SEA URCHIITS. LIFE II^' THE ROCK. 323 



two to four inches in diameter, which bristles with long, black, 

 needle-like spines. When these spines are removed it is seen to 

 be a shell-fish, round but flat like a large biscuit, very prettily 

 shaped and marked. The negroes daily bring these shells to the 

 court of the hotel and sell them to visitors under the name of 

 "sea eggs." 



These curiously armed shell-fish appear to perform police duty, 

 and their sharp spines often cause the colored intruder discom- 

 fited to retire. One of our divers was made quite lame by one 

 of these creatures, the broken spine in his foot irritating and in- 

 flaming the flesh, and requiring for its proper removal the in- 

 struments and skill of the surgeon. 



The barbs with which the spir.es are covered, are like so many 

 minute fish hooks; they readily admit the entrance of the spines 

 into the flesh of man or fish, but jorcvent their removal; so that 

 as an enemy, although small, they are somewhat formidable. 



In consulting tie works that have been occasionally published 

 concerning the Bahamas, we have been astonished at finding iu 

 them so little in regard to the great clearness and brilliant hues 

 of the water, and the strange and exquisitely beautiful sub-aque- 

 ous world which the water glass reveals. Catesby appears to 

 have seen and described more than most, if not all, the authors 

 who have succeeded him. 



There was occasionally brought to us by the divers specimens 

 of corals and gorgonias with some of the soft coral ine rock to 

 which they adhered, and to which they seemed rooted, and we 

 were surprised to see that these fragments of the rocky floor of 

 the sea gardens abounded with worms and other forms of life. 

 Mr. Phelps states that he broke a large piece of this rock into 

 small fragments, and found in it a number of small crabs, two 

 or three small star fishes, three or more shrimi)s, three worms 

 organized like a centiped, and some monopod worms. He be- 



