180 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
liHtched out aud wandered too far from the nest, 
would take them in his mouth and bring them 
back. I have often amused myself by placing 
Rmall sticks in the nest, and watching the male 
fish tug at them until they were loosened, and 
then carry them off in his mouth to the farthest 
extremity of the tank. Tliere is no fish so easily 
domesticated, and tliat will bring forth young so 
readily in either fresh or salt water aquarium. 
At the left of the picture is a most curious ani¬ 
mal, the Sea-horse, {llippocampus Hudsonius ).— 
Ihe male fish is furnished with a pouch for the 
reception of the spawn, in which it is hatched. 
The young sea-horses cling together in a mass, 
by means of their prehensile tails. The natural 
food of the Sea-horse, is theSerpula, noticed be¬ 
low. Mr. Damon had for a year three Sea¬ 
horses which were so tame, that they would 
follow his hand around the tank to be fed; he at 
first fed them on the hinder parts of shrimp, 
afterwards on Serpula, which they eat greedilj'. 
Serpula contortuplicata, shown near the Sea¬ 
horse, consists of a mass of twisted tubes formed 
of hard shell, each of which contains an ani- 
inah When these are out feeding and fully eit- 
panded with their_ “stqppers” of white amiS 
orgnge, in connection with theij- feather like 
branchiae of rich brown and crimson, they pfer 
sent a body of rich color.- On the slightest 
disturbance, the entire mass of serpula disap¬ 
pears, and the color of the Avhole instantaneously 
changes from a brilliant orange or crimson to 
the dull grey of their cells. They venture out 
one by one and the mass of shell becomes bril¬ 
liant again. When any of the cells become 
broken, the serpula in a few days build them 
up. If one is cut in half, each half becomes a 
perfect animal. They live entirely at the bot¬ 
tom, and do not thrive well in a strong light. 
Star-fish, one of which is shown at the left 
hand, {Asteracanthion^) are very common, and 
the great enemy of the oyster and clam. Every 
fisherman considers it his duty to destroy them. 
The small Hermit Crab {Pagurus longicarpus) 
is found in great numbers on our coast. The 
hinder part of the body is soft and unprotected, 
so that it becomes necessary for them to inhabit 
some empty shell, generally that of the Bucci- 
num, when they grow too large for the shell, they 
take possession of a new one that fits them bet¬ 
ter ; when they are about making this change, 
they first carefully examine the interior and ex¬ 
terior of the shell with their claws, and finding it 
all right they jerk themselves out of the old 
shell and into the new so quickly, that the 
change is hard to detect. Should a Hermit Crab 
have one of his claws crushed or broken, it will 
amputate it down to the next perfect joint, eating 
all the flesh that is torn off through amputating. 
In about three days, a small, soft fleshy point 
makes its appearance, which is the new claw; 
this increases in size until it has attained nearly 
its natural proportions, but is soft and without 
shell, until the next moulting or shedding season, 
when it becomes a perfect claw, shell and all. 
One of these Crabs, inhabiting a small shell, is 
shown in the center foreground of the picture. 
The Spider Crab, or Sea Spader, {Ldbinica 
canaliculata) is interesting, in spite of its homely 
look, of which it seems to be conscious, from 
the fact of its dressing itself up with sea-weed 
or algae, of the most brilliant colors. This it 
only does at the fall of the year, as the bedding 
time approaches, so that it may be more securely 
hid from the numerous bottom fish who prey 
upon the smaller crustaceans. One is seen at 
the extreme right of the picture. There are 
several equally curious objects shown, that can 
only be named: The Shrimp, which the Stickle¬ 
back seems to be after; Tubularias, long horn¬ 
like tubes, seen just under the Shrimp; Barna¬ 
cles, between the two Crabs, etc. Of course, 
there must be some vegetation to keep up the 
balance between animal and vegetable life, and 
for this nothing is so useful as the Ulva^ or Sea- 
lettuce, some broad fronds of which are seen 
floating behind the Sea-horse and Serpula. 
