I placed several sea-flowers
(anemones), cut into small pieces. These he immediately seized, and soon
had them fastened over his back, using both claws, he being both right
and left handed, and sticking them on with a kind of glue that he took
from his mouth. In a few days the pieces of sea-flowers began to develop
into perfect flowers, causing the crab to look very gorgeous.

When a crab loses a claw, he does not mind it; in fact, he rather likes
it, as it provides him with an extra meal. All he does is to sit right
down and bite it off to the next perfect joint, eating the fragments of
flesh with much relish. In a week's time a new claw begins to grow. When
a spider-crab grows too large for his clothes, he rips them at the back,
and out he slides, a helpless soft mass. He is now a "soft crab," and
for thirty-six hours he has to hide away, as all fish are hunting for
soft-crab dinners. At the end of thirty-six hours he is hard again, and
has increased one-third in size.

[Illustration: SWELL-FISH.]

Of all laughable fish a baby swell-fish is the funniest. Beautiful in
color, odd in shape, with the power of blowing himself up into a round
ball covered on the under side with spines, does he not look wise and
important? And he has only two teeth, but can't he bite? Why he swells
himself up so is not exactly known; but I imagine that when he finds
himself inside of a fish, he makes it so uncomfortable for that fish's
general health that the fish is glad to get rid of him.

[Illustration: SEA-ROBIN.]

Next to a young swell-fish comes a young sea-robin, a very interesting
fish. He can make a musical grunting noise when he feels good, and will
spread his beautiful wings, and sail through the water as proud as a
peacock. When he is tired, he likes to bury himself up to his eyes in
sand, for which he uses his two curious hooked fingers. He also uses
these to dig out the sand-shrimps. Some years ago great numbers of very
large sea-robins visited our coast, and were sold in the New York
markets under the name of Dolly Vardens, on account of their possessing
such bright and showy colors.

[Illustration: OYSTER DRILL.]

The shell-fish known as the oyster drill is one of the greatest of all
enemies to young oysters, which he destroys by boring minute holes
through their shells, and when the oyster opens, after death, eating him
up. It is not known how he drills this very minute hole so quickly.

The clinker (_serpula_) is r