FISH PARADOXES. 253 



by emitting tones, was known to Aristotle, who speci- 

 fies six different kinds ; and Johannes von Miiller has 

 recently collected the literature of this subject in an 

 interesting essay,* in which, after giving his own ob- 

 servations, he explains the mechanism by which the 

 sounds are produced. 



To these, recent researches have added facts even 

 more amazing to the systematic mind, namely, that 

 there are fish which normally are double-sexed ; and 

 at least one species which undergoes metamorplioses 

 similar to the metamorphoses of reptiles. -|- 



But we must not linger over the fish, when so many 

 other animals call for notice. The Actiniae distributed 

 among these vases and pie-dishes will convey some 

 idea of the wealth of Scilly in such creatures. Here 

 are Gems and Daisies, Antheas and the lovely " orange- 

 disked," by Gosse named Venusta. The Crassicornis, 

 you observe, is represented in every variety of splen- 

 dour. Here is one with a rich green body and white 

 tentacles; here another with dark -red body and bufi" 

 tentacles ; a fourth presents his scarlet beauty to our 

 gaze ; a fifth is ravishing with carnation tentacles 

 barred with white. Here is a tiny Actinia nivea. 

 Here are three of a species new to me. They stand 

 an inch and a half in height, with a tendency to elon- 

 gate themselves still further. They have but one row 



* Muller's Archiv fur Anat. u. Phi/s. : 1857, p. 249. 



f For the first of these, see the researches of M. Dufosse in the 

 Annales des Sciences Naiurelles, 1857 ; for the metamorphosis of the 

 Ammocete into the Lamprey, see Miiller s Archiv fur Anat. v,, Phys. : 

 1856, p. 323. 



