THE SEA-SIDE BOOK. " Oh, what an endlesse worke have I in hand. To count the Sea's abundant progeny ! Whose fruitfulle seede farre passeth those in land. And also those which wonne in the azure sky. For much more each to tell the starres on by, Albe they endless seem in estimation. Then to recount the Sea's posterity So fertile be the flouds in generation. So huge their numbers, and so numberless their na THE SEA-SIDE BOOK; AN INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH COASTS. QH W. H. HABVEI, M.D., M.R.I.A., / / JLONDON-BKIDQE " ROOZ AT TOSSJC FOURTH EDITION. WITH A CHAPTER ON FISH AND FISH DIET, BY MR. YARRELL. LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. M.DCCC.LVII. JOHN TODHUNTER, JUN., OP DUBLIN, f)is Utttle iioofe is tictitratrtr BY HIS AFFECTIONATE UNCLE, THE AUTHOR, CONTENTS. PAGE CHAP. I. INTRODUCTORY .... 1 II. THE WORLD OF WATERS . . 21 III. THE SANDS AND THEIR PRODUCTIONS . 53 IV. THE ROCKY SEA-SHORE; SEA-WEEDS . 84 V. THE ROCKY SEA-SHORE; MARINE ANIMALS . Ill VI. DREDGING . . . . .148 VII. THE MICROSCOPIC WONDERS OP THE SEA . 202 VIII. ON FISH AND FISH DIET ... 237 IX. SEA-SIDE PLANTS, BIRDS, DRIFTWOOD, &c. . 270 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. " LONDON BRIDGE" ROCK AT TORQUAY . . .On Title Page. ORATORY OF ST. PIRAN IN TUB SANDS ..... 1 SOUNDING IN 2677 FATHOMS ....... 21 DIAGRAM TO EXPLAIN TEMPERATURE ...... 36 FIVE DIAGRAMS TO EXPLAIN TlDES AND CURRENTS . 43, 44, & 45 CHART, WITH COTIDAL LINES 49 SHRIMP AND PRAWN CATCHERS 53 DUNLIN SANDPIPERS ......... 55 EGG OF SHARK ......... 63 BUCCINUM UNDATUM AND NEST ....... 64 PURPURA LAPILLUS AND EGGS 65 NATICA MONILIFERA 65 FLUSTRA FOLIACEA 76 ALCTONIUM DIGITATUM ........ 79 TOR-ABBEY ROCKS AND HEADLAND, WITH BERRY-HEAD IN THE DISTANCE .......... 84 ROOT OF LAMINARIA 85 ULVA CRISPA 92 CODIUM TOMENTOSUM ......... 92 BRTOPSIS PLUMOSA ......... 93 CLADOPHORA HUTCHINSLE 94 LlCHINA PIGM^EA AND CONFINIS 100 PADINA PAVONIA 102 GRIFFITHSIA CORALLINA ........ J04 POLYSIPHONIA PARASITICA ........ 105 CORALLINA OFFICINALIS 108 ACTINIA BELLIS 110 ACTINIA, OR SEA- ANEMONES HI EGG OF SPONGE ......... us CORYNE PUSILLA AND MAGNIFIED PORTION ..... H9 SERTULARIA FILICULA AND MAGNIFIED PORTION .... 121 PLUMULARIA CRISTATA AND MAGNIFIED VESICLE .... 122 CARYOPHYLLEA SMITHII 125 LUCERNARIA AURICULA ........ 126 VARIOUS SPECIES OF LEPRALI.&, MAGNIFIED .... 128 APPENDAGE OF CELLULARIA 129 BOTRYLLUS 131 SHELL FROM LYCIA, E. F 135 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PHOLAS CANDIDA Page 136 LIMPET'S TONQUB 138 AKGULA CRISTATA 140 CHITON MARGINATUS AND PASOicuLAais 141 NASSA RETICULATA ......... 144 DREDGING 148 NATURALIST'S DREDOE 149 DR. BALL'S IMPROVED DREDGE 151 DRAG 152 TOWING NET 154 NULLIPORES 155 PLANARIA VITTATA 157 SERPDLA 162 PENTACRINUS EUSOPEUS 168 PEDICELLARLE 178 THYONE PAPILLOSA . . . . . . . . .183 VlRGULARIA MIRABILI8 . . . . . . . .186 ZOEA OP THE CRAB 199 ICEBERG, WITH SEASCAPE 202 ISTHMIA OBLIQUATA ......... 205 LlCMOPHORA FLABELLATA ........ 206 LAGEN2E 214 EOTALIA BECCARIt AND POLYSTOMELLA CRIBPA .... 215 BEROE 223 VELELLA 225 MEDUSA BUDS IN VARIOUS STAGES 229 YOUNG OF MEDUSA FORMING 231 SALPA RUNCINATA, IN ITS FREE AND ASSOCIATED STATES . . 233 MARINE FISHES 237 SCALE OF GREY MULLET 238 TRAWL NET . . . . 241 SEAN 253 PART OF TRAMMEL 255 KEER-DRAG 257 SEA BIRDS .......... 270 HORNED POPPY . . 272 SALICORNIA HERBACEA ........ 275 GLAUX" MARITIMA ...... . 276 STORM PETREL .'.'.'. 298 PENTELASMIS ANATIFERA ...... . 299 YOUNG ClRRHIPODE, MAGNIFIED . 301 LlMNORIA TEREBRANS ..... . 304 CHELURA TEREBRANS .... . 304 MARINE GRAPES ....'. ' 306 For a more detailed History of the Subjects comprised in this Volume the Reader is referred to the following Works : MK. YARRELL'S History of British Birds, and his History of British. Fishes. PROFESSOR BELL'S History of British Crustacea. PROFESSOR EDWARD FORBES" History of British Starfishes, ^r. PROFESSOR E. FORBES AND MR. HANLEY'S British MolluscaD*. JOHNSTON'S History of British Zoophytes, and his History of British Sponges, fro. MESSRS. ALDER AND HANCOCK'S Nudibranchiate Mollusca. PROFESSOR HARVEY'S Phycologia, Britannica, or his Manual of British Marine dlga. PROFESSOR ANSTED'S Geology. PROFESSOR RYMER JONES' General Outline of the Animal Kingdom, and his Natural History of Animals. SIR JOHN G. DALYELL'S Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland, and his Powers of the Creator displayed in the Creation. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. IT is scarcely more than a century since the several sciences to which we apply the general name of Natural History, began to rouse themselves from a sleep into which they had fallen nearly two thousand years before. The middle ages of Natural History are peculiarly the dark ages, and the darkness was dense as it was long. Throughout this long period observers were scarce ; theo- risers and commentators, critics of subjects which they could not comprehend, were numerous ; and the body of naturalists occupied themselves in specious dreams. Here and there, like the flashes which cheer the dark- ness of the polar winter, noble minds rose above their B 2 FANCIFUL SYSTEMS. fellows to declare the truths which they had observed or discovered ; but such lights were rare, and soon put aside they could not be extinguished by the race over which a busy dulness reigned supreme. The writers of the middle ages had built up in their own minds a perfect system, as it was supposed ; and this they imagined to be the system of the universe. In- stead, therefore, of seeking out, by patient observation, the facts of Nature, and reasoning upon them, they em- ployed themselves in cutting down to their own notions of propriety every fact which seemed to contradict what the schoolmen considered a law of Nature. A glaring instance of such prejudiced explanation is found in the theories gravely put forward by learned men to explain the existence of organic fossils. Marine petrifactions fishes, shells, corals were found imbedded in rocks, or in the soil, in places far removed from the existing sea, and at a considerable height above its level, in the up- land country, and even on the tops of mountains. The wise men of those days (so late as the year 1680) ex- plained the phenomenally supposing a "plastic power" in Nature, which was exerted in moulding the living rock into mimic representations of animals and plants, for no better purpose, seemingly, than to puzzle and amuse the vulgar. This was cutting the knot of difficulty after a strange fashion. It was contrary to their theory to be- lieve that the sea had ever occupied the places in which the marine productions were found. If it had not, how could these have got there ? There was no reply but the resolute denial that the fossils were really the relics of marine creatures ; and this, in spite of the evidence of their senses, or the deductions of sound reason, these pseudo-philosophers unblushingly asserted. It was thus that the facts of Nature were habitually twisted to suit the requirings of a preconceived theory ; and thus laborious lives were spent to no other purpose than in heaping up a mass of unreadable nonsense in our libraries. The enunciation of the inductive philosophy was the first great blow to the fame of these writers. The per- fect system of the universe was found to be no longer tenable; it fell almost at the first onset, and with it fell the charm which had embalmed every opinion handed down from classic times. The Book of Nature began to be studied with ardour, and in a new and unfettered spirit. No longer clogged with theories, naturalists found that, so far from its having been exhausted by the labours of their predecessors, Natural History was full, to overflowing, of novel interest. Facts were no longer tried by traditional authority ; but tradition was sub- jected to the close inquisition of newly-observed facts. In every country observers were at work; and, instead of the somnambulism of the preceding ages, naturalists, like men newly risen, went forth in their morning strength and ardour to the labour of the day. The fair sun of science was already above the horizon, and it was their privilege to drink in his earliest beams. So long as Natural History was encumbered with its pseudo-classical incubus its votaries were few in num- ber. The more it grew into a science founded on ob- servation, the more it attracted popular attention. The writings of LINN^US, composed in a clear and elegant 4 NATURAL SYSTEMS : style, and offering a systematic arrangement such as all could readily understand, contributed more than those of any other naturalist to the spread of a taste for his favourite science. He was eminently a popular writer, and, no matter what criticism may now be passed on his system, it must be admitted that to it is greatly owing the rapidity with which the natural sciences advanced in public favour in the early part of last century. Had his followers possessed a tithe of his comprehensive and singularly penetrating mind, they would have saved his memory from many an undeserved reproach. No man ever had a truer eye for a natural group, or was more deeply impressed with the value of a natural system. He has indeed left us, in his Genera, especially of Insects and Shells, grand outlines of such a system, sketched by a master's hand. But he felt that the time for erecting the temple of Nature had not come, and that his own province lay in preparing materials for the building, and to this task he devoted the chief energies of his mind. We of the present generation are, perhaps, too apt to think that sumcient materials have already been amassed, and to set ourselves often with but a very superficial knowledge of even a single department of a single science to work out a system which shall embrace a much wider field, perhaps one that shall attempt