BERMUDA BIOLOGICAL STATION. 563 



In the immediate vicinity of the laboratory— in the Inlet and in 

 Harrington Sound — are found an abundant supply of many interest- 

 ing animals. From the stone pier at the hotel are to be seen great 

 numbers of brightly colored fishes: the yellow-banded sergeant majors 

 (Abudefduf saxatilis), sea squirrels (Holocentrus ascensionis) , so 

 called on account of the bigness of their eyes, angel fishes (Angel- 

 ichthys ciliaris), four eyes (Chcetodon oimacidatus) and many others. 

 The large eye-spots of the four-eyes at the tail end of the body evi- 

 dently afford protection by misleading their enemies into the belief that 

 they will attempt to escape in a direction opposite that in which they 

 actually swim. Schools of blue fry and other small fishes pursued by 

 their enemies make a flash in the sunlight as they leap from the 

 water and a sound like the patter of rain as they descend. Small 

 shoals of white grunt (Batliy stoma) , that so closely resemble the 

 sandy bottom as to be almost invisible, are slowly patrolling along the 

 beach and often attract one's attention only when their presence causes 

 a commotion among their prospective victims. 



The water is so clear that the bottom at a depth of fifteen or 

 twenty feet is seen as distinctly as it would be beneath as many inches 

 of our northern waters. Along the sandy stretches of the inlet, where 

 the current is not too strong, are numerous dark sea-urchins (Toxo- 

 pneustes varxegatus), which have the interesting habit of covering 

 themselves with empty shells, seaweeds or any loose available frag- 

 ments. Just what sort of protection these screens afford is not quite 

 apparent. To the observer looking from above they are scarcely less 

 conspicuous than when unadorned. Their specific form and char- 

 acteristic color, it is true, are masked, and possibly this is enough to 

 subserve some useful purpose. By digging a few inches deep in the 

 sand at the right spot one brings up another echinoid, the sand-dollar 

 (Mellita sexforis). Scattered over the bottom are the apparently mo- 

 tionless but conspicuous sea-cucumbers, which the natives call sea- 

 puddings — the Stichopus diaboli and S. xanthomela of Heilprin. 

 These often attain the length of a foot or more and leave behind to 

 mark the track of their slow progress a cord or ridge of sand that 

 has been deprived of its nutritive material in passing through their 

 intestinal tract. These are abundant on many sandy bottoms; other 

 holothurians are less widely distributed. In the shallow parts of the 

 Inlet, which are laid bare at low tide, are the burrows of many annelids 

 and other worms. Where the channel is rocky and the water moves 

 with greater velocity the bottom is often gorgeously painted with 

 patches of bright-colored corallines and encrusting sponges. Opposite 

 the hotel an artificial channel cut through the narrow neck of land 

 that separates the Inlet from Harrington Sound is of this nature and 

 affords a rich collecting ground for many invertebrates. With a row 



