it may acquire a new one conformable to 
 its progressive stature. This process of sloughing 
 the shell appears to take place annually ; the length 
 of time required for its full accomplishment i.e., 
 from the moment of the throwing off of the old 
 shell to the proper cementing of the new being 
 in the neighborhood of forty-eight hours. In this 
 interval the crab is known as a < soft-shell' or 
 ' shedder,' in which condition it is by many highly 
 prized as an article of food. 
 
 The common edible crab or ' blue crab' delights 
 in the sheltered muddy shores of coves and bays, 
 and in the brackish waters of estuaries, where it 
 can be frequently seen in numbers swimming up 
 and down with the advancing and retreating waters. 
 The young, more particularly, frequent the tangle of 
 shore-line grass and weed, whence in case of alarm 
 they swim out to deep water. The food of this spe- 
 cies consists largely of fishes, certain forms of which, 
 in turn, destroy great quantities of the crabs. 
 
 Two interesting hole-inhabiting crabs somewhat 
 related to the fiddlers, but with nearly equally de- 
 veloped claws, are Sesarme reliculata and Ocypoda 
 arenaria. The latter, which is also sometimes 
 known as the c sand-crab/ is interesting from the 
 close approximation of its coloring to that of the 
 sand in which it dwells an instance of true pro- 
 tective resemblance. It is carnivorous in habit, 
 and is said to spring upon the beach-fleas much 
 as a cat springs upon mice. 
 
 There are two species of so-called ' oyster crab' 
 on our coast, which possess widely different habits. 
 
88 OUR CARCINOLOQICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 One of these, a yellow-brown species whose carapace 
 measures about an inch across, partakes somewhat 
 of the character of the fiddlers in having the claws 
 unequally developed, but the large claw is carried 
 in the normal way and without the threatening 
 exercise of the fiddler. The species, also known as 
 ' mud-crab' (Panopeus Herbsti), is an habitue of the 
 oyster-beds, where it is said to destroy large quan- 
 tities of the "oyster spawn. The second species 
 (Pinnotheres ostreum) is a much smaller form, not 
 measuring more than a half-inch in 
 either length or width, and is habitu- 
 ally associated with the oyster within 
 the latter's shell. 
 PINNOTHERES. -A. few words about that forbidding- 
 
 looking creature the sea-spider (PL 
 6, Fig. 2). This crab, of seemingly morose habits, 
 lacks the vivacity of the other species. It is a 
 somewhat rare visitor to the open shore, preferring 
 the quiet of the deeper waters, where, in apparent 
 meditation, it leisurely walks over the encumbrances 
 that may be placed in its path. It seems to shun 
 observation, and frequently allows itself to be over- 
 grown by plants of various kinds, hydroids, etc., 
 which completely mask its identity. Although by 
 strangers usually given a wide berth on account 
 of the long claws, the animal is but a feeble repre- 
 sentative of a group whose members in other parts 
 of the world are giants in comparison. A speci- 
 men of the Japanese Macrocheira in the posses- 
 sion of the British Museum measures some eighteen 
 feet in expanse of legs. 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. g9 
 
 HERMIT-CRABS. 
 
 These sprightly little animals, which are usually 
 of small size, are a source of never-failing delight 
 to the student of nature. They have truly habits 
 of their own, which stamp them at once as being 
 original and distinctive. It is well known that the 
 4 hermits' derive their name from the seclusion 
 into which they cast themselves as inhabitants of 
 the shells of other animals, but it is probably not 
 so generally known that the rights of tenantry are 
 frequently exercised in a very arbitrary manner. 
 Thus, the hermit-crab is not always satisfied in the 
 choice of a dead shell, but will raid upon a living 
 possessor and attempt to drag it from its strong- 
 hold ; and in this operation the assailant will fre- 
 quently receive the assistance of a number of its 
 fellows, each one carrying his castle as defensive 
 armor. It is true that the attack is probably in 
 many cases made for the double purpose of obtain- 
 ing the enemy as well as its belongings ; but, how- 
 ever this may be, forcible possession is by them 
 considered to be no misdemeanor. 
 
 In the greater number of the hermit-crabs the 
 body is unprotected by a carapace, and, being soft 
 and liable to injury, the animal seeks protection 
 under cover usually of a snail-shell, winding itself 
 about the coils of the shell, to the inner extremity 
 of which it attaches itself by means of its modified 
 posterior feet. In this position the animal is only 
 with difficulty withdrawn, retracting itself farther 
 and farther within cover of the shell. A sudden 
 
 8* 
 
90 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 fracture of the apex of the shell, under which ap- 
 pears to be the most delicate part of the animal's 
 body, will generally effect an immediate dislodge- 
 ment, the terrified crab dropping from the aper- 
 ture. "With its progressive development in size the 
 hermit requires frequent changes of abode, and its 
 methods in securing a new habitation are among 
 the most interesting of the special habits acquired 
 by animals. The creature is very circumspect, and 
 will make several reconnoissances before he feels 
 fully satisfied with the size, manner, etc., of a pros- 
 pective habitation, retiring after each visit to the 
 old shell. The Rev. Mr. Lockwood thus graphi- 
 cally describes the line of operations involved in 
 house-hunting : 
 
 " But the hermit grows, while the shell which he 
 occupies does not. Hence, like many bipeds, he 
 has his first of May, so he goes house-hunting. 
 This must be understood literally. He finds a 
 shell. Will it do ? First, then, is it really to let ? 
 He will inquire within. This he does, if not most 
 courteously, very feelingly. Satisfied on this point, 
 the next question is, will the house suit ? He turns 
 it over, then turns it round. You see, the weight 
 of one's house is quite an item in the reckoning to 
 him who has to carry it on his back. One inspec- 
 tion more. How is it inside ? Is it certainly empty 
 and of the right size ? Up goes one of the slender 
 limbs of the second pair, and the interior is thor- 
 oughly explored. All right ! Just the house he is 
 after. His mind is made up to move. Look at 
 him ! Quick ! or you will miss it ! Out comes the 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 91 
 
 body from the old house, and pop it goes into the 
 new one. The resolution to move was taken, the 
 surrender of the old house was made, and the oc- 
 cupancy of the new was effected, and all within a 
 fraction of a second of time. 
 
 " Sometimes this matter goes on less pleasantly. 
 
 'WARTY HERMIT' IN PEAR-CONCH. 
 
 Two house-hunters may find the same tenement. 
 Should both desire it, then comes the tug of war. 
 Live together they neither can nor will. The affair 
 is settled by a battle, in which the stronger proves 
 
92 01712 CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 his claim right by the Carlyleian logic and morals, 
 viz., might. Quite often from these encounters a 
 terrible mutilation results. To us it is a sad sight 
 to see the little hermit when his time has come, and 
 he knows it; that is, when Eupagurus must die. 
 However droll his career may have been, the little 
 hermit is grave then. And what a strange fact it 
 is! Who can explain it? The poor little fellow 
 come out of his house to die. Yes, in order to 
 die. To us humans home is the only right place 
 to die in. But for Eupagurus home has no attrac- 
 tions at this solemn time. Poor fellow ! with a sad 
 look and melancholy movement he of his own will 
 quits the house for which he fought so well. Those 
 antennae, or feelers, that often stood out so pro- 
 vokingly and were so often poked into everybody's 
 business, now lie prone and harmless. The eyes 
 have lost their pertness. There lies the houseless 
 hermit on that mossy rock, stone dead." 
 