to be a System of Nature. Hence the numerous systems, all called "natural," which have been proposed, both in Zoology and Botany, within the last fifty years. Hence, too, the still stranger systems and anti-systems which the history of Geology exhibits, where the same fact is often adduced by different writers as the most con- vincing proof in favour of directly opposite views of the histoiy of the world. These discrepancies are sufficient to prove to any unprejudiced mind that the requisite materials for constructing a perfectly natural system are not yet accumulated, and that in every department of Natural History patient observers are still required, who will be contented to store up facts, and to work out such parts of a general system as they find to be within their legitimate reach, abstaining from all general views that are not warranted by the amount, either of their own knowledge, or of that of the scientific world in gene- ral. Bold minds will now and then run a-head of abso- lute discoveries, and by lucky anticipation will some- times point in the right direction. Deeply informed and comprehensive intellects will discover glimpses through the haze, like the looming of distant land, where com- mon observers can see no indications of a solution, and their " guesses at truth," being built partly on real in- duction, partly on skilfully-applied analogies, often open up to us correct views of the order of Nature which sub- sequent discoveries only confirm and strengthen. Such minds will ever be cautious in advancing theories : but how many hasty observers, admiring the brilliant re- sults attained by the skilful " guesser," ignorant of the liabilities to error, and therefore despising caution, rush forward on their course, and propose to the world their fanciful schemes as important discoveries. In the re- public of science there is no longer a recognised head. Each panter after fame may set up a system of his own. There is no controlling power but the slow-working 6 NATURAL HISTORY. verdict of the general voice. That, indeed, operates surely and calmly, like the inexorable laws of Nature, and consigns each bubble theory, in due time, to merited forgetfulness ; but this operation may be a long one, and many a theoriser, for the false excitement of temporary notoriety, will risk the possession of enduring fame. The present age has produced many of those pseudo- naturalists, though not so many as that immediately preceding it. The spirit is not extinct ; and therefore it is that I would caution my younger fellow-students, for whom these pages are written, against allowing their imaginations to be carried away by specious theories, or any theories which do not proceed from a deep study of Nature. Much more would I caution them against building systems of their own. Their place clearly is, to learn and not to teach, and until they have brought together a very considerable amount of observations they can scarcely have an adequate conception of what a sys- tem should be. In heaping together these observations, they will find real pleasure, and will become, as they proceed, more and more sensible of the capacity of mind and knowledge which is required in him who shall venture to sketch out a " Systema Naturae" Let not man boast, like the irreverent monument to Buffon, of having "a mind equal to the majesty of Nature ;" and let none of us act as if we laid claim to such a mind. The portion of the created universe with which the naturalist occupies himself is indeed small, if we com- pare our world with the stellar system, and estimate its value by the line and the plummet ; but, the more we become conversant with its heights and depths, the more IN THE COUNTRY. 7 shall we find that size and weight ought to have no place in our estimation of the great or the little in Nature : for they appear to have no place in the mind of the Author of Nature. The same skill and care are employed in the formation and adaptation of the minut- est animal or plant as in that of the largest ; and the same law that govems the formation of a rain-drop, in- fluences not merely that of our own world, but extends throughout the immeasurable regions of space. In Nature everything displays the same evidence of great- ness of design, sufficient, when duly appreciated, to fill the largest intellect to overflowing, and to make it sen- sible that so far from having a capacity " equal to the majesty " of what it contemplates, its utmost stretchings are insufficient to comprehend the fulness of a single natural law. In contrast to the inventors of fanciful systems, how gladly do we turn to such a writer as Gilbert White, the well-known author of " The Natural History of Selborne." Within the bounds of a single country parish he found ample materials for one of the most delightful and instructive books of Natm*al History ever written. It does not require to be located in a peculiarly favour- ed district to discover sufficient to arrest the attention of the observant naturalist, or even to add something to the general stock of knowledge. The naturalist is more independent of circumstances than most men. Give him fields and hedges, the barren moor, or the quarry, from each and all he will collect a store of useful and entertaining facts. No part of the country is so abso- lutely barren that it will not afford employment to the THE SEA-SHORE. cultivator of some department of Natural History ; and employment of that nature that will keep his mind pleasantly and profitably occupied, in the midst of the most complete retirement. One therefore wonders that a taste for Natural History is not the universal accom- paniment of a country life. But if country life naturally lead us to contemplate the objects of creation with which we are there sur- rounded, how much more does a residence, and espe- cially an occasional residence, on the sea-coast attract us into the field of observation ! The numerous marine watering-places, which are thronged in the summer and autumn months, ought to be so many schools for natu- ralists. Placed on all our coasts, they offer the greatest variety of aspect and climate that the limited shores of the British Islands can supply. The sheltered bay the open strand the bold rocky barrier against which breakers constantly roll each has its peculiar animal and vegetable inhabitant ; and each variety of shore is more or less perfectly represented in one or other of our watering-places. By visiting different parts, therefore, of the coast in succession, year by year, we may investi- gate to the greatest advantage the productions of the sea. These are never exhausted : and once that an interest in the pursuit is awakened, it never flags. There is no need to import the winter resources of cities balls, par- ties, and theatrical representations to the watering- place. Half the year ought to suffice for these amuse- ments. Let the summer and the sea-side preserve their native pleasures undisturbed. There is so much to be enjoyed on the sea-shore when the mind is once opened GEOLOGY. 9 to the pleasure afforded by the study of Natural History, that no other stimulus is wanted to keep the interest of the visitor constantly awake. Instead of finding his time hang heavy, he will often wonder how rapidly the long summer-day has flown by, while he has been occu- pied with some investigation in the midst of which darkness overtakes him. When visiting the sea, to seek relaxation from business, it is astonishing with what zest a person will enter on the pursuit of Natural His- tory, and how invigorating and refreshing he will find it. After a short time, the mind of an habitually busy man finds no relief in complete idleness. He must occupy himself in some manner. He is removed from his ordinary business perhaps, forbidden by a physician from receiving letters that require thought ; his mind is too active to rest unemployed, and there is nothing in the neighbourhood to rouse him. If on the sea-shore, and happily possessing a turn for Natural History,, he is at once supplied with occupation of the most health- ful character. His pursuits lead him to take exercise of body, and, without fatiguing the mind, give it that pleasurable excitement which rapidly restores its tone when suffering from having been over -wrought. It matters little to which of the Natural History sciences he devotes his attention, or whether each in turn en- gages it. Probably, a valetudinarian will find most relief in variety. He can indulge a taste for Geology, either in investigating the sections of strata which the headlands of the coast often admirably exhibit, or in watching the thousand evidences of forces in ope- ration which are gradually changing the level of our 10 GEOLOGY. present seas, and which explain to us the greater opera- tions of a former era, or show us how, in slowly-accu- mulating periods, changes as great are in preparation even now. The formation of beds of the remains of recent testacea, Crustacea, and fishes ; the gradual indu- ration of conglomerates under the sea; and the drifting of sands by the wind, may all be observed in different parts of our coast, and in some to a very remarkable degree. The changes effected by wind-blown sands have very materially altered the features of several parts of the British coasts, converting tracts of fertile land into deserts as sterile as those of Africa. Lyell men- tions a district in the north of Cornwall, once cultivated and inhabited, where the drifted sands now form hills composed of minute fragments of sea-shells, several hun- dred feet above the level of the sea. Here the sand may in several places be found undergoing a process of indjiration, and in some parts the change is so far advanced that blocks are used as building-stone ; and thus the geologist can trace the gradual formation of a sandstone-rock. But the interest of this locality is not confined to the geologist. The archaeologist will visit it as the residence of one of the early missionaries, by whose labours Christianity was introduced into this re- mote part of Britain, and where, on the overthrow of so many British Churches by the subsequent incursions of an unchristian horde, the light of truth continued to shine till the commencement of a happier era. Here, toward the close of the fourth century, St. Piran, born of noble parents, in the county of Ossory, in Ireland, A.D. 352, and converted to the Christian faith in 382, PERRANZABULOE. 