8 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
by an incessant trade wind have broken. Yet 
all transpires in perfect silence.” One feature 
that contributes to the strangeness of the sur- 
roundings is that all vertical distances prove 
to be much greater than they appear from the 
surface of the water. An apparently smooth 
floor turns out to be rough, and a rough one 
is found to be seamed by ragged crevasses. 
Mr. Longley tells us of some of the sights 
he saw. A bit of food thrown on to the sandy 
floor would tempt crabs out of hiding; they 
would scuttle over the bottom like shadowy 
ghosts, so like are they to their surroundings; 
then they would scrape and scratch a little 
with their hind legs and go down backwards 
out of sight. Flounders, coloured and pat- 
terned just like the bottom, would rise and 
sink again, burying themselves in the drifting 
sand, all but their protruding watchful eyes. 
From a tiny hole in the coral a small fish 
“with an enormous dorsal fin would protrude 
half its body, and rapidly and repeatedly ele- 
vate and depress its great banner, while an- 
other seems to respond to the signal.” ‘Often 
one observes incidents which remain incom- 
prehensible, as when two yellow grunts 
(Hemulon sciurus) approach one another 
