A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



movements, not alone of the fish, but of a large propor- 

 tion of the other forms of moving life of the waters. 

 The curve, the line of beauty, is the symbol of their 

 every act; there are no angles in their world. They 

 glide hither and yon, seemingly without an effort, and 

 always with wavy, oscillating gracefulness. The acme 

 of this sinuosity of movement is reached with those 

 long-drawn-out fishes the eels. Of these there are two 

 gigantic species represented here the conger, a dark- 

 skinned, rather ill-favored fellow, and the beautiful 

 Italian eel, with a velvety, leopard - spotted skin. 

 These creatures are gracefulness itself. They are rib- 

 bon-like in tenuousness, and to casual glance they give 

 the impression of long, narrow pennants softly waving 

 in a gentle breeze. The great conger five or six 

 feet in length has, indeed, a certain propensity to 

 extend himself rigidly in a fishlike line and lie im- 

 movable, but the other species is always true to his 

 colors, so to say his form is always outlined in 

 curves. 



The eels attract their full share of attention from the 

 visitors, but there is one family of creatures which 

 easily holds the palm over all the others in this regard. 

 These are the various representatives of the great cult 

 of squids and cuttle-fishes. The cuttle-fish proper 

 who, of course, is no fish at all is shaped strangely like 

 a diminutive elephant, with a filmy, waving membrane 

 along its sides in lieu of legs. Like the other members 

 of his clan, he can change his color variously. Some- 

 times he is of a dull brown, again prettily mottled ; then, 

 with almost kaleidoscopic suddenness, he will assume 

 a garb beautifully striped in black and white, rivalled 



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