Part 40 (1/2)

”Well?”

”I ondering, Mr Prelatt, whether I would have any ti, and if so, if Ito take that up”

The director shook his head

”No,” he answered, ”there are two ether

Besides which, you will have but very little time, at least for a couple of weeks Then, if you feel that you would like some research work, I'll tell you what I want done”

Colin soon found that the de staff not only were very heavy, but that they required considerable ingenuity Frequently he would be asked for starfish and it would be necessary to go to a well-known shoal at some little distance, perhaps in the _Phalarope_ or other of the governle being an iron fra behind in which the spines of sea-urchins and the rough convolutions of starfish easily becoled

Occasionally more distant trips, such as those to the Gulf Streaest of the Bureau's boats, na of the fish-trap, usually done in boats fro_, never palled in interest Every day the visit to the trap had the expectant thrill thein a new strea new species, true gold to the scientist

[Illustration: THE _BLUE WING_ AT THE GOVERNMENT FISH TRAP, WOODS HOLE

_Photograph by C R W_]

”I've found at least three new species,” said Mr Wadreds to hiht out of the same trap you're haulin' And so-continued storm and the wind's settin' in from the southeast, the traps have jest had nu the fish?” asked Colin

”They come up with the weed, lad,” was the old collector's reply ”When a storulf weed are broken up an' drift on the surface before the wind A great many semi-tropical fish live on the weed an' the little creatures that make their homes in it, an' so they come followin' it away up here Then we find theht butterfly fish an' parrot fish in the seines up here several tiet menhaden in the trap principally now,” the boy said; ”why aren't they used for food? They look all right Are they poisonous, or soht like 'em, but no one else But the menhaden fishery is valuable just the saot every year from menhaden than there is whale oil

Nearly all fish manure is menhaden, too But they're not a food fish”

”Nor are dogfish,” said Colin, ”but I see that the M B L et lots ofI wonder why they eat dogfish?”

”Partly to try it out,” the collector said ”A dogfish is a shark, as you know, and mos' people don't like the idea of eatin' any kind o'

shark But it is a waste to have a good article o' food entirely neglected by the public an' so the Bureau and the M B L have tried usin' dogfish on the table as an experiet an idea of its value as food”

”It tastes all right, too,” said the boy ”I had soainst it Both dogfish and catfish are good eatin', but there is a prejudice against 'es But they have been canned an' sold under various names, such as 'ocean whitefish,' 'japanese halibut,' an' 'sea bass'”

”They have a vicious look, though!”

”They are vicious,” was the reply, ”but you mustn't believe all you hear Why, at the last International Fishery Congress a speaker told of a plague o' dogfish which not only attacked lobsters, but sed pots an' all”

Colin looked incredulously at his friend

”That's the story,” the other said; ”you don't have to believe it I don't”

”But after all, a dogfish is a shark, and aren't sharks the most vicious creatures o' the sea?”

”I shouldn't say so,” the old collector answered ”I reckon the moray is really more vicious He's always huntin' trouble A shark is always hungry, that's all Fishes have different kinds o' tempers, you know, an' often it's the smallest creature that's the meanest”

”Common fishes?”