58 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



Asterias mulleri, in which the fully formed 

 young ones, skipping the usual free-swimming 

 stage in the open water, are carried about on 

 the mother's body. 



A pretty sight is sometimes seen if we watch 

 one of the common sand-hoppers (Gammarus 

 locusta), an Amphipod crustacean, flattened 

 from side to side, which is always busy clean- 

 ing up on the shore. If we have caught the 

 right kind and put it in a saucer we may see 

 quite a crowd of young ones emerging from 

 the shelter of the mother's body, just like 

 chickens from under a hen. They swim 

 about like miniatures of herself, and as she 

 slowly moves they follow, never venturing to 

 go farther than an inch away. If we make a 

 little splash in the water in the saucer, they 

 hurry back below their mother, just like 

 chickens again. Looking at this in a broad 

 way, through a mental telescope, we see that 

 living creatures always answer back to sur- 

 rounding difficulties and limitations, and that 

 one of the most effective ways of answering 

 back is for the parents to look well after the 

 children. But who wants "morals" at the 

 end of stories! 