1 1 having been ordained bishop at Home, fixed his abode among a simple people, and passed a long and exem- plary life in instructing them. Nor did he confine him- self to the functions of his sacred calling, but, we are told, he was equally zealous in instructing his parishioners in the useful arts, and especially in the working of metals. Hence, it is not without reason that "the Cornish miners venerate the name of Piranus as their tutelary saint and benefactor; and to this day the tinners of Cornwall keep his feast on the oth of March, and hold a fair near his church in honour of St. Piranus." The church, long buried under the sands, has recently been exhumed, and the vignette at the head of this chapter represents its present state.* Another instance occurs on the coast of Suffolk, where, in the lapse of a century, the sands have spread over more than 1000 acres of land. On the coast of Sligo an equally destructive sand-inundation has taken place, and, though partially checked, is still in progress. This has already destroyed from seven to eight hundred acres of fertile land, burying in its course a considerable village. Strange to say, the village is not yet a "Deserted Village," though buried in the midst of a desert. Its inhabitants still cling to their wretched huts, only the roofs of which now rise above the sands, and these, with the entrances, are kept clear only by the constant labours of the inmates. It is a singular sight in walking over extensive sandy downs, where * See an interesting publication by the Rev. Collins Trelawney, called " Perranzabuloe the lost church found," 1836, and also " Per- ranzabuloe ; with an Account of the Past and Present State of the Oratory of St. Piran in the Sands," by the Rev. W. Haslam, 1844. 12 BOTANY. scarcely a blade is seen, to come suddenly on a rude chimney from which the peat-smoke rises, and to see a pig, followed by a troop of ragged children, rise up from under our feet. Much care has been taken to induce the occupants of these tenements, who subsist on fishing, to quit the ground, but hitherto unsuccessfully. They pay no rent for the burrows ; and are contented to act as geological hour-glasses. In exploring maritime scenes like this, the geologist, not to speak of the philanthropist, will find interesting objects of research. If he be a botanist, he will probably occupy himself also in devising plans for the detention of the sands, and their gradual fixation and conversion into cultivable soil. It is well known that many plants may be advantageously used as binders to loose sands. Of these, the Sand-reed (Ammophila arundinacea), which naturally grows on the sandy shores of Europe, is one of the best. Its roots penetrate to a considerable depth, ramifying in all directions, and forming a complete sys- tem of rope-work which soon binds together the loosest sands : while its strong tall leaves protect the surface of the soil from drought, and afford shelter to numerous small plants, which soon grow between the reeds, and gradually form a new green surface on the bed of sand. Were this reed planted on the Sligo sands, and protected for a very few years from the donkeys of the imbedded inhabitants, the further progress of the sand-flood would be effectually stopped, and the land now lost to cultiva- tion gradually restored to a part, at least, of its former value. Several other plants will flourish under the pro- tection of the Sand-reed. One of the most valuable (re- BOTANY. 13 commended a few years ago by Mr. W. Andrews*) is the Sea-pea (Lathyrus maritimus), which produces a fair crop of excellent herbage, while its penetrating roots bind the sands nearly equally with those of the Sand- reed. Were the latter planted on the most exposed places, and the Lathyrus under its lee, a most valuable herbage would be acquired. The Lathyrus is perennial ; if browsed by cattle it does not often blossom, but it extends, by means of runners and suckers, over a wide space, forming a close carpet of nourishing leaves. Inquiries such as these are, however, more the applications of Botany. I would rather speak of the science, apart from its economic relations, as of itself af- fording enjoyment to the invalid who visits the shore in search of health and strength. When land plants cease to attract his attention, the sea has vegetable treasures in great variety and of inconceivable beauty. The number of British sea-weeds, of the larger class, is not far from four hundred, and if we add purely microscopic species, we shall have upwards of five hundred kinds. In col- lecting and preparing specimens of those beautiful object^ and tracing out the affinities which link one kind with another, and bring the whole into a well- ordered family, many happy hours may be filled up. Nor is this a selfish pleasure. The true naturalist is always ready to share his pleasures with others, and only half enjoys what he cannot share. The value he attaches to the acquisition of a new plant is quite different from that by which a mere collector estimates his treasure. A collector seeks for unique specimens, * In a paper read before the Dublin Natural History Society. 14 ZOOLOGY. and will even destroy duplicates, that he may enjoy the silly boast of having the only specimen in existence. A naturalist ever wishes for a series, that he may trace the connection between one form and another, and thus see the limit of variation in different species and genera. He works with a constant remembrance of the unity of Nature. The more he discovers traces of affinity be- tween different groups, the more the unity of design manifests itself, and the more his conceptions of a per- sonality in the scheme of Nature are strengthened, and become fixed. From faint and weak beginnings, they gradually expand, and acquire the solidity of truth. Thus, step by step, and as it were "from glory to glory," the mind of the true naturalist is led on to the discovery of laws, and to a just appreciation of the System of Nature. Pleasures of this kind do not belong to any one de- partment of Natural History in particular. I have al- luded to them under the head of Botany; but, in truth, Zoology, in its far greater copiousness and variety, offers an immeasurably wider field. The sea teems with animal life. The various classes of marine animals, and the innumerable species comprised in the whole, are full of interest. Few, even of the most careless, can visit the shore without being struck by their beauty. The gather- ing of shells is a favourite amusement ; but few know anything of the curious animals which have dwelt in them. The dead husks of Zoophytes attract us by their gracefulness and by the truth with which they simulate a vegetable form ; but of the animals whose habitations they are, most persons are ignorant of the very exist- ZOOLOGY. 15 ence, believing that the horny skeleton is a veritable sea- weed. The very Jelly-fish, as it swims in the wave, expanding and contracting its umbrella, and thus pro- pelling itself through the water, has its beauty ; but few are aware of the singularity of its history, how its eggs are of the nature of seeds, which, sown on their rocky bed, sprout and grow, throwing out buds and suckers, each of which forms an animal stem, quite un- like the parent Jelly-fish ; till, at a certain time, young Jelly-fish begin to be formed, and to be thrown off by the several branches, just as flowers are formed, and expand on the several branches that originate from a vegetable-seed. And if the abject Jelly-fish, whose body consists of little more than organized water, have a history so wonderful, shall we not expect to find, in tracing the history of other tribes of animals, matter of equal interest 1 The structures, as we ascend in the scale, gradually become more complex ; and if those strange metamorphoses which arrest our attention in the lowest tribes give place to more accustomed phe- nomena, we are amply compensated by the progressive development of the wonderful faculty of instinct. In observing the variations of structure of the analogous organs of different animals, and noticing how, accord- ing to the necessities of their life, they are provided with proper instruments, innumerable proofs of the care of Providence over His creatures are offered to our contemplation. These cannot fail to interest us, if for no other reason, because they forcibly remind us of our own dependence on the same bountiful Hand, and thus soothe the most desponding with the thought that, if 16 ZOOLOGY : ITS SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS. creatures so humble in the scale of creation are cared for, and their wants supplied, the human soul, though linked to a frail body, and placed in a world that seems as nothing in the universe, must, in the sight of its Author, be of that inestimable worth attributed to it by Revelation. If the truths of Astronomy witness to the majesty of God, those of Natural History witness no less to the proper dignity of man ; and while the first teach us to humble ourselves before Him "who inhabiteth eternity," the second show us that true hu- mility consists, not in supposing ourselves to be beneath the care, or unworthy the notice, of the " High and Lofty One," but in claiming the privileges of that posi- tion in His creation which He has assigned to us, and fulfilling its duties because they are of His requiring. Such, then, are some of the pleasures of Natural History, whatever branch of the subject we select for our researches. I have glanced at those pleasures under the heads Geology, Botany, and Zoology. Each of these might be again divided ; and the last, especially, is so extensive that its several branches are spoken of as distinct sciences. Thus we have Ornithology, Ich- thyology, Entomology, Conchology, &c., all branches of the great science of Zoology. The British amateur- naturalist is particularly fortunate in possessing a series of admirable monographs, copiously illustrated by figures, on each of the several zoological sciences ; so that, whatever tribe he wishes to study, he can have the advantage of consulting a carefully-written sys- tematic work, which places that particular tribe dis- tinctly before him, and gives him all the striking points 3IONOGRAPHY. 