There, in the distance, about shoulder high on the vertical wall is 

 something that seems worth investigating. As you come clo.-er you hardly 

 believe your eyes, for it is a beautiful large specimen of Murex fulvescens, 

 all spines perfect and exquisitely formed. In your haste to capture it you 

 scarcely notice the meaty appendage beneath it, although a thought runs 

 through your mind that it is certainly an uncommonly large mollusk for 

 the size of the shell. You reach out your arm greedily to pluck your prize, 

 only to have it jerked abruptly away. Being thrown quite off balance you 

 stumble back a step or two, not fully understanding how such a thing can 

 happen. Just as you are about to make a second grab for the specimen you 

 notice a writhing serpentine arm edged with sucker discs the size of a 

 quarter dollar. With a pulsating movement, it seems to be reaching for 

 something near the shell. In a fit of sudden horror you realize that you 

 had attempted to deprive a huge Octopus of his meal! Although the body 

 of the loathsome creature wasn't visible, probably being concealed some- 

 where within the wreckage, you feel sure that the snake-like arm you saw 

 measured 4 feet. A bit unnerved, you watch, all fear and trembling, not 

 knowing just what to do next. You clear your face-plate with a mouthful 

 of water and discover that the repulsive thing has melted away. As though 

 in a nightmare, you decide that it is time to come back to the surface. In 

 your excitement you have become hopelessly lost, for there is no sun or 

 sense of direction in this underwater world. You reach around for your 

 hose and follow it anxiously towards the descending-line. Don't go too fast, 

 no hurry, and don't step on any of those big black pin-cushions, for those 

 urchin spines are every bit as sharp as they look and burn like fire if they 

 pierce your skin. Watch when you climb over parts of the wreckage, too, 

 because some of those pretty lacy things that look like plants are really 

 animals, stinging hydroids, and can produce an almost intolerable itching 

 if rubbed against exposed human epidermis. 



There is so much more we wish you could see on your first dive. If 

 only you could try your hand at collecting Cyphoma on the gracefully 

 waving sea plumes and then look for the dainty Simnia on the pink and 

 purple fans. Or you could turn small rocks at the edge of the reef and 

 search for choice Conus nebulosus. Oh, well, there are a thousand things, 

 but they must keep for the next dive. Being such an ardent conchologist, 

 you've scarcely noticed the fish that svv'im in such numbers all about you, 

 nor have you paused to drink in the exquisite beauty of their gay flashing 

 colors. While you were kicking to one side the ever inquisitive trigger-fish, 

 a procedure which you found quite useless, morays, their wolf- like heads 

 barely protruding from their rocky homes, watched you with beady eyes. 

 Crawfish lurked under the very wreckage over which you walked, and had 

 you peered down into the dark interstices of the old ship, doubtless you 

 could have made out the dim outlines of a huge jew-fish, hermit that he is, 

 slowly opening and closing his cavernous jaws. Perhaps it is just as well 

 that you were so intent on the mollusks, for had you permitted your eyes 

 to wander you might have seen a ghost- like shark glide silently by, or a 

 barracuda, sleek and terrifying, may have looked you over carefully before 

 he decided upon some other form of food for dinner, 



(35) 



