. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms; . creatures in vast quantities. On being brought to the curing-stations, the animalsare emptied from the collecting-sacks into large caldrons, where they are allowed to stew intheir own juice for about twenty minutes. Taken out of the caldrons, they are split open , dried for a short interval in the sun, and then placed in tiers on wire gratings ina smoke-house, where they remain for twenty-four hours. They should at this stage haveshrunk up to about one quarter of their normally extended size, much resem
. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms; . creatures in vast quantities. On being brought to the curing-stations, the animalsare emptied from the collecting-sacks into large caldrons, where they are allowed to stew intheir own juice for about twenty minutes. Taken out of the caldrons, they are split open , dried for a short interval in the sun, and then placed in tiers on wire gratings ina smoke-house, where they remain for twenty-four hours. They should at this stage haveshrunk up to about one quarter of their normally extended size, much resemble charred sausagesin aspect, and should rattle like dry walnuts when bagged up for exportation. From i^so to;£^I50 per ton are the prices that the better qualities of beche-de-mer realise when well curedand delivered at Chinese ports. The chief culinary use to which the cured sea-cucumbers areapplied is that of the concoction of soup, the best qualitj prepared taking rank with thatmade from swallows nests. At the hotels and clubs in the leading Australian cities bcche-. fh,t, h IV. Savitli Kim, ] [Af,(/orJ-»r,-S«.i A YOUNG BRITTLE STAR-FISH(MUCH MAGNIFIED) The armi of the brittle-Uiirs are composed of loosely Jirtuig^readily fractured joints STAR-FISHES. SEA-URCHINS. ETC 353 de-mer soup is held in high favour, and its moreextensive introduction onthe menu-cards of Westerncivilisation may be only a question of time. Many species of sea-cucumbers inhabit Britishseas, but none possess that density of tissue whichis essential for their economic conservation; themajority, moreover, are of comparatively small size,some few inches long only when fully extended,whereas the commercially valuable tropical ones maymeasure as much as from 2 to 3 feet. The mode offeeding of sea-cucumbers is somewhat interesting;the smaller species, with much-branching tentacles,generalK affix themselves by their tube-feet tosome object, and, extending their tentacles in alldirections, utilise the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecad, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectzoology
