The Wit of the Wild 



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over the surface with that same shifting irides- 

 cence which illumines so beautifully the nacre- 

 ous lining of shells (mother-of-pearl) and the 

 surface of ancient glass. 



Seen under a microscope, this striated coat 

 glistens with a magnificent display of silvery 

 light. Furthermore, the pointed end (which is 

 the overhanging stern of this fairy boat) may 

 be lifted, or depressed, or turned a little to one 

 side, so that it acts partly like a rudder and 

 partly like an after-sail, apparently enabling 

 the mariner to steer a course, even somewhat up 

 into the wind. I say " apparently," because in 

 truth the " steering," no doubt, is a mechanical 

 result of the pressure of the breeze together 

 with the dragging back of the flat trailing ten- 

 tacles, sometimes fifty feet long when fully 

 stretched out, which tips up the stern and, in 

 a strong wind, " brings the ship to," head on 

 to the gale. Mariners, when hard pressed by a 

 gale, sometimes rig and trail astern a " drag " 

 for precisely the same purpose. 



This float that we have been considering is a 

 single organ whose sole service it is to carry the 

 -74 $+ 



