riSIl PARADOXES. 239 



discharge electricity in sufficient intensity to decompose 

 water ; fish that migrate ; fish that make nests ; fish that 

 incubate ; and fish that bring forth theii' young alive. 



Fish that sing have not yet been heard, but that some of 

 them make an approach to vocal performances by emitting 

 tones, was known to Aristotle, who specifies six different 

 kinds ; and Johannes von Miiller has recently collected 

 the literature of this subject in an interesting essay,* in 

 which, after giving his own observations, he explains the 

 mechanism by which the sounds are produced. 



To these, recent researches have added facts even more 

 amazing to the systematic mind, namely, that there are 

 fish which normally are double-sexed ; and at least one 

 species which undergoes metamorphoses similar to the 

 metamorphoses of reptiles .-l* 



But we must not linger over the fish, when so many 

 other animals call for notice. The Actiniae distributed 

 among these vases and pie-dishes will convey some idea 

 of the wealth of Scilly in such creatures. Here are 

 Gems and Daisies, Antheas and the lovely " orange- 

 disked," by Gosse named Venusta. The Crassicornis, 

 you observe, is represented in every variety of splendour. 

 Here is one with a rich green body and white tenta- 

 cles ; here another with dark red body and buff tentacles ; 

 a fourth presents his scai^let beauty to our gaze ; a fifth is 



* Muller's Arckivfiir Anat. u. Phys. : 1857, p. 249. 



+ For the first of these, tice the researches of M. Dufosso in the Annates des 

 Sciences Naturelles, 1857 ; for the metamorphosis of the Ammocetc into the 

 Lamprey, see Muller^s Archiv fur Anat. a. Phys. : 1856, p. 323. 



