Marvels of the Universe 



509 



it " the King of the Herrings," but there is no other evidence to sliow that it has any connection 

 wth those valuable food-fish. 



Like all abnomial sea-creatures, it is mysterious in its comings and goings. Certainly it inhabits 

 the oceanic abysses, and when it is seen, it is evident that it has been compelled to visit the upper 

 air by some con\Tdsion of Nature. Yet. contrary to general experience of the deep-sea people, it 

 is able to accommodate itself to the tremendous alteration of pressure between, say, ten thousand 

 feet and the surface, a change of conditions which usually has the effect upon the hapless creature 

 enduring it of turning it inside out ! 



It is not in any sense a beast of prev ; in fact, it is as harmless as the great sturgeon or the mighty 

 right whale. Its mouth is just a tiny opening well beneath the head, unfurnished with teeth, and 

 what is more difficult for us to realize, its jaws are either so feeble as to be hardly noticeable, or 

 do not exist. Yet as it glides along the surface of the sea at great speed with its huge mane of 

 reddish-brown rays waving in the misty air and its wake trailing behind, easily encouraging the 

 obser\"er to double or treble its real length, it presents a sufficiently regal, imposing appearance to 

 justifj" any ordinary observer describing it as a sea-serpent of appalling dimensions. 



Unlike the great majority of abnormal or mysterious denizens of the great deeps, the Oar-fish 

 has obhgingly presented itself for inspection many times, having apparently, when on the surface, 

 lost all control of itself and drifted ashore at some convenient spot for discovery. Dr. Giinther, 

 in the " Challenger Reports," mentions fifty-six specimens known to science and gives their distribu- 

 tion as world-wide. There are many varieties described, but the probability is that these are only 

 local peculiarities, shght variations of the same creature. 



no"j '.»] 



THE GREAT GREEN GRASSHOPFtk 



This 13 a somev\.hat rare Grasshopper in England, although quite common on the Continent 

 brilliant green, with a slender body and long thin jumpers 



[/■;. si,'p. rj..s. 



beautiful, of . 



