denly switch on the light, I surprised it in the act 

 of swimming or generally roaming around the 

 tank. Later familiarity with kindred and other 

 members of its class revealed that the group as a 

 whole is probably altogether nocturnal in habits; 

 or, which amounts to the same thing, in all their 

 adult activities such as searching for a meal or a 

 mate, they seem to carry on, so to say, under the 

 cover of darkness, always shunning the light of 

 the sun. It may also be pointed out here, in passing, 

 that these animals are normally the inhabitants of 

 the deeper water, their chance presence in the shal- 

 lows near the shore being largely the result of 

 storms or of strong wind-driven tides; conse- 

 quently, living, and having lived for ages, as they 

 do, in a habitat naturally dark or gloomy, they 

 have inherited strong instincts, thus reacting nega- 

 tively to light, knowing that when in the presence 

 of bright day they are far from the protective ob- 

 scurity which is theirs in the nether-grayness of 

 their native depths. 



Having now the dead serpent-star on my hands, 

 I proceeded at once to pickle it in preparation for 

 a minute and careful examination; and nightly 

 thereafter, for the space of several weeks (for my 



[55] 



