into an elegant scarlet plume. Now another little stopper makes its appearance; another and another; and now each tube is crowned with its lovely tuft of feathers. Presto! they have disappeared, plumes and stoppers vanished like magic as a large fish passed over them.[1]
This rock is studded over with tiny conical shells, each of which contains a living creature, quite as wonderful as the tube-inhabiting worm. If you make good use of your "microscopic eye," you will see that each little shell opens at the tip, and that a delicate white feathery object is alternately protruded and withdrawn through the aperture. This tiny white feather is a veritable casting net, and every time it is spread out it catches some invisible particles of food.[2]
We have glanced at a few of the Mermaid’s subjects, to count them all would indeed be "an endless task." In another chapter we shall describe at length some of the marvellous flowers that bloom in these submarine regions. Would that we could introduce the reader to the mermaid herself, but we sadly fear that she will never figure in the fairy tales of science. We are rather inclined to think that she ceased to exist with the dragons and griffins of that marvellous age known as "once upon a time." But perhaps she does exist after all, and only keeps out of the way of the naturalist, for fear he should
