stowing the limp and burdensome cargo, it began 

 to belch what was apparently a part of its last 

 meal. Several foot-long fishes, strange to me, and 

 as yet unaffected by digestive action, were spewed 

 along the sands; causing me to retrace my steps so 

 that this odd collection could be secured intact. 

 Notwithstanding, it was well within an hour that 

 the dead angler was laid out supine on the dis- 

 secting table of my laboratory. 



And here, in this seclusion, unhampered — unob- 

 served by the chance passer-by or idly curious — I 

 could proceed scientifically, uninterruptedly, and 

 at my leisure, to the work of examination : a pur- 

 suit not always easily practicable in the open. 



My workroom. A word or two regarding this re- 

 treat will not be out of place. What testimony it 

 can bear of the strange and wonder-revealing in- 

 quests held within its walls! . . . Yet it is to the 

 study of the living organism and not that of the 

 dead that its use is unqualifiedly dedicated. Post- 

 mortem operations, it is true, often have been here 

 performed; but, as in the instance now engaging 

 our attention, they merely have been a means in a 

 method of inquiry, and not an end. 



[10] 



