Others either in nervousness, or a result of shock to the system, or to
amaze and affright the beholder, shoot out interminable lengths of
filmy, cottony threads, white and glutinous, until one is astonished
that a small body should contain such a quantity of yarn ready spun, to
eject at a moment's notice like the mazes of ribbon drawn from a
conjurer's hat.
While it would be idle to particularise the different varieties of
beche-de-mer, that lead such lowly lives in the coral reef here, there
is one more conspicuous than the others, which may be referred to
without presuming to trespass on the preserves of scientific inquirers.
Indeed, it is entitled to notice, for it seems to be most prominent
among the few which afford examples of unconscious mimicry and
sympathetic coloration to insure themselves from molestation.
Beche-de-mer does not generally give the idea of capability of even the
simplest form of deception. True, the "black fish," shrinking from
observation, puts on a cloak of sand, and a cousin assumes a resemblance
to an irregular piece of coral--rugged, sea-stained and rotten. But the
variety under notice takes a higher place in the deceptive art, for it
seems to pose as an understudy to one of the most nimble and vicious
habitants of the sea--the banded snake.
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