BY THE SEASIDE—ANIMAL LIFE 



intricate man-made machinery could not have 

 turned them out more perfectly to pattern. They 

 are precisely similar to one another in size and 

 shape; as objects for the microscope, even the sea 

 with all its store of wonders, can offer us nothing 

 more marvellous. 



We may number the sea-mouse amongst our 

 treasures of the sea side. Though called a mouse, 

 on account of its curious movements and partly 

 perhaps because of its appearance, it is really a 

 worm. It does not appear to have the slightest 

 resemblance to the common earth worm, nor to the 

 liver fluke which is described on another page, 

 nevertheless, it is related to both these creatures. 

 The raiment of the sea-mouse is gorgeous in the 

 extreme ; on its back is soft brownish hair, its sides 

 are clothed with yellow and green hair, displaying 

 a wonderful iridescence and amongst the hair on 

 the sides there are many stiff brown bristles. Of 

 the covering of the sea-mouse it has been said : 

 ''It is as if all the hues of the rainbow were col- 

 lected there, making this remarkable animal a living 

 jewel, and truly worthy of the name of Aphrodite, 

 the Queen of Beauty." The bristles of this creature 

 we must examine microscopically, they vary in 

 structure according to the kind of sea mouse, for 

 there are several kinds, but in some of them they 

 are formidably barbed, in all of them they act as 

 a protection. 



Many other worms, a number of them un-wormlike 

 in appearance will claim our attention but we 



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