THE TOMB OF PEARL 



as to direct these currents into channels and take them 

 where they have to go. Although they are fixed to 

 one place and cannot move from it, the oysters thus 

 receive what they need, and live in due conformity 

 with the requirements of their particular structure. 



They live so well that they swarm, however little 

 circumstances are in their favour. Side by side, and 

 even one on top of another, they form extensive banks, 

 with little ones beside the big ones, and all together 

 form large heaps spread out over the sea bottom. 

 These banks, made of compact and strong shells, 

 themselves serve as supports and shelters to other 

 creatures. On them, under them, between them, 

 flourishes a rich vegetation of seaweed, mingled with 

 the rocky arborescences of coral. Bright -hued sea- 

 anemones, different kinds of molluscs and other 

 creatures, settle wherever they can find a suitable 

 place. A regular population, varied and highly 

 coloured, swarms and develops to an extraordinary 

 degree upon this solid support. Fishes are there too, 

 profiting by the number of likely victims, especially 

 since they are so easy to secure. Some of them are 

 particularly common, among them one whose existence, 

 even more than that of the rest, is bound up with the 

 oysters to such an extent that it deserves the name of 

 " Pearl-fish " which has been given to it. It is this 

 fish which becomes the hero whose end is to be a 

 mummy encased in a coffin of pearl. 



This fish belongs to the genus Fierasfer. Its specific 

 name is Fierasfer affinis. In appearance it is like a very 

 small eel, long and supple, undulating, slightly brownish 

 in colour, with translucent tones and flashes of silver. 

 The resemblance is only in form and appearance, for, 

 in reality, Fierasfer belongs to a different group from 

 that of the eels and congers, and has neither their 

 structure nor their mode of life. In its ordinary state, 

 it sometimes lodges, folded up on itself, in the interior 

 of the pearl oyster, and makes its abode in the roomy 

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