342 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [ VoL. XXXIV. 
istic of more southern waters. These forms often appear in 
large numbers, and many remain for weeks. Among such 
may be mentioned Physalia, Porpita (Professor Brooks men- 
tions! that he has here taken nearly all the siphonophores 
known to occur on the Atlantic coast), the rhizostomous me- 
dusa Stomolophus, the pelagic annelid Amphinome. On a 
calm evening in Beaufort harbor, with a flood tide, it is best 
to abandon the tow net for the dip net. The individuals are 
abundant enough to make the use of the latter successful, and 
the perfect condition in which delicate forms, such as Diphyes, 
Lucifer, Cuninas, Phyllosoma larva, etc. may thus be taken 
repays for the time spent. 
Beaufort itself is a quaint and attractive town, with its wide, 
grassy lanes, and inclining trees (live oaks, mulberries, elms), 
which show plainly the direction of the prevailing wind. Viewed 
from the harbor the town presents a long line of white houses 
that edge the shore, each with its upper and lower porch, from 
which (more especially the upper) the harbor in turn offers a 
very pleasing picture. In the late afternoon, when the glare 
has become less intense, the picture is one that stays in the 
memory as a restful composition of sky and water, the latter 
broken here and there with green marsh islands and white 
shoals, with sand dunes on the banks and breakers in the inlet 
shutting in the view. To the eastward big reels, on which 
seines are wound, make a detail suggestive of the village life. 
The climate is equable, but cold comes occasionally, as in 
last February, when the fig trees were killed to the ground. 
The summer temperature is not unpleasant, though one's work- 
room should be a large, airy one close to the shore (“an the 
town front," as the saying is) and open to the sea breeze. I 
have before me a record of temperatures made by Professor 
E. A. Andrews during the warmer part of the year. The 
observations were taken at 7 a.m and 9 p.m. daily. During 
May the temperature at these times was, day after day, 74°- 
75^. In June there were some cold days, the thermometer 
going down to 66°, the weather growing warmer, though, in 
the latter part of the month, when 78?—79? was reached. Dur- 
1 Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University, p. 82, 1883. 
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