17 of the history of the animals composing it, so far as they are known to naturalists. Yarrell's Histories of British Birds and Fishes ; Forbes's Starfishes ; Forbes and Hanley's History of British Mollusca and their Shells; Bell's Crustacea, and Johnston's Zoophytes, need no commendation. And when the whole series is com- pleted, by Williams's British Annelides (which we hope may soon be commenced) and the splendid work on the Naked-gilled Mollusca publishing under the auspices of the Ray Society, the Zoology of Great Britain will be more perfectly illustrated than that of any other country. In other countries the student has either to consult a general Zoology, or at best a Fauna of the country, comprising an account necessarily brief and imperfect of all its animals. How few single authors are capable of writing equally well on every tribe, in- cluded in a general Fauna, if the country whose ani- mals are described be extensive. Some one tribe has engaged more of the author's attention than another, and an undue prominence will thence be given to his favourite. But where each author selects his own tribe, and devotes his whole attention to it, we have in the combined work of several pens the most perfect of general Zoologies. This is precisely what we shall pos- sess in Great Britain when the series of monographs to which I have alluded is finished. To render these monographs as perfect as possible is the interest of every student of Natural History ; and the humblest worker in the field, if careful to see with his own eyes, and record faithfully what he sees, can materially assist the labours of the author. A c 18 NEW SPECIES AND GENERA. single, unassisted individual would require the eyes of an Argxis, and the hands and heads of a Briareus, to bring together the mass of facts and observations con- tained in one of these monographs. Such works pre- suppose the examination of every part of our coasts at all seasons of the year. It falls to no man's lot to make such extensive investigations. But the results of the common labours of many individuals scattered along the shore, concentrated in the author's study, accom- plish the work far more rapidly and more perfectly than could possibly be done by any other means. Not- withstanding all that has been done of late years, the subject is yet very far from being exhausted. New species and even new genera, are still continually met with among both marine plants and animals on the British coasts ; and this, not merely among the more minute and obscure kinds, where such occurrences con- stantly take place, but among the larger and more per- fectly organized classes. The pleasure of adding a new member, never before noticed by man, to the list of known beings must, perhaps, be felt before it can be understood. We experience, in some measure, a parental fondness for an object which we have been the first to bring to light : and with this often mixes a good slice of self-complacency at our own wonderful acuteness. This last feeling is often very silly, for, probably, it was good luck more than sagacity which threw the object in our way : and any one else of common observation, might have acted his part as well. It is something to have worked out a difficult problem requiring mental exertion ; or to have been the first to distinguish accu- STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 19 rately between two different animals or plants which were before wrongly confounded together; but to plume oneself on having picked up, for the first time, a shell or a sea-weed, which any one visiting the same ground might have equally done, is simply childish. I speak now of that improper egotism which takes almost as much credit to itself as if it were the author of what it has found. I am very far from condemning the pure-minded joy, one of the most delightful feelings of a naturalist, which springs freely in his heart, and glistens in his eye, when first it rests upon an unknown object. This feeling is a mixture of warm affections which cannot confine themselves to a single breast, but instantly seek for sympathy. The first impulse is, to exhibit the novelty to another that he may share our delight, and that we may see him do so. And if there be none to sympathise, how naturally the grateful heart looks up and worships the Author of its enjoyment ! Cold as the heart's feelings may be at other times, the fervour of the moment awakens all its better nature. This enjoyment may seem a small thing to call forth gratitude, when we are accustomed to receive so many blessings at the hand of God in a thankless or indif- ferent spirit. These blessings we seem to look on as our birthright, as members of His family ; but the dis- covery of a new object among the works of creation acts like a special revelation, however small, to ourselves as individuals, and this feeling of individuality touches a chord in the human breast which is ever ready to vibrate. The man whose life is saved by what appears to be a special interference of Providence in his favour 20 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. feels strongly what all ought to feel who know that at every moment of our lives the same care is exercised upon us. But the care in the one case is for the general good, the interest of which often calls for individual suffering ; in the other, the welfare of the individual seems the special object of providential forethought. The latter brings God as it were personally before us. He is no longer merely the Creator exercising oversight over a vast dominion, but He is our Preserver, protect- ing us in our going forth and coming in. Similar, though weaker, are the feelings called forth by a closer insight into Nature, and a more intimate acquaintance with her works. When we begin the study, our con- ception of the Author of Nature may be diffuse a vague idea as of some illimitable Power, in ceaseless action ; but the more we pursue this delightful study, the more we recognise, if we work in a proper spirit, proofs of the personality of God. Though now we can know Him but in part, and only see Him reflected in his works as it were " through a glass darkly," we look forward to a time when we shall behold Him " face to face," and shall know Him, "even as we ourselves are known." 2677 fathoms, March 3, ISiS, Lat. 33-21 S., Long. 9-1 E. CHAPTER II. THE WORLD OP WATERS. THE , " World of Waters " is a hackneyed expression, often used in no more comprehensive sense than as sig- nifying the Ocean, in contradistinction to the dry land. The waters of the ocean do, indeed, spread over the greater part of the globe, the proportion of sea com- pared to land being nearly as three to one ; but the " World of Waters " embraces much more than the oceanic basins. A moment's consideration will show that we may include under this name perhaps every portion of the surface of the globe, and certainly every portion which is the abode of living things, whether plants or animals. The "World of Waters" thus be- 22 THE OCEAN THE FOUNTAIN OF WATERS. comes co-extensive with the organic world or world of life ; for every plant that grows and every animal that breathes is absolutely dependent on water for its life. If the air did not contain water in solution, the vegetable world would quickly become a vast Hortus Siccus, and the animal world be converted into Such a state of things would involve the destruction of animated nature, and this result is averted only through the agency of water. The great reservoir of this life-sustaining agent is the ocean, which is at once the fountain whence the waters flow, and the goal to which they return and where they centre. " All the rivers," says the Wise Man, " run into the sea, yet the sea is not full ; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." This circulation of the waters is brought about in a very simple manner, by the influence of the sun, alternately raising and lowering the temperature of the air. Under an in- creased temperature vapour rises rapidly from any ex- posed surface of water, and is greedily absorbed by the air, in which it is either perfectly dissolved, when it becomes invisible, or is partially condensed in cloud or fog. A cloudless sky is no proof of the absence of watery vapour in the air, for warm air will hold in perfect solution a very considerable weight of vapour. A reduction of the temperature causes the condensation of the vapour, which is returned to the earth as cloud, fog, dew, or rain. The force of gravity compels the condensed water to seek a lower level, it collects in rills, streams, rivers, which in most cases flow towards SALT WATER AND FRESH. 