m Woods Hole waters; the remora, or
sucking fish, that fastens on sharks and becomes a constant passenger
enjoying a free ride, specimens of which were often in the Aquarium; the
deal-fish, which alone among its tribe has a long slim fin projecting
upwards from the tail almost at right angles to it; the blenny, whose
facial expression has caused it to be known as the sarcastic blenny; the
graceful sea-horse, who swings on seaweed with a prehensile tail like
that of a monkey--and the male of which hatches the eggs instead of the
mother, and not the least extraordinary, the three-cornered trunk-fish
whose front view is the most unfishlike apparition possible. These and
hundreds of others Colin learned to know from the collections.

It was with great delight that Colin heard of the presence of his
friend Mr. Collier, who was working on the plans for a model of Bryozoa,
and who had with him his staff of glass-workers and modelers. The boy
found it hard to tear himself away from this laboratory and struck up
quite a friendship with a Japanese colorist on the staff. Also, he was
fortunate in meeting and knowing Mr. Cavalier, the artist of animal
life, and from him the boy learned a great deal of the picturesque and
aesthetic elements of the life which he painted and modeled with such
surpassing skill. Scores of other workers, writers, and scientists of
all kinds had rooms in the wonderfully interesting workshops of Woods
Hole.

[Illustration: HATCHERY AND LABORATORY BUILDING, WOODS HOLE.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

[Illustration: RESIDENCE AND FISHERIES BUREAU HEADQUARTERS, WOODS HOLE.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

Beyond the laboratory building was the wharf to which the two steam
yachts attached respectively to the station and the M. B. L. were tied
up. Beyond that again was a second pier, that of the Revenue Cutter
service, where lay, with banked fires, one of the guardians of American
seas, a man ever on duty at the wireless receiver. Beyond the pier the
land curved to the point opposite the Elizabeth Islands, while in the
narrow strait or 'hole' between, the tide for all Buzzards Bay surged
out or in as the ebb and flow compelled.

As captain of the fish-trap crew and active in collection, Colin had the
run of both laboratories and the day always seemed too short for him.
Every investigator's work was a matter of personal interest to him and
he talked 'research' all the day lo