McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1916-06-30

Aao Soi 10 q t0s uioi HiS Aw oy h'"A, Oh"
while worthless 10 eat, he kills other
fish. The sign on the tank said the
catfish carry their young in their
mouths till they are ready to swim.
The best fish ever ate was yellow
catfish of the Tennessee river, but
there was none in this collection.
Upstairs was another row of tanks
all round the big building and it
would take hours to describe what
there is to be seen there. Swimming
round in their native element were
the wonderful angel-fsh of the Azores.
some Of them as blue as indigo, and
Others with violet and pearly tints
changing into delicate blue and pink
as they turned around; the parrot
fish Of the southern seas, with bony
mouth that was open as if laughing
all the time; the COW fish, trunk fish
and buffers, with eyes that had colors
in them that | had never seen before.
flashing like Mexican fire-opals, and
when the light struck them shading
off into emerald and sapphire colors
beautiful beyond description. The
spade fish, ladder fish, the green mo-
ray from the Bahamas looking like a
water moccasin; the toad-fsh with
cruel spotted eyes and deformed body
looking like floating nightmare; the
stately Goldfish, most valuable of all
food-fshes used by man Zoo million
pounds are consumed annually;
sheepshead, hog-fsh, snapper, drum
(which makes peculiar noise, said.
to be caused by the rubbing together
Of two extremely hard bones in its
head; the hippocamp or sea-horse,
about two inches long, its tail wrap
ped around seaweed, but its head
looking wonderfully like a horse;
horseshoe crabs, Holsters, craw-fsh,
bass, perch, sun-fsh jewish (if |
were Jew | would hit somebody for
naming that fish after me, for it looks
like descendant Of Old Scratch, and
a long line of other fnny specimens,
almost made me taste fish before |
got through looking at them. There
were pictures of the fishes of the Ha.-
waiian Islands as gaudy as flowers,
and Of all the strange shapes you
could imagine. looked for a speci-
men of the Brazilian piranna, of the
Para and Amazon rivers, which is so
fierce that specimen two feet long
has been known to kill a man. for it
is hungry for human blood. and with
its razor-like teeth and lightning
movements will cut vein as soon as
man steps into the water. The pi-
rama was not on exhibition. He is
one of Roosevelt's discoveries.
1t is no light job to find proper
food for all these different fishes,
which are looked after by the Society
of Natural History. The tiny ladder
fish from Brazil that is so thin that
when he faces you he looks like the
edge Of a card, must have his partic-
ular grub; so must the giant porpoise,
and all the tribes between. And all
done so that the people of New York
can, without price, get glimpse Of
aquatic life, and marvel once more
OF the cunning Of the Hand that
fashioned them all. and 80 many Of
them for our good.
1t is believed that there are mon
sters in the deeper parts Of the
ocean (some places are seven or eight
miles deep) that never come to the
surface. The ribbon fish, living some
miles below the surface, is OCCASION
ally washed ashore on the Pacific
coast, dead from having come out of
the great pressure below. and speci-
mems of abyssal fishes have been found
that carried small electric bulb,
lighted with current from their own
bodies (of course not constructed like
our invention) to light them in those
depths of outer darkness.
In closing | will repeat one verse
Of poem which | translated from
the German, beginning: "Weisst do,
vie viel Muecklein spielen in der
heissen Sonnengluth?"
Can you count the insects flying
In the sunhght's pleasant glow,
And the fishes that are lying
Where the crystal waters flow?
God the Lord their wisdom taught them
When into the world He brought them
And gave unto each his joy.
LINDSAY S. PERKINS.