Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-09

Of his expression. You look upon the ILL
favored visage of the toadfish, and pray
that he may have a redeeming quality I'M
suspected-a gentle disposition, perhaps;
but he has it not. He is as bad as he looks
He bites viciously and senselessly and
hangs on with the tenacity of a bulldog.
He comes honestly by his bad qualities.
His entire family are notorious for voracity
and ugliness and to it belongs the only
truly venomous fish. In this species the
spiny rays of the dorsal fins and the spines
on the head have sacs of poison at their
bases and are channeled to permit it's
egress.
Sting Rays.
There are a pair of graceless representa-
tives of another grotesque family in the
two sting rays, which are bad toe, although
about as innocent looking as couple of
buckwheat pancakes, if it were not for the
long, slender tails with their vicious,
barbed spines, with which they are capable
of infiicting most painful lacerations and
are thoroughly hated therefor by the fisher
men. A cousin of these is the electric ray
or torpedo, an animated battery capable of
administering shocks powerful enough to
disable a vigorous man. The spine of the
full-grown sting-ray is often used by saw
ages for tipping their arrows, an adaptation
which reminds one Of the similar use made
OF the tail OF another creature represented
In Uncle Sans tanks, the horseshoe crab
This animal is so completely protected by
the bony cuirass which covers all except
the two soullesS gray eyes set away I'D on
top like the fad windows you often seen on
the roofs Of modern houses, that no por-
ton of his movement" is visible unless he
Is turned bottom side up, situation so Of
1ensiVe to his innate sense Of modesty that
ne Immediately eXtricates himself from it
by using his sharp spike of tail as lever.
But the tail which fops him SO readily
out of one difficulty often gets him into an
other, for it is coveted by the natives of the
East India Islands for pointing their ar
rows and spears, a purpose to which it is
well adapted by Its sharpness and strength.
Stranger Than Fishes.
But the curious things in the fish COM
mission building are too numerous to name.
There are creatures of low organization,
which are Of stranger interest than even
the fishes, especially to visitors reared be.
You'd the smell Of salt water, to whom these
aquaria are often a revelation. There are
beautiful, blossom-like sea anemones and
CruStacea OF half a dozen varieties: lob
sters, lady crabs, spider crabs belliserent
blue crabs and quaint little hermit crabs
carrying about their unwieldy shells, once
the homes of forgotten mollusks, but now
pre-empted by these combative little un-
fortunates whom nature has not provided
with a protection of their own Then there
are the star fsh-called fish with less pro-
priety than duck would be, for they are
In a different subkingdom from that in
which the fishes belong-but strange, grace
full creatures, harmless and innocent-look-
ing, though voracious and terrible enemies
of the oyster. You wonder, in looking at
the frail-appearing animal, by what pos
sibtlity 1t can overcome the exclusive dis
position OF a creature so well secured