The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-10-10

" engaged IN chasing a corpulent
rat; she circled around her cage IN
unmistakable agitation, after rising
to her full height, but had 50 far
only succeeded in biting off the
the tail of her victim. The rattle
snakes fastened towards the light.
whilst several adders, notwithstand
that the lanterns were held quite
close to them remained perfectly
m~Otionless.
The Fish Aquariums presented
an exceedingly interesting picture.
How and when DO fishes sleep ?
This question according to the OBJ
servations we made. must be vari-
ously answered. We noticed dis
timely that in several e the isola-
ted vessels sleeping and waking
were about evenly divided. The
gigantic conger eel was slowly and
l~aborously moving along the heavy
front Of lis tank. Goldfish and
founders we're lodging about with
the utmost sprightliness. OF
the others, stcrlets, Dream. gray
lings, lump-fish, perch sea-bass,
pike, etc.. a part were awake: 9TH
ers lay still, without the slightest
movement Of the fins. on the bot
tom Of the pond in which they are
kept, or on receding lodges of rock.
The sleeping s~ea-hares had fas-
tened themselves to the glass walls
or to rock, so as to better obtain
rest. The sudden appearance of
the light had Il peculiar effect on
them. The majority of the sleep
ers awoke and swan forward to
CRAFTY their curiosity and stare a
long time ut their unexpected yisi-
tors. The numerous sharks. of
the different genera, closed their
cat-like eyes and remained quiet,
but a large family of SUBSCRIPTIONS
were seized with yeritable terror;
with visible fear they shot through
the water, overturMing each other
in their haste to bury themselves
in the sand. In a few minutes, in
consequence Of the quanty of sand
they had stirred up, their tank was
yelled in impenetrable gray.
The crustacea, the ''insects of the
ocean," were the next to surprise
us. Frightened up out Of their
sleep, the first to leave their rest
ing-place to get acloser view Of our
lights, are the Holsters; they are
followed by crawfish, crabs and
sea-spiders. In closely observing
them, in the darkness, we made
the remarkable discovery that the
helmeted eyes of the crustacea
shine similarly to glow-worms. OF
many fearful individuals, here and
there, we can only see the two
round fire-spots glittering from be
meath a dark stone.
\ picture more full of chains
than that presented by the basin
containing the hundreds of shrimp,
could hardly be found in the whole
wide domain of nature. These tiny,
almost transparent creatures. as
soon as they espied the light, drew
back into the darkest regions of
their homes. There in dense col
umns, they lay together on the
bottom, their counties glowing eyes
glittering like the starry heavens
of a tropical night. Suddenly, as
if upon a preconcerted signal, the
whole fiery army rushes to the front
to take by storm the source Of the
light. Their courage fails them,
however, and they retreat with equal
swi tness. For perhaps half an
hour we watched this charming
play, and then reluctantly tore
ourselves away.
The much admired tintenfish
Octopus rulgm'is) loosened him
self for a moment from his self
built castle, and dreamily stretched
out his ~feelers towards. us, but
soon, with sparkling eyes, timor-
ously drew himself back.
If the spectacle Of the shrimps
had delighted U.s., we were fairly
transported by the sight Of the
zoophytes.
Never before had | been so deep
ly impressed by Goethe's words:
*"lhr allie fuhlt geheimes Wirken
Der ewig waltenden Natur,
IND Won die untersten Bezirken
Schwingt SIGH hinauf lebendige
Spur"
The second morning hour had long
since passed when the gates were
again opened to allow us to depart.
Sleep, into whose realm we had so
lnqulsltlvely entered, seemed de-