102 ANECDOTE. 



several times in vain to throw his tub upon the valve 

 of the mussel, he released hold of his encumbrance, 

 and allowed it to drop. Although still hanging, he 

 had no difficulty in rolling up his ' continuation/ and 

 elevating his body to the walls of his prison. Once 

 again upon solid ground, he laboured hard to get his 

 leg free. But unsuccessful in his efforts, he adopted 

 another course, and snapped it off in a rage. 



Scarcely, however, was the act of mutilation 

 finished, when the stupid animal apparently seemed 

 anxious to recover his lost toe, (which I may 

 mention, had in reality fallen down among the 

 pebbles). 



After scraping, then resting, and scraping again, 

 many successive times, he at last succeeded in diving 

 the points of his largest claw into the chasm formed 

 by the gaping mollusc. Of course, the member was 

 held as if by a powerful vice. Very soon his courage 

 deserted him, and he seemed to wait and weep 

 despairingly for fate to release him from the sad 

 predicament into which he had foolishly fallen. Alas! 

 he little knew the singular part that fickle fortune 

 had doomed him to play, to become, if I may so 

 term it, a kind of Prometheus in the tank. 



My pack of fishes, having been on short rations 

 for several days, had become exceedingly ravenous, 

 and consequently were keeping a sharp look-out 

 for scraps. Hence their intense delight on catch- 

 ing sight of the devoted 'Dodgenes' can readily 



