8 NATURE STUDY. 
tion showed that what I took to be a box was but another 
remarkable denizen of that nether world. It was a coffer 
fish, so called from the bone compartments joined one to an¬ 
other, so that its body is encased in a kind of box or coffer, 
showing only its fins and tail. This one was triangular in 
shape; some that I afterwards saw were quadrangular. 
“ On a bank at one side lay the reporters, the most con¬ 
spicuous one being a large cuttle-fish, who frequently threw 
out a voluminous jet of ink, coloring the water all about 
him. Iyater on, I secured some of this fluid, and my 
daughter now uses it in her successful sepia work. This 
sepia is of indestructible color and apparently only used by 
the cuttle-fish as a means of defense. 
“ But soon I had no leisure to notice outside attractions ; 
the great parade was at hand. A company of globe or 
moon fish led the proces¬ 
sion. These curious fish¬ 
es, about two feet long, 
have no distinct teeth, 
but their jaws, shaped like 
a parrot’s beak, are cov¬ 
ered with a substance like 
ivory, formed of the teeth 
consolidated, which is re¬ 
produced as worn away. They inflated their bodies by 
filling their stomachs with air, thus assuming a globular 
form. Spines stood out in all directions like those of a 
hedgehog when rolled up ; hence they are sometimes called 
porcupine fish. As it was now quite dark, these globe-fish 
shone brightly with a phosphorescent light, the rays ren¬ 
dered undulating by the rippling water, suggesting the 
idea of dancing stars. 
‘ ‘ Up and down the line rode the cavalry, winged steeds 
of the sea. These sea horses were about four inches long, 
blue in color, and their blue eyes seemed to move inde- 
