82 THE NAUTILUS. 



hauls nevertheless in shallow water, 20 fath. Position, close to 

 outer edge of Florida Reef. Excellent bottom, though not very 

 rich in moUusks. An apparently new Scala, with deeply channelled 

 sutures, giving it a pagoda-like appearance, the ribs quite obsolete. 

 The animal placed in alcohol at once exuded a large amount of 

 purple liquid. We are pleased to see that it is possible to dredge in 

 so rough a sea, but when wind, sea and current all pull together, it 

 is hard." 



"June 9, 1911 " (Tortugas Islands). "... about three milei 

 out from the big red sea buoy, five hauls on rough to hard sand 

 bottom, — the poorest five hauls that any one ever made. One bright 

 spot in the morning's work is a living Voluta juno7iia, a young speci- 

 men, but at last we may say that we have collected this rare and 

 most desirable shell alive." . . . (on Garden Key, Tortugas). 

 *' . . . we discover a patch of coral rock making out from shore and 

 we fall greedily upon it. The rock extends out but a short distance 

 to the edge of the dredged channel to the Fort ; there the bottom 

 falls steeply to a depth of about thirty feet, the water being clear 

 as crystal. Upon this pile of half-submerged rock we obtain some 

 delightful collecting. Very fine specimens of a small race of Cypraea 

 exanthema are abundant along with the usual run of reef species, all 

 shells being very free of calcareous deposits. Red and yellow 

 Pectens are abundant, clinging, for the most part, to the rocks by 

 byssi ; there are also pure white Limas that display their wonderfully- 

 decorated mantle edges ; they are very agile and dart about by a 

 rapid spasmodic opening and closing of their shells. The larger 

 specimens are always fixed by the byssus in crevices of the rocks. 

 The Trochids and Turhinidce are especially well represented on this 

 reef. To facilitate our work we all enter the water regardless of 

 clothes. It is too deep for rubber boots, the sun is too powerful for 

 naked backs. "We vary our labors by an occasional swim about the 

 outer edge of the rocks, — it feels so odd to be fully clothed in the 

 water . . . this little reef is perfectly delightful. A large quantity 

 of exquisite fish of the ' Angel fish ' type, — veritable butterfles as to 

 color — hover about, almost touching our hands and acting in the most 

 friendly and confidential manner, yet always skilfully avoiding cap- 

 ture by just eluding one's grasp; they seem not in the least frightened 

 by such hostile demonstration. Now and then large fish weighing 

 ten to twenty pounds come leisurely swimming along and inspect us 



