I02 TROPIC DAYS 



the exhibition of the reUcs is not of so much concern 

 to the unlearned observer as the reUcs themselves and 

 the part they play in signifying the progress of the 

 season. If strong winds occur during the cool months, 

 among the wreaths of broken seaweed thrown on the 

 beach may be found unbroken and fresh specimens of 

 a singularly beautiful and fragile univalve known 

 commonly and most appropriately as the "bubble 

 shell" {Hydaiina physis), which when alive is a most 

 lovel}^ object, its fine spiral lines being black and faint 

 yellow w'ith faint purple edges, while the mantle is 

 fringed with light blue intermingled with pale yellow. 

 In some specimens the base colouring is fawn, the lines, 

 of varying width, being brown and "comely crinkled," 

 like the face of the pleasant old woman of whom a poet 

 wrote. Such a frail shell is subject to many mischances 

 before it reaches the beach, and a few hours of exposure 

 to the sun tarnishes its lustre. To obtain it in perfec- 

 tion the beach must be patrolled every day during due 

 season, and very rarely is the collector rewarded by the 

 discovery of unsullied specimens. 



When the chill is out of the surface the spring-time 

 of the sea begins. Vegetable life is strenuous, so that 

 one may chance to see a lazy turtle bearing on its back 

 a weedy garden. The water is ahve. Miles of space 

 are belted with that plant to which Captain Cook applied 

 a significant name, likening it in its myriads to "sea 

 sawdust." Some dare call it "whale spawn," forgetful 

 that the whale is not a fish. Others assert it to be none 

 other than the "coral insect," which does not exist save 

 in the minds of those who write odes to such creatures : 



" Ye build, ye build, but ye enter not in, 



Like the tribes whom the desert devoured in their sin." 



It consists of minute vegetation in bundles, to be 

 individualised under a strong microscope, though when 



