The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1890-05-03
WONDERS OF THE SEA.
Facts About Sea- Urchins, Star-Fish and
Other Queer Creatures.

ractt ABOUT sea- Urch1ns, Star-F1sh and
Other Queer Creatures.
1t Is noe surprising thai the man Of
science, living in world of wonders, gaz-
ing always eagerly through the microscope
Or telescope, should differ from the common
folk whose eyes look out languidly upon life
through a natural or corrective lens. The
naturalist particularly, amid the maryes Of
field, forest, swamp and shore, finding
stimulus every day to his worship of the
great mystery, reverts to the feelings of
childhood. His supreme sense of the sub
lime felt in the contemplation Of the mere
classified thousands accessible to him
among the infinite millions of living things
this sense is never jaded. Man may be a
proper, but he is not the only study of man
kind; and it is well for us now and then to
be as little children and listen open-eyed to
the schoolmaster telling the things we once
knew but have forgotten.
There is the sea-urchin to begin with.
says the Chicago Times. 1t looks like
chestnut-burr and is commonly called the
sea-chestnut, but it is fish and has 1000
teet known as the "ambulacrar' feet. Their
arrangement permits the urchin to progress
in any direction. At the base of each con-
tractile tube there is sac, acting as a
reservoir Of water. II the urchin wishes to
march this sac contracts, the ambulacral
foot is distended with water, something
like the finger Of glove if you blow into 1t,
the sucker at the end is fixed on the ground,
the other ambulacral feet repeat the opera
ton, and the urchin is out for a walk. This
creature, SO fragile in appearance, is never
theless able, on rocky coasts where the surf
is violent, to pierce the hardest stones and
70 excavate lodging for itself, even in
granite.
Inc star-f1sh we know so well is kin
ureo creature equally amazing. The white
part IN the center of it is the stomach. At
hrst sight 1t has the appearance Of trans.
parent mass divided into five equal parts,
and yet it grinds with the power of a gig
zard. M. Beaugrand tells of the devasta.
uon committed by star-fishes on a bed of
mussels. They had settled on them by
millions. All the rocks were covered with
them, and from little way off appeared
quite red. When star-tish wanted it's
breakfast it came dragging along by the
ald OF its ambulacral feet and rested it's
stomach on the hinge joint of the shells of a
mussel In few minutes, by the action of
the gastric juices, the muscles of the hinge
were dissolved, the stomach penetrated be-
tween the shells of the mussel and carried on
there suction so powerful that in brief
time nothing remained of the mussel. The
foot itself, although so difficult % detach.
shared the same fate as thu. $ther parts
Ihe stomach OF the ogre then returned to
It's normal situation, and the star-fish made
fresh move to satisfy its appetite. So
thoroughly was this done that in the course
OF a few days all the mussels in the locality
were exterminated.
ha
sea- Is the hermit crab, whose very her.
mltage-the shell 1t bears upon its back
lsstolen. ltis shameless parasite, the per-
sonification OF laziness. When still young
1t makes its debut by an assassin alton
Seekinga shell of fitting size it instals it.
self therein, after having devoured the
rightful owner Then it sets out to make
its fortune, pillaging ruthessly on all sides.
When its shell or hermitage becomes too
small it promptly steals another. II am
acquainted," says M Beaugrand, "with
collection In which there is hermit that
was found in the tropics and had taken up
ms abode in great helmet shell, such as
you may see in the window of natural his
ory dealer. The claws Of this hermit meas
uieu more than eight inches" M. Beau
s,ana sis calls the hermit crab "hypocritical
NJ word about the cuttle-fish or sepia.
l.kure 10 yourself bag about three inches
ns' surrounded by broad border. From
a0ns gray and geiatinous body short tube
Sn omes out and above this is a shapeless
a,a'a au, WIN two square eyes cleaning like
.en gold Like the octopus the sepia is
sa;l, akIeat destroyer Of crabs and small fish,
hAhR them with its eight suckers as
t' Gney pass. 1t can change its color
mo,, nt tue chameleon and by very simple
.h. e.hod. In the intestines of the skin
mere are globhles OF various colors, and
~ accordance with the impressions made
", on .ne animal these are expanded or con-
,aac1ed thus producing the strangest ef-
t 'eo's u appears also to have the gift of
.oars. At any rate it is well supplied with
aacnrymal glands. By contracting its tube
ana electing the water contained the cuttle-
,h nsn can rebound with great velocity. Then
mere Is the thick, black ink it elects in self
pro1ectlon. The ancients scarcely knew of
any other ink. Cuvier, M. Beaugrand says,
was the last to put the sepia ink to an i'm
poftant use. As fit whim for scientific
man he made use Of it to write his memoir
y" CephalopOda and make the drawings.
Another willy and knowing fish is the
nshing frog. 1t is very repulsive in ap-
pearance, with broad body and an enor-
nous mouth, surmounted by two long fila