WRASSES. 185 



strange annellidous creatures, like worms and 

 leeches, many of them banded with contrasting 

 colours, and displaying tufts of diverging fila- 

 ments resembling gorgeous flowers. Crabs with 

 painted shells, or horrid with bristling spines ; 

 transparent shrimps studded with spots of rich 

 and vivid colour, violet and crimson, and other 

 Crustacea of the strangest shapes, are running, 

 swimming, and darting hither and thither ; and 

 over all play hundreds of little fishes, sparkling 

 in the rays of a tropical sun. 



Many of these are indolently floating near the 

 surface, enjoying the warmth of the sun, motion- 

 less except that a gentle undulation of the pec- 

 torals is perceived, whereby they are enabled to 

 maintain their equilibrium. Some with a rapid 

 vibration of the caudal fin are shooting swiftly 

 to and fro, leaving a long sparkling wake behind 

 them ; and others are lying half concealed be- 

 neath the projecting ledges of the rocks. But 

 scores are more actively engaged ; they are 

 browsing on the tips of the twigs of the newly 

 formed coral, and gnawing at the surface of the 

 madrepores. We see them approach and try one 

 part after another, apparently smelling at it, re- 

 jecting some and testing other portions, with 

 epicurean gusto, nibbling here and there, and 

 now, having found a dainty part, grinding it 

 down with their strong teeth in right earnest. 

 These are principally members of the Family 

 before us, the little gaily-tinted Rock-fishes, feed- 

 ing, as is their wont, upon the growing corals. 

 The gelatinous polypes that deposit the stony 

 secretion are so protected by the latter, that it 

 would be impossible to get at them without 



