FLOATING FISH-NEST. 699 



of its floats sinks at once to the bottom of the 

 water, and these floats are not likely to be the 

 first parts developed from the spores. More- 

 over, after examining large quantities of the 

 weed, I have not seen a single branch, how- 

 ever small, which did not show marks of hav- 

 ing been torn from a solid attachment. 



You may hardly feel an interest in my zo- 

 ological observations, but I am sure you will 

 be glad to learn that we had the best oppor- 

 tunity of carefully examining most of the ani- 

 mals known to inhabit the Gulf weed, and 

 some also which I did not know to occur 

 among them. The most interesting discovery 

 of our voyage thus far, however, is that of a 

 nest built by a fish, and floating on the broad 

 ocean with its hving freight. On the 13th, 

 Mr. Mansfield, one of our officers, brought me 

 a ball of Gulf weed which he had just picked 

 up, and which excited my curiosity to the ut- 

 most. It was a round mass of Sargassum 

 about the size of two fists. The bulk of the 

 ball was made up of closely packed branches 

 and leaves, held together by fine threads, run- 

 ning through them in every direction, while 

 other branches hung more loosely from the 

 margin. Placed in a large bowl of water 

 it became apparent that the loose branches 



I 