 The two species of hermit occurring on our coast 
 can be readily distinguished from each other by 
 
 their size and the differ- 
 ence in the shape of the 
 big claw. The ' warty 
 hermit' (Eupagurus pol- 
 licaris\ the larger spe- 
 cies, inhabits the shells 
 of the big Naticas and 
 the Fulgurs, and can be 
 
 LITTLE HERMIT (Eupagurus longicar- immediatelv recognized 
 
 PUS} ' T_ -j. -L. J 1 
 
 by its coarse broad claws, 
 which in great part close up the aperture of the 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 93 
 
 shell occupied by it. In the more common form 
 of the small shells (Eupagurus longicarpus), which 
 rarely attains a length much exceeding one inch, 
 the legs are all much elongated, giving the animal 
 a very slender appearance. 
 
 SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS. 
 
 Of the long-tailed ten-footed crustaceans (Ma- 
 crura) the best-known representatives are the lob- 
 ster, shrimp, and prawn. The first, which is too 
 familiar to require special notice, can scarcely be 
 considered to be a true member of the New Jersey 
 coast fauna, having been introduced with the build- 
 ing of the Delaware breakwater, where it has se- 
 cured somewhat of a permanent footing. Its rarity 
 otherwise must be attributed to the absence of an 
 environment suited to its living and development. 
 The rocky shores of the North constitute its true 
 home, and although stray individuals are found 
 farther south, they rarely appear below the East 
 River. The species sometimes attains an enormous 
 size, individuals frequently weighing as much as 
 fifteen to twenty pounds, and occasionally passing 
 much beyond this limit. An animal somewhat re- 
 sembling the lobster, although considerably smaller 
 in size measuring only three or four inches in 
 length is the Gebia affinis (PI. 6, Fig. 6), a pro- 
 found burrower of the mud-flats. 
 
 The shrimps and prawns, which much resemble 
 one another, are abundant in the bays and harbors, 
 passing up to considerable distances in the tidal 
 streams and creeks. They are active little creatures, 
 
94 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 of a light-green color, or nearly colorless, and often 
 quite translucent. In this country they are not so 
 highly esteemed as an article of food as they are 
 in either England or France, where the prawn- 
 fishery constitutes an important branch of industry. 
 Our common shrimp (Crangon vulgaris, PI. 7, Fig. 
 8), which can he distinguished from the prawn 
 (Palaemon, PL 7, Fig. 9) by the terminal joints of 
 the two anterior pairs of legs being undivided, and 
 by the filiform structure of the succeeding legs, does 
 not appear to differ from the ordinary European 
 species. It is abundant in the waters of the sandy 
 flats, where by reason of its har- 
 monizing coloring it escapes ready 
 detection. Both shrimps and 
 prawns are frequently infested 
 with a loathsome parasite, which 
 attaches itself as a round black 
 mass on one side of the neck of 
 the victim. This parasite is in 
 itself a crustacean, known to nat- 
 uralists as Bopyrus. 
 
 A so-called shrimp, not to be 
 confounded with either of the pre- 
 ceding, is the Mysis stenolepis (PI. 7, Fig. 1), which 
 appears more abundantly about our coasts during 
 the winter months. It may be distinguished from 
 the true shrimps by its cloven or double feet, and by 
 the external position of the gills. From the circum- 
 stance of its carrying its eggs in a pouch underneath 
 the thorax it has received the familiar name of 
 ' opossum shrimp,' by which it is generally known. 
 
7. 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Mysis stenolepis. 
 
 2. Limnoria terebrans (X 7). 
 
 3. Caprella geometrica (X 2 
 
 4. Idotea irrorata. 
 
 5. Gammarus ornatus. 
 
 6. Orchestia agilis (X 4). 
 
 7. Amphithoe maculata. 
 
 8. Crangon vulgaris. 
 
 9. Palaemon vulgaris. 
 10. Unciola irrorata. 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 95 
 
 HlPPA EMERITA. 
 
 A common object indeed, one of the commonest 
 objects of the sands is the cylindrical mole crab 
 or ' sand-bug' (Hippa emerita\ 
 whose vertical burrows open 
 up in great number, partic- 
 ularly in the lower tidal re- 
 gion. The animal is a remark- 
 ably rapid burrower, pushing 
 itself head downward by means 
 of its anterior or thoracic feet. 
 As a rule, but little organic 
 matter is found within the ali- 
 mentary canal of the mole crab, 
 which appears to subsist largely 
 upon the nutriment extracted from the swallowed 
 sand. It constitutes a favorite article of food with 
 many fishes. 
 
 BEACH-FLEAS, HOPPERS, AND SOW-BUGS. 
 
 A walk at almost any hour along the sandy beach 
 is sure to stir up a number of the little hopping 
 crustaceans to which the name of ' beach-flea' or 
 ' sand-flea' has been applied (Orchestia agilis, PI. 7, 
 Fig. 6). They hop up in front of your footsteps, 
 and leave with equal celerity the seat that may have 
 been selected for you, but not until you have turned 
 over the long line of sea-wrack (dried sea-weed) 
 which fronts the ocean at high- water mark can you 
 have any just conception of the multitudes that are 
 here busily engaged in performing the offices of the 
 public scavenger. Decayed and decaying parts of 
 both plants and animals are equally acceptable to 
 
96 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 the beach-flea. Examine the legs of one of these 
 animals, and you will observe that they are disposed 
 on either side in two dissimilar series ; hence the 
 name of Amphipoda, double-footed, that has been 
 applied to the broad group to which the hopper 
 belongs. Two closely related, but larger, species, 
 of a gray rather than of an olive or brown color, 
 constitute the genius Talorchestia. 
 
 A form much like the preceding, but with aquatic 
 habits, is found in both salt and fresh waters, 
 largely frequenting the meshes of the rock-weed 
 (Fucus). The Gammarus (PL 7, Fig. 5), for so the 
 animal is known to naturalists, is a helpless creature 
 out of water, shuffling along on its side in a vain 
 endeavor to elude its pursuers or to regain the 
 water. It occurs in vast numbers in favored lo- 
 calities, contributing largely to the food-supply of 
 many of our coast fishes. 
 
 Another interesting amphipod of our coast is 
 found abundantly on the surfaces of submarine 
 plants, and also on sponges, where it may be seen 
 moving about in the manner of the ordinary meas- 
 uring-worms, arching over its body, and advancing 
 alternately the two extremities. From this close 
 resemblance to the progression of the geometer 
 worms it has received the name of Caprella geo- 
 metrica (PI. 7, Fig. 3). 
 
 Of the less attractive group of the sow-bugs, 
 many of whose members, such as the Bopyrus, 
 already mentioned, are parasitic on the tissues of 
 other animals, but few forms are likely to come 
 to the notice of the visitor to the sands. One of 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 97 
 
 these (Idotea cceca) is the little creature whose ser- 
 pentine tracks over the sand have so frequently 
 called forth the query,, What animal made them ? 
 The species is found all the way from Massachusetts 
 to Florida. A second form (Stenosoma irrorata, PI. 
 7, Fig. 4), of a deep-purple or sea-green color, will 
 probably be recognized by many as the active spirit 
 of the quieter waters, whose gyrations strongly sug- 
 gest a scheme of self-imposed perpetual motion. A 
 third species (Limnoria terebrans, PI. 7, Fig. 2) can 
 generally be found only beneath the water-surface, 
 where it attacks almost any timber piles, piers of 
 bridges, wharves, etc. that may be brought within 
 its reach. It is asserted that piles lose as much as 
 an inch in diameter annually through the ravages 
 of this pest. Coating with verdigris or creosote, 
 or sheathing with metallic copper, has proved effi- 
 cacious as a preventive of destruction. 
 
