394 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



the jaws, they are crushed and prepared for digestion. 

 No sense but that of touch is required for the success 

 of this singular mode of fishing; and the delicacy 

 with which the tentacula perceive the slightest contact 

 of a foreign body, shows that they are eminently sus- 

 ceptible of tactile impressions. Nothing, indeed, can 

 be more admirable than this unique apparatus, or 

 more efficient for the intended purpose; it reminds 

 the spectator at once of Ariosto's giant : 



" He, 'mid the cruel horrors he intends, 

 Takes pleasure in a net by cunning hands 

 Contrived, which near his mansion he extends ; 

 So well conceal'd beneath the crumbling sands, 

 That whoso uninstructed thither wends 

 Naught of the subtle mischief understands, 

 Whom with loud laughter to his seat hard by 

 He drags along, entangled in his snare ; 

 Then, having suck'd their brains and life-blood dry, 

 Casts forth their bones upon the desert lair." 



In order to account for the apparent election made 

 by the Lepades and the Balani, as to the sites inva- 

 riably adopted for their respective residences, it was 

 at one time surmised that the eggs of the two races 

 were of different specific gravity ; that those of the 

 Balani, from their greater density, were disposed to 

 remain at, or sink to the bottom, while those of the 

 Lepades, being lighter, tended to rise towards the 

 surface, and by a glutinous property attached them- 

 selves to the first solid body with which they came in 

 contact. There will, however, be no further occasion 

 for the exercise of our ingenuity to account for this 

 remarkable circumstance, when aware that in the first 



