CHAPTER XX. 



ARMOURED MYRIADS AND MONSTERS 



"The Sea hath its Pearls." — Longfellow. 



*' From out thy slime 

 The Monsters of the Deep are made."— Byron. 



A MONG the multitudinous hosts of living 

 creatures which throng the Ocean, vast 

 hordes are furnished with some kind of pro- 

 tective armour, the better to take their part in 

 the ceaseless warfare for existence. 



Though the armour differs widely in different 

 kinds of animals, they offer one and all a great 

 contrast to the soft jelly-like Medusae. 



Starfishes and Sea-urchins, for example, are 

 guarded by tough or hard skins, with actual 

 plated armour and sharp prickles. Limpets are 

 sheltered behind single firm shields, and in 

 any moment of peril become instandy glued by 

 suction to a rock. Oysters dwell within stout 

 bivalve shells. Hermit-crabs carry with them 

 empty purloined shells, of other creatures' con- 



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