2 
A  Letter  from  the  Orient. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
January,  1917. 
live  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ocean.  Separated  are  they  from 
each  other,  because  most  of  them  agree  about  as  do  the  lion  and  the 
lamb.  Here  we  see  a  tank  in  which  we  behold  a  number  of  crea- 
tures that  somewhat  resemble  a  great  brown  shoe,  with  two  glaring 
eyes  in  the  heel.  From  beneath  come  eight  arms  that  everlastingly 
stretch  and  again  contract,  much  like  India  rubber  pipes.  They  pro- 
ject themselves  now  here,  now  there;  they  grasp  whatever  they 
touch ;  they  seize  a  bit  of  food  and  next,  the  arm  contracts.  Into 
the  stomach  beneath  the  eyes  of  the  creature  the  helpless  victim  is 
irresistibly  drawn.  But  while  this  is  occurring  the  other  arms  are 
stretching  in  and  out,  are  slipping  up  and  down,  are  searching  near 
and  far,  for  anything  possible.  The  creature  moves  as  though  it, 
too,  were  a  prey  of  those  rubber  arms,  which  stick  by  rows  of 
suckers  to  whatever  they  touch,  and  which,  in  full-grown  specimens, 
have  the  jpower  of  grasping  a  man  and  drawing  him  down  to  the 
ocean's. depths  as  easily  as  these  do  an  unfortunate  fish.  This  is  the 
octopus,  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea  is  prolific  in  them. 
Next  we"  turn  to  a  tank  in  which  at  first  glance  we  see  only  rough 
stones  and  sand.  But,  on  closer  examination  we  perceive  that  some 
of  the  rough  stones  are  alive.  They  are  fish  that  have  the  power  of 
imitating  the  objects  among  which  they  rest,  both  as  to  color  and 
form.  This  one  is  reddish,  that  one  is  brown,  or  black,  or  yellow,  in 
accordance  with  the  objects  among  which  it  lies.  Hideous  crea- 
tures are  they,  lying  there  silently  awaiting  a  fish  that  fails  to  per- 
ceive that  stones  such  as  they  have  mouths.  Let  us  add  this  fact  to 
the  familiar  motto,  "  Stones  have  ears." 
Now  the  sand  moves,  a  darting  creature  rises  from  it,  and  then 
slowly  settles  down — to  become  again  sand.  It  is  a  great  flat  fish 
that,  now  we  have  located  it,  is  seen  to  lie  so  close  to  the  sand  and 
to  so  nearly  resemble  it,  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  tell  where  sand 
ends  and  fish  begins.  There  are  others  invisible — we  see  their  still 
eyes  looking  upward,  but  no  one  can  trace  their  bodies. 
The  next  tank  contains  crabs  with  legs,  "  feet "  in  length.  There 
are  tanks  of  coral,  of  miniature  sharks,  of  transparent  squids,  and 
hosts  of  fish  and  other  creatures  of  all  colors,  shapes,  sizes  and 
habits.  The  water  is  as  clear  as  air,  the  creatures  live  before  our 
eyes,  the  most  instructive  object-lesson  of  the  world  concerning 
aquatic  life  of  this  most  interesting,  semi-tropical  sea. 
Go  now  to  the  market  place  in  Naples.  There  we  find  the  same 
hideous  creatures— sold  as  food.    Here  are  baskets  of  the  octopus. 
