320 OUT OF DOORS. 



creatures, whose names are duly placarded in front of 

 the window. One of these caverns is tenanted by sea 

 cray-fish, lobsters, and certain most brilliant fish, 

 covered with zebra-like stripes of green and pink, and 

 called by the name of wrasse. These fishes possess a 

 splendour which is almost tropical, and it is really 

 hard to believe that they can be inhabitants of our com- 

 paratively dull coasts. The lobsters keep themselves 

 quiet, as a rule, and wedge themselves into crannies, 

 with their large claws hanging down like the paws of a 

 dancing-dog. The cray-fish, however, are very locomo- 

 tive, and it is astonishing how different they look in 

 the water, or in a fishmonger's shop. Generally, during 

 the day-time, they, like the lobsters, keep quiet in 

 their retreats ; from which, however, their long, straight, 

 stout antennae project like the bayonets of sentries. 

 And indeed this is one of the principal use of these 

 organs. The cray-fish does not possess the powerful 

 claws which form the lobster's weapons, but the 

 antennae serve a similar purpose, though in a different 

 way. They are covered with small sharp projections, 

 and are constructed much on the same principle as the 

 terrible shark-tooth spears of Mangaia. With these 

 spears the cray-fish fences, so to speak, and can drive 

 away the generality of its foes. Mr. Lloyd, the 

 designer and superintendent of the aquarium, informs 

 us that he has seen various fishes thus driven away, and 

 that even the conger-eel, with all its activity, is baffled 

 by these singular weapons. 



