CHAPTER XXII 



THE PARROT-FISHES 



" And there crystal pools, peopled with fish, 

 Argent and gold ; and some of Tyrian skin, 



Some crimson-barred. And ever at a wish 

 They rose obsequious, till the wave grew thin 



As glass upon their backs, and then dived in, 

 Quenching their ardent scales in watery gloom, 



Whilst others with fresh hues rowed forth to win 



My changeable regard." 



THOMAS HOOD. 



IT is said that the gods held the scarus as first 

 among fishes, and Pliny tells us that during the 

 time of Emperor Claudius an epicure and angler 

 of great wealth, one Optatus Elipertius, collected 

 a large number of the most beautiful of these 

 fishes and liberated them in the Italian sea for 

 the benefit of posterity. The waters of the outer 

 reef, and of our new colony Porto Rico, abound 

 in these birds of the sea, which, in their fanci- 

 ful coloring, brilliant, indeed dazzling, tints, are 

 among the most conspicuous of the dwellers in 

 these tropic seas. In my early days on the reef 



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