 In all these forms the body is largely symmetrical 
 in outline, and the numerous pairs of legs are of 
 nearly equal size and equally disposed along the 
 sides of the body ; hence the term Isopoda, equal- 
 footed, that has been applied to the group in general. 
 
 SQUILL. 
 
 Our description of the Crustacea of the coast 
 would not be complete without reference being 
 made to a somewhat rare species, the squill, which 
 is figured on the following page. The animal can 
 be immediately recognized by its greatly elongated 
 and flattened body, measuring from four to six, 
 or exceptionally ten, inches in length, the great 
 
 B a 9 
 
98 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 delicacy of all its ambulatory appendages, except 
 the first pair, and the greatly developed swim- 
 merets of the posterior part of the body. The 
 exterior (?) pair of feelers (antennae) have also a 
 peculiar structure, being spread out into an oval 
 ciliated plate. 
 
 The animal, which is a close relative of a com- 
 
 SQUILLA EMPUSA. 
 
 mon European species, is in many regions highly 
 esteemed as an article of food. It is a true bur- 
 rower, but as yet little positive is known of its 
 general habits. 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 99 
 
 THE HORSESHOE CRAB: IS IT A GIANT SPIDER-FORM? 
 
 Those among us to whom the horseshoe crab, or 
 king-crab as it is frequently called, in allusion to 
 its large size, is known 
 only in its general de- 
 tails, would probably 
 scarcely think it worth 
 while to consider the 
 question as to its posi- 
 tion in the animal 
 world. What should 
 it be other than the 
 * crab' that it has al- 
 ways been considered ? 
 With our carcinologi- 
 cal friends it agrees 
 in the possession of a 
 crusty envelope or 
 shield, it breathes by 
 means of gills, inhabits 
 the water or mud like 
 them, and has, more- 
 over, the end-joints of 
 the legs pincered (che- 
 late). Further, it peri- 
 odically sheds its shield like the crabs. But relent- 
 less and pursuing science has shown that in many 
 points of structure the animal is closely related to 
 the scorpions, and perhaps even more closely than 
 to the entire group of crust-bearing animals as such 
 (crabs, shrimps, lobsters, etc.). This relation is seen 
 
 HORSESHOE CRAB. 
 
100 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 in the nature of the walking legs, in the disposition 
 and origin of the nerves supplying the legs, in the 
 structure of the eye, and in the manner of develop- 
 ment of the emhryo. As against this evidence we 
 have the presence of true gills, and the absence of 
 the peculiar breathing-tubes (tracheae) of the scor- 
 pion ; but whether these important points of dis- 
 similarity are of greater value than those of affinity 
 above indicated, must still be considered an open 
 question. 
 
 The crust of the horseshoe crab is divided into 
 three distinct parts, an anterior rounded portion, 
 known as the cephalothorax, which protects the 
 more vital elements of the animal's body mouth, 
 stomach, heart, and legs ; a median portion, the ab- 
 domen, on the under side of which are the gills, a 
 series of thin plates disposed in the fashion of the 
 leaves of a book ; and a greatly elongated spine or 
 tail. The cephalothorax carries on its back two 
 pairs of eyes, of which the two big eyes situated 
 on either side of the shield are compound, while 
 the others, small and placed medially to the front, 
 are simple. 
 
 Although it would seem from the general vaulted 
 appearance of the shield that the body of the animal 
 is of considerable thickness, the reverse is actually 
 the case. The under surface of the carapace follows 
 closely upon the inner face of the upper surface, 
 except along the medial region, where the body- 
 space is considerably expanded. In this central 
 part is situated the alimentary tract, the mouth 
 opening between the bases of the second of the 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 1Q1 
 
 six pairs of legs. The food, which consists of va- 
 rious small animals, largely worms, is conveyed to 
 the mouth by one or more of the foot-pincers, where 
 it is closely rasped and triturated by the rubbing 
 together of the spiny basal joints of the legs. 
 
 The horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) prefers 
 for its habitat the protected bays and estuarine 
 waters, where it burrows in the sand or mud just 
 sufficiently to cover its body. In this operation of 
 burrowing the head is the excavating organ, while 
 the feet and tail, firmly pressed backward, are the 
 force. When placed on its back the animal has 
 some difficulty in at first righting itself, but by 
 arching upward the carapace, at the same time re- 
 ceiving assistance from the tail, it soon recovers 
 itself. 
 
 The horseshoe crab so closely resembles in ap- 
 pearance and structure the ancient trilobites, whose 
 remains are so numerously buried in the older rock- 
 deposits of our earth, that there are strong grounds 
 for concluding that the latter were the true pro- 
 genitors of the modern race, a conclusion that has 
 been strongly reinforced by the embryolbgical study 
 of the two types. The young Limulus, in fact, so 
 nearly resembles the young of certain forms of 
 trilobites as to be barely distinguished from them ; 
 at this period the spine is still wanting. Subse- 
 quent moulting of the carapace is preceded by a 
 splitting of the latter along its border, the animal 
 drawing itself through the opening thus made. 
 
 This species is found abundantly along the coast 
 from Maine to Florida. Where left exposed on 
 
 9* 
 
102 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 the beach for some time, the gill-sacs are apt to 
 become infiltrated with the sand, when their pe- 
 culiar accordion-like disposition becomes apparent. 
 When thus distended in irregular rolls they are com- 
 monly supposed to represent egg-capsules strung 
 
 together on a ribbon. 
 
 Before dismissing the sub- 
 ject of spider forms, it may 
 be well to call attention to 
 the singular slender (eight- 
 legged) creatures that are 
 frequently met with on hy- 
 droid colonies and on 
 
 SEA-SPIDER. -r-. ,1 T 
 
 sponges. From their dis- 
 tinctive forms, and their habit of living in the 
 oceanic waters, they have been named ' sea-spiders' 
 (Pycnogonoids) ; but their exact relationship has 
 not yet been determined. 
 
 THE GOOSE BARNACLE, AND BARNACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 Of the remarkable traditions which have invested 
 the life-histories of many of our animals none is 
 perhaps more indicative of a fertile imagination 
 than that which ascribes to the barnacle the power 
 of giving birth to a fowl (barnacle goose). How 
 such a notion could ever have attained currency, 
 and met with a firm acquiescence on the part of 
 scholars of even a high degree of learning and 
 intelligence, is almost inconceivable. Yet we have 
 not only acknowledgment of a full belief in this 
 miracle, but positive assurances from otherwise re- 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 1Q3 
 
 spectable eye-witnesses as to the exact stages by 
 which the miracle was accomplished. And even 
 to-day some people, with child-like simplicity, ask 
 if there exists any connection between the two 
 animals. 
 
 The following passages from " The Herball or 
 Generall Historic of Plantes," a voluminous trea- 
 tise of 1500 pages by John Gerarde (edition of 
 1636), may prove interesting in this connection: 
 " . . . we are arrived at the end of our History ; 
 thinking it not impertinent to the conclusion of the 
 same, to end with one of the marvels of this land 
 (we may say of the World). The history whereof 
 to set forth according to the worthinesse and raritie 
 thereof, would not only require a large and peculiar 
 volume, but also a deeper search into the bowels 
 of Nature, than my intended purpose will suffer me 
 to wade into, my sufficiencie also considered ; . . . 
 in the meane space take it as it falleth out, the 
 naked and bare truth, though unpolished. There 
 are found in the North parts of Scotland and the 
 islands adiacent, called Orchades, certaine trees 
 whereon do grow certaine shells of a white colour 
 tending to russet, wherein are contained little living 
 creatures; which shells in time of maturity doe open, 
 and out of them grow those little living things, which 
 falling into the water do become fowles, which we 
 call Barnacles; in the North of England, brant 
 Geese; and in Lancashire, tree Geese; but the 
 other that do fall upon the land perish and come 
 to nothing. . . . 
 
