V. 



A varied harvest The sea-mouse A microscopic prray Trick* of the chase 

 and of -war Crustaceans and Kabyles Clanging armour The danger 

 of disarmament Science disconcerted Sacculina and its wonderful 

 transformations Ophiura Holothuria Chinese cookery A suicide 

 The hermit-crab An unedif ying biography An invitation. 



THE collection made on board the boat had been 

 superb, and in the receptacles that the cousins had 

 taken care to provide themselves with, there accumu- 

 lated one after another sea-mice with brilliant and 

 silky fleeces, Chitons with imbricated carapaces, that 

 is, coverings formed by scales arranged after the 

 fashion of the tiles on a roof. Then various kinds of 

 shell-fish : Oxyrhynchi with delicate bodies and spider- 

 like legs; hermit crabs of greedy movements, only 

 half covered by their shells ; Dromiee with grey and 

 velvety shell and rosy claws ; spider-crabs, whose 

 curious carapace contains amongst the inequalities of 

 its surface quite a world of seaweeds, of polypes, and 

 of moss-animals a marvellous sight when well exam- 

 ined with the aid of a glass; and in addition a 

 strange collection of the lower animals. Holothurians, 

 called by the fishermen sea-cucumbers, because of 



