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Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 62

Sea Leopai'ds ami Sea La'nbs.

FATHER NEPTUNE'S PRIVATE ZOO. - Sailors never worry themselves much about natural history ; so when Hawkinsand his men first explored the Pdlkland Islands, and found the beach in the possession of a colony of huge maned seals they promptly dubbed them sea-lions, and the np me has stuck to them ever since.

The big barred sharks of the Cv.lf of Mexico are called sea-tigers. The name, however, is not given from any fancied resemblance to the great Indian beast df prey, but on account of the greed which they display in seizing and rerding to piece? such feed as comes their way. Another shark, smaller end spotted, but equally ferocious, is known as the sea-leo-pard.

Around the British coasts the fish most hated and dreaded by fishermen is a sort of dogfifch which hunts in packs, and from this and it,-, ferocity it is generally known as the f.es-wolf.

But there are sea representatives of other less savage creatures. The sea-horse, for instance, which, though his lacking would bo harmless as ho has no legs, and is only about six inches Jong, yet has a head most curiously .similar in shape to the animal he is named after.

We have, too, a sea-cow, which was once common enough in the brackish estuaries of Florida and Central Americ?. Its real name is manatee, and it looks about as little like a cew as any creature could. It is, in fact, one of the S3al family, and only resembles the cow in its placid disposition, its devotion to its calf, and its h.abit of peacefully grazing along the meadows of seagraFS which line the bottom of the broad, shallow waters. A sea-cow, which was nearly four times as big as her land namesake, ir-ed to inhabit the islands in the Uehring Sea ; but its beef was so excellent that it -was killed off, and is now extinct.

Another creature of the same family which inhabits tho remote Antarctic is known as the sea-elephant, fr.om r ,,h)s quaint trunk-shaped nose.

The sea-cat is not true to name, for he w ould scorn to tako the slightest notice of the sea-mouse, .which is merely a sort of grey, fluffy annelid. Indeed, why the catfish was called so is a mystery to inquirers, for he is a heavy, ugly creature, with a lmge mouth and a row of poisonous spines on his back.

Sea-chickens are not so profitable as their namesakes of the farmyard. Indeed, they are birds of evil omen, as their other names, Mother Carey's chickens, or stormy petrels, well indicate. The sea-hen is quite a different species of bird from the seachicken. It is far bigger, is .found in southern waters, .and is known by sailors as the Molly. Terns are the sea-swallows so often 'seen, and a kind of small plover is often called the sea-lark.

Like the sea-cat, the sea-fox does not feed on his natural prey. Instead of sneaking into ocean poultry-yards for sea-fowl of any description, the 'sea-fox attacks game much larger than himself. For the sea-fox is no other than the thresher shark, a creature which is the bane and terror of ■whaled. He attacks them generally in company with the swordfish, and, using his powerful tail as a flail, whilst the other wields its lance below, soon makes an end of his big cousin. Mermaids should not be without sewing utensils, for sea-needles, the long and pointed garfish, are common enough. Nor should their gardens be without crops. These, perhaps, might seem peculiar to land gardeners, consisting as they do chiefly of sea-cucumbers and sea-nettles. Neither of these are really vegetables at all, the former being the common name for a sort of sea-slug, and the latter for stinging jellyfish. Sea-frogs and sea-toads might be found wandering between the beds of this marine pleasure-ground ; but they would certainly alarm the little mermaids, for few things exist in Nature uglier than the huge-mouthed angler, or fishing-frog, and the spotted, shapeless toad-fish.

About Snakes. — The snake never closes its eyes. Sleeping or waiting, alive or dead, iii eyes are always wide open. This is because snakes have no eyelids. The eye is piotected only by a strong scale, which foims part of the epidermis envelope, and is cs,st off in a piece with that every time the reptile moults. This eye-scale is as clear and transpai'ent as glass, and allows the most perfect vision, while, at the same time, ft is so hard and tough, as to protect the delicate organ within from thorns ani twigs, among which, in flight from enemies or in pur-suit of prey, the reptile so pftea hurriedly glides..