The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-11-06

! plainly seen. 1t had been captured
probably by pirates long time ago,
and lost over board in some way, or a
/ vessel had been sunk and entirely gone
to pieces.
al was so impressed" continued She
speaker, ''with the wonders of this
world. under the@Sea that / begauto de-
! wise some Method oferepreducinsS il,
| and I made some attempts at photog-
raphy under water. My appliances
were, crude, and it can hardly be esfied
| q success; but proved that it is possi-
BILE. and [ haven't the slightest 3oubt
but that in few years photographer
can 90 to the bottom and take mega
4 tives of wrecks to show the actual -po-
sitions. etey Not only this, but fishes
J and all the marine animals can be re-
produced exactly. How can it be
done? Well, that is my secret, but of
| course the electric light will be prom
inent feature of such an undertaking.
Zone of the last trips that 1 made on
| the reef was to an old wreck that had
been lying there for perhaps fifty years.
| Went down 70 it at night, and when
1 turned on the electric light I found
myself in curious place. The hull of
the vessel was seemingly complete, but
not a single part of the surface but
what was pierced with holes made by
the ship worm (teredO).y 1 attempted
to step on the wood. and though look
Ii ing solid, nv weighted foot saG into it
like paper, and with Slight push 1
threw over large portion of the old
hulk. The worms had eaten into the
wood and lined their holes with limy
secretion, so that these tubes were all
there was to hold the structure togetf er;
the wood had disappeared. In The
hold great masses of branch coral we're
growing up out of pile that was tnce
the cargo"
GLOW about the fish that crawl out
On dry land?' asked some one. -
"The fish," continued the ratl9alist,
SIS little fellow that looks verg much
like what we call sculpin, although
it has none of the oarbels
and curious appendageS thas charac-
terize those fish. L first noticed
them in the Spice IslanGS when
l was there in 1872. was walking
by the shore one. day at iDw tide
where the beach was formed of dark
mud and weed-covered rocks, when my
companion said, pointing to some small
objects that were hopping along shore
near the water. Isn't il rather queer,
for frogs to 90 with salt water?' 1t 81
so queer that never heard of itNbe-
fore | replied; perhaps it's some
thing new So determined to-find
out what they were, and, taking off our
shoes, we waded in and along the
beach SO as to drive the supposed frogs
ashore. But all at once one started
right up under my eyes and gave a hop
of about foot, and to my astonish-
ment it was fish; and so | announced
to my friend who was behind. He
wouldn't believe me; put when he came
up, there the little creature was, high
and dry, resting on stone, with its
head somewhat raised, on it's ntomi-
nent pectoral fins. | made a Jump for
it and my friend did the same, but
away it went. hopping just like toad,
and for several moments there was q
race between man and fish. We soon
hemmed it in, however, and have it
in my cabinet now. The side fms are
almost arms, and are strong anu pow
erful, and on them the fish rests and
jumps. In Australia. some years ago,
some biologists found some fossil bones
that were pronounced to belong to a
large fish, In,1S76 some one disc0v-
cred the Identical fish alive. 4F
1.-The way they did so is some what |
curious. They were on a hunting trip
up the country, and one night |
camped near small stream. liz the |
middle of the night one of the party !
was awakened by curious barking
sound, and, thinking it might be some |
wild animal after their horses, he |
slipped on his clothes, took a rifle and |
went out. The noise came at regular |
intervals from the river below. and,
taking a narrow path. he started after |
it. The moon was bright, and, when |
he got down to the level of the water, |
he heard the bark and saw large, |
glistening object, and then saw It leap
along or founder through the grass.
Upon this he fired, and to his amaze
ment found that he had shot fish. |
The shot awakened the rest, and the |
creature was brought into camp. Il |
sixfeet long had smalIft
head and enormous scales, while the1
body ended not in fin, but in point |
1t was found that they breathed both
air and water with perfect ease, and !
that when hungry the great fish, which
was a vegetable feeder, would come to
the shore, expel the air that it held in
its air bladder, thus making the bark
ing sound, and wander over the fats
il search of food Cincinnati En-.
qasirer. -r---- I..vr p.