53 



CORALS AND THEIR PARASITES. 



Jan. ^ord. — Observing that what appeared to be 

 rocks under water were really growing corals, I 

 stripped and got in among them. They are of many 

 kinds and of various colours ; being covered with the 

 round disks of the soft gelatinous animals aggregated 

 so closely as to touch each other, giving a very slimy 

 unpleasant feeling to the foot that treads on them, 

 though with a shoe on ; for I dared not trust myself 

 with naked feet among the Eclwii, and other for- 

 midable creatures, not to mention the sharp points 

 of the honeycombed rock. It was at the ebb of a 

 spring-tide, the moon setting as I began my examin- 

 ation* ; yet I found little variation in the height of 

 the water, tide here being very small. Some of the 

 corals {Millepora complanata ?) grow in thin irregu- 

 lar perpendicular plates, joining each other at various 

 angles, so as to form large honeycomb work, some- 

 what resembling the second stomach of an ox; 

 others present thick flattened branches, covered with 

 minute projecting mouths : these are of a bright fawn- 

 Lateral line arched at its commencement, and then curved slightly 

 downward, rising again to the tail. Fin-rays, D. 46; A. 40; C. 12. 

 Ground colour pale bluish-grey, covered with an irregular network of 

 rich, deep brown, confluent lines ; these marks, on the dorsal and anal, 

 assume a longitudinal direction, but still irregular and confluent. 

 Caudal pale brown, with indistinct dusky bands. Left side white. 

 Length of specimen to extremity of tail, 2^ inches. 



I scarcely know whether to call this a Monochirus or an Achiriis ; 

 the under pectoral is certainly present, but only as a rudiment, while 

 the upper is so minute as hardly to be anything more. 



* High water at Bluefields is exactly at the southing ot the moon. 

 D 3 



