VI 



HOUSEHOLDERS 



THE caddice-worms which we found living in 

 the rows of tiny gray stone houses in Stony Brook 

 have plenty of poor relations whose houses are built 

 of wood or even of less durable material. Some 

 of these are so shiftless as to have no fixed habita- 

 tion, but roam about from place to place, drifting 

 with the current, if there is one, or hanging about 

 among the stems of water plants. Others are even 

 worse, and might.be compared to the semi-civilized 

 people found in the old geographies. (I have never 

 encountered them elsewhere.) These live under 

 stones in rude houses made of pebbles tied together 

 with threads of silk, and pick up a precarious liv- 

 ing by trapping and fishing. So far as known these 

 creatures never visit their more civilized relatives. 

 But if an inhabitant of a neat little gray stone house 

 happens to stray into the region of the hungry fish- 

 erman's trap, woe be unto him! Caddice-worms 

 are not discriminating and this particular kind is 

 known to be carnivorous. "All's fish that comes 

 to their nets." They would probably think little 

 of eating a near relative, much less a distant cousin. 

 Since they are cannibals, perhaps it is unfair to class 

 them with the semi-civilized folk. Away with them 

 into the outer darkness of the savage tribes, in spite 

 of the fact that they are skilful net makers and 



c (33) 



