disturbed one of the dye-secreting molluscs, which had escaped my notice,
for in a few seconds the water was richly imbued. Thereupon both the
sharks began to manifest great uneasiness, and eventually with fluster
and splashing they worked among the fissures of the coral and shot out
into the unimpregnated sea. The sharks seemed to find the presence of the
forlorn groveller in the mud unendurable when it stained the water red,
though apparently indifferent to its presence as long, as it remained
quiescent, which facts lend confirmation to the popular opinion that the
fluid possesses a caustic-like principle violently irritative to the
skin.

And why should this uncouth creature with scarcely more of life than a
lump of coral have within it a fountain filled with Tyrian dye? Why?
Because it has enemies; and though it seems to be SANS mouth, SANS eyes,
SANS ears, SANS everything it is instinct with the first law of
Nature--self-preservation.

A fairly common inhabitant of the sandy shallows diversifying the coral
reef is a slim snake (? AIPYSINAS FUSCUS), sand-coloured, with a
conspicuous dark brown stock, defined with white edgings, a whitish nose
and pectoral fins so large as to remind one of those defiant collars
which Gladstone was wont to wear with such excellent effect. Blacks
invariably give the snake and its retreat a wide berth on the principle
enunciated by Josh Billings: "Wen I see a snaik's hed sticking out of a
hole I sez that hole belongs to that snaik." Among them this species has
the reputation of attacking off-hand whosoever disturbs it, and of being
provided with deadly venom. My experience, however, bids me say that the
pretty snake has the typical dread of the family of man, which dread
expresses itself in frenzied efforts to get out of the way when suddenly
molested. For the most part it lives in a neat hole, oubliette-shaped, and