th in his power to properly digest it,
ejects it with force, and turning quickly darts back to the friendly
shadow of a boulder beneath whose sides he has, in time of threatened
danger, a safe retreat.

I throw a grasshopper into the pool. Like a flash six of the sunfish
are after it. One reaches it a tenth of a second in advance of the
others, and with a lightning-like gulp, which disturbs the serenity of
the surface of the pool, swallows the kicking prey. The energy of the
sun's heat and light, stored in grass, transmitted to move muscles in
gigantic leaps, will, in a short time, wag a caudal fin and propel the
owner through these watery depths.

Years are thus doubtless spent by these long-eared sunfish in a dreamy
sort of existence, their energies quickened by the vernal season and
growing duller on the approach of winter. Excepting the times when
they are tempted by a wriggling worm on some boy's hook, theirs is a
life exempt from danger. A kingfisher glancing down from his perch on
the bent sycamore limb may, at times, discern them and lessen their
ranks; but, methinks, the chub minnows, with fewer spines in their
dorsal fins, are more agreeable to the king-fisher's palate. With all
the tints of the rainbow gleaming from their sides they move to and
fro, the brilliant rulers of these quiet pools.

The king or monarch of those noted was most gorgeously arrayed. In
addition to the hues above described, a streak of emerald bordered his
dorsal and caudal fins and was bent around the edge of his upper
lip--a green mustache, as it were. By tolling them with occasional
bits of food I drew him and his retinue close into shore. There, for
some time they rested, watching eagerly for additional morsels. As I
was leaving I plucked from my sleeve an ant and threw it towards them.
A dart, a gurgle, a gulp--the leader had leaped half his length from
the water, and the ant was forever gone. The ripples receded and
finally disappeared, and the last scene in this tragedy of nature was
at an end.

[Illustration]

SEA-SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH

(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES.)

BY CHARLES DARWIN.

[Illustration: CUTTLE-FISH.]

I was much interested, on several occasions, by watching the habits of
an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common in the pools of water left
by the retiring tide, these animals were not easily caught. By means
of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very
narrow crevice