 " But what our eies have seene, and hands have 
 
104 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 touched we shall declare . . . when it is perfectly 
 formed the shell gapeth open, and the first thing 
 that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string ; next 
 come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it 
 groweth greater it openeth the shell by degrees, 
 till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only 
 by the bill : in short space after it commeth to full 
 maturity, and falleth into the sea, where it gather- 
 eth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a 
 Mallard, and lesser than a Goose. . . ." 
 
 The goose barnacles are common objects about 
 the shore, being thrown up in bunches along with 
 the foreign bodies to which they 
 are generally found attached. They 
 locate themselves on piles, below 
 the water-line, to the bottoms of 
 ships, to drift-wood, sea-weed, float- 
 ing fruit, and, indeed, to almost 
 any object that comes in their way. 
 The peduncle or stalk upon which 
 
 GOOSE BAKNACLE. the encased b dv f , the animal is 
 
 supported has its origin in one of the 
 pairs of larval feelers or antennae, which through 
 modification and additional deposition of matter 
 undergo such transformation as to permit of the 
 new function to which they are now applied. The 
 shell, or c capitulum/ consists of five pieces, four 
 lateral and one marginal (the keel or carina). On 
 the margin opposite to the keel it is open, permit- 
 ting of the extrusion of the six pairs of (double) 
 long, feathery feet, whose continuous motion cre- 
 ates currents in the direction of the shell, which 
 
OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 1Q5 
 
 serve to carry the necessary nutritive particles to 
 the mouth. 
 
 As we find it in its adult condition the barnacle 
 is a much altered or metamorphosed animal, wholly 
 unlike what it was before it became attached. In 
 its earlier stage it is a free-swimming, active creat- 
 ure, with well-developed legs and a hinged bivalve 
 shell, on the whole much like some of our so- 
 called fresh-water fleas (Cypris). But it soon fixes 
 itself by means of suckers developed upon the 
 first pair of antennae, exudes a slimy substance 
 which helps to make the stalk, and thus, head 
 downward, passes through those subsequent met- 
 amorphoses which lead up to the mature animal 
 and almost completely mask its true character. 
 Indeed, until within a comparatively few years the 
 barnacles were classed with the mollusks, even the 
 great Cuvier mistaking their affinities. 
 
 It might naturally be supposed that an animal 
 so tightly closed up in its shell as is the barnacle 
 would have little use for organs of vision, and that 
 accordingly these organs would be found wanting. 
 But careful investigation of the tissues has revealed 
 the presence of a single eye-speck, of a duplex 
 origin, not far from the region of the mouth, which, 
 though thus deeply hidden within the shell, still 
 permits the animal to distinguish at least between 
 light and darkness. Allow your hand to pass over 
 a pan of sea-water containing barnacles, and ob- 
 serve by their actions how readily the animals dis- 
 tinguish between the different intensities of light. 
 
 Several species of stalked-barnacles are found on 
 
106 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
 
 our coast, the two commoner being Lepas anatifera, 
 in which the stalks grow to a length of from four 
 to six inches, and Lepas fascicularis, in 
 which, as the name indicates, a consid- 
 erable number of individuals are closely 
 bunched together or fasciculated. The 
 former species, found on the bottoms of 
 LEPAS FASCIC- ships, is probably not indigenous to the 
 
 ULARIS. . i . ,. , . , 
 
 region. It is an erroneous notion, which 
 is shared by many, that the barnacles in any way 
 injure the holds of vessels to which they may be 
 attached. They merely impede navigation through 
 the resistance which their enormous numbers offer 
 to the water, and hence the necessity of keeping 
 vessels clear of their colonies. An effective method 
 of removal, frequently practised by sailing-masters, 
 is to drive a barnacled vessel into fresh water, where 
 the animals soon die and drop off. 
 
 Belonging to the same order of animals as the bar- 
 nacles proper are the acorn-shells, those crater-like 
 eminences that are found so abun- 
 dantly encrusting rocks at about 
 high-water mark, and scarcely less 
 abundantly on the surfaces of shells, 
 drift-wood, etc. They have the same 
 general structure as the goose bar- 
 nacle, but are devoid of the stalk or peduncle, and 
 are hence known as ' sessile' barnacles. Where 
 attached to a rock they leave a peculiar circular 
 stamp of lime, which is not infrequently taken for 
 a coral impression. 
 
 The shell of the acorn is usually conical in out- 
 
OUR CARCINOLOOICAL FRIENDS. 1Q7 
 
 line, made up of six plates in its circumference, and 
 with a lid of four plates covering over the central 
 orifice. The feathery appendages of the animal 
 are thrust out from the top of the shell, instead of 
 from the side, as we found it in the goose barnacle. 
 Our commonest species is Balanus balanoides, an 
 exceedingly variable form, which makes dense 
 crusts on rock-masses, piles, etc. In the typical 
 variety the acorns or cups are comparatively low 
 and broad, but in the more aberrant forms they are 
 greatly elongated and more nearly tubular in ap- 
 pearance. A much larger species is Balanus ebur- 
 
 BALANUS BALANOIDES. BALANUS EBURNEUS. 
 
 neus, the ' ivory barnacle,' which can be readily dis- 
 tinguished from the preceding by its smooth broad 
 form and its shelly base. It is abundant on all 
 kinds of floating or submerged timbers, and not 
 rarely accompanies the shells of various Crustacea. 
 Much less frequently seen about our coast is the 
 coronated acorn (Coronula diadema), whose seat of 
 habitation is the skin of the whale, with which 
 animal it performs long journeys over the sea. 
 
V. 
 
 WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. 
 
 WORMS are in a general way not very attrac- 
 tive animals, yet they present much that is at the 
 same time interesting and beautiful. This is par- 
 ticularly the case with the marine forms, whose 
 burrows can be traced almost everywhere over the 
 expanse of tidal flats which the retreating waters 
 leave behind them. At tHese times the animals 
 remain well within their habitations, from which 
 they can be readily extracted through the use of 
 a long-bladed garden-trowel. The many-footed 
 Nereis, whose superb iridescence rivals in metal- 
 lic effect the lustre of the tropical beetles, is of a 
 type of beauty that is distinctively its own ; and the 
 same may be said of the medusa-like Cirratulus (PI. 
 8, Fig. 6), of the green Euchone, or of the gordian 
 Amphitrite (Plate 8, Fig. 1), with its crown of 
 flesh-colored tentacles and blood-red gills. Some 
 of these forms, like the Serpulee, inhabit more or 
 less permanently calcareous tubes of their own se- 
 cretion ; others, by exudation of a binding cement, 
 construct their tubes of agglutinated sand-parti- 
 cles. Both of these types are known as tubico- 
 lous worms. To a third group, represented by the 
 beautiful Nereis (PI. 8, Fig. 9) and its allies (Lum- 
 briconereis, PI. 8, Fig. 3, and the brush -like Eunice), 
 108 
 
WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. 1Q9 
 
 the habit of frequently running about or sallying 
 forth has given the name of the * runners' (Erran- 
 tia). The Nereis itself is a nocturnal animal, and 
 sometimes appears in large numbers swimming 
 about near the surface of the ocean. 
 
