166 ALONG THE FLORIDA REEF. 



" But one may be spared for a specimen," 

 said the doctor, preparing the fatal alcohol. 

 Then he showed the boys how wonderfully the 

 saws of the Scarus are adapted for grinding 

 coral. The teeth, they noticed, were incorpo- 

 rated with the bone, and grew crowded together 

 in groups of five. 



" No wonder they are named after the par- 

 rot," said Dick ; " they are like them in color 

 and in beak." 



" There goes a beautiful fish ! " exclaimed 

 Tom, pointing to a yellow one with blue stripes 

 and a black spot on its tail. 



" It is one of the Chcetodons" said the doc- 

 tor ; " they are so evenly balanced that it is diffi- 

 cult to distinguish the head from the tail. They 

 are commonly called four-eyes.' ' 



" It's a good name for them," retorted Tom, 

 having hurled his grains ineffectually. "They 

 are too keen-sighted to be caught." 



Here a shout from Long John, who had 

 sculled ahead, drew their attention, and pulling 

 up to him they found that he had seen a rare 

 shell a " queen-conch," or Cassis. It lay at the 



