AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
251 
the boats are about to be launched in the spring, and in a 
few days can be made fit for efficient duty — while a horse 
will require at least half feed if he does nothing, or must be 
fed high for some time before he can resume the labour that 
will be demanded of him. The same advantages may be 
derived by his employment on railways. 
I cannot resist an impulse to exhibit the Mule in one 
other point of view. For the movement of machinery , the 
employment of this animal, when judiciously selected, has 
met with a most decided preference, in comparison with the 
horse, independent of the economy in using him. And if 
we consider the rapid, and probably progressive increase of 
labour-saving machines, in every department where they 
can be made subservient to the requirements of society, it 
is evident that there will be a corresponding demand for 
animal power, as well as for that more potent, derived from 
the elements; and although the latter may vastly predomi- 
nate, yet should the horse be employed, and his increase for 
other purposes continue, as it now does in the ratio of popu- 
lation, the number, at no very distant period, may become 
as alarming in our own, as it is at present in our mother 
country. And notwithstanding we may feel secure, from 
the extent of our territory an$ ^extreme diversity of soil and 
climate, but, above all, from being in possession of Indian 
corn — the golden fleece found by our “ pilgrim fathers,” 
when they first landed on these shores; yet such peculiar 
advantages may not insure us against the visitations of one 
of the most distressing calamities that a feeling community 
can possibly be subjected to. 
Mason’s Farrier. 
NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 
By Jacob Green, M. D. 
Remarks upon some of the marine animals which inhabit 
the North Atlantic Ocean. 
On the 12th of May, when about one hundred miles to 
the westward of Mizen Head, on the coast of Ireland, in 
my passage across the Atlantic, we encountered one of those 
long and monotonous calms, which so frequently occur in 
these latitudes at this season of the year. For two or three 
days scarcely a breath of wind agitated the air, or a wave 
ruffled the smooth surface of the ocean. At my request, 
Capt. Dixey, the obliging master of our packet ship, fur- 
nished me with a small boat, in which I made a little excur- 
sion on. the water, for a mile or two round the vessel, in 
search of marine animals. Among the number captured 
were multitudes of the Cleodorce, probably the species 
called Cleodora lanceolata of Peron and Le Sueur. * The 
body of this little moluscous animal is partly covered by a 
thin transparent shell, like an inverted pyramid, or a hollow 
spear head; I observed them in large groupes or shoals, 
not only close to the surface of the water, but also some 
fathoms below it. They appeared of a greenish hue through- 
out, the colour of the animal being distinctly visible through 
its transparent shell. They seemed to float horizontally in 
the water, that is, the axes of the conical shell was nearly 
parallel to the surface. When under the water, their powers 
of locomotion are exceedingly limited, if they possess them 
at all. On reaching the hand into the water to capture 
them, they exhibited no motion, and on drawing into the 
boat a line, which I had thrown out, many of them were 
found adhering to it. There seems to be a curious organi- 
zation of these animals which has escaped the notice of 
Peron and Le Sueur, who have given us the best account 
of them. At the apex of the conical shell there is a small 
globular enlargement, which appears to be filled by minute 
muscular filaments from the end of the body. By this con- 
trivance the animal is not only attached to the shell, but a 
small degree of motion between its testaceous and muscular 
parts may be produced. 
Three or four days before the little excursion I have just 
noticed, I amused myself in taking, with a small net, the 
velellae, which floated in vast numbers past the ship. The 
velella is a small, flat, cartilaginous animal, about the size 
and thickness of a dollar, having a little sail or crest passing 
transversely over the top or upper surface; this little sail is 
fringed with blue, and the whole portion of the animal out 
of the water shines with all the colours of the rainbow. 
Sometimes the sudden rippling of the waves, or a puff of 
the wind, would overturn them ; but they soon regained 
their upright position. On placing these animals in a tum- 
bler of sea-water, they exhibited one of the most beautiful 
objects I have seen. The fringe of the little sail which 
crosses its back, and the curved and radiating lines on the 
body of the animal, all presented a fine play of pavonine 
colours. Attached to the lower surface of the velella I no- 
ticed, in almost every instance, the little blue shell, called 
ianthina, and which I first believed to be the parent or 
rightful owner of the floating apparatus. It is probable, 
however," that it makes use of the velella, not only to sup- 
port itself near the surface of the ocean, but that it also de- 
rives from it its principal nourishment, by absorbing its 
juices. From some observation, I am rather of the opinion 
* In Peron and Le Sueur’s account of the moluscous animals taken in the 
Mediterranean near Nice, this is called hyalea- lanceolata. We are at a loss 
to account for this mistake in these remarkably profound and accurate Zoolo- 
gists. 