 All the forms that have here been noted have 
 the body made up of a considerable number of 
 rings or annuli, ranging to several hundred, which 
 on either side give origin to two rows of spines 
 or bristles, whence the term Chsetopoda, ' bristle- 
 footed,' as applied to the members of the group 
 collectively. The crooked tubular habitations of 
 Serpula dianthus can be seen on almost all ob- 
 jects that have drifted down to 
 about low-water level on old 
 pots, pebbles, the under and 
 lateral faces of rocks, surfaces 
 of shells, etc. "When disturbed 
 or frightened, the animal with- 
 draws itself into its tube, which 
 it closes by means of a plug or 
 operculum, and thus places it- 
 self in a position removed from 
 its enemies. When extended 
 it presents a beautiful appear- 
 ance, with its distended crown of brilliantly-tinted 
 branchiae red, yellow, purple, and brown con- 
 sisting of some thirty or more delicate feathery fila- 
 ments. The brown sea-wrack occasionally brings 
 to us, although less frequently than on the New 
 England coast, small rounded bodies, not much 
 larger than a pin's head, which to every appearance 
 
 10 
 
 SERPUL.E. 
 
HO WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. 
 
 resemble flattened snails. They are the circular 
 tubes of a worm, Spirorbis, whose relationship is 
 immediately with the Serpulse. 
 
 Of the group of worms in which the body is not 
 distinctly annulated, known as false annelids, may 
 be mentioned the earthworm-like Sipunculus (PI. 8, 
 Fig. 2), which can be easily recognized by its thick, 
 fleshy, and irregularly constricted body, and by the 
 long attenuated anterior extremity, designated the 
 proboscis. It burrows in the sand and mud-bot- 
 toms, like the majority, of the marine worms. 
 
 The free surface of the wide ocean, no less than 
 the sheltered bays of the seaboard, harbors a very 
 interesting worm-like animal, about an inch in 
 length, and shaped somewhat like a lance, which 
 disports itself in rather characteristic fashion, mov- 
 ing by rapid jerks through the water. It has long 
 been familiar to naturalists as the Sagitta, or dart 
 (PL 8, Fig. 5), but to this day nothing positive is 
 1 known concerning its relationships. The body is 
 white, translucent, and permits the alimentary canal 
 to be distinctly seen in the interior. Laterally it is ex- 
 panded into a sort of fin-like membrane, and a some- 
 what similar fin rounds off the tail region. Two dark 
 pigment specks, the eyes, can be readily detected on 
 the head. 
 
 MOSS-POLYPS. 
 
 Much of the sea-wrack that is drifted to our 
 shores shows on its surface peculiar pitted incrus- 
 tations which sometimes occur only in scattered 
 patches, at other times in more or less continu- 
 ous ramifications. The same structure can fre- 
 
PLATE 8. 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Am phi trite ornata. 
 
 2. Sipunculus Gouldii. 
 
 3. Lumbriconereis opalina. 
 
 4. Siphonostomum affine. 
 
 5. Sagitta elegans. 
 
 6. Cirratulus grandis. 
 
 7. Clymenella torquata. 
 
 8. Lepidonotus sublevis. 
 
 9. Nereis pelagica. 
 
 10. Autolytus cornutus. 
 
PL. 8. 
 
WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. HI 
 
 quently be seen on the insides of shells, around 
 pebbles, over the tubes of the serpula, etc. From 
 each of the tiny pits, which are often no larger 
 than a pin-point, protruded during the life of the 
 compound colony a minute polypide, delicately 
 crowned with tentacles,' in many ways reminding 
 one of the polyps of the hydroid colonies with 
 which we have already become acquainted. But 
 these so-called moss-polyps or lace- corals the 
 Polyzoa of naturalists show a considerable ad- 
 vance in structure over their hydroid brethren, in- 
 asmuch as they are provided with a distinct ali- 
 mentary tract stomach, intestine, etc. clearly 
 marked off from the rest of the body, a central 
 nerve-mass, and other specialized organs which are 
 wholly wanting in the other group. The mouth is 
 situated at one side of, or within, the crown of ten- 
 tacles, receiving its full complement of nourishment 
 from the water-currents which are constantly being 
 impelled towards it by the vibrating 
 hairs (cilia) on the tentacles. 
 
 Perhaps the commonest of our en- 
 crusting forms is Escharina, whose 
 delicate tracery can frequently be 
 seen interwoven in concentric layers 
 amen? or over the serpula tubes, ESCHARINA 
 
 T . T -, (magnified). 
 
 making rounded masses from two to 
 six inches across. In this condition they may be 
 easily mistaken for pebbles, but their comparative 
 lightness, and the numerous minute holes which 
 become visible on closer examination, soon disclose 
 their true character. 
 
112 WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. 
 
 Other encrusting forms, but with the pores or 
 cells arranged in only a single tier, are the ' sea- 
 
 MEMBRANIPORA (magnified). POLYPIDE (magnified). ALCYONIDIUM. 
 
 mats,' which are usually found on the fronds of the 
 sea-weed. One of these (Membranipora) makes 
 small scale-like patches, while another (Flustra) 
 occurs in ramifying or spreading branches. A less 
 readily recognizable form of polyzoan, the Alcyo- 
 nidium, making fleshy crusts a third of an inch or 
 more in thickness, is frequently 
 found enveloping small stones, 
 twigs, etc. 
 
 While perhaps the most distinc- 
 tive polyzoans are the ones which 
 jnake crusts like those above de- 
 scribed, others grow in erect, 
 branching colonies, and thus still 
 more closely resemble the swaying 
 fronds of the true polyps. One of 
 these is the common Bugula, whose 
 tree-like forms, bearing tiny cups 
 on their upright branches, strongly recall the ser- 
 tularians or sea-firs. They are of particular interest 
 to the microscopist since they show to special ad- 
 
 BUGULA. 
 
WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. H3 
 
 vantage certain structures that are not present in 
 all the members of the class. These are the i bird- 
 head processes' (avicularia), little snapping bodies 
 of the general shape of a bird's head, which are 
 found attached to the cells, but of whose real 
 functions we as yet know very little. That they 
 seize by a sort of instinctive movement little aquatic 
 objects has been long since demonstrated, but the 
 wherefore of this action still remains to be as- 
 certained, since the particles thus caught can- 
 not readily be turned to account by the animal. 
 Other forms have in place of these avicularia long 
 lashes or whips (vibracula), which are in almost 
 constant motion, and may, at least in part, serve to 
 keep the colony clean from adhering particles. The 
 movement of both of these or- 
 gans can be easily followed in the 
 field of the microscope. 
 
 A beautiful rosette-formed poly- 
 zoan, Crisia eburnea, whose attach- 
 ment is the frond of the sea-weed, 
 is not rarely found scattered over 
 the sands ; it is easily distinguished, 
 apart from its manner of growth, 
 by the calcareous or limy character of its ivory- 
 white habitations. Another white form (Pedicellina 
 Americana), with minute club-shaped individuals, 
 weaves a delicate tracery around the branches or 
 stems of other polyp colonies, hydroids, etc. 
 
 10* 
 
114 WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. 
 
 SPONGES. 
 
