WITH HELMET AND HOSE 91 



the green. I was happy when at last I outwitted 

 a six-inch green wrasse, and put him aboard, where 

 he hved for two months, allowing us to paint and 

 study him at our leisure. 



The other wrasse was simpler, but even more 

 striking in pattern and coloration, and to the last 

 defied my every effort. Twice I struck and marked 

 them, and day after day the same individuals would 

 come about as bold as ever, flaunting their scars 

 and wounds in my face. One of these had two 

 jagged holes well into his side, yet they apparently 

 gave him no concern, nor interfered at all with 

 his speed and control, and he easily avoided every 

 attack which I launched. These fish were about 

 five inches in length, bright tyrian purple over all, 

 with a broad vertical band of sulphur yellow ex- 

 tending down from the neck around the body and 

 including the pectoral fins. While I was exerting 

 every muscle to get him, I called him many names 

 in the quiet of my helmet, but these are neither 

 here nor there. 'No written description fits him, 

 and until I return and with greater skill succeed 

 in overcoming his cleverness, he can be called only 

 the Yellow-banded Purple Wrasse. 



Armed with my crab meat I often sat and 

 watched with my face close to the center of in- 

 terest. The mass of fish was composed of a be- 

 wildering array of forms, yet both here and in 

 the other islands where I dived, there were several 

 dominant species. On almost my first dive I 

 welcomed with a shout — a shout which echoed only 

 within my cubic foot of air — my old friend of two 



