The St. Mary banner., 1910-01-01

the sandy stretch Of the crescent
beach and dive and splutter and
| rplash-and Boy is learning to swim
One morning | was idly floating on
the soft ripples not far from shore
when something bumped against my
side. l hastily scrambled to my feet
ard made off for a safe point Of OBJ
seryation. | saw a round, black, gro
tesque object padding along in the
water, and called to father and Boy
| to look. They at once exclaimed in
| chorus: a horseshoe crab, A horse
| shoe crab,"
This was a great find and We all
| squatted tailorwise in our wet bath
| ing suits on the warm sand and had
a lesson in horseshoe crab, and many
curious and interesting things we
| learned about him. He is a very odd
| fellow indeed when you get acquaint-
| ed with him.
| First CT all, he is not crab at all.
but more closely related to the spi-
ders and scorpions. lie is the last of
very cid family who iourished in
brothers and cousins and aunts and
uncles died in the long ago, and he
alone remains to keep up the family
history.
AS we laid this relic of an ancien race
out on the bench, we saw to our sur
prise, a little way out in the water,
what was either his friend, relative
or companion swimming rapidly tow
ard the shore. This was rare good
luck. We got him, laid them side by
side on the yellow sand and took
their pictures. We turned them on
their backs SO they would throw up
their hard, spikeike tails and wave
their funny leafike legs about.
How many legs, Boy?' asked father.
Seven pair
Anything queer about the last
pair?"
Yes, they look like paddles" an
swered Boy.
Well said father, that's just
what they are. Next to the last pair
are feelers. The front legs he uses
to draw in his food. This food is
chewed in the queerest sort Of way.
He has a funny mouth, formed by
bristles fastened to the bases Of his
legs. By rubbing these bristles togeth-
er he grinds up his food and prepares
it for his stomach. Back OF his legs,
Boy, you can see the gills, the large
leafiike folds through which he
breathes in the water. So much for
the under side of Mr.. Crab. Now, shall
we turn him over and see what We can
find on his outer shell? Well, Boy,
what do you see?"
Here are two eyes"
Sure enough said father, ''and
right in the middle of his forehead we
shall find two more little eyes. Do you
remember, Boy, in the story of
Ulysses, that he met terrible giant
with an eye in the middle of his fore
head? What was his name?"
"Cyclops,' said Boy promptly.
Yes, but what else?"
After moments thought Boy said |
slowly:
"Polly-something.'
les, Sdlt ldiueI, fOlN pHtLuS- |
Now Polyphemus is this fellows name. |
And his first name is Limulus. You !
can remember this name because he
has so many limbs. Then you will /
have no trouble to say his real name,
LimuIus Polyphemus.
Now, | am going to tell you about /
this fellow when he first comes into |
the world. His father and mother come
up on the beach together and dig a
hole with their nipperiike claws and
the mother lays her eggs in this hole. |
In a month or so little Limnlus Poly
phemus comes out At first he does
not like his father and mother at all,
but like his grcat-great- -GTeat-great
grandfather and grandmother, who
lived way back in the coal age. and
whose skeletons we find i'll the rocks
and call trilobites.
"As this little fellow grows he be-
comes more and more like his own
father and mother and gets a shell
like a horseshoe and a tail like
spike, and he begins to live in the
water and swim about. In his turn he
means to raise a family of little trilo-
bites of his own that Will one day
grow up into his horseshoes. Thus
the last Of this race of ancient mon
sters SENS likely to be with US for
sters seems likely to come. Helen ..
Schoonhoven in the New York Tri-
bune.
Brazil is the ee-growing country