 Among the lowest forms of life that drift to our 
 shores are sponges of one kind or another, many 
 of them, doubtless, wafted northward on the cur- 
 rent of the Gulf Stream, and then distributed by 
 local storms. Some of these are of the horny 
 character seen in the ordinary sponge of commerce, 
 but usually they are of a much looser texture, and 
 with a distinct disposition to branch. In the living 
 condition of the animal this fibrous mass is envel- 
 oped in a soft jelly-like substance, frequently most 
 brilliantly colored in tints of yellow, brown, and 
 red, which constitutes the active or vitalized mat- 
 ter of the organism, the horny fibres themselves 
 being merely an accessory in the way of an internal 
 support or skeleton. The entire mass is then per- 
 meated by innumerable canals, into which the sea- 
 water gains access by a multitude of external pores, 
 and from which it is expelled into a number of 
 larger channels, into which the canalulse open, 
 and thence into the open sea again. A series of 
 perpetual circulations is thus kept up within the 
 substance of the animal, the cilia lining the chan- 
 nels helping along the water, and with it the 
 microscopic food-particles that may be contained 
 therein. The excurrent orifices (oscula) are of 
 much larger size than the incurrent pores, and are 
 frequently situated, crater-like, on special emi- 
 nences. In our ordinary wash-sponges their posi- 
 tions are clearly indicated in the larger spaces left 
 on the surface between the fibres. 
 
WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. H5 
 
 There are few objects more interesting to watch 
 than a sponge in action, but with us, unfortunately, 
 the only native sponges of consequence are either 
 thinly-branched or encrusting forms, which scarcely 
 permit of observations being made upon their man- 
 ner of living. One of these is the Microscionia 
 prolifera, a rather scanty creeper on rocks and 
 shells, having when fresh a bright red color. 
 When full-grown it rises up into bunchy masses, 
 measuring six inches or more across, which may 
 be found scattered between the sedges of the sand 
 where the latter has been left exposed at low-water. 
 A much more delicate species, readily distinguished 
 by its long and slender ' oculated' branches, is the 
 Chalina arbuscula, whose habitat appears to extend 
 along the greater part of the Atlantic coast. 
 
 The ' sea-bread' or sea-crackers,' rounded yel- 
 lowish masses of an exceedingly light texture, which 
 sometimes appear after a storm, are also skeletal 
 parts of sponges, but their closely-packed and re- 
 markably fine fibrous threads are composed princi- 
 pally of silica instead of horn, and thus approxi- 
 mate the type of the large and important group of 
 silicious sponges, to which the ' glass rope' and 
 4 Venus's flower-basket,' two of the most exquisite 
 of nature's objects, also belong. The sea-bread 
 (Suberites) has been dredged alive on the Massa- 
 chusetts coast, and it has therefore been conjec- 
 tured that its home must extend to that region. 
 
 Much more insignificant than the preceding is 
 the form (Cliona) that attacks oyster- and clam- 
 shells, burrowing into their midst from all direc- 
 
116 WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. 
 
 tions, and soon reducing them to powder. Such 
 sponge-bored shells and rock-fragments may be 
 readily recognized by the numerous small holes 
 that open upon the surface. 
 
 FORAMINIFERA. 
 
 Still lower in the scale of organization than the 
 sponges are a number of animal forms whose exist- 
 ence is not very generally suspected by the visiting 
 public. We walk leisurely over the sands, little 
 suspecting that in so doing we may be ruthlessly 
 crushing to powder thousands of minute shells that 
 lie buried beneath our feet. To the ordinary ob- 
 server the sand appears to be a mass of nearly 
 homogeneous particles, little granules of white 
 and black quartz, through which are scattered at 
 intervals scales of mica, and exceedingly minute 
 fragments of another mineral known as horn- 
 blende. These are all derived from the destruc- 
 tion of certain rock-masses the granites and their 
 allies principally situated somewhere within the 
 continental border, and merely accumulated by the 
 sea after it has received the products of destruction 
 from the various rivers discharging into it. But a 
 more critical examination of the sand shows that in 
 addition to the mineral substances above mentioned 
 it contains at times and it may be said, at almost 
 all times great quantities of tiny rounded shells 
 whose dimensions barely exceed those of the sarid- 
 particles themselves. Without the aid of a magni- 
 fier these shells are almost undistinguishable ; but 
 the lens and a practised eye will soon pick out the 
 
WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. H7 
 
 interesting mites whose life-history we are now 
 prepared to read. 
 
 Placed in the field of a microscope, these shells 
 exhibit on their surfaces innumerable punctse or 
 dots, which are in reality minute pores leading 
 through the shell into the interior. Through these 
 pores the animal substance that is contained within 
 may be extended in the form of delicate processes, 
 known as false feet (pseudopodia), by means of 
 which the currents of food-particles may be di- 
 rected to the organism. The bulk of the animal 
 itself consists of a tiny bit of jelly-like substance, 
 known as protoplasm, which shows none of the 
 organs that are common to the higher animals; 
 that is to say, there is neither mouth, stomach, 
 heart, nor nerve. But despite these deficiencies the 
 animal passes through the cycle of life with a free 
 and satisfactory performance of the usual processes 
 of assimilation, growth, and reproduction. There 
 are few kinds of animals that are simpler in struc- 
 ture than these so-called pore-bearers (Forami- 
 nifera), and one of these is the almost universally 
 distributed proteus-animalcule of our fresh waters 
 (Amoaba), which differs only in the absence of a 
 shell. 
 
 The simplest form of foraminiferal shell is a 
 hollow sphere, in which the protoplasm, or active 
 animal substance, is lodged. In other forms this 
 primitive sphere buds out into a number of addi- 
 tional spheres, which gradually increase in size 
 from the oldest to the newest, and may develop 
 either one in advance of the other in a straight 
 
118 WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. 
 
 line, or, what is more usually the case, in one or 
 more circles around the initial sphere. A com- 
 plex arrangement of chambers may thus be built 
 up, especially if the system of development has 
 proceeded along more than a single plane. Of 
 such a complex character is our little Rotalia of 
 the ocean sands, the different chambers in the shell 
 of which can be clearly traced out with the aid of 
 the microscope. 
 
 The Foramiriifera lead an apparently very inde- 
 pendent life on the ocean wave, tossed hither and 
 thither among the seething waters : their home is 
 not merely the surface, but extends to the gloomier 
 shades of the abyss. At the bottom of the sea the 
 shells of the dead animals accumulate in prodigious 
 numbers, forming there a deep white or gray mud 
 known as the 4 Atlantic ooze.' It is this same sub- 
 stance compacted which constitutes true chalk, and 
 likewise much of the hard limestone and marble 
 which we see everywhere about us. At one time 
 the areas where we now find chalk and marble 
 were beneath the sea, but through movements of 
 the earth's crust of one kind or another they have 
 been brought to their present inland positions. 
 The so-called ' greensands' or ' marls' of New Jer- 
 sey are largely a foraminiferal composition, the 
 little green pellets of the mineral glauconite, 
 which give the distinctive appearance to the sand, 
 representing principally the fillings or casts of an 
 endless number of foraminiferal shells, from which 
 the lime has been removed through solution. 
 
WORMS, MOSS-POLYPS, SPONGES, ETC. H9 
 
 Some idea of the vast numbers in which these 
 minute organisms occur may be gathered from the 
 fact that an ounce of sand taken from the beach of 
 Atlantic City, despite the breakages to which the 
 minute shells were liable in being tossed and rubbed 
 about, was estimated to contain fully 18,000 indi- 
 viduals of a single species of Nonionina, and that a 
 similar measure taken from the sands of Cape May 
 yielded by computation upwards of 3.8,000 individ- 
 uals of the same species. 
 
VI. 
 
 SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 
 
 AMONG the odds and ends that the incoming 
 flood casts upon the beach are the peculiar pillow- 
 shaped objects with long-drawn-out corners which 
 are generally known under the name of * sea- 
 purses.' Great is the discussion attending the 
 finding of one of these sea-purses, and many are 
 the conjectures regarding their true nature. The 
 specimens found on the sand are usually dry and 
 split in the purse portion, showing nothing within ; 
 
 ' SEA-PURSE.' 
 
 but when freshly drawn from the sea-weed to 
 which they were at one time firmly attached, they 
 contain each a solitary egg, or, if development has 
 proceeded sufficiently far, an embryo in place 
 of the egg. This embryo is the young of the 
 skate or ray, that common representative of the 
 shark tribe of fishes, whose broad fleshy masses, 
 with a grinning mouth on the under surface, are 
 120 
 
SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 
 
 frequently exposed on our market-stalls. The 
 purse, or < shark-barrow,' as it is termed in Eng- 
 land, is the egg-capsule of this singular creature, 
 by whom it is deposited in the forest of sea-weed, 
 to be there safely anchored by one or more of its 
 filamentous processes. 
 
 The rays or skates (Kaia) are not uncommon 
 along our coast, where they occupy the bottom 
 water, skimming about just over the sand or mud. 
 Their flabby masses are occasionally stranded on 
 the beach, where they are soon picked to pieces by 
 the ever-watchful sea-fowl in search of such deli- 
 cacies. Of the remaining cartilaginous skeleton, 
 the jaws, whose small pavement-like teeth emi- 
 nently serve the purposes of grinding, generally 
 remain the longest, and are often found still at- 
 tached to each other when nothing else remains. 
 
 Somewhat similar jaws, but with the teeth sharp 
 and pointed, instead of flat and pavement-like as 
 in the rays, are the belongings of true sharks, sev- 
 eral species of which wander about our shores. The 
 commonest of these is the sand-shark or shovel- 
 nose ( Carcharias Americanus), an exceedingly vora- 
 cious animal, measuring when full grown some 
 six or seven feet. The teeth are sharp and awl-like, 
 whence the name Odontaspis applied to the genus 
 by many naturalists. In the majority of the sharks 
 the teeth are disposed in several distinct series, but 
 only those of the outer row are functional at any 
 one time. When these are lost they are imme- 
 diately replaced by the teeth of the second series, 
 which, as well as the remaining teeth, are articu- 
 v 11 
 
122 SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 
 
 lated to the jaw in such a manner as to permit of 
 their erection when necessary. In this manner the 
 different series are successively brought into play. 
 
 It is impossible in the scope of a work of this 
 kind to enter into anything like a general descrip- 
 tion of the New Jersey coast fishes, since their his- 
 tory is largely the history of the fishes of the 
 entire Atlantic border. But reference to a few of 
 the more striking forms such, more particularly, 
 as by their peculiar outlines are apt to attract at- 
 tention may not be amiss in this place. One of 
 these is the toad-fish (Batrachus tau), a rather fierce 
 
 TOAD-FISH. 
 
 and repulsive-looking animal, having somewhat the 
 appearance of a toad, whence its name. The de- 
 termination with which it holds on to any object 
 that it may have seized has given to it the name 
 of ' sea bull-dog.' It inhabits largely the oyster- 
 beds, where the young make free use of the empty 
 shells for their domiciles. 
 
 The fishing-frog (Lophius piscatorius\ also so 
 called from its resemblance to a batrachian, but 
 
SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 123 
 
 representing a family very distinct from that of 
 the toad-fish, is certainly one of the most interest- 
 ing of the coast-fishes. Its greatly expanded body 
 and head, with broad transverse mouth whence 
 the names ' kettle-maw,' ' wide-gut/ < all-mouth/ 
 etc. and the peculiar ' angling' appendages rising 
 from the back, impart to the animal an individ- 
 uality which is, to say the least, striking. It was 
 the supposition of the earlier naturalists a suppo- 
 sition, doubtless, resting chiefly upon a fable that 
 
 FISHING-FROG (ANGLER). 
 
 had been handed down from antiquity that the 
 purpose of the foremost of the filiform append- 
 ages on the back was the securing of food, the fish 
 being actually credited with a knowledge of the 
 art of angling. Hence to this day it is still com- 
 monly known as the ' angler.' But there can be 
 little doubt that these peculiar whips, as well as the 
 various other membranous appendages that belong 
 to the body, and the coloring of the surface, are 
 
124 SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 
 
 part of a scheme of general deception by which 
 the animal succeeds in making itself almost undis- 
 tinguishable among the rocks and grasses which it 
 inhabits. 
 
 The angler is an exceptionally voracious fish, its 
 ungovernable appetite being well ministered to by 
 a superabundance of mouth and stomach. It is 
 stated on authority that seven wild ducks have been 
 taken from the stomach of a single one of these 
 animals. The eggs are deposited in a long float- 
 ing gelatinous ribbon measuring some thirty feet or 
 more in length, and weighing, it is said, as much 
 as forty pounds. 
 
 The < moon-fishes' (Selene) and * dollar-fishes' 
 (Yomer), which can be recognized by their rounded 
 and greatly compressed upright bodies, are inter- 
 esting little animals, much appreciated for their 
 brilliant sheen. 
 
 There are a number of long-beaked fishes found 
 on the coast, one or more of which can generally 
 be picked up in the grass-covered shoals that ex- 
 tend along a part of the shore. Among the better- 
 known of these are the pipe-fishes (Siphostoma) 
 and sea-horses (Hippocampus), which differ princi- 
 pally from one another in the shape of the body, 
 the former being greatly elongated, while the latter 
 is gracefully flexed or coiled, the head and anterior 
 part of the body recalling the knight of the chess- 
 board. The males of both species are provided 
 with peculiar pouches placed on the under surface 
 of the body, in which the eggs, deposited there by 
 
SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 
 
 125 
 
 the female, are cared for. The pipe-fishes are 
 rather slow in their movements, and can be readily 
 picked up by the hand or net ; they are 
 frequently stranded. 
 
 Of comparative rarity with us, al- 
 though more abundant in the s@uthern 
 waters, is the tobacco-pipe fish (Fistularia 
 tabaccarm), which can be immediately 
 distinguished from the pipe-fish proper 
 by its generally flexible body, its greatly 
 elongated beak, and the singular lash-like 
 tail. 
 
 A widely differing form, but yet char- 
 acterized by a prominent beak, is the half- 
 bill (Hemiramphus), 
 so called from the 
 unequal development 
 of the two jaws, the 
 lower one alone being 
 specially elongated. 
 Here also belong the 
 gar-fishes or thread- 
 fishes (Belone). 
 
 The two remain- 
 ing forms with which 
 we close our sketch 
 of some of the more 
 striking of the New 
 Jersey coast fishes 
 are known as puffers, from the habit they have of 
 inflating their bodies by rapid inspirations, whether 
 of air or of water. The swell-toad or egg-fish 
 
 11* 
 
 SEA-HORSE. 
 
 PIPE-FISH. 
 
126 
 
 SOME COASTWISE FISHES. 
 
 (Tetrodon turgidus) is an interesting little animal, 
 very common on some parts of the Atlantic coast. 
 When hauled from the water it immediately in- 
 flates itself, and sometimes several inflations, ac- 
 
 SWELL-TOAD (PUFFEE). 
 
 companied by as many collapses, will follow one 
 another in rapid succession. This procedure is 
 especially noticeable when the animal is irritated. 
 Of much larger dimensions, and strongly armed 
 
 ZEBRA-FISH (RABBIT-FISH). 
 
 with spines, are the porcupine-fishes (Diodon) and 
 the rabbit-fishes (Chilomycterus), the latter beauti- 
 fully ornamented with regular wavy lines and spots 
 of a dark color. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acorn-shell, 106. 
 Actinia, 69. 
 Alcyonidium, 112. 
 Amorcecium, 58. 
 Amphitrite, 108. 
 Angler, 123. 
 Anomia, 47. 
 Arbacia, 77. 
 Argonaut, 15. 
 Ark-shell, 50. 
 Asterias, 73. 
 Astrangia, 72. 
 Auger-shell, 29. 
 Aurelia, 66. 
 
