GENERAL IMPRESSIONS. 11 



Some of the pleasantest of our leisure hours in the Bermudas 

 were passed in gazing into the kaleidoscopic waters which 

 bathe the gardens of the Villa Frascati, and who that has once 

 glanced into this liquid glass can forget the picture that is there 

 presented? A giant palette dipped beneath the water. We 

 have the same bright smudges of cardinal and lemon-yellow, 

 the streaks of green and blue, the j-urples, oranges, and blacks 

 in short, all that brilliancy and wealth of color which belong- 

 to the painter's upper row. A species of encrusting sponge, 

 possibly a Microscionia, made large patches of the brightest 

 red on some of the detached rock, while immediately alongside, 

 another sponge formed clumps of equally brilliant yellow, and 

 still another, lesser patches of green. This violent contrast of 

 color, which is still further intensified by the whiteness of the 

 supporting coral sand, is kept in a pure key. There is no dis- 

 cord, and not very much more true harmony ; it is strongly 

 marked individuality. If any one still doubted that ocean 

 water had a natural color of its own, a single glance at the 

 flowing emerald would have been sufficient to dispel all doubts 

 in the matter. 



The most beautiful of the inner waters of the archipelago 

 is Harrington Sound, an almost closed lagoon which extends 

 for about three miles eastward from Flatts Village. Its only 

 open communication with the sea is by way of Platts Inlet, the 

 extreme contraction of which compels the water to flow in and 

 out with the fury of a mill-race. We did much of our dredg- 

 ing here, but scarcely met with that success which we had 

 anticipated. The bottom is manifestly largely a sand-barren, 

 and in a general sense unproductive. We, however, picked up 

 specimens of a beautiful new species of Chromodoris, and 

 quantities of a remarkably crussiform Chaina. The latter 

 more nearly approaches a fossil from the Pliocene deposits of 

 Florida than any other species with which I am acquainted. 

 Along the borders of the Sound the coral-growth, consisting 

 mainly of Isophyllia, Oculina and SiderastraBa, is largely 

 developed, but we everywhere failed to detect traces of the 



