SLUMBERERS OF THE SURGE 311 



ening of the whole body, activity being superflu- 

 ous; progression being by fins in place of any un- 

 dulation, a rolling of the eyes in place of a twist- 

 able neck and body. But one does not need to go 

 in enormous schools, hordes or herds, such as sur- 

 geons, locusts and antelope affect. The idols keep 

 in pairs, and they swim and bank, turn and feed 

 with such unanimity that they might well be a 

 single moorish idol and its shadow. They have an 

 outrageous pout which reminds me of a lawyer 

 friend, and which must be most useful in a Grazer, 

 since one can graze and yet see upon what one is 

 grazing without shoving back from the table (Fig. 

 22 ) . A word as to the Parrot-mouths, which char- 

 acter indeed, has given their name to some of them. 

 Here, as for example in the puffers, the teeth are 

 wholly consolidated to form great cutting plates, 

 usually divided in a hare-lip fashion into four. In 

 other fish, as the stonewall perch, as the Japanese 

 call it, the components of the beak are faintly vis- 

 ible, although solidly ossified, the tips showing as 

 rounded, flat nodules. 



When I see what a considerable proportion of my 

 subjects keep life within their bodies by scraping 

 rocks and coral clear of the encrusting alg^e, 

 worms, shells, crabs and other growths and organ- 

 isms, I marvel that the exposed surfaces are not 

 all as close-cropped as a sheep meadow. But the 

 clipping seems to hasten renewed growth, and as 

 there is never any trouble about irrigation, there is 

 a never-ending supply. Again we must remember 

 that, strictly speaking, all the fish of this group 



