390 The American Naturalist. [May, 
The hills about Chinese Harbor are white and red, and show 
marked terraces of elevation. At their base there is a contin- 
uous beach, made up of small stones and shinjjjle. On the side 
of the cliff are many bushes, but no trees. The collecting on 
the beach gave me many mussels, abalones, and a few starfishes. 
The sea near the beach is turbid with sand, reminding me of 
the white water of the Florida Reefs. 
The hills about Prisoner's Harbor were clothed with ver- 
dure. There is a good wharf, and near it the warehouse and 
a cluster of buildings belonging to the company which owns 
the island. The hills near the landing place are not as high as 
those at Star Canon, and resemble those to the eastward. It 
is this formation which is mentioned in the meagre accounts 
which we have of the geology of the island of Santa Cruz. 
At Prisoner's Harbor I collected many interesting animals, 
among which might be mentioned a huge Nudibranch, Chioraea, 
allied to Aplysia, many starfishes, sea-urchins, and molluscs. 
Here also I found the interesting Helix," said to be peculiar to 
the island. One of the most interesting genera of Annelids col- 
lected on the rocks near the half-tide mark is the well known 
Sabellaria. Sabellaria on the Pacific coast builds a thick mass 
of sandy tubes cemented together, forming on the rocks an in- 
crustation of great thickness. At Punta del Castillo near the 
end of the beach at Santa Barbara great masses of these col- 
onial worm tubes can be seen, forming a honeycomb structure on 
the rocks left by every retreating tide. Each worm tube when 
left out of water is closed by a circular operculum which effec- 
tually blocks up the entrance, forming a kind of door to pre- 
vent possibly the egress of water. By this simple arrange- 
ment the animal can live for a longtime out of the water. A 
most interesting method of casting off the excrementa is also 
illustrated in this worm. The operculum is situated at the 
cephalic extremity of the animal, and as the masses of tubes 
are crowded together, the posterior extremity of the animal is 
' This species is rapidly being exterminated by the sheep, and in no short time 
will probably be extinct except in inaccessible canons. Mr. Gulick records a 
like fate for certain Achatinellas peculiar to the Sandwich Islands. 