23 the ocean, whose vapours have fed them at the source. Thus a circulation, indispensable to the welfare of plants and animals, is maintained over the surface of the globe, either on the earth or through the air. There is a marked difference, however, between the water which fertilises the earth and air, and that which remains in the great body of the Ocean. Sea-water, as every one knows, is salt, while what falls from the at- mosphere, and supplies springs and rivers, is destitute of saltness, or fresh. When evaporation of sea-water takes place, the salts dissolved in the sea do not rise in the vapour, but remain behind ; and were the pro- cess continued a sufficient length of time, and were uo fresh water introduced by rivers, the salts would accu- mulate in the waters of the ocean to such a degree that they would at last be deposited in a solid form at the bottom. There would take place, on a vast scale, what occurs in the common method of procuring salt from sea-water, in hot countries, where the water is exposed to the sun in shallow pans until nothing re- mains but a crust of salt. This does not happen to the Ocean, solely because the amount of fresh water which continually returns into it, compensates for what had been withdrawn ; and if there be any deficiency it is of so small an amount as to cause a change in the constitution of the ocean only in a very extended course of ages. We have no evidence to show that any such change has occurred during the historic period; but it is reasonable to think that the change which we know, from the fossil remains of an earlier creation, has come over the marine fauna, may have been connected with 24 INGREDIENTS IN SEA-WATER, a change in the constitution of the waters, as well as in the climate of the globe. Several different salts are held in solution in sea- water. The chief ingredient is common table salt, or chloride of sodium. Besides this, which amounts to a very large proportion of the whole, sulphates and carbonates of magnesia and lime, with a little potash and some free carbonic acid, and minute quantities of other minerals, have been detected. Two curious ele- mentary substances, Iodine and Bromine, occur in sea- water, but in such " homoeopathic " quantity as to be rarely tangible, unless a very large body of water be experimented upon. Iodine was first discovered, at a soap manufactory, in an alkaline solution or ley, which had been prepared from seaweed ashes ; and it is readily procurable from certain seaweeds and marine mollusks which, no doubt, secrete it gradually from the water that entei-s their tissues. Bromine, first found in the bittern or mother-water of a salt manufactory, has like- wise been detected in marine plants, but is more abun- dant in some salt-springs, particularly in those of Ger- many. The relative proportions of the various saline substances, though generally the same over wide spaces, vary now and then from local circumstances. Thus the waters of the British Channel, which flow upon a bed of chalk, have been found to contain nine times as much lime as those of the Mediterranean. The sea in the neighbourhood of coral reefs or islands usually holds much lime in solution, and deposits it on tidal rocks, and on the seaweeds that cover them, and incrusts the grains of sand and gravel that compose the beaches. DENSITY OP SEA- WATER. 25 The water of enclosed basins into which large rivers flow, as would naturally be expected, is much less salt than that of the open sea. Thus the Baltic and Black seas, both of which receive the drainage of large dis- tricts, are much less salt than the Atlantic Ocean. The Mediterranean, on the contrary, owing to its great depth, and to the few great rivers that flow into it, in proportion to its surface, but perhaps chiefly owing to its southern latitude, favourable to an enormous evaporation, is of greater density than similar parallels of the Atlantic. Experiments have been made on samples of sea- water collected in various latitudes, from which it appears that in the open sea the density is greater in the south- ern than in the northern Ocean, whilst at the equator it is nearly intermediate between the two. According to Dr. Marcet the mean specific gravity in the southern ocean, rain-water being 1-00000, is 1-02919, and in the northern, 1-02757, and at the equator 1-02777. The greater amount of land in the northern hemisphere, furnishing a greater influx of fresh water than the at- tenuated southern continents and small islands supply, is perhaps the cause of the observed difference ; and possibly a part may be owing to insufficient experiments. It appears, however, to be well established that the sea always contains a greater proportion of salt where it is deepest and furthest removed from land. The differ- ences observed in the densities of sea-water in different latitudes seem trifling when we compare with the waters of the Ocean, those of the Dead Sea, which, according to Dr. Marcet, have a specific gravity of 1-211. 26 FETID MATTER IN SEA- WATER. Besides the saliiie contents of the sea, a variable amount of fetid matter, probably derived from decay- ing animal and vegetable remains, has been found in most latitudes : and if sea-water be set aside in a vessel, it will frequently even become putrid from the presence of such matter. The late Professor Daniell,* in a lec- ture delivered at the Royal Institution, gives details of many experiments made by him on water brought from the west coast of Africa, from which it appears that the tropical sea, extending over many degrees of lati- tude, evolves enormous quantities of sulphuretted hy- drogen, a gas highly prejudicial to health, and very destructive to the copper fastenings and sheetings of ships. The space affected along the West African coast has been found to extend for sixteen degrees of latitude, and to a distance from land of at least 40 miles; thus some 40,000 square miles are contaminated. Mr. Daniell's inquiries were instituted at the request of the lords of the Admiralty, who, as well as merchants trading to the Gold Coast, had found that the copper on their ships perished much more rapidly on the Afri- can coast than elsewhere ; and Mr. Daniell mentions one case in which a court of law compelled a contractor to pay heavy damages to a merchant to whom he had supplied sheet-copper for a ship employed on an Afri- can voyage, because it was supposed that the copper must have been unsound, as it perished after a very short time ; and chemists, who were examined as evi- dence on the trial, had declared that there was nothing in sea- water which would corrode the copper so quickly. * See Lend. Edin. and Dublin Magazine for July, 1841. ORIGIN OP THE TROPICAL MALARIA. 27 The sulphuretted hydrogen, proved by Mr. Daniell to be largely generated on the African coast, is an amply sufficient cause of the destruction of the copper, and no future contractor need fear the result of a similar trial. The origin of the gas is, with much probability, traced to the reaction between the masses of decaying vege- table matter brought down by the tropical rivers, and the sulphates contained in sea-water. The unhealthi- ness of mangrove swamps, and of low districts in the vicinity of the sea in various parts of the world, but especially within the tropics, appears also to be owing to the formation of sulphuretted hydrogen, where the decaying leaves come in contact, in large masses, with sea-water. This is the case in all mangrove thickets, which always border on the sea, and often extend to a short distance from shore. The insalubrity of the west coast of Africa, as a whole, is but too well estab- lished. It is known that the existence of only 15 1 00 th part of sulphuretted hydrogen in the air acts as a direct poison on small animals. In large quantities it is rapidly destructive of human life, and, in smaller doses, its disgusting stench causes excessive depression and languor, as well as nausea ; and there can be little doubt that the tropical malaria, which causes these ef- fects, owes its virulence to the presence of this gas. The formation of sulphuretted hydrogen in sea-water, by the action of decaying vegetable matter, was proved by Mr. Daniell, who found that while leaves allowed to remain for a considerable time in a solution of muriate of soda remained perfectly fresh and untainted, similar leaves, placed in a jar containing sulphate of soda and water, 28 SPRINGS OF FRESH WATER IN THE OCEAN. soon became putrid, sulphuretted hydrogen being formed in sensible quantities. Now, as sea-water al- ways contains a portion of sulphate of soda or mag- nesia, the formation of sulphuretted hydrogen may be expected to take place wherever terrestrial vegetables, at least, are suffered to decay in the sea. In some of the specimens of water brought from the coast of Africa, as much as 11 cubic inches of this gas were found to the gallon. A plentiful fumigation of chlorine is re- commended as the best antidote, where malaria, caused by sulphuretted hydrogen, is rife. In many parts of the ocean springs of fresh water have been observed to burst from the bottom of the sea. On our own coasts, in several places, small wells of pure spring-water gush out between tide-marks, and may be seen at the recess of the tide ; and probably many others exist at a greater depth, which, being never laid bare, escape notice. But these are insig- nificant compared to the great fountains observed in other countries. Several are noticed in the Mediterra- nean, particularly a large jet of fresh water in the Gulf of Spezzia, and another in the port of Syracuse ; and, according to Pliny, the inhabitants of the ancient Aradus (an island off the Syrian coast) obtained their ordinary drinking water from a submarine fountain rising in water full fifty cubits deep. Humboldt* tells us of a still more remarkable submarine spring on the southern coast of Cuba, ten or twelve miles from the shore, propelled through the waters of the sea with such force that boats approaching the spot use the * " Views of