Galaxy Magazine (May 1955) by Galaxy

Author:Galaxy
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 1955-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

Fig. 1. This it the bird Lag*phus . • .

THEN there was a paragraph saying "there is a fish in the seas that has eight feet, hence it is called octopus, which means 'eight feet.' " Yes, it does, but you cannot imagine an octopus unless you have seen one. So the fish with eight feet turned out as

shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. ... while this is an "octopus"

One picture (Fig. 3) might have defied guessing for a long

Fig. 3. A fish named Echinv*

72

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION

time if the name had not given the misunderstanding away. The text reads: "Erinus is a fish in the seas that has its head and mouth turned down below and carries the gateway for the excrements on top above; it walks by means of its spines, which it uses like feet." You won't catch on unless the word erinus reminds you of the zoological term echinoder-mata or, more specifically, the class of the echinoidea, the sea urchins. The description then makes sense; the picture is a fine example of good will and confusion.

At that same time, there lived a French scientist named Guil-laume Rondelet. By profession, he was a physician; by avocation, a zoologist who was especially interested in the fishes of the Mediterranean Sea. In his book, Rondelet presented Fig. 4 and 5, with protestations that he had

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