226 SEPTEMBER. 



in a broad plate, which is cut into a comb of about 

 eighteen flat spines, the whole having a send- oval out- 

 line, projecting towards the mouth. At the tip of each 

 avenue we discern the little scarlet eye, well protected 

 by the crowding rows of fans. 



The mouth gapes, and gives an unexpected insight 

 into the diet of this gaily-painted gentleman. We see 

 a bit of an Echinus shell, and on taking hold of it with 

 a pair of pliers, and carefully dragging, lo ! forth comes 

 the entire box of a Purple-tipped Urchin, nearly an 

 inch in diameter, empty of course, through the force of 

 Mr. Sun's gastric juice, and denuded of spines. Ugh ! 

 the cannibal ! to eat his own first cousin ! 



We put him into a shallow pan of water, where he 

 crawls slowly. He is fond of curling the rays over his 

 back, so as nearly to meet, perhaps to have a look at 

 the new world in which he finds himself. Then he 

 turns himself right over in the shallow water, bathing 

 the under surface in the air, the suckers moving all the 

 time to and fro with great rapidity, and (we fancy) with 

 enjoyment. 



Several specimens of the common Cross-fish occur, 

 large and richly coloured, and many of the Urchin just 

 named ; but these we can find every day in- shore ; so 

 they are contemptuously thrown over the gunwale. 



Ha ! here is a fine thing ! It is the Granulate Brittle- 



