Il8 Glimpses of Marine Life on the Forth. [Sess. 



attends to incubation, carrying about clutches of eggs attached 

 to its legs. 



One of the most interesting crustaceans is the opossum 

 shrimp {Mysis), to be found during July and August in large 

 numbers swimming near the shore. This animal has two 

 wonderful compound eyes mounted on swivels, and of enor- 

 mous size in proportion to its body, a feature not uncommon 

 in oceanic animals. Large eyes are a provision adapted to 

 life at great depths where little light can penetrate. Mysis 

 is oceanic in its habits, but approaches the coast to breed. 

 The ear is remarkable from its position in the tail of the 

 animal. 



To make the acquaintance of the small cuttlefish, Sepiola, 

 for the first time, is a delightful experience. Living speci- 

 mens are occasionally washed in by the tide. The colouring 

 of this little squid in white and bronze is very choice ; the 

 purse-shaped body is two or three inches long ; there are two 

 broad circular fins, and the mouth is surrounded by ten long 

 arms provided with suckers ; there are two horny mandibles, 

 and the internal shell is in the form of a pen or cuttle-bone. 

 By means of its arms the cephalopod can walk about head 

 downwards at the bottom of the sea. The eyes are a striking 

 feature : of clear blue, surrounded by a ring of pearly white, 

 they move in their orbits. Much as they resemble the eyes 

 of a vertebrate, their structure is so different that they must 

 be referred to an independent origin. The cephalopod has 

 two crystalline lenses and a nerve ganglion in the interior 

 of its eye, the retina and the muscles are also widely different. 



Annelids are among the most curious and interesting of 

 all marine animals. The little coils of sand cast up on the 

 shore by the lob- worm are familiar to most people. Every 

 person, it is said, in the course of life must eat a peck of 

 dirt; among certain South American tribes clay is eaten, 

 being made into cakes and sold like chocolate : with worms 

 dirt is the staple diet. The serpent in the book of Genesis 

 is doomed to eat dust, but this is much more applicable to 

 the worm : serpents prey on other animals ; the worm actu- 

 ally does eat dust ; other animals dig ; the worm literally eats 

 its passage through the earth. In the sand it swallows there 



