732 THE CALIFORNIAN TRIVIA. 
that overhung the bank, by a shot which we hazarded at some as 
they flew from a pool a hundred yards or so ahead of us. In 
the solitude of such places as this, these birds find secure retreats ; 
and from the half dried-up pools have their fill of fishes, crustacea 
and reptiles which, when the water becomes nearly exhausted by 
the summer’s drought, are so numerous in the little pools to which 
they are confined as to keep the water in constant agitation. 
THE CALIFORNIAN TRIVIA AND SOME 
POINTS IN ITS DISTRIBUTION. 
BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. 
Ix the month of March, 1868, Mr. W. G. W. Harford and 
myself made a short visit to Monterey for the purpose of collect- 
ing, devoting most of the time to an investigation of the outer 
Fig. 144, or ocean shore of Point Pinos in the vicinity of the 
lighthouse. Here are great numbers of granite 
boulders which have been thrown up by the sea; by 
wading in at low tide to a depth of two or three 
feet, and conveying to the shore such stones as 
could be lifted by us, we were able to make a de- 
liberate and careful examination. Upon the under 
side of some of the heavy boulders, we found 
numerous colonies of the corals, Paracyathus Stearnsti and Bala- 
nophyllia elegans (Fig. 144), described by Prof. Verrill of Yale; 
when first taken from the water and therefore alive, these corals 
are of a beautiful red color, a shade between orange hie 
and scarlet, and vivid as a coal of fire; when dead the __, v 
stony portion soon fades and becomes a dingy white. 
Upon these brilliantly colored coral animals, th 
animal of Trivia Californica (Fig. 145, shell, enlarged 
Balanophyllia. 
145. 
M 
yN 
tas) 
Sometimes upon the jelly-like portion of the living sponges. 
- The animal of Trivia Californica (Fig. 146, enlarged twice) — 
is of the same color as the animal of B. elegans; the mantle and 
