THE PEABODY MUSEUM. 403 



to the utmost advantage. Each individual crab seems ready to walk the 

 waters like a thing of 1-ife. Prof, S. I. Smith, who is an authority on the 

 natural history of the crabs, has devised methods for showing off his pets 

 with all their natural grace ; they are evidently as ready as ring politicians 

 to seize plunder with claws that will not relax till they are broken, or to 

 back down on principle at a moment's notice. The pincher claw of what 

 was probably the "boss" lobster is thirteen inches long by seven broad, and 

 as formidably armed as an old-fashioned rat-trap. Consider what would 

 have been the feelings of a bather if that pincher had closed on a tender 

 extremity — say upon a great toe. Other strange creatures of the sea are in 

 adjoining cases — star-fish bigger than Kentucky flapjacks, and probably as 

 tough ; anemones and hydroids preserved in glycerine, and expanded in 

 nearly all their glory of wreath and color ; polypes and jelly-fishes that have 

 resigned life suddenly when dropped into picric acid ; barnacles much 

 larger than a goose Qgg, and of a shape to encourage the ancient belief that 

 wild fowl might be hatched therefrom. Another of the old traditions of the 

 sea, the story of the Kraken, which could throw out his long slimy arms 

 around a vessel and drag it down beneath the waves, turns out to be true, 

 since this very attempt was made upon a boat off the Newfoundland coast 

 by an immense cuttle-fish ; and here in the Peabody Museum are the arms 

 of such a sea-monster, preserved in alcohol, and evidently not wanting in 

 length or strength for such performance. 



As representing the sea life of the New England coast the collection is 

 quite complete, having rare and in many instances type specimens obtained 

 in dredging expeditions by Profs. Verrill and S. I. Smith and the TJ. S. Fish 

 Commission. Especially is the selection of fine specimens apparent in the 

 corals and sponges, many being "uniques," that is, the only ones of their 

 kind ever discovered. Both coasts of this country are here well represented, 

 and the magnificent corals of the Wilkes Bxj)loring Expedition contribute 

 largely to the show. Prof. James D. Dana (the geologist), accompanied the 

 expedition, collected many of the finest of these specimens, and wrote a 

 standard work on that branch of zoology, Even the casual visitor cannot 

 pass some of these great corals without a feeling of admiration for perfect 

 development of form or color; such for instance as a meandrina (brain coral), 

 exactly dome-shaped, and more than four feet in circumference, or the gor- 

 gona corals, having the form of miniature forest trees and rich in the highest 

 tints of autumn foliage — -varied combinations of red and yellow of every pos- 

 sible shade. To several of these an individual history is attached, well worth 

 the telling, but space presses. When a visitor talks of the minute "coral in- 

 sect" to Prof. Verrill, he is shown a gigantic one — a single animal eighteen 

 and a half inches long and seven and a half wide — and reminded that the term 

 'insect" is a sad misnomer. The beautiful "glass sponges" are here in great 

 variety, cornucopias of woven glass with lace fringes and lid, and showing 

 the fibres at the base, by which they were once secured to the sea-bottom. 

 There is here an elegant "Neptune's cup," which is 6|- feet in circumference 



