JULY. 133 



I have known people in the old country, who lived miles 

 away from the sea, keep a salt water aquarium for years 

 with very little renewal either of its living forms or its 

 sea water. 



Let us now leave the rocks and walk along the beach 

 while the tide is still receding. The lower the tide and the 

 calmer the sea the more likely are we to meet with objects 

 of interest which have been washed ashore. This seems 

 at first sight rather an unlikely thing, but the fact is 

 easily explained. There are numerous organisms, known 

 as pelagic from their living in the open ocean, which are 

 always afloat. When the surface of the sea is disturbed 

 by wind they sink to a greater or less depth till they are 

 below the troubled water. But when the weather is calm 

 and bright they swim close up to the surface, where 

 apparently they enjoy the increased light and the larger 

 supply of oxygen. When they get on to a sloping coast 

 line, such as occurs along the greater part of the east coast 

 of this island, they frequently float or swim so close in 

 shore as to get into the break of the waves, and then they 

 are powerless. Of course only a small proportion of those 

 which get into the range of the surf are actually washed 

 ashore, but they are always liable to be stranded. It is in 

 this way, for instance, that the Frost Fish* gets thrown up 

 on the beaches. A great deal of mystery has been made 

 about these fish. It has been suggested that they live 

 normally at great depths in the ocean, and from some 

 unknown cause have come up to such an elevation in the 

 water that their swimming bladders burst at the reduced 

 pressure, with the result that the fish are stranded in a 

 dying condition. But examination of the swim-bladder 

 does not bear out the suggestion. Again, it has been 

 affirmed that their stomachs are always empty and their 

 food unknown, and, consequently, that it cannot be search 

 of food which has brought them into the surf. Still others 

 have conjectured that they suffer from aberration of the 

 intellect, or even sheer cussedness, which impels them to 



"" I^epidopus candatus. 



