ioo THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



we look into the mouth of a good-natured 

 horse when it yawns we see ridges crossing 

 the palate ; if these ridges were to grow into 

 long vertical plates and become horny they 

 would correspond to whalebone plates. Every 

 now and then the whale raises its tongue and 

 brushes a myriad of creatures towards the 

 back of the mouth, where they are swallowed. 

 It is interesting that this giant should feed on 

 such dainty morsels. The reason why it does 

 not drown as it rushes open-mouthed through 

 the water is that it shunts its glottis (the 

 entrance to the windpipe) forward to embrace 

 the posterior end of the nasal passage, so that 

 no water goes down the wrong way ! 



But there is love as well as hunger in the 

 open sea, and no better example could be found 

 than the Paper Nautilus or Argonaut. This is 

 a kind of cuttlefish which floats on the surface, 

 and is not to be confused with the Pearly 

 Nautilus which belongs rather to the shore 

 haunt. The most remarkable thing about the 

 Argonaut is that the female makes, for the pro- 

 tection of its eggs and young ones, what may 

 well be called the most beautiful cradle in the 

 world. It is not a house to live in like the 

 chambered shell of the Pearly Nautilus ; it is a 