Nature," Bohn's ed. p. 1 75. COLOUR OP THE SEA. 29 greatest caution : and also that "trading vessels some- times visit these springs in order to provide themselves, in the midst of the ocean, with a supply of fresh water." The colour of the sea has been variously reported, Most of our early poets, familiar only with the shallow seas surrounding the British islands, use the epithet "green" in speaking of the sea; and "sea-green" is as well recognised a colour as "pea-green" or "grass- green." But the father of poetry describing the waters of the Mediterranean, calls them " caerulean,"* " violet colour," "purple," and "glaucous ;" and since our modern poets have become travellers, they have intro- duced us to " darkly, deeply, beautifully blue " water. Far from land, beyond ordinary soundings, the sea is invariably blue, and such seems to be the proper colour of any deep column of pure water, whether in the fluid or solid state. Those who have clambered over Alpine ice, will remember the intense azure of a deep crevasse, and particularly the heavenly blue of the caverned extremity of the glacier of Rosenlai. The tourist in Italy will call to mind the prevalent blue of the Mediterranean, and the almost spectral blue of the " Azure cave " at Capri ; while the valetudinarian, re- turned from Madeira, may descant on the intensely ultramarine tint of the Bay of Funchal. The open sea is usually of a paler, but still a very decided blue colour. Near coasts the hue depends on the depth of the water, the presence or absence of extraneous matter, and the colour of the bottom. Where it is dark blue, the * Kuavfos, icoSrjs, iropfyvptos, and yAa.uK.os, &c. 30 LEVEL OF THE SEA. water is deep and clear, lying on a dark-coloured, rocky bottom; as is the case on many parts of the west coast of Ireland. Where it is green the bottom con- sists of yellow sand, whose colour, mixing with the es- sentially blue tint of the water, has the same effect as the blending of gamboge with Prussian blue on a painter's palette. The white, red, or brown colours of the water on our channel coasts are due to chalk, to red sand and to mud. The variable redness of the Red Sea, and the brown of the Antarctic Ocean, in the neighbourhood of ice, are caused by the presence of minute vegetables; and, to one or other of these causes, all marine colours, other than green or blue, may be Speaking in a large sense, the level of the sea is the same in all latitudes, and has been made the common basis for determining the comparative heights of points of land, which may be said to project, like minute in- equalities, from the surface of the globe, whose figure is determined by the uniform curve, assumed by the waters under the influence of gravitation. Minute differences of level, however, have long been recog- nised in certain enclosed seas of limited extent. Thus the Baltic, into which several great rivers flow, and which is connected with the Northern Sea by a narrow channel, is about a foot higher than that part of the ocean ; and, except on rare occasions, after long-con- tinued westerly or north-westerly winds, the current sets strongly outwards. The Black Sea, also fed by great rivers, and having a still narrower outlet, is con- siderably higher than the Mediterranean. The latter, BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 31 though an enclosed sea, receives so few great rivers in proportion to its surface, and is exposed to such im- mense waste by evaporation in a southern climate, that it is lower than the Atlantic, from which a strong current sets constantly through the Straits of Gibraltar. One of the most remarkable instances known of the inequality of level between neighbouring seas is that stated to exist between the Red Sea at Suez, and the nearest point of the Mediterranean, the former being thirty-two feet higher than the latter. The difference of level between the waters at opposite sides of the Isthmus of Panama has been said to be of equal or greater amount, but recent measurements throw doubt on the statement ; and possibly the level of the Red Sea may also have been incorrectly computed. It is, however, reasonable to attribute to the form and posi- tion of masses of land, to the presence or absence of great inflowing rivers, to the climatic relations of in- closed seas of moderate extent, and to the nature of the sea-bottom, small inequalities of level producing superficial currents. The bottom of the sea appears to be as greatly di- versified as the surface of the land. Were the bed of the ocean laid bare, we should find mountains of vast height, whose points now are alone known to us, in the islands which stud the face of the great Pacific Ocean. Round many volcanic islands the circling cliffs go sheer down, into an unfathomable abyss; such would therefore rise like columns, possibly twenty or thirty thousand feet in height. Shoals, deprived of water, would become table-lands, with deep valleys or 32 DEPTH OF THE OCEAN. interminable plains around them. Then should we discover sandy deserts of immense extent ; coral banks mimicking an arborescent vegetation, and every con- ceivable variety of hill, of crag and of precipice, con- fusedly hurled together. Not the least remarkable feature in the savage landscape would probably be the pebbly slopes, the beach left high and dry, where water- rounded stones are as nicely sorted into sizes as if they had been passed through a series of riddles. The bottom being thus diversified, it is needless to say that the comparative depth of water in the ocean varies enormously. One of the most remarkable chains of shoals yet discovered extends along the coast of North America for 1400 miles, commencing with the great fishing banks of Newfoundland, and continuing, with little interruption, to the coast of Florida. The water on these banks ranges from 10 to 40 fathoms. The strait that separates them from America is from 100 to 300 fathoms deep, whilst towards the Atlantic their sides go rapidly down beyond ordinary soundings. The North Sea, separating Great Britain from Norway, is in all places extremely shallow, the greatest depth in no place exceeding 140 fathoms. It is shallowest in the southern part, where there is not sufficient depth of water to cover St. Paul's Cathedral. The English Channel slowly deepens towards the Atlantic ; east of the Edistone it is less than 50 fathoms. In the Irish Channel the depth varies from 60 to 80 or 100 fathoms. Off the west coast of Ireland the water deepens much more rapidly, a depth of 300 to 400 fathoms being found in some places at no great distance from the WATERS IN PERPETUAL MOTION. 33 shore. Hence the grandeur of the scenery of that bold coast. It is not merely that the waves of the Atlantic breast it in a long, unbroken line, but the deep water comes so close to the rocks, that the ground- swell of that great submerged valley strikes our island with scarcely diminished force. The extreme depth of the ocean has yet to be as- certained. Some of the deepest soundings on record were made during the Antarctic voyage, where at one place, in the Atlantic, within the Southern Tropic, 4600 fathoms or 27,600 feet of line were run out with- out reaching the bottom. Judging from the elevation of the bordering continents, the mean depth of the Atlantic has been roughly calculated at 50,000 feet, and it is supposed that the deepest hollows do not ex- ceed 80,000 feet, or about 15 miles. But such calcu- lations are scarcely better than mere guesses. The Pacific is much shallower, and is full of shoals and islands that reveal to us the existence of a vast, sub- merged continent, lying dormant, as it were, for a future destiny. The waters of the sea, whether under the influence of winds, of currents, or of tides, are in perpetual motion. The effect of winds is felt chiefly at the sur- face, the wildest sea-storm probably not influencing the strata of water a hundred feet below. The lower strata obey the force of currents, which may be com- pared to vast oceanic rivers setting continuously or variably in one direction for hundreds of miles, and causing a circulation between the waters of one por- tion of the ocean and another. But tides alternately 34 HEIGHT OF THE WAVES. upheave and depress the whole mass, twice in the twenty-four hours, by a regular oscillation. Waves raised by the wind in the open sea are rarely more than 20 feet in height from the bottom of the trough to the top of the crest. The greatest waves known occur off Cape Horn, and in north-westerly gales at the Cape of Good Hope, where they have been estimated at from 30 to 40 feet in perpendicular height, which may be taken as the maximum height of an unbroken sea-wave or swell. It is true that poets and travellers tell us of waves " mountains high ;" but we must make allowance for a terrified imagina- tion, and for the natural desire to make the perils we have safely passed appear impassable to our tarry-at- home friends. Besides the exaggeration due to these causes, another source of error may be found in the movement of the ship, as she rises over the " moun- tain," or plunges into the " abyss" in her wild career. Where the base varies at every instant it is scarcely possible to estimate the dimensions of the masses that pass under us. Currents, though to the common observer much less obvious than waves, are developed on a scale in- finitely greater, and are the main agency employed in creating a healthful circulation through the depths of the sea. We call them upper or under currents ac- cording as they carry along the surface waters or move the strata beneath. Some constantly set in one direc- tion, whilst others are reversed at opposite seasons of the year. Several of the upper currents, which depend on particular winds, are of this class. Of the peren- POLAR CURRENTS. 