yd THE KINGDOM OF THE HELMET 



gray. Its arms slither about like separate, conscious medusa 

 locks, investigating crevices, crossing one another, twist- 

 ing into meaningless corkscrews. From other crevices 

 emerge little, parti-colored demoiselles — blue, black, and 

 red, while scarlet crabs cling close to the lava. A school 

 of vermilion wrasse swims slowly past and we realize 

 that almost every organism in sight, besides black, is 

 adorned with some shade or hue of red. Before we ascend 

 we remember the unnamable scarletness of this lava when 

 first it poured forth from under ground and we per- 

 ceive a very unscientific appropriateness in the color pat- 

 terns of octopus, crab, and fish. 



Finally let us seek out the antipodes, and imagine our- 

 selves somewhere along the largest area of submarine shal- 

 lows in the world — the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, 

 which for well over one thousand miles extends along the 

 shores of Queensland. The exposed portion is essentially a 

 pure culture coral reef with very little seaweed or sea- 

 plumes. So much is in view at low tide that there has been 

 little temptation to explore the deeper portions. But the 

 few fortunate ones who have gone down to where the 

 pearl divers glean their harvest tell of seascapes wholly 

 unlike the flat-topped coral masses so abundant at the 

 surface. This is the home of the giant clam whose shells 

 are sometimes five feet long and weigh over five hundred 

 pounds. When once a human hand or foot is by accident 

 placed inside the valves, they close like a bear trap and 

 there is no hope of escape for the unfortunate diver. 



