WITH HELMET AND HOSE 93 



the end of that time there had crept out an amazing 

 array of interesting beings, — beautiful sea-worms, 

 starfishes, squillas, hermit crabs, and shrimps of 

 every hue, a number of strange larval fish and an 

 adult formed, wonderfully patterned, quite fear- 

 less moray eel exactly one and one half inches in 

 length. This tapped a fertile and untouched field, 

 providing organisms which cannot be dredged be- 

 cause of their shelter under and within coral and 

 stones, and not to be gathered by wading along 

 shore at low tide, since twenty feet of water lay 

 above them. 



The obliquity of the two windows in the helmet 

 made it necessary to look out of either one or the 

 other exclusively, when engaged in observation or 

 work which required accurate correlation of eye 

 and hand. Seldom have I seen a funnier sight than 

 the earnest efforts of any of our party before they 

 learned of this optical effect. Through the water- 

 glass a pale figure would be seen crouched on the 

 bottom, industriously picking up stones and care- 

 fully dropping them about two feet from the 

 bucket. After much hard labor, the helmeted 

 creature would raise the empty bucket and gaze at 

 it in puzzled astonishment. In imagination we 

 could see the large question mark poised in mid- 

 water over his head. Another labor-saving individ- 

 ual decided to pick the specimens themselves off 

 the rocks, and long streamers of algae and clumps 

 of hydroids were gathered and carefully placed in 

 the bucket, only to float instantly out and up to 

 us, while he was looking for other equally buoyant 



