PROFESSOR SCUDDER 



With these encouraging words, he added: 



'Well, what is it like?' 



He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal 

 of the structure of parts whose names were 

 still unknown to me: the fringed gill-arches 

 and movable operculum; the pores of the head, 

 fleshy lips and lidless eyes; the lateral line, the 

 spinous fins and forked tail; the compressed 

 and arched body. When I had finished, he 

 waited as if expecting more, and then, with an 

 air of disappointment: 



'You have not looked very carefully; why,' 

 he continued more earnestly,' you haven't 

 even seen one of the most conspicuous features 

 of the animal, which is as plainly before your 

 eyes as the fish itself; look again, look again!' 

 and he left me to my misery. 



I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of 

 that wretched fish! But now I set myself to 

 my task with a will, and discovered one new 

 thing after another, until I saw how just the 

 Professor's criticism had been. The afternoon 

 passed quickly; and when, toward its close, 

 the Professor inquired: 



'Do you see it yet?' 



[44] 



