The New York herald., 1876-12-24
THE AQUARIUM.
GLIMPsEs OF THE cURIosITIEs AND ODDITIES
OF THE SEA.

GLIMpsEs OF THE cURIosITIEs AND ODDITIES
OF THE SEA.
There is great Temperance establishment AZ the
| corner OF Thirty-nth street and Broadway. at the
Aquarium. There lager beer saloons and whiskey
bars all round IT, probably offset the great quantity
OF water stored this fish exhibition 1t is estimated
that over 60oo dsh swim in the large and small tanks
OF tho Aquarium These fish surpassed only in
interest by the gay throngs OF men, women and chill
dren-but more especially the latter-who come TO
view the living curosites in the tanks II is quite
lively sight afternoon ard evening to The
crowds OF prettily dressed children trooping merry
to the seals fed and TO watch their mrth the
violent usscs OF the three seals for the possession OF
delicate bit OF 1sh thrown them by OF the at
tendant chh yologists Professor Butler pets
among them which he is now educating with much
care was ever lavshed upon tho ot Heidelberg
professor Fanny is being taught to ring with her
ppers the bell which usually that the seals
are about to be fed
'You sca,n said the Professor humorously to the
HERALD's ARCHAEOLOGICAL emissary 'swo paying
an attendant to do this work, and why should do
so when this young lady can be taught TO SIT on her
vcrtebrD and do 1t gratuilously?"
Fanny will be remembered by all who have visited
the Aquarium. She is quite fashionable lady SEAL
She a sealskn jacket which lts her closely
as though 1t had grown upon her.
GRINDER, FaRD.
"Then We have another seal, Fred, call him,
because he has OF warl,ke qualities OF Fred
erick the Great" continued Professor Butler, sand
he is going to perform organ-not a grand
organ but a grind organ. You band is
pensve-t costs us about $50 day-and We might rs
well give one OF our seals musical education and
save the pay Of organ grinder. am training Fred
now in litc tank private box, and III warrant
you before long he will grind organ well tho
bcst Italian organ grinder"
The HERALD's representative inquired why Fred
not taught the piano, which IS more fashionable than
the hand organ, and the proficiency which would
take him into tho best society But It appears
tha. this is reserved for later stage of his musical
education.
MERMAIDs.
Apropos Of the musical SEALS the question at
once, Where the mermads? Alasi there
Mr.. Coup, the manager OF the Aquarium, who
has out expeditions Tor warusscs, sea elephants,
sharks, &C., disdans to search for the mermaid. He
not believe In her existence. However, II is
quite that OF the wonderful chth yologiss
Of the institution who succeeded in implLnting the
divine germ Of music IN even the torpid seal may yet
evolve the mermaid OF some beautcous representa-
tives Of the inny tribe.
SWALLOWING LITTLE SALMON
One OF the funny things which periodically occur at
the Aquarium with the greatest regularity is the In
advertent swallowing OF young salmon by visitors.
There thousands OF tiny, newly hatchca salmon
the Matching troughs which under the supervision
Of Professor Mather Of the Smithsonian Institution
tumbler stands generally at the edge OF tho
up some Of tho tiny specimens OF the
Matching process. Sometimes the tumber
remaius there while, the visitors seeing tho
fresh water flow freely from the brass cocks think
thus Is drinking water, seize the tumbcr and gup |
down its contents both water and salmon, the attcr
beng small as 10 be scarcely observable at casual
glance. One cause for this frequent and ludicrous
mistake also arises from the fact that not visitor
troughs, knows what they until he hears the |
Professors explanation. One Of the most won
Professors microscope, the circulation or the |
blood Of fresh hatchcd salmon about an
inch long. The millions OF intnitesimal rosy corpus
cles in the veins seen TO move with wonderful dis
tnctncss In ac the newy-hatchcd fish IS so trans
parent that the beating OF the heart and circulation Of
the blood can be seen even with the naked eye in |
these troughs. and nothing moro interesting than to
examine the eggs OF salmon, whitelsh and trout |
tiny ycllowish globucs, with their two dark dots for
eyes
THE sAIMoSEsE TWINS
Weall have heard OF the wonderful Siamese twins,
whose autopsy few years ago created a scnsa-
Won throughout the medical world Well, the Aqua
saImoneso twins. They arc two baby salmon.
atched only October 25 and each bearing little red
sac which is the yok OF egg and remains attached
to the abdomen Tor thirty days after hatchng Pro-
fessor Mather says that when oach little twin has alb
sorbcd his sac they two Will be knit together by the
skin They swim sideways. with their faces turned
toward each other-certainly monotonous outlook
for both, Tor they are compelled TO keep their tiny
flows into the circulation OF the other, and
when the one dies the other. must also
Twins The samonese twins have this great advantage
over their Samese eprecursors-while the latter
salmon swimming together, with their faces turned 10
each other and their red sacs knitted INTO one form
the very dantcst and prettiest sight imaginable
microscope inspection shows that tho connecting
vescle Is filed with oil globules arteries and VEINS
Professor Mather expresses the that there is
but little chance OF their living alter the absorption OF
the sac for If they Till that time the abdomens
will stl be joined by the membrane OF the sac and
compelled 10 swim their sides. II will be very dif
cult Tor them to obtain food Some OF the other curt
osiues, which promised US in the salmon Matching
troughs are TWO and three headed salmon
The cxtravagant love OF dress 10 our fair ones has
natural must love of dress decoration the body
be, however, when such horrid things as spidcr
crabs display III Just look at them as they come
crawling along With their brarean they pull of
Of the red or green ag;e Ia the tank and danty
their heads and backs and legs with them They
bavo certain eye Tor colors, too and love TO blend
them In he most appropriate fashion. Now they pull off
a strip OF green seaweed and then little red and then
they twist these quaint ribbons over one another some
times forming quite artistic conlrasts Professor But
ler says there doubt that IT is vanity which i'm
pcls this queer performances; for, after they have
decorated themselves with the variegaed algse they
floating forward TO the very front of the tank
show themselves 10 tie admirers there present.
II win thus be seen how much resemblance there Is
between a spider crab and young lady going To q
bal--both love to show themselves There is another
strange feature in which the resemblance may be
observed just the young lady maturing into matron
lays of the gay dresses ana rinkcts o6 her ball room
days so the vain spider crab II grows older, be-
comes Indifferent 10 even the brightest tinted age
and tsdans trick herself in colors other than those
of her II is only in her 'saad days. that she is
SO drcssy.
HERMIT CRAB PIRATES.
Scarcely less singular than the spider crabs are the
hermit crabs They called hermit crabs probably
from the that their habits the very reverse Of
hormt-ikc, but rather more those OF stroing ban
ditti or pirates Imagine creature which Is going
constantly dspossessing others oil their abodcs
md appropriang their residences 10 theuseves.
This is the hermit crab does. II takes deunct
shell, but very soon considers that u is too small or
humble and INN mcdiatcly serves cjectment writ on
another crab which lives IN larger or more beautiful
shell, and summarily dispossesscs H. The soft
part OF its body beng unprotected the hermit crab
carries shell around It's back until It's covet
ous eyes fail upon another larger or better SHELL when
IL nstaLtly proceeds seize that IL will be seen,
therefore, that Mr. Coups hermit crabs are somewhat
OF the nature oil southern carpet baggers But these
crustaccap marauders are MS rcsourceul as clam.
bcicd Yankcethcy Will take hold OF anything in the
.-la 4.alx. lIaI-a