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Terms, Five Dollars a Year. 
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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCT. 9, 1873. 















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§ Volume I, Number 9, 
103 Fulton Street. 


For Forest and Stream. 
THE SUN. : 
y —_+_—_. 
LLUSTRIOUS sun that we journey around; 
Ah, can in creation there ever be found— 
Thou beamy old loyer— 
A face that is shining as thine is, the same 
As erst it did, ‘lume with beneficent flame 
The universe over. 
Thou art a good distance from me, it is true, 
But when there come over the highway of blue 
Thy messages golden, 
Isit quite entranced in a dream of delight, 
And revel in visions bewitchingly bright 
As fairydom olden. 
. 
Most magical gilder of leaf and of flower, 
Thy art universal has wonderful power, 
Except when the veiling 
Thou throw’st like a sun o’er thy radiant face : 
Till nature, as though she had met with disgrace 
Outbursts into wailing. 
Thou keepest a picture on landscape and main, 
Reflecting, refracting again and again? 
We could but remember 
Thy image, though lovers were legions by name, 
And from every empire and kingdom they came 
From June to December. 
And when on our journey to regions where day 
Bestows not upon us a sunshiny ray, 
' We know our returning 
Will find thee as ever so fixedly true 
That we the companionship soon shall renew 
For which we were yearning. 
Thou gilder and quickener and lover of earth, 
Thou king of the morning and priest of our mirth, 
Thou beauty inspirer, 
Without the high pomp of thy far‘reaching glory 
The earth would be shrined in this brief and sad story 
Without an admirer. : 
Martua Ewrne. 
Bown Among the GHlollusca. 
Prax’s Isuanp, Maine, September,1873 
EpitTor FoRESsT AND STREAM :— 
It falls to the lot of but few to be participants in a sum- 
mer’s dredging expedition with men who know what to do, 
have every facility for doing, and who in doing can obtain 
and impart instruction in that as yet so little known branch 
of natural history that embraces in its scope the myriads of 
strange creatures that dwell beneath the sea. I propose to 
give youa graphic account of some of the curious crea- 
tures encountered this season—odd, eyeless animals, that 
our dredges and trawls, as they have scraped along the 
bottom, have torn from their native mud or rocky cradles 
and brought squirming, panting, and swelling to our view 


