ATTRACTIVE PURSUITS. 3

sent so many singular forms—so many delicate
shades of colour? Besides these are the Pyro-
somes, shaped like an enormous finger of a glove,
which cover the sea with their innumerable hosts ;
and those charming Glauci, of an ultramarine blue,
with a silver band on the back, which resemble so
many pelagic lizards, with those Hyales, which,
protected only by a shell extremely thin, fragile,
light, diaphanous, and horny, yet delight in the
stormy waves of the Southern Ocean. One is
tempted to take these beautiful mollusca, on seeing
them display their purple fins, for so many turtle
in miniature, and, in fact, it is by that name they
are designated by sailors.”

In pursuit of these attractive objects, Peron
spent nearly the whole day on the shore, plunging
into the water in the midst of the surf, always at
the danger of his health, and sometimes of his
lite, and with the shadows of evening returning
laden with numerous specimens, of which his
friend sketched the most remarkable.

Nor did he confine himself to these researches.
He spent much time in visiting the interior of the
island and examining the aborigines. Though
ignorant of their language, he had so much tact
in catching the meaning of the natives, and in
expressing himself by lively gestures, that to a
gercat extent he was able to communicate with