reason of the seaweeds they contain. In a remote 

 corner is a spacious table, obviously used for writ- 

 ing; for besides its burden of books and tobacco, it 

 carries a litter of paper, each sheet being inscribed 

 with numerous notes. Around and about this table, 

 on the wall, as well as over a little typewriter- 

 stand adjoining, similar sheets are thumb-tacked, 

 proclaiming in bulletin-board fashion to whoever 

 would trouble to read, sundry facts regarding one 

 serpent-star Amphipholis squamata; while in an- 

 other corner, near the light and close by some tiers 

 of glass-enclosed shelves laden with reagents, in- 

 struments, and pickled corpses of various sea ani- 

 mals, stands a drawing-table. If the notations 

 tacked around the writing-table should fail to in- 

 dicate to the lay person what at this period is the 

 absorbing passion of the occupant, such cannot be 

 the case with the drawing-table. For pictures are a 

 universal language; and here, newly painted in 

 full color, are large representations of the serpent- 

 star in different positions. Most convincing of all, 

 however, is the actual presence of the serpent-stars 

 themselves. By peering sharply through the glass 

 sides of most of the smaller tanks, one can detect 

 in each container two of these creatures hiding — 



[52] 



