IN IDLE MOMENT 37 



nothingness, pause for a moment, and shoot towards 

 me with extraordinary impulse. Each is a mere globule, 

 resplendently blue. The tint intensifies as with ac- 

 celerated velocity the atom flies until of its own excessive 

 energy it explodes with a shell-like flash, leaving a 

 sinuous trail of golden light. To burst into sight, gather 

 force, to flash and slowty vanish — such is the sum of life 

 of a speck of sea-jelly. To be the centre towards which 

 scores of the watery meteors gravitate, to witness their 

 apparently spontaneous beginning, their swift, brief, but 

 ineffectual career and lingering end, delights this night 

 of darkness. How many of the race of man are there 

 whose post-mortem glory outshines life tenfold ? 



Beneath a slab of dead coral on the reef there was 

 revealed one of those primitive and curious marine 

 animals which has no common name, but which science 

 recognises as Synapta beselli. It is a relation of the 

 beche-de-mer, of snake-like form, with a group of gills 

 differentiating the head. Playing about it were three 

 or four little fish which immediately took advantage 

 of the only remaining cover, the body of the Synapta, 

 snoodling beside it so artfully that they were quite 

 concealed. The protector did not appear to resent the 

 close company of the fish, which remained perfectly 

 motionless. In a few seconds the Synapta began to 

 extrude its feathery gills, which had been partly re- 

 tracted on disturbance. I counted the gills, and while 

 my forefinger indicated the sixth, a little fish, not 

 previously noticed, appeared at the focus and edged off 

 to the margin of the pool, now and again making decided 

 efforts to regain its sanctuary. It was about an inch 

 long and a third deep, ruby red, with pink undersides 

 and pink, transparent fins. Three narrow bands of 

 silver edged with lavender extended across the shoulder. 

 Life gave it jewel-like lustre. The companionship 



