Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-19

Among the seaweed washed up on the sea-
shore we may very often find curiousy- shaped
objects Of tough, elastic nature and varying
rlne animals Sharks eggs, generally empty
as the young animal has emerged-are al
ways SINGLE square object, with sharp cor
neTs, and tough, leathery consistence
IL mas been compared to pillow In shape,
and mas at each OF the corners long, slender,
spiral tenarils, which fix themselves to sea;
weed or other objects on the bottom, and
there anchor it until the young shark Is
ready to come out. There is slit at one
end through which this is done, and enables
water to enter for the young fish to breathe
In before it is ready to emerge.
Skates eggs are much Ike those OF the
shark, and have four handles or projections,
shape OF hand-barrow.
Many boy from the interior has puzzled
over these queerly-shaped things, and gen.
orally comes to the conclusion that they y;ds are
have been drifted to our shores.
| Another curious object is the "sea neck
lace string of tough disks as large as
half dollar, strung, together by tough
three feet I'll long, ga and NO no one @ who had not
been told would guess that these were the
egg-cases of the conch shell. They are found
| in great quantity. on our beaches anywhere
south of Cape Cod.
| Another common thing, especially on the
New. Jersey shore, after a storm, is the shell
of the horseshoe or horse-foot crab. This
animal is not really crab, and is not par
ticularly Like one--haying almost exactly the
outline of horses foot, with spike or tail
projecting behind, and a number of feet on
the lower part which have resemblance to
those of crab.
These "horse crabs" grow to great size,
sometimes more than foot wide, with the
| is said that the Indians formerly used these
spikes to tip their spears and arrows with,
and most formidable weapons they would
make: 1t is the hardest part of the animal,
| for the round, full back shell is very thin
and brittle.
| Some Of these shells are found of very
tiny size, but looking exactly like the large
0N These ehts hosrse ssR feet are particularly nu.
Augustine beaches to the north of Cape
May are fairly alive with the young ones,
The curious thing about this animal is that,
a crab, it does not really belong. to that fam
| lily, but is considered by naturalists as rather
allied to the spiders and scorpions,
More than that, it is nearer to shell-fish
history, and are now found ~ fossils, than
to any other living animals.
They are never eaten by men, not being
very inviting, or, indeed, having very much
fond of them, the Jersey farmers using them
in this way, and in still greater numbers as a
fertilizer for their fields.
OF late years this "horse-foot" or "hng
the waters-of the Pacific, upon the coast of
California, probably having been taken among
the "spat" of oysters sent there to plant.
A sharp eye in one who walks along the
seashore will often detect, in pools left by
the tide, or under rocks or stones, that curl
GUS little creature, the hermit crab.
1t may often be seen actively running about
such pools, carrying its house upon. its back,
in the shape of one of the small spiral shells
SO common, and then taking shelter upon any
alarm, closing its mouth OF Its home by means
of the two large claws.
The bodies of these hermit crabs differ
from those Of other crabs in having the hind
er parts soft, compressed and onesided, SO as
to fit into the whorls, or curves of the bor-
rowed shells and near the hinder end h;S are
they the,DDh hold tight into their houses.
Many fish are very fond of these hermit
crabs, and crunch them up, borrowed. shells
and all, when they find them in the eel-grass,
OF some such marine retreat.
We might go on for long time and not
near exhaust the list of things to be seen by
an observer upon the sea beach, but perhaps
we have had enough for the present. We
cannot, however, refrain from mentioning the
"sand-heas." Any one who has walked on
the sea beach in warm weather must have
noticed that the sound of the foot upon the
compact wet sand caused thousands of small,
white, shiny creatures to skip up and hutter
away, much as criekets and grasshoppers do
before one who walks IN a stubble field.
These very active creatures are small crus-
taeeans, called, by scientific people, amphi
pods and besides furnishing food in abund-
ance for many fish and birds, they have
another important use, and that is as scav-
engers.
water mark has not time to decay and faint
the air for these tiny creatures soon eat