35 uial currents the first in importance are two great streams which flow from the polar towards the equa. torial regions, and, on the breaking up of winter, bring the melting icebergs, and drift ice, sometimes bearing along an astonished walrus or polar bear into lower latitude, until gradually dissipated in the warmer water; the zoological freight being deposited in some unexpected place, to lie till disturbed by a future geo- logist. The north polar current brings icebergs to the Azores in lat. 38 40 N.; while the south polar sometimes strands them on the arid African cape, in lat. 34 S. These powerful streams very sensibly in- fluence the climate of the temperate zones. That of Europe would be rendered much more severe did not a contrary surface current bring warmer waters from the south to supply the drain caused by that flowing from the north. The primary cause of the great polar streams may be, as is commonly stated, the centrifugal force of the body of the earth, as it performs its daily revo- lution; this force would no doubt tend to raise the waters on the surface in a belt round the equator. This rising might generate a stream from the poles towards the equator, when the world was first set a spinning; but to maintain that stream perennially many other agencies must be in operation. These are chiefly found in the unequal distribution of heat on the surface of the globe and through the mass of the waters, which disturbs the equilibrium of the fluid, and consequently generates and maintains a movement through it. It is well known that water, when at its 30 TEMPERATURE OF THE OCEAN. greatest density, has a uniform temperature of about 39 5' Fahr. ; and that when heated above, or cooled below this temperature it becomes specifically lighter. Hence we should expect that, in every column of water sufficiently deep, a portion of the column will be of this temperature. Now it has been tested by experiments that in all latitudes the tempera- ture of the ocean beyond a certain depth, which varies with the latitude, has this uniform temperature of 39 5'. Under the equator the temperature gra- dually diminishes from the surface as the depth in- creases, until at about 7200 feet the water is cooled to 39 5', which is the temperature of all greater depths. Receding from the equator, we reach the uniform tem- perature of 39 5' at a less and less depth, until at about 56 north and south latitude, we find the waters of the surface, and all below them, cooled down to this uniform standard. Up to lat. 56 the superficial strata are warmer than the inferior ones; but in all higher latitudes they are colder, the plane of 39 5' FIG. 1. Fahr. gradually sinking deeper and deeper, until at about the latitude of 80 it is depressed 4500 feet below the surface of the sea. This may be rendered evident by a simple figure (fig. 1), where the circle represents the surface of the sea, and the curved figure enclosed what we may call the plane of uni- form temperature, which is depressed towards the equa- CURRENTS MITIGATE THE CLIMATE. 37 tor and the poles, and touches the surface in lat. 56 26'. In this inequality of temperature of the fluid par- ticles there is a clear cause of an internal movement? which will continue until an equilibrium is restored. But the sun is a disturbance sufficiently powerful to maintain the inequality, by producing a vast evapora- tion from the equatorial ocean, and also by warming the surface waters of the sea in proportion to the angle at which the rays of heat fall on them. The constant transfer of water from the sea to the air by evaporation in the torrid zone, causes a waste which can only be supplied by water flowing in from neigh- bouring regions. Currents will therefore set towards the points of greatest evaporation. But besides this, the lower strata in the tropical ocean being colder than the upper, are continually attracting heat, and being thus rendered specifically lighter than before, are constantly rising to the surface, and pushing aside (so to say) the still warmer superficial strata. This generates a strong current which flows north and south from the equator. And thus it comes to pass that an interchange or cir- culation of the particles is maintained throughout the ocean, the colder streams becoming more and more undercurrents as they near the equator, and the warmer completing the circuit by returning along the surface towards the north and south, until gradually dissipated in higher latitudes, where they encounter the chilling waters of the great polar streams. The climate of the earth is powerfully mitigated by this natural tendency of the warmer and colder cur- 38 THE GULF-STREAM. rents to ascend and descend in proportion to the amount of heat they possess over or under the heat of the strata into which they flow. In the tropics the heated surface is cooled by the rising of the cold water from below, whilst the siirface of the colder regions is as constantly warmed by the overflow of heated waters from the tropical seas. Both acting on the air render the torrid zone less hot than it would otherwise be, and the colder zones more temperate. It would extend this chapter too far to enter into the details of the several great currents which have been ascertained to traverse the ocean, and cause the cir- culation of its waters to be perfectly maintained. We may, however, mention the great Atlantic whirlpool, set in motion by the celebrated gulf-stream, a strong, steady current of warm water which pours out of the Gulf of Mexico, with a mean velocity of 80 miles per day. The waters of the Mexican Gulf are at least 7 higher than those of the Atlantic in similar latitudes; and as they are pressed on from the south by the still hotter waters of the Caribbean Sea which enter the Mexican basin between Cuba and the Campeche shore, they are forcibly expelled through the narrow channel separating Cuba from the reefs and keys of Florida. Through this channel the gulf-stream issues in a rapid, warm, but narrow ocean-river, and flows in a north- easterly direction along the coast-line of the United States, gradually widening as it cools and slackens its speed, under the influence of the cold waters which meet it from the north. A portion of these latter, forming the northern coun- THE GREAT ATLANTIC WHIRLPOOL. 39 ter current, runs between the gulf-stream and the coast ; the remainder meets the gulf-stream abruptly, nearly opposite the projection of Cape Cod, whilst that is still flowing at the speed of 50 or 60 miles per day. This opposition deflects the gulf-stream across the At- lantic. There it is spread over a breadth of at least seven or eight degrees of latitude, and traverses 3000 miles to the Azores, which it reaches in 78 days, lessening its speed as it grows wider ; but always re- taining a higher temperature than the ocean across which it flows. It then bends to the southward, and wheels again to the west in 21 N. latitude, to re-enter the Caribbean Sea, and repeat the circuit. Hence the waters of the Atlantic may be said, as Humboldt has it, to form one vast whirlpool between the parallels of 11 and 43 N. ; each particle of the water making the round in about two years and ten months, having travelled 3800 leagues in that time. The effect of this warm current on the animal and vegetable life of the Atlantic is very remarkable. To it we must attribute the diffusion of many species of southern type along the American and European shores. On the American coast the northern and southern species suddenly change at Cape Cod, the former not passing to the south, and the latter not extending to the north of that projection. It brings Sargassum or "gulf weed" to the shores of Long Island, where it has effected a "location;" just as it frequently wafts stray fragments of this and other tropical productions far into the northern ocean, to be drifted across the Atlantic to the shores of Ireland and Norway. In this 40 THE "SARGASSO" SEA. way the Crosier Nautilus (Spirula Peronii) sometimes reaches our coasts ; and the lanthina, or blue sea snail, travelling by the same road, pays us its nearly regular autumnal visit. In this way too, a large palm stem, now in the Dublin University Herbarium, reached the shores of Valentia in Kerry; and I have frequently found West India seeds, and sometimes cowries, on the coast of Clare. I have elsewhere noticed the many southern sea-weeds which attain their greatest northing on the Irish coast. To the gulf-stream, too, we must ascribe the origin of the vast floating masses of sea-weed, first seen by Columbus, and noticed by all subsequent mariners, in the central region of the Atlantic. The " Sargasso" sea occupies exactly the space between the currents flowing east and west, or what we may call the dead water in the centre of the Atlantic whirlpool. It is reasonable to suppose that the floating weed has been brought from time to time to this part of the sea, and being thrown out of circulation by the revolving cur- rent, and continuing to vegetate on the surface, has gradually accumulated and increased. The direction of surface currents is frequently ascer- tained by " track bottles;" that is, closed bottles thrown overboard from ships, containing a note of the date and place at which they were committed to the sea. These float with the current until they are either picked up or stranded, and the place and time at which they may be found compared with the enclosed register, give the general direction and force of the current. Such bottles have been found to take thirteen months to reach NATURAL HISTORY OP TIDES. 