Social Life in the Salt-JJ'atcr IT arid 27 



matclied by the dwellers of dry land. Now, strange to 

 say, among the most beautiful are many of the worms. 

 Look at Nereis, the sea worm. 1 his aniinal usually 

 lives under stones and in the sand, but ofttimes fre- 

 quents the tide pools In search of prey. Seen in the 

 latter it is like a glittering chain of blue-green opals 

 flanked with precious coral. The sides of its colorful 

 body are lined with gills of pearly pink; from under 

 every gill projects a sheaf of bristles reflecting the 

 luster of pure gold. But the palm of beauty unques- 

 tionably should be awarded to Aphrodite, the sea 

 mouse, a worm whose appearance has excited the ad- 

 miration of every age. To the untrained eye It does 

 not look like a worm; and therein, perhaps, lies the 

 secret of its charm. This, In a way, is unfortunate. 

 Had earlier observers known Its Identity, It Is probable 

 that ere now many other members of the group would 

 have shone In popularity by reflected light; conse- 

 quently, their habits would be better known. Its every 

 motion Is productive of a play of prismatic tints, but 

 It Is vain to attempt an adequate description of the in- 

 effable nuances, the evanescent hues, that endow Aphro- 

 dite with Its strange beauty. Graphic representation 

 Itself Is unable to reproduce the charming colors caused 

 by the diffraction of light on the translucent texture of 

 its hairy covering. 



It must be admitted, however, that beauty In some 

 instances Is merely a mask. It often hides an unlovely 

 trait. What could be more enchanting than the white 

 anemone {Sagartia leiicolena) as it stands no taller 

 than one's thumb, with Its translucent tendrlllike arms 

 undulating In the soft currents of a tide pool? Incom- 



