distinction will be challenged when I say that 

 Aphrodite is for its size the most lustrous and color- 

 ful of all. It is true that others may exhibit an 

 array of tints as pleasing and in every way as 

 varied; it is true that the tender tones reflected by 

 the shell of Nautilus are more exquisitely appeal- 

 ing; it is true that soft hues trembling over the 

 surface of a comb-jelly are more subtly charming; 

 but it is also true that they lack that indescribable 

 richness, that pure chromatic quality which alone is 

 Aphrodite's. Nor is it too much to say that nowhere 

 else in the world is concentrated so much splendor, 

 so much prismatic brilliance in so small a compass. 

 Such rills of colored fire — such flames of bronze 

 and blue and vermilion — are not to be conceived 

 as existing elsewhere this side of the portals to the 

 seventh circle of Dante's Hell. 

 And Aphrodite is a worm . . . 



II 



If I went at large into the subject of this most 

 interesting tide pool, I should fill the remainder 

 of the present book. I will, therefore, advert only 

 to one or two more of its striking features. 



[154] 



