-
Articles/Ads
Article Untitled Article ← Page 5 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
further gifted with the power of distending it to a size , nearly equalling that of-its shell—but how * is this effected ? It has a tube , opening just within the mouth , which conveys to the foot the water by which the animal is enabled to distend it —thus the size of the boring auger becomes so nearly equal to that of the shells ^
that "the solid point or bit first entering the sand , in time , by rotatory motions oft repeated , works a burrow that receives the shell , and the animal is buried with only the extremity of its syphon emerging . How admirable is this contrivance of Divine wisdom to enable it to bury its shell , which it could scarcely otherwise accomplish . "
Enough of Cardium edule . The mysterious sea produces other wonders for the observant eye of the naturalist . Ocean has , as well as land , its gay flowers ; and on the shores of Torbay , and the sands of the Isle of "Wi ght , may he picked up wreaths of wrack and oarweed tangle , the zostera , and a thousand other sea-weeds , fern and
lichen-like ; crimson and yellow , and emerald green , and delicate white ; some like the fairy trees of some fairy forest in the heart of Germany , where the eye of mortal has not yet-been permitted to wander . Who is not envious of the sea-nymphs , the mermen and mermaids that wander among crystal and coral mansions , for ever listening to the songs of the choir of Amphitrite ?
Perhaps the most curious tribe of animals that inhabit the ocean are the polypes , in which are the jelly-fish , whose name we have mentioned before . The most imperfect are the sponges : many seem to possess only the power of motion and respiration . They are constructed so as to attach themselves to objects which fioat by them , upon which they glue themselves , or , as some suppose , adhere by means of minute suckers . It was observed by Trembley , that when
the common polype of fresh water touched any little animal with one of its long tentacular arms , it was immediately arrested , and in spite of the most violent efforts to liberate itself , which he compares to those of a fish that had been hooked , was held fast , and carried to the mouth of the polype , and swallowed . Many of the polypes resemble plants , having as it were long branches with flowers , possessing calyx and petals .
There are other animals , however , of another class , no less wonderful than the polypes , and in some manner resembling them , possessing , for instance , long arms , with which , when sailing about in the ocean , they suck in their prey . This class to which we refer , lias been denominated by Cuvicr , Cephalopoda , and they were thus named because their feelers are attached to their head . The most
powerful and singular of this order is the cuttle-fish , whose body yields us pounce . "With the description of this wonderful fish , as given by Kirby , in his Treatise , we must conclude this paper : —Its mouth is surrounded by eight long fleshy arms , or rather legs , somewhat conical in shape , and acute at the end , moved by innumerable
nerves , furnished from numerous ganglions ; these legs can bind in any direction , as with the utmost vigour and activity ; their surface is furnished with many suckers , by which they can fix themselves strongly to anything they wish to lay hold of , and by means of which , like the starfish , they can move from place to place . When this
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
further gifted with the power of distending it to a size , nearly equalling that of-its shell—but how * is this effected ? It has a tube , opening just within the mouth , which conveys to the foot the water by which the animal is enabled to distend it —thus the size of the boring auger becomes so nearly equal to that of the shells ^
that "the solid point or bit first entering the sand , in time , by rotatory motions oft repeated , works a burrow that receives the shell , and the animal is buried with only the extremity of its syphon emerging . How admirable is this contrivance of Divine wisdom to enable it to bury its shell , which it could scarcely otherwise accomplish . "
Enough of Cardium edule . The mysterious sea produces other wonders for the observant eye of the naturalist . Ocean has , as well as land , its gay flowers ; and on the shores of Torbay , and the sands of the Isle of "Wi ght , may he picked up wreaths of wrack and oarweed tangle , the zostera , and a thousand other sea-weeds , fern and
lichen-like ; crimson and yellow , and emerald green , and delicate white ; some like the fairy trees of some fairy forest in the heart of Germany , where the eye of mortal has not yet-been permitted to wander . Who is not envious of the sea-nymphs , the mermen and mermaids that wander among crystal and coral mansions , for ever listening to the songs of the choir of Amphitrite ?
Perhaps the most curious tribe of animals that inhabit the ocean are the polypes , in which are the jelly-fish , whose name we have mentioned before . The most imperfect are the sponges : many seem to possess only the power of motion and respiration . They are constructed so as to attach themselves to objects which fioat by them , upon which they glue themselves , or , as some suppose , adhere by means of minute suckers . It was observed by Trembley , that when
the common polype of fresh water touched any little animal with one of its long tentacular arms , it was immediately arrested , and in spite of the most violent efforts to liberate itself , which he compares to those of a fish that had been hooked , was held fast , and carried to the mouth of the polype , and swallowed . Many of the polypes resemble plants , having as it were long branches with flowers , possessing calyx and petals .
There are other animals , however , of another class , no less wonderful than the polypes , and in some manner resembling them , possessing , for instance , long arms , with which , when sailing about in the ocean , they suck in their prey . This class to which we refer , lias been denominated by Cuvicr , Cephalopoda , and they were thus named because their feelers are attached to their head . The most
powerful and singular of this order is the cuttle-fish , whose body yields us pounce . "With the description of this wonderful fish , as given by Kirby , in his Treatise , we must conclude this paper : —Its mouth is surrounded by eight long fleshy arms , or rather legs , somewhat conical in shape , and acute at the end , moved by innumerable
nerves , furnished from numerous ganglions ; these legs can bind in any direction , as with the utmost vigour and activity ; their surface is furnished with many suckers , by which they can fix themselves strongly to anything they wish to lay hold of , and by means of which , like the starfish , they can move from place to place . When this