ese occasions, directly
began to tempt the robber who was to go into the city. "As soon,"
whispered the bad spirit to him, "as I shall have reached the city, I
will eat and drink of the best of everything as much as I please, and
then purchase what I want. Afterward I will mix with the food intended
for my companions something which I trust will settle their account,
thus becoming sole master of the whole of the treasure, which will make
me one of the richest men in this part of the world;" and as he purposed
to do, so he did.

He carried the poisoned food to his companions, who, on their part,
while he had been away, had come to the conclusion of killing him on his
return, in order that they might divide the money among themselves,
saying, "Let us fall upon him the moment he comes, and afterward eat
what he has brought, and divide the money between us in much larger
shares than before."

The robber who had been into the city now returned with the articles he
had bought, and was immediately killed. The others then began to feast
upon the provisions prepared for them, and were seized with violent
pains, and soon died. In this manner all three fell victims to each
other's avarice and cruelty, without obtaining their ill-gotten wealth.

[Illustration: CARNIVOROUS OCEAN PLANTS.]

ANIMAL-PLANTS.

The aquarium presents a field for delightful and ever-varying study, as
its inhabitants belong to the most curious and interesting of ocean and
fresh-water creatures. Fishes alone are well worthy of close
observation; and when to these are added odd little reptiles, queer
shell-fish, and different classes of the wonderful zoophytes, an
aquarium presents a constantly changing picture of the marvels of ocean
life.

The zoophytes are the most remarkable of all marine creatures. The name
zoophyte comes from two Greek words--_zooen_, an animal, and _phyton_, a
plant--and therefore has the literal signification of animal-plant.

An important member of the zoophyte family, and one often introduced
into aquaria, is the actinia, or sea-anemone, sometimes called sea-rose.
Sea-anemones were for a long time considered as vegetables, beautiful
and gayly colored flowers of the ocean, and only comparatively recent
investigation has discovered them to be animals, and blood-thirsty,
voracious little robbers and murderers of the worst character.

One of the most common among the many varieties of sea-anemones is the
_Actinia mesembr