SECRETS OF THE OCEAN 151 



a frequent troubling of the water baffles me. I 

 make sure my breath has nothing to do with it, 

 but still it continues. At last a beam of sunshine 

 lights up the pool, and as if a film had rolled from 

 my eyes I see the cause of the disturbance. A sea- 

 worm — or a ghost of one — is swimming about. Its 

 large, brilliant eyes, long tentacles, and innumer- 

 able waving appendages are now as distinct as 

 before they had been invisible. A trifling change 

 in my position and all vanishes as if by magic. 

 There seems not an organ, not a single part of 

 the creature, which is not as transparent as the 

 water itself. The fine streamers into which the 

 paddles and gills are divided are too delicate to 

 have existence in any but a water creature, and 

 the least attempt to lift the animal from its ele- 

 ment would only tear and dismember it, so I leave 

 it in the pool to await the return of the tide. 



Shrimps and prawns of many shapes and col- 

 ours inhabit every pool. One small species, 

 abundant on the algae, combines the colour changes 

 of a chameleon with the form and manner of 

 travel of a measuring-worm, looping along the 

 fronds of seaweed or swimming with the same 

 motion. Another variety of shrimp resembles 

 the common wood-louse found under faeces of 

 bark, but is most beautifully iridescent, glowing 

 like an opal at the bottom of the pool. The curi- 

 ous little sea-spiders keep me guessing for a long 

 time where their internal organs can be, as they 



