HOMES IJKDEK THE SEA. 



CHAPTER 1. 



CUTTLEFISHES, THE OCTOPUS, ETC. 



SUPPOSE that we are watching a snail or a slug 

 crawling up a pane of glass, we might readily 

 imagine that it is as helpless a creature as can be found 

 in the world. 



It has no weapons of any kind. It cannot even resist 

 when attacked, and much less can it assume the offensive. 

 Its flesh is soft and yielding, and the muscular power is 

 exceedingly feeble. 



It is the prey of various creatures. The thrush and 

 blackbird consume vast numbers of snails in the winter, 

 and the hedgehog, when it breaks for awhile its hiber- 

 nating slumbers, refreshes itself with the snails that, like 

 itself, have been in hiding during the cold weather. 



