138 REMINISCENCES OF 



as it were upon a ground-work of mist, the tints have 

 an aerial softness far beyond the reach of art, and war- 

 ranting- the seemingly imaginative description given at 

 the close of the first number. 



The group of stomachs is less transparent, and al- 

 though the hue is the same as that of the back, they 

 are, on this account incomparably less elegant. By their 

 weight and form they fill the double office of a keel and 

 ballast, while the cord-like appendage, which floats out 

 for yards behind, is called by seamen the cable. 



The mode in which the animal secures his prey has 

 been a subject of much speculation, for the fish and 

 crabs that are frequently found within the little tubes, 

 are often large enough to tear them in pieces could they 

 retain their natural vigour during the contest. De- 

 ceived by the extreme pain which is felt when the ca- 

 ble is brought inter contact with the back of the hand, 

 naturalists have concluded, I think too hastily, that this 

 organ secretes a poisonous or acrid fluid, by which it 

 benumbs any unfortunate fish or other animal that ven- 

 tures within its toils, allured by the hope of making a 

 meal upon what, in its ignorance, it has mistaken for a 

 worm. The secret will be better explained by a more 

 careful examination of the organ itself. The chord is 

 composed of a narrow layer of contractile fibres, scarcely 

 visible when relaxed, on account of its transparency. 

 If the animal be large, this layer of fibres will some- 

 times extend itself to the length of four or five yards. A 



