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♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Aug. 10, 1883. 



Small shrimps in the tank are constantly approaching the 

 disk, a dianthus, and dart away several inches, as if stung, 

 on touching the tentacles. The instantaneous movement 

 has quite the appearance of being the result of an electric 

 shock. 



Individuals of this species seem to vary in character. 

 There appears to be a " quiet family," and a race much 

 given to movement. Some of the more lively frequently 

 change the contour of their figures, at one moment appear- 

 ing tall and straight as a marble column, and the next 

 constricted immediately below the margin (as if very 

 fashionably laced), so that the fringed lobes droop over like 

 a lily. This singular construction then gradually moves 

 downwards, and, when half-way, gives the animal the form 

 of an hour-glass. Gradually it descends almost to the base, 

 but very soon moves up again, and the process is then 

 reversed, until the lovely lily-like form is restored. This 

 most interesting performance will sometimf s continue for 

 an hour together, the animal never retaining its ordinary 

 shape for a minute at a time. The same individual will at 

 other times be perfectly quiet for an entire day, the only 

 perceptible motion being in the ever-varying fringe of 

 down-Uke tentacles which encircle the disk. 



Actinoloha. is the name given by Blainville, 1834, and 

 followed by Gosse, 1860. It is, or should be, derived from 

 uK-lv a ray, and Xopdc a lobe, and means an animal 

 with lobed tentacles. The term diantlms is said to be 

 thus named (c7o divine, ai Oor flower), from its extreme 

 beauty. Miiller has named dianthus Actiniarmn 2>ulclier- 

 rima, the most beautiful of all anemones, and so far as this 

 verdict relates to European species, it is admitted to be 

 just. Writers vie with each other in its praise. The 

 whole creature, one aptly declares, is exquisitely lovely, and 

 can be compared only to the most graceful flower formed of 

 rich white or amber feathers. Besides its extreme beauty 

 of outline, the contrast in colour between this lovely. 

 creature and the medium in which it lives and moves is 

 equally striking, and generally arrests the attention and 

 elicits the admiration of the most careless observer. 



The next paper will give a further account of dianthus 

 with respect to locomotion and reproduction, how to obtain 

 specimens and keep them in health, with a description of 

 the gorgeous examples obtained by the United States ex- 

 ploring expedition. 



A STEAMER GOES SAFELY PAST 

 NIAGARA WHIRLPOOL.* 



IN the year 1846, a small steamer was built in the 

 eddy just above the railway Suspension Bridge to run 

 up to the Falls. She was very appropriately named — The 

 Maid of the Mist. Her engine was rather weak, but she 

 safely accomplished the trip. As, however, she took 

 passengers aboard only from the Canada side, she did 

 little more than pay expenses. In 18.54 a larger, better 

 boat, with a more powerful engine, the new Maid of the 

 Mist was put on the route, and many thousands of per- 

 sons made this most exciting and impressive tour under 

 the Falls. The admiration which the visitor felt as he 

 passed quietly along under the American Fall was changed 

 into awe when he began to feel the mighty pulse of the 

 great deep just below the tower ; then swung around into 

 the white foam directly in front of the Horse-shoe and saw 

 the sky of waters falling toward him. And he seemed to 

 be lifted on wings as he sailed swiftly down on the 



* From " Niagara : Its History and Geology." By Geo. W. 

 HoUey. 



flying stream through a baptism of spray. To many 

 persons there was a fascination about it that induced 

 them to make the trip every time they liad an oppor- 

 tunity to do so. Owing to some change in her appoint- 

 ments, which confined her to the Canadian shore for the 

 reception of passengers, she became unprofitable. Her 

 owner having decided to leave the place wished to sell 

 her as she lay at her dock. This he could not do, but 

 had an offer of something more than half of her cost, if 

 he would deliver her at Niagara, opposite the Fort. This 

 he decided to do, after consultation with Robinson, who 

 had acted as her captain and pilot on her trips under the 

 Falls. The boat required for her navigation an engineer, 

 who also acted as a fireman, and a pilot. On her pleasure 

 trips she had a clerk in addition to these. Mr. Robinson 

 agreed to act as pilot for the fearful voyage, and the 

 engineer, Mr. Jones, consented to go with him. A 

 courageous machinist, Mr. Mclntyre, volunteered to share 

 the risk with them. They put her in complete trim, 

 removing from deck and hold all superfluous articles. 

 Notice was given of the time for starting, and a large 

 number of people assembled to see the fearful plunge, no 

 one expecting to see either boat or crew again, after they 

 should leave the dock. This dock, as has been before 

 stat«d, was just above the railway Suspension Bridge,* at 

 the place where she was built, and where she was laid up 

 in the winter ; that, too, being the only place where she 

 could lie without danger of being crushed by the ice. 

 Twenty rods below this eddy the water plunges sharply 

 down into the head of the crooked, tumultuous rapid which 

 we have before noticed, as reaching from the bridge to the 

 Whirlpool. At the Whirlpool the danger of being drawn 

 under was most to be apprehended ; in the Rapids of being 

 turned over or knocked to pieces. From the Whirlpool 

 to Lewiston is one wild, turbulent rush and whirl of water 

 without a square foot of smooth surface in the whole 

 distance. 



About three o'clock in the afternoon of .lutie 1-5, 1861, 

 the engineer took his place in the hold, and, knowing that 

 their flitting would be short at the longest, and might be 

 only the preface to a swift destruction, set his steam-valve 

 at the proper gauge, and awaited — not without anxiety — 

 the tinkling signal that should start them on their flying 

 voyage. Mclntyre joined Robinson at the wheel on the 

 upper-deck. Self-possessed, and with the calmness which 

 results from undoubting courage and confidence, yet with 

 the humility which recognises all possibilities, with down- 

 cast eyes and firm hands, Robinson took his place at the 

 wheel and pulled the starting-bell. With a shriek from 

 her whistle and a white puff from her escape-pipe to take 

 leave, as it were, of the multitude gathered on the shores 

 and on the bridge, the boat ran up the eddy a short dis- 

 tance, then swung around to the right, cleared the smooth 

 water and shot like an arrow into the rapid under the 

 bridge. She took the outside curve of the rapid, and when 

 a third of the way down it a jet of water struck against her 

 rudder, a column dashed up under her starboard side, 

 heeled her over, carried away her smoke-stack, started her 

 overhang on that side, threw Robinson flat on his back 

 and thrust jSIcIntrye against her starboard wheel-house 

 with such a force as to break it through. Every eye was 

 fixed ; every tongue was silent, and every looker-on 

 breathed freer as she emerged from the fearful baptism, 

 shook her wounded sides, slid into the Whirlpool and for 

 a moment rode again on an even keel. Robinson rose 

 at once, seized the helm, set her to the right of the 



* See the map in om' last. "We hope to give next week a view of 

 the Whirlpool Eapids, from a photograph in the Editor'a possession. 



