THE CEILING OF THE BAY 



offspring. And these considerations left me with 

 a very confounded idea of the meaning of exist- 

 ence, as I saw its fellows in untold myriads leaping 

 for their lives, with apparently only the choice of 

 going to nourish either a fish or a bird. 



During another 'tween dive and warming we 

 shot a pelican and found sixty-five of the small 

 herrings in its maw, all fresh and uninjured. 

 Twice I saw a pursuing yellow-tail and a pelican 

 collide, the one rising, the other diving, both keen 

 to reach the heart of one of the livmg waves of 

 fish. 



Before I submerged in earnest, a new phase of 

 live nursery presented itself. There floated slowly 

 past an immense jellyfish, quadrangular, varnished 

 with pale blue, with a wide purple fringe around 

 the opening, while the body as a whole was 

 deep, rich wine color. It was captured and 

 inverted in a large water bucket which it over- 

 flowed. The outside was formed of great con- 

 vex-surfaced, pillar-like scallops, covered sparsely 

 with blunt thorns, and it weighed ten pounds. 

 Later I identified it as belonging to the genus 

 Chiropsalmus and probably to the species quadru- 

 manus. 



The amazing thing was that it was overflowing 

 with small fish, all alive, all crowded into its 

 interior. Many escaped while it was being 

 salvaged, but I found that there still remained 

 three hundred and three bumpers (Chloroscombrus 

 chrysurus) measuring from one-half to two inches, 



£9 



