192 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



CHAPTER XX. 



OPHIURUS PLATE-MAIL STAR-FISH. 



WE remember, some years ago, strolling into the 

 parrot-house in the gardens of the Zoological Society, 

 in a very quiet and inoffensive manner as we thought, 

 certainly without the remotest idea of giving umbrage 

 to any of its pretty feathered occupants, when, to our 

 great surprise, our entrance seemed to be the signal 

 for a wild and general disturbance the sound of the 

 tocsin could not have roused an insurrection more 

 uproarious than that produced by the appearance of 

 our (pardon us, gentle reader, if we natter ourselves) 

 by no means repulsive physiognomy; dire was the 

 screaming, fierce the gesticulation of every scansorial 

 biped among them. Parrots, macaws, and cockatoos 

 seemed equally indignant at our intrusion ; and such 

 a clamour as they raised, such a whirlwind of dis- 

 cordant sounds, would certainly have done credit to 

 Babel. Overwhelmed with the noise, deafened with 

 the horrible cacophony, we beat a retreat, and right 

 gladly escaped into the quiet glades of the gardens. 



On our return, after the lapse of an hour or so, 

 finding that all was tranquil within, we again entered 

 the parrot-house, and again were greeted with a 



