62 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



would gently elevate us all and our quarry would 

 elude us. We had all been in the water far too 

 long when suddenly one of our party relaying 

 specimens to the launch broke into a lively dash 

 for shore, and a commotion in the water near him 

 raised the alarm of tiburon (shark). Although 

 the shark in question was a very young one and 

 evinced no interest whatever in us, we seemed then 

 and there to lose enthusiasm. One casually re- 

 marked that he had reached his time limit in the 

 water, and all felt that the balance of the day was 

 none too long for the preparation and stowage of 

 our material. 



Needless to say, in so favored a locality as this, 

 we made a notable and remarkable catch. This 

 consisted chiefly in fine anemones, madrepores, 

 gorgonians, corals, sponges, echinoderms, worms, 

 Crustacea, and fishes. The paucity of mollusks 

 surprised us, although we took probably twenty- 

 five or thirty species. 



Although this was the first time we had seen 

 any part of the actual Colorados, its conditions of 

 growth at once suggested it to be of that class 

 known as a " Barrier Reef. " It occupies the outer 

 edge of a submerged platform which it has prob- 



