SEA-HARE. 143 



are thickened ; and the interior callous lining is besat 

 with firm horny processes, in the form of rhomboidal 

 plates or molar teeth, which serve to compress the 

 softened vegetable matter transmitted in small portions 

 from the first stomach. The third cavity of this com- 

 plex apparatus is placed on the left side of the body ; 

 its interior surface is studded with sharp, horny spines, 

 resembling canine teeth, to pierce and subdivide the 

 coarse food, and thus prepare it for the action of the 

 gastric juice and other fluids accessory to digestion, 

 which enter the stomach from adjacent organs. 1 



The complexity of this structure has reference to the 

 coarseness of the materials on which the animal subsists; 

 the leathery fronds of the olive sea- weeds, which slowly 

 and with difficulty yield their nutritive elements to the 

 digestive functions. 



This great, flabby Sea- Slug has a mythic history full 

 of wild romance. Our spec/es has been often called 

 depilans, because the fluid which exudes from it was 

 said to have the power of causing the hair to fall from 

 the human head which it touched; and the common 

 species of Southern Europe retains the appellation in 

 the records of science. The Mediterranean fishermen 

 have so great a horror of it that no bribes will induce 

 them to handle it willingly; and they tell strange stories 



1 Outlines of Camp. Anatomy, p. 371. 



