Animal Partnerships 



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tains. These tentacles are endowed with sting- 

 ing power, by means of which the jellies benumb 

 what they seek to catch as food and then hoist 

 it up to the " mouth " in the under surface of 

 their floating disk. Now, certain little fishes, 

 which are exposed to a multitude of enemies in 

 the open sea, are in the habit of taking shelter 

 right among the poisonous tentacles of the 

 medusa, where, for the time, they are safe from 

 any outside harm and where a good deal of food 

 falls in their way ; but the capital they put into 

 this strange partnership is their lives, for if 

 they travel about long enough with their dan- 

 gerous " protector " they are certain one day 

 to be wrapped in the fatal net and eaten. So 

 this is jumping from the pan into the fire ; but 

 it is an illustration of the hard straits that sea 

 animals are put to to preserve life even for a 

 little while. 



Many other curious instances of permanent 

 association among the humbler denizens of the 

 sea might be mentioned, but their description 

 comes under a different head, for they are para- 

 sites or messmates, rather than partners. 



*$ 153 5 



