SPINES OF SEA-MOUSE. 



155 



worthy of notice on account of their wonderful 

 colouring, but also on account of their shape. 

 Among other offices, they seem to play the part 

 of weapons, like the spines of the porcupine or 

 hedgehog. But as they surpass the hedgehog's 

 quills in external beauty, so do they in form. 

 There are certain islands, called "Friendly," whose 

 amicable inhabitants are famous for the ingenuity 

 of their clubs wherewith to knock out another 

 friend's brains, and of spears wherewith to per- 

 forate him. Many of these spears are made with 

 rows of several barbs, one placed immediately 

 above the other, in order to add more destructive 

 power to the weapon. Now, if the Friendly 

 islanders had possessed microscopes, we might 

 with some justice have said that they took their 

 idea of the many-barbed spear from the bristles 

 of the Sea-mouse ; for a magnified representation 

 of one of these bristles would give a very fair idea 

 of the Friendly lance. 



All these lances can be withdrawn into the 

 body of the sea-mouse at the will of their owner, 

 and it would therefore be a most unpleasant cir- 

 cumstance, if the creature were to wound itself 

 with its own weapons. In order, therefore, to 

 obviate this difficulty, each spear or bristle is 

 furnished with a double sheath, which closes 



