60 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



comfort, in being thus intimately associated, but the why 

 and wherefore of it all I failed to determine, or even to 

 get so much of a clew as would warrant a guess. 



It was but a few days ago that I was shown a fine 

 adult specimen of one of these catfish, then in an aqua- 

 rium, and was seriously informed that it was a hybrid 

 " between an eel and a common catfish." As this would 

 be a cross between fishes of different families, and one, 

 too, a marine species, so far as its breeding is concerned, 

 it would have been a novelty indeed had it been the 

 case. Here is an example of current ignorance worthy 

 of note. This species of catfish is not very abundant, 

 it is true, but because a little eel-like in its shape, igno- 

 rance suggests so remarkable a solution of the problem. 

 " "What is it ?" Did it never occur to the namby-pamby, 

 cui bono folks, who affect to decry natural history stud- 

 ies, that the universal curiosity of mankind, as demon- 

 strated by the certainty that the question, " What is it ?" 

 will be asked, whenever any strange creature is exhib- 

 ited, is a curiosity worthy of satisfaction? Can these 

 would-be worthy people justify themselves in endeavor- 

 ing to quench a desire for such important knowledge — 

 a desire implanted in the breast of nearly every child 

 by that Creator whom they suppose they are reverenc- 

 ing, but are really insulting ? 



The tall trees in the distant meadows shut out the 

 last rays of the setting sun, and the dim light that now 

 prevailed made the "Rest" unutterably gloomy. Its 

 larger trees, a half-mile distant, were wrapped in haze ; 

 the outlines of those near by were but dimly traced 

 against the leaden eastern sky. Every flower had faded 



