362 I N A G U A 



extended all out of proportion to the upper, being equally as 

 long as the remainder of their heads. This gave them an odd, 

 though not ungraceful, shape. They were long and streamhned, 

 reminding one of miniature swordfishes. Unlike swordfishes, 

 however, their attenuated bills were not sharp and hard at the 

 ends but were finished off with a scarlet tip which was soft and 

 fleshy. The purpose of the tip is obscure; it may be used for a 

 sensory organ or as a probe. The food of half-beaks seems to be 

 principally vegetable matter mixed with a few small crusta- 

 ceans. How they manage to feed with their long bills thrust in 

 front of them is something of a mystery. 



Dropping to my knees I crawled along the lowest border of 

 rocks to see what the invertebrates were doing. They were al- 

 most all awake and active. The barnacles were still casting 

 their nets, extruding and withdrawing their feathery feet. 

 Light and dark meant nothing to them encased in their thick 

 shells of carbonate of lime. Food and oxygen were their con- 

 cern; sleep would wait for a full belly. At any hour of the day 

 or night the barnacles can be found busily at work. Likewise 

 the anemones. These were all out in full blossom, slowly waving 

 and pulsing; their poisonous tentacles loaded with fiery darts 

 were patiently waiting for some incautious crustacean or swim- 

 ming worm. The flower-pretending worms, too, were all awake 

 with cirri expanded for whatever fate and the currents would 

 bring them. 



Not all the worms were bound to the rocks, for my light was 

 rapidly becoming surrounded by a maze of their undulating 

 forms. Swimming sea worms are among the most unappealing 

 of all earth's creatures. My fingers, long used to grasping all 

 manner of insects, spiders and reptiles, instinctively recoil 

 at the vibrating bodies of swimming worms. Some of them 

 sting when touched, others bite with long sharp extrusible jaws, 

 and all of them send shivers through my flesh on contact. They 