 Balanus, 106. 
 Barnacles, 102. 
 Batrachus, 122. 
 Beach-flea, 95. 
 Belone, 125. 
 Birgo, 85. 
 Boltenia, 56. 
 Bopyrus, 96. 
 Botryllus, 57. 
 Brittle-stars, 75. 
 Buccinum, 20. 
 Bugula, 112. 
 
 Calamary, 9. 
 Callinectes, 85. 
 Campanularia, 82. 
 Cancer, 85. 
 
 Caprella, 96. 
 Carcharias, 121. 
 Caudina, 80. 
 Cerianthus, 71. 
 Chalina, 115. 
 Chilomycterus, 126. 
 Cirratulus, 108. 
 Clam, 32. 
 Cliona, 115. 
 Corals, 71. 
 Coronula, 107. 
 Crabs, 81. 
 Crangon, 94. 
 Crepidula, 30. 
 Crisia, 113 
 Crucible-shell, 32, 
 Ctenophora, 67. 
 Cuttle-fishes, 8. 
 Cyanea, 65. 
 Cynthia, 56. 
 
 Dactylometra, 64. 
 Diodon, 126. 
 Diplothyra, 40. 
 Dog-whelk, 21. 
 Dollar-fish, 124. 
 Donax, 44. 
 Drill, 30. 
 
 Echinarachnius, 76. 
 Egg-fish, 125. 
 Escharina, 111. 
 
 127 
 
128 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Euchone, 108. 
 Eunice, 108. 
 Eupagurus, 92. 
 
 Feather-stars, 75. 
 Fiddler-crab, 81. 
 Fishes, 120. 
 Fishing-frog, 122. 
 Fistularia, 125. 
 Flustra, 112. 
 Foraminifera, 116. 
 Fulgur, 17. 
 
 Gammarus, 96. 
 Gebia, 93. 
 Gelasimus, 84. 
 Goose barnacles, 104. 
 
 Halcampa, 71. 
 Half-bill, 125. 
 Hemiramphus, 125. 
 Hermit-crabs, 89. 
 Hippa, 95. 
 Hippocampus, 124. 
 Hoppers, 95. 
 Horse-muscle, 52. 
 Horseshoe crab, 99. 
 Hydractinia, 24. 
 
 Idotea, 97. 
 Jelly-fishes, 63. 
 King-crab, 99. 
 
 Lace-corals, 111. 
 Lepas, 106. 
 Limnoria, 97. 
 Limulus, 101. 
 Littorina, 24. 
 
 Lobster, 93. 
 Loligo, 9. 
 Lophius, 122. 
 Lumbriconereis, 108. 
 
 Mactra, 34. 
 Medusae, 63. 
 Megalops, 86. 
 Melampus, 31. 
 Mellita, 77. 
 Membranipora, 112. 
 Metridium, 70. 
 Microscionia, 115. 
 Modiola, 52. 
 Mole-crab, 95. 
 Molgula, 55. 
 Moon-fish, 124. 
 Moss-polyps, 110. 
 Muscle, 51. 
 Mya, 36. 
 Mysis, 94. 
 Mytilus, 61. 
 
 Nassa, 21. 
 Natica, 27. 
 Nautilus, 14. 
 Nereis, 108. 
 Nonionina, 119. 
 Nucula, 50. 
 
 Obelia, 62. 
 Ocypoda, 87. 
 Ommastrephes, 12. 
 Ophiura, 75. 
 Opossum-shrimp, 94. 
 Orchestia, 95. 
 Oyster, 45. 
 
 Palaemon, 94. 
 Pandora, 44. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 129 
 
 Panopeus, 88. 
 
 Sea-anemones, 68. 
 
 Parypha, 62. 
 
 Sea-bread, 115. 
 
 Pear-conch, 17. 
 
 Sea-cracker, 115. 
 
 Pecten, 48. 
 
 Sea-cucumbers, 78. 
 
 Pedicellina, 113. 
 
 Sea-eggs, 75. 
 
 Pennaria, 60. 
 
 Sea-fir, 59. 
 
 Periwinkle, 24. 
 
 Sea-horse, 124. 
 
 Petricola, 37. 
 
 Sea- peach, 56. 
 
 Pholas, 39. 
 
 Sea-pear, 56. 
 
 Physalia, 66. 
 
 Sea-pork, 67. 
 
 Pinnotheres, 88. 
 
 Sea-purses, 120. 
 
 Pipe-fish, 124. 
 
 Sea-spider, 88, 102. 
 
 Platyonichus, 85. 
 
 Sea-urchins, 75. 
 
 Pleurobrachia, 67. 
 
 Selene, 124. 
 
 Polyps, 58. 
 
 Sepiola, 13. 
 
 Porcupine-fish, 126. 
 
 Serpula, 109. 
 
 Porpita, 66. 
 
 Sertularia, 59. 
 
 Portuguese man-of-war, 66. 
 
 Sesarme, 87. 
 
 Prawns, 93. 
 
 Sharks, 121. 
 
 Psolus, 79. 
 
 Ship- worm, 40. 
 
 Puffer, 125. 
 
 Shrimps, 93. 
 
 Purple, 30. 
 
 Siphostoma, 124. 
 
 Purpura, 30. 
 
 Sipunculus, 110. 
 
 Pycnogonoids, 102. 
 
 Skate, 120. 
 
 
 Slipper-limpet, 30. 
 
 Quahog, 35. 
 
 Solecurtus, 44. 
 
 
 Solen, 42. 
 
 Rabbit-fish, 126. 
 
 Spirorbis, 110. 
 
 Kay, 120. 
 
 Spirula, 14. 
 
 Eazor-fish, 42. 
 
 Sponges, 114. 
 
 Eotalia, 118. 
 
 Squid, 9. 
 
 
 Squill, 97. 
 
 Sagartia, 71. 
 
 Squirts, 55. 
 
 Sagitta, 110. 
 
 Star-fishes, 73. 
 
 Sand-clam, 36. 
 
 Stenosoma, 97. 
 
 Sand-dollar, 75. 
 
 Strongylocentrotus, 77. 
 
 Sand-flea, 95. 
 
 Suberites, 115. 
 
 Saxicava, 42. 
 
 Surf-clam, 34. 
 
 Scalaria, 30. 
 
 Swell-toad, 125. 
 
 Scallop, 48. 
 i 
 
 Synapta, 78. 
 
130 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Talorchestia, 96. 
 Tellina, 44. 
 Terebra, 29. 
 Teredo, 40. 
 Tetrodon, 126. 
 Thread-fish, 125. 
 Toad-fish, 122. 
 Tobacco-pipe fish, 125. 
 Tubularia, 61. 
 Tunicates, 55. 
 
 Urosalpinx, 30. 
 Velella, 66. 
 
 Venus, 34. 
 Vomer, 124. 
 
 Wedge-shell, 44. 
 Wentletrap, 30. 
 Whelk, 20. 
 Worms, 108. 
 
 Xylotrya, 42. 
 Yoldia, 50. 
 
 Zebra-fish, 126. 
 Zoea, 86. 
 
 THE END. 
 
BY THE AUTHOR OK THIS VOLUMES. 
 
 TOWN GEOLOGY: 
 
 THE LESSON OF THE PHILADELPHIA ROCKS. 
 
 STUDIES OF NATURE ALONG THE HIGHWAYS AND AMONG THE 
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