106 ALONG THE FLORIDA REEF. 



seems to pick up pieces of dead coral and bits of 

 sand with its fins and tail and then scoop out a 

 hollow and settle down as an old hen does upon 

 her eggs." 



Toad-fish. 



" Yes, you are right," said the doctor, " it is 

 a nest. Many fishes build such nests. It seems 

 to be a regular hen-like hatching of eggs ; and, 

 after the young fish-chicks are out, the parent is 

 as ferocious and untiring a guardian of the chil- 

 dren as any hen in a farm-yard." 



The tide had now fallen sufficiently to en- 

 able the boys to wade out to the shoal, and they 

 were soon at work digging up the beautiful 

 shells. These were marked in a rich imitation 

 of the sun's rays w r ith gaudy colorings. Indeed, 

 Long John firmly maintained that the shells 

 owed their decoration to the rays that shot 

 across the sky during the gorgeous sunsets, for 

 which the locality around the Florida Keys is 



