THE GLASS-BOTTOMED BOAT 309 



covered with seeming flowers. They are sea-anem- 

 ones, here of the largest size, virtual giants, and when 

 open, with all their tentacles expanded, the flowers of 

 the sea certainly, in shape and color. In these big 

 anemones, which are cousins of the corals, a little 

 fish lives, darting into the mouth and living in the 

 stomach or intestine of the animal. A long, slender 

 fish also lives in one of the sea-cucumbers which we 

 have always in sight, the trepang of the Chinese; in 

 Malay it is an article of export. Here, also, are small 

 starfishes, some like snakes, uncovered by the waves 

 as they come slowly in. Near them, its head project- 

 ing from the crevice, is the moray, a big eel-like fish 

 four feet long, with fangs that call to mind the rattle- 

 snake, — a ferocious fellow that strikes like a snake 

 and is to be avoided. 



Some of the fishes here, as the Indian-head fish, 

 appear to have outdone themselves in the richness of 

 their coloring, blazing in blue and red, while the dorsal 

 fins are really plumes dashed with blue or black. The 

 eye of this fish is large and a vivid blue. Over them 

 are two antennae which move about in a comical way. 

 Crawling in the weed are big crabs, gigantic pseudo- 

 spiders; and by examining the kelp and other weeds 

 carefully, curious crabs are found which mimic their 

 surroundings so exactly that some experience is re- 

 quired to see them. 



Many of the fishes seen through the window are 

 mimics of remarkable cleverness. When the slow 

 movement of the water overturns the kelp and brings 

 it back again, we may see a green fish about a foot 

 long, with a long frilled, dorsal fin. This is the kelp 

 fish. For protection it mimics the leaf; and, not only 