Up from the cold, dense atmosphere of water that has sur- 
rounded them, to our upper world, where for the first time 
they have felt light. Isay felt, for many of them have no 
visual organs, yet show a sensitiveness to the influence of 
light, and only in the dark recover from their fright and 
develope into their natural proportions. Not such an ac- 
count will be given, perhaps, as our professors, qualified by 
long and careful research, could prepare for you—if they 
only would—but a simple story of what we see daily, and 
what any man may learn with common observation and 
opportunity. 
Many rare and valuable specimens can only be appreci- 
ated at their true value by those to whom experience has 
divested the more common species of their rarity; and be- 
tween countless varieties of worms and crustacea the ap- 
parent differences are too slight to attraet attention from a 
casual observer. To Professor A. E. Verrill, of Yale Col- 
lege, I am indebted for the scientific nomenclature, and for 
much instruction in natural history. Yet slight as are the 
differences, each may, and sometimes does, mark an im- 
portant point in knowledge. 
are found; to me they look alike, yet one of them is of no 
value. It was expected that it would be found in this lati- 
Two common looking clams. 
tude. The other, differing but by slight marks, almost un- 
noticeable, is indeed a ‘‘find.” Cape Cod is a dividing line 
upon our coast. South of it one class of creatures are 
found in profusion, but the quohog clam (the Calista con- 
vera), certain star fishes and worms, and the oyster have 
not existed, or, having existed, have become extinct north 
of this line, except in a very few localities. A live Calista 
convexa (a species of clam) brought up in Caseo Bay upset 
at once the opinion held till then that it was extinct so far 
north. Quohog shells in plenty we find in the ancient In- 
dian shell mounds, which dot every slope of the island, show- 
ing that once they existed ia plenty. Now but one little 
bay—a mere cove at the head of Casco Bay—furnishes this 
creature, which, south of Cape Cod, is but the common 
plentiful clam. Oyster shells, of a size to which a Saddle 
Rock is but a pigmy, lie thickly planted six feet below the 
present bottom of Portland harbor. They, too, however, 
are extinct. In that great convulsion of Nature that was 
SO Sweeping in its effects not a living oyster was left to ful- 
filla mission. It seems asad mistake up here, where oys- 
ters could be eaten every day in the year, and the nightly 
blanket renders superfluous the mosquito bar. But the 
ocean is still well filled, and with fruits and flowers, with 
vegetables and plants, masons and well diggers, robbers and 
cannibals, and each bearing in a greater or less degree a re- 
semblance, either in appearance or habits, to the creature 
or object above water that itis named for. Way down in 
the dark depths animal life utilizes every inch of ground, 
and no square foot above the surface can equal in number 
or variety of forms the same space at the bottom of the 
sea. Strange, odd; horrible creatures, with none or many 
eyes, with speckled bodies, and long, slimy, clinging arms, 
changing at once their form and size at will, and, like the 
genii of the Arabian Tales, from a mere starting point ex- 
tend themselves almost indefinitely in size. Beautiful crea- 
tures, too, as the anemonies and dahlias, at first frightened 
and jarred as we see them in the dredge, mere masses of 
pink or purple flesh, covered with a tough skin; left to 
themselves in a cool, dark place they protrude from an 
opening in their bodies, clusters of gay colored and grace- 
fully moving antenn, which in some branch like coral, in 
others bear close resemblance to the stamens and petals of 
‘flowers. Down here the animal kingdom takes from the 
floral tribe the duty of embellishing. Living, breathing, 
food-devouring flowers, and the kitchen garden too, and 
orchard, are not unrepresented. Sea cucumbers, (Pentacta 
FSrondosa,) sea peaches, (Cynthia pyriformis,) sea pears, (Bol- 
tenia clawala,) and apples, are found in plenty, the former 
so close a simile of the fruit, both in form and color, that 
it could be mistaken, the one for the other. 
The flowers, though beautiful as they are, are but bri- 
gands; those graceful petals wave but to entice and grasp.a 
victim, which, when seized, is pressed close to its mouth, 
and then, even if larger than its captor, is swallowed whole. 
The process of swallowing whole a morsel—larger than the 
swallower, is rather an unusual proceeding among animals, 
and of course an unusual method has to be adopted. The 
anemonie does it this way; holding tightly its prey, it 
gradually protrudes its gtomach from its mouth, and turn- 
ing it inside out, envelopes its dinner, and then it lies 
quietly awaiting the death and digestion. It rejects such 
portions as are not suitable, and stows away its stomach 
for future use. Whata blessing some men would esteem 
this faculty to be. 
The sea cucumber is another curious creature; first 
found it isa small, compact ‘‘gherkin;” left to itself, it 
will swell and develope to an immense cucumber, quite large 
enough to make a boat of, if the sea urchins had the same 
habits as did those urchins of whom I was once one. 
Starfish we find in great numbers and varieties, different 
according to the character of the bottom. The common 
‘“five-fingered Jack is” found everywhere, and at each haul of 
the dredge, whether from mud or rocks, ‘‘ asterias vulgaris” 
is the first object called out to the note taker. Perhaps he 
is so plentiful because of some disagreeable quality about 
him that prevents not only the cod, but the more omniver- 
ous haddock, from dining upon him. Other starfish, such 
as the brittle starfish, (ophiophol’s aculeata) and (ophioglypha 
sarsit) we find less ‘plentiful, but opening the stomach of a 
well-fed codfish always gives us specimens of them; of the 
asterias never. Of one magnificent species, the gomaster 
| phrygianus, we found but two specimens, both in the deep 
water, where an almost icy temperature made them a con- 
stant winter. Four or five inches from point to point, and 
of a deep scarlet hue, with the surface embossed‘like sha- 
green, they were indeed beautiful. ° 
Of the ‘‘clénediscus crispatus,” a pale straw-colored star- 
fish—until now esteemed very rare—we found hundreds, 
all in this icy belt, that has provided close to our shores an 
abiding place for creatures peculiar to the Arctic waters. 
Here, with the thermometer recording 369, at fifty fathoms 
below the surface, the wonders of the Polar Sea are brought 
to our very threshhold. 
Here, too, we found three large and perfect specimens of 
arare and beautiful anemonie (urticina digitata), hitherto 
recorded no nearer to our coast than on the George’s Bank, 
where, in four hundred fathoms depth the scraping dredge 
had torn from some specimen its long finger-like antenae, 
and the previous sight of which alone enabled our learned 
leader to instantly name and classify this flrst perfect speci- 
men ever obtained. 
The dredge, used on a mud bottom, brings up quantities, 
which, when washed out, reveal a rich harvest. Worms 
predominate—some bare, and red, and slimy, others encased 
in a hard tube of their own manufacture, from which they 
pass their heads in and out, and seem to have perfect free- 
dom of motion. Many sorts and sizes, from tiny creatures 
whose peculiarities are distinguished only under the micro- 
scope, to the grand certanthus borealis, one of the anemonie 
family, a foot in length, all with the same style of house, 
and exuding from their bodies a slime which has probably 
chemical affinities with the lime in the water, and whose 
stickiness causes the mud to adhere. A hard tube forms 
around them, from which they can be drawn without in- 
jury. We caught oneof the above-named—a perfect speci- 
men—with a tube an inch in diameter anda foot long. 
Professor Verrill drew him from his case and set him free 
in a basin of water. Expanding and contracting he swam 
rapidly about, evidently ill at ease. The next day he was 
lying quiet, and about his neck there was a ring of mud, 
formed from the floating particles in his prison, and in the 
evening, stretched out to full length, he was found endeay- 
oring to swallow an anemonie that had been imprisoned 
with him. 
The sea urchin, a little fellow with avery long name 
(strongylocentrotus drobachiensés), we find on rocky bottoms, 
from the size of a pea to that of an orange; an oblate sphe- 
roid, covered with green spines, which he uses for legs— 
I guess because they are legs. Rare ones, the ‘‘schinzaster 
fragilis,” are only found in deep water. 
The hermit crab (ewpagurus Bernhardus) is a very common 
but curious creature. It resembles very much a little lob- 
ster, and is armed with powerful claws and a thick breast 
plate. He is aquarrelsome customer, but unfortunately for 
him he doesn’t end as he began, and all the after part of his 
body is soft and defenceless. Conscious of his weak points 
he is a very coward when left to his natural resources, but 
searching about he finds an empty univalve spiral shell. 
This he examines inside and out, turning it over and over 
until satisfied that there is no weak place in the rear, when 
he passes into it tail first, and then, calmly folding his 
strong claws across the entrance, he is ready fora fray. I 
have seen a larger one thrust in a claw and pull froma 
shell he fancied a smaller one that had already taken refuge 
in it. Moving about constantly as he does, his shell-be- 
comes an attractive home for a beautiful hydroid, who re- 
quires a motion in the water to thrive, and who has no loco- 
motive organs himself. This hydroid is a beautiful little 
creature, and as seen by the naked eye the shell seems coy- 
ered with a velvet-like goat of waving fibres; seen through 
the microscope the fibres resolve themselves into a curious 
little triune creature, three bodies on one stem, each with its 
special function to perform, making one little single life. 
One body absorbs food, another reproduces the young, 
