viously alluded to during my superficial examina- 

 tion of the oyster-shell. In the magnification of the 

 minute, one easily can forget the fact that these 

 cobblestones are merely the calcareous shelters of 

 living creatures, that the flowers are the tentacles 

 of the animals within. Nor is it hard to give free 

 reign to fancy when Caprella, the common skele- 

 ton-shrimp, comes under the lens, for then it turns 

 into a veritable ogre. Indeed, such transformations 

 are familiar to the microscope. 



Soon, however, the purely emotional and artistic 

 feelings which this nether-scene inspire, give way 

 to one more pragmatic; I begin to note profession- 

 ally an oddity in one of the Caprellidcz. 



Two of the skeleton-shrimps are close together 

 in the center of the field, standing upright with 

 their hind legs hooked to a coralline and maintain- 

 ing the grotesque posture peculiar to their kind; 

 the third, similarly posed, is midway toward the 

 edge. The latter is a female, and but for the big 

 brood-pouch she bears on the front of her slender 

 belly, her form is not unlike that of her male com- 

 panions. All have curiously attenuated bodies en- 

 cased in hard transparent armor. Except for their 

 paired, black compound eyes, which glisten like 



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