210 TROPIC DAYS 



nuisance on account of increasing size, are confined in 

 nacre. 



One of the accompanying illustrations shows the fate 

 which befell an infant chiton upon intrusion on a small 

 black-lip oyster, and coincidentally the origin of a 

 blister. The chiton family being notorious for stolidity, 

 the infant could not have realised the risks of its trespass 

 until the strait-jacket made its retirement impossible. 

 The nacre has reproduced the details of the chiton's 

 exterior with the fidelity of a casting, and further reveals 

 the fact that it was alive when entombed, for its struggles 

 to escape are solidified. 



This deliberate act of the oyster may not stand 

 comparison with the stone of Pyrrhus's ring, which had 

 the figure of Apollo and the nine Muses in the veins of 

 it produced by the spontaneous handiwork of Nature 

 without any help from art. The marvellous stone 

 belonged to the fabulous past; the imprisoned chiton 

 to the prosaic present. 



Another illustration is that of an accumulation of 

 nacre which has assumed accidental resemblance to a 

 miniature shark. It was found in a gold-lip pearl shell 

 in Torres Straits. The like quantity in globular shape 

 would represent a pearl of great value. 



A PEARL IN THE MAKING. 



On a calm and luminous day I waded, disrobed, in 

 shallow water as limpid as the fictitious stream which 

 legend says King Solomon improvised at the foot of his 

 throne when the Queen of Sheba attended his court. 

 Lifting her robes for she imagined the crossing of the 

 water to be a ceremonial device the gorgeous Queen 

 displayed her shapely calves. The water resting on the 



