5° 



Fish Stories 



so resembling the plants that the fish can hardly be dis- 

 tinguished. 



Lying on the bottom is the dark blue " midshipman " with 

 its rows of silvery spots along its abdomen, that shine like 

 buttons and may gleam at night, and the walking fish. A 

 few feet away from it, we may see the Antennarius, with 

 bulging eyes, tall richly colored fins, the side fins appearing 

 to act as arms by which it pulls itself along, its big eyes 

 peering about, the very spirit of aggressiveness. In the 

 crevices are star fishes of all shapes and tints, splashed and 

 dotted with big tubercles — dazzling and conspicuous objects. 

 Here the octopus pulls its ungainly shape in and out, 

 emitting black clouds of ink when startled, or suddenly dis- 

 appearing before your eyes, by its marvelous, indeed un- 

 canny method of changing color, or adapting its tint to that 

 of its immediate surroundings. 



Here one is seen sitting partly upon its eggs, which hang 

 from the side of a moss-covered rock, objects of the great- 

 est solicitude. If we are very fortunate, in this little bay 

 we may see its cousin, the paper nautilus, crawling along, 

 its delicate shell or egg capsule over it. Now it will leave it 

 for a moment, and dart away into some crevice, returning 

 with a rush, to swim away by the forceful current of water 

 from its siphon. On the sides of the rock is the great key- 

 hole limpet, four inches long, a mound of velvet-like black, 

 with tints of vivid yellow, a blaze of color ; and near by the 

 splendid haliotis, the ear shell, or abalone, whose rich irides- 

 cent shells flicker and gleam among the weed. Every nook 

 and corner of this mountain slope is taken up by fishes, 

 shells, or animals of some kind; some at the roots of the 

 forest trees, some in the branches ; others, as the blue-eyed 

 perch, swimming above them, poising in the leafy 1 alls and 

 coverts ; others again in the open, swimming f earles: ly along 

 the highway of the fishes. 



Here the sea lions bask, roll and chase the radiant rock 

 bass into the kelp, or lie on the surface, passing the time in 



