THE MUSEUM. 



121 



caught and carried ashore where it 

 was provided with red eyes and ex- 

 hibited as a "sea monster." The fish 

 was ten feet high, or that measure- 

 mant between the tips of the upper 

 and lower fins. A much larger speci- 

 men, eleven feet high, was observed 

 in California waters. 



Off the islands of the Santa Barbara 

 channel these fishes are very common 

 in midsummer, lying at the surface in 

 the choppy sea and apparently e.xpos- 

 ing their sides to the hot semi-tropic 

 sun. When lying in this position, the 

 sea washing over them, they resemble 

 a piece of wreakage, and are, without 

 doubt, so considered by numbers of 

 birds, especially the shags, which 

 when weary from long flight and pre- 

 ferring a dry roost, alight on them and 

 retain their position without alarining 

 the fish. Several birds have been ob- 

 served resting on a single sunfish, and 

 some of the fishermen assume that the 

 fish, being infested with parasites, take 

 this position either to allow the sun to 

 destroy them or thinking that the birds 

 will devour them. In all probability 

 the matter of parasites does not enter 

 into the question as an explanation. 

 The fish enjoys floating at the surface 

 where the water is warm and the birds 

 alight upon it simply as a rest, just as 

 they would upon any floating object. 



Sunfish could be caught in numbers 

 off the islands mentioned, but no use 

 having been discovered for them, they 

 have no market value. Their muscles 

 are so hard and elastic that when cut 

 into small pieces and thrown upon the 

 ground they rebound. In one small 

 seaport the writer found that the elas- 

 tic tissue was used by the fishermen's 

 boys in the manufacture of baseballs. 



The young of the sunfish is a singu- 

 lar looking little creature, hatched 

 from eggs deposited on the high seas, 

 floating at the surface. They were 

 supposed for many years to be a diff- 

 erent species, so unlike were they in 

 general appearance to the adult sun- 

 fish. 



Sponges of the Deep Sea. 



Some of the most beautiful things 

 that live in the ocean are the sponges 

 of the great depth, which have often 

 very curious and interesting forms. 

 Not least remarkable are the so-called 

 "sea nests," which are in the form of 

 spheres or sometimes egg-shaped. 

 The outer coat of one of these speci- 

 mens is a complicated network, over 

 which a delicate membrane is spread. 

 An ornamental frill adorns the upper 

 part, while the lower portion throws 

 out a maze of glossy filaments like 

 fine, white hairs. These hairs pene- 

 trate the semi-fluid mud in every di- 

 rection, thus holding the sponge in its 

 place, while a continuous current of 

 water is drawn by waving "cilia" 

 through all parts of the mass, passing 

 out by a hole at the top. In this 

 manner the animal absorbs whatever 

 food may be afloat. Another singular 

 sponge is the "glass rope," which 

 sends down into the mud a coiled wisp 

 of filaments as thick as a knitting 

 needle. The latter opens into a 

 brush, fixing the creature in place 

 after the manner of a screw pile. 

 Still another remarkable sponge is 

 found in the deep water off the Loffo- 

 den Islands. It spreads out into a 

 thin circular cake, surrounded by what 

 looks like a fringe of white floss silk. 

 Yet another curiosity is the "eupec- 

 tella" sponge of the Philippines, which 

 lives embedded to its lid in the mud, 

 and supported by a lovely frill. 



Flint Implements and Weapons. 



Many persons are apt to associate 

 the flint implements, which are found 

 in such large numbers in the United 

 States, with our North American In- 

 dians and overlook the fact that they 

 are found in even greater numbers in 

 Europe, Asia, and, in fact, all parts 

 of the known world, and that they are 

 even used at the present day at some 

 of the out-of-the-way corners of the 

 world. 



In the Scandinavian peninsula they 



