It seems that while the authors were in accord 

 as to what happened millions of years past, they 

 were somewhat disagreed as to what was taking 

 place seemingly under their eyes. One confidently 

 asserted that dead fishes and mollusks form their 

 chief food, while another with equal certainty 

 maintained that they live mostly on plants. From 

 this I guessed that the truth lay somewhere be- 

 tween; and I set about to make that truth my first 

 objective. 



This initial step in the program was also one of 

 expediency. If my lone serpent-star of the tub was 

 to be studied as a living animal, it was necessary to 

 learn how to feed it. But notwithstanding the ten- 

 der solicitude with which its welfare was watched 

 over, it died within twelve hours. The choicest 

 variety of food ever set before an invertebrate was 

 set before it — fish flakes, crab meat, small crusta- 

 ceans, minced mollusks, and algal scrapings — yet 

 it disdained them all. One thing I did learn from 

 its brief span in my tank, however, was the fact 

 that it was a creature of the night. During the day- 

 time it remained secluded in the darkest crevices 

 of the pebbled floor, inactive and scarcely seeming 

 to be alive; but after sundown, when I would sud- 



[54] 



