not a phenomenon. Preeminently it is the most 

 decorative of all the higher denizens of our shores. 

 Other dwellers of the sea there may be which are 

 as odd, others probably more impressively pretty; 

 but truly none is so picturesque. 



In a certain sense I am of the same mind as that 

 of the majority. Indeed I confess that I have found 

 fewer allurements in following up and giving lit- 

 erary form to the facts of the sea-horse's life than 

 I have in giving graphic representation of the out- 

 lines of its fantastic figure. It has ever been for me 

 most difficult to derive from the study of its life 

 and habits the pleasure that I find in the details of 

 its fascinating form. In short, for me the curves 

 and angles of the sea-horse are not so much ma- 

 terial for the pen as they are material for the brush 

 and the photographic plate. 



The truth is that a first-hand glance at this crea- 

 ture will tell any one at once why so many others 

 also have preferred to portray its appearance by 

 pictures rather than by words. Nothing in ani- 

 mate nature is at once so somber in its colors and 

 so lively in its lines. Certainly no other living 

 object in the realm of natural science with which 



l>97] 



