382 I N A G U A 



hungrier fish, these butterfish sHp quickly beneath the poison- 

 ous tentacles and take up a position safe from harm. Once in 

 a great while in the excitement of fleeing from an enemy, a 

 butterfish blunders into a tentacle and is immediately paralyzed. 

 Then the jellyfish has its innings and slowly, inexorably the 

 tentacles contract and pass the helpless fish to the mouth to be 

 devoured. 



Except for accidents of this type, however, the jellies do not 

 seem to be aware of the protection they are affording their 

 sHm associates. This is not true of the butterfish, for they are 

 acutely conscious of the stinging character of the tentacles and 

 exercise great care in slipping in and out. Theirs must be a pre- 

 carious lot, comparable to living in a place hung with dozens 

 of high voltage electric wires. 



This association of the men-of-war and the butterfish, as 

 one sided as it is, is a wonderful thing. How did such a com- 

 panionship begin? AVhat intrepid butterfish first ventured into 

 these portieres of paralyzing death and learned their value as 

 protectors? Was it a super-butterfish that first did this thing, 

 and then, in some unexplainable manner, transmitted the new- 

 found knowledge to its successors? Or did all the butterfish 

 come to know this all at once by some strange instinct? These 

 questions are almost without answer. 



I was glad when the man-of-war was gone, for while they 

 are very lovely in their deUcate lavender colors there is some- 

 thing very sinister about them, and they sting frightfully. There 

 is no group of creatures that so entirely fits into this strange 

 world of underwater. Filmy, delicate, fantastic in shape and 

 form, nearly 98% water themselves, extremely fragile, they 

 melt perfectly into the underwater landscape. 



Relieved, I sat down and watched some margate fish come 

 filing out of the haze. Unlike the mackerel they traveled in 

 twos and threes. They seemed to find little tid-bits in the sand 



