THE TRUE FISH;. 



wood has described the whole operation, and his picturi r the i 



had been set free is too good to be lost in the p \ 



"The scene that followed was one of singular and lively in1 I 



nervous with delight, and wished that every naturalisl could see it 

 himself. I am sure there is no student of nature but will 

 enthusiasm which prompted me to write at once to a friend that • he i 

 not set the minister down as a horse-jockey, on being informed that he 

 now the proud possessor of the most numerous drove of colts 

 by one man the whole wide world over.' Using my best judgment, — I 

 owing to the mazy motion of this tiny throng, counting was oul "f the 

 question, — I set the number as not far from a thousand. . . . We mij 

 suppose it would require a few days for the young Hippo t.> find out the 

 remarkable monkey-like endowment of its tail. Not bo. Only lo 

 what my own eyes beheld many a time, when a ' stampede 1 of these little 

 colts was going on, although they were but a day <>ld. There come two 

 little Hippos, each swimming in a direction at right angles t<» that of the 

 other. Just at the point of passing, one, lasso-like, whip- his caudal 

 extremity round that of his fellow, who, of course, in like manner, returns 

 the caudal compliment, which, to speak technically, acts as a 'double lock.' 

 Of course both pull, and by a natural law, the force is exerted in exactly 

 opposite directions, and the right angle is resolved into a straight lin It 

 is but poor headway they make, nor does it mend the matter much, th 

 third little fellow comes giddily on, and, switching his tail, take- a hitcl 

 that precise point in space where the other two m< \ w a tripl< 

 is exerted, and the effect is, with two straight lines to project thr< 

 angles. And so the three toil on, obtusely laboring itu >/">>. 



droller sight is that of yonder colt, who seems to be of somewhat bellijs 

 ent proclivities, as he is leading by the nose a weaker member of his 

 species, having with his caudal extremity noosed him on the snout. 



Both the sea-horse and the pipe-fishes are fond vi lurking in the 

 grass and rock-weed near the shores. Our native species of sea-1 

 much plainer than that figured, and lacks the long filamentary sp 

 the head and back. In an Australian species, on the other hand. th< 

 to the other extremity, and project from all parts of the head 

 extending to a great length. Thus arranged, the animal is 

 extent safe from his enemies, as these streaming ribbons 

 almost exactly like the bit of sea-weed round which he twisl 



The trunk-fishes, though used to a limited extent - -1 m tl 

 have their sole interest in their strange sha] The who 



oped in a firm and unyielding case, composed of large plat 