41 Caraccas from the Canary Islands; ten months to make the circuit of the Gulf of Mexico ; but only forty or fifty days to travel, by the gulf-stream, from Florida to Newfoundland. Our hasty sketch of the Ocean must conclude with a brief outline of the natural history of Tides, that semidiurnal pulsation which upheaves and depresses the mass of water with a nicely-regulated motion, varying within very narrow limits, and returning to the first starting-point with the changes in the position of the heavenly bodies. That the tides depend on the attractions of the sun and moon is evident, from the fact that at every return of new and full moon we have high tides, and, at half moon, lower tides. This varia- tion in the tide, according to the " age " of the moon, shows us that she is not the only actor ; for when the tides rise highest she is in a line with the sun, and when they are least raised, her attraction acts at right angles with that exercised by the sun. The tides, in the first case, are the result of the united action or sum of the two forces, and, in the latter, of their opposing action or difference. The first are called spring, the latter neap tides. The moon, owing to her far greater proximity, acts upon the waters of the earth, with a force about two and a half times greater than that of the sun, whose immense distance so far neutralizes his attraction. The exact proportion of the forces is as 58 to 23, and if we take their sum to indicate the greatest, and their difference the least, lifting power, the greatest spring tide compared to the lowest neap tide, ought to be as 81 to 25. But these numbers 42 THEORY OF THE TIDES. only show the relative effects of the attractions of the heavenly bodies, irrespective of the innumerable cir- cumstances which modify the rise and fall of the waters on the surface of the globe. It is usual to explain the phenomena of the tides by merely taking into consideration what would be the direct action of the heavenly bodies on the mass of the earth and the waters that surround it, supposing the earth to be covered with an universal ocean of an uniform depth ; but this hypothesis omits so many ex- isting circumstances that the theory founded upon it is wholly insufficient for more than the rudest gene- ralization. Properly to understand the action of the tides, all the actual circumstances must be considered. We shall then have, besides the attractions of the masses, to calculate the influence of the movements of the earth and moon as they whirl on their axes, and progress in their orbits ; the form and density of the earth ; the breadth and depth of the oceans and seas on its surface ; the form of continents, and the obstruc- tions offered by iiTegularities in the bed of the sea; not to speak of the laws of the resistance of fluids, and of the motions of waves. Thus, the theory of the tides becomes one of the most abstruse problems of mixed science, and into which I have neither space nor ability to enter. Merely referring the readers therefore to a few works,* in which this subject is treated at large, I shall confine myself to the briefest outline. * See the article " Tides and Waves," by Prof. Airy, in Encycl. Metropolitan ; Sir J. W. Lubbock's " Elementary Treatise on Tides," 1839; and Johnston's "Physical Atlas, Hydr. Chart. 4." LIFTING POWER OF THE MOON. 43 The popular explanation of the lifting power of the moon on the waters of the ocean, is usually given in the following terms. If, in the annexed diagram (fig. 2), FIG. 2. V o the moon be at M, and if A c B D be a great circle of the earth, covered by a uniformly deep sea, the attractive force of the moon will cause the waters vertically under her at A to be heaped up, whilst the waters at c and D will be drawn away or depressed. We shall thus have high water at A, and low water at c and D. All this seems reasonable enough ; but it is a puzzle to many pei-sons why, on this theory, there should also be, as we know from experience there is, high water at B, the point most distant from the attracting body. A moment's consideration will solve this difficulty ; for we must consider that though the moon acts more forcibly on the waters which are nearest to her than on the centre of the earth, vertically beneath the point of greatest attraction, yet she also acts more strongly on the mass of the earth than on the waters which cover the hemisphere most distant from her. The result is that the waters rise on the surface facing the moon, whilst the earth sinks (so to say) on the surface turned from the moon. Thus, at each point, A and B, the waters deepen, or, in other words, the tide rises. The maximum lifting power exercised by the moon on the 44 EQUILIBRIUM THEORY. waters of the globe is only about 1 1 J Q of the force of terrestrial gravity opposed to it ; the moon's attrac- tion being nearly as 1J grain to 1683 Ibs., the weight of a cubic yard of water. This minute force, however, would be sufficient to raise or depress the surface of such a universal ocean as we have supposed, to the ex- tent of about 58 inches, vertical height. The " equilibrium theory," * commonly explained as above, may be much more forcibly stated by separating or "resolving" the attractive force into its component parts, and considering these separately. For this pur- pose, let M (fig. 3) be the position of the moon, and the circle E the earth ; then if we take any point A, on FIG. 3. the surface, the force which attracts the water at A, in the direction AM, may be shown to be composed of two forces, one pulling against gravity in the direction E A, and the other at right angles to it, pulling towards the line M E. The first we shall, for convenience, call the normal, and the latter the tangential force. The respec- tive amounts of these forces at any point may be indi- cated by lines, drawn as follows. At the point A (fig. 4), drop the perpendicular A c, and measure off on the * For the substance of what follows, I am indebted to my friend the Rev. Prof. Haughton, T.C.D. TANGENTIAL AND NORMAL FORCES. 45 line M E, thrice the distance E c, and mark the point F. Then A F will represent the attractive force of M, on the waters at A. To resolve this into the normal and tan- gential force, prolong the line E A, and draw the tan- gent A T j draw F N parallel to A T, and F T parallel to EA, then AN will represent the normal, and AT the tangential force at the point A. By taking different points on the circle, and determining the respective lengths of the lines indicating the two forces at those points, and joining the ends of the lines, curves will be generated which will show the comparative amount of the two component forces at the several points, as in the annexed figures. FIG. 5. FIG. 6. NORMAL FORCE. The tangential force may thus be seen to be nothing at the points o, 0,0,0 (fig. 5), and to reach its maximum at 45 from the line drawn from the centre of the moon to the centre of the earth ; and as it always acts in the 46 NORMAL FORCE LEAST EFFECTIVE. same direction (towards M E) at either side of the sphere, its constant tendency will be to heap up the waters to- wards the point vertically under the moon, and towards the antipodes of that point. In like manner the normal force may be seen to be nothing at the points 0,0,0,0 (fig. 6), 55 on either side of the line ME, and gradually to increase as a force acting outwards at all lesser angles included in that space, thus tending to raise the waters vertically under the attracting body ; whilst beyond the angle of 55 it ceases to be an outward, and becomes an inward force, thus depressing the waters within that space. So that its whole force, whether in drawing out or pressing in, unites with the tangential element in lifting the waters at the opposite points of the sphere, vertically under the moon. On a hasty inspection of the figures above given, it may seem that the rise of the waters is greatly due to the normal element of the force, because the lines in- dicating its amount are drawn proportionally longer than those representing the tangential, and are more in the direction of the attracting body. But the re- verse is really the case. For the normal element, pulling vertically, or in direct opposition to gravity, is almost wholly neutralized by the enormous dispro- portion between its strength and that of its opponent, as will be evident if we compare their amounts. It is found by calculation that the maximum normal force is only -000,000,1056 x gravity, that is, about 100 oVo? crth. f the weight of water. If therefore the sea be supposed to be 10 nautical miles, or 10,000 THE EARTH AND MOON IN MOTION. 47 fathoms deep, this force will only raise the surface of the water about -j-^ths of an inch ; in other words, it will cause no appreciable tide. But the tangential force, although at its maximum (45 at either side of the attracting centre) it be only equal to three-fourths of the maximum normal, yet, because it does not op- pose gravity, but pulls horizontally, or at right angles to that force, produces the whole of the effect of the lunar tide. None of its little strength is wasted in contending with a power ten or twelve million times its superior, but every atom is employed in pulling the waters along the surface towards a point of con- vergence. In this way the waters are, as it were, heaped up at that point to the calculated amount of 58 inches under the moon. In thus stating the attractive force of the moon on the terrestrial ocean, we have, for simplicity sake, regarded both earth and moon as being immovably fixed in space. But we must remember that these bodies revolve on their axes and move in orbits, and, consequently, are for ever changing their relative posi- tion to each other, and the relative position of points on their surface. The earth, by its daily revolution on its axis, brings, hour by hour, one meridian after another vertically under the moon, while, by its an- nual progress in its orbit, and by the moon's monthly progress in hers, the forces respectively exercised by sun and moon are alternately diminished by opposi- tion, and increased by conjunction. The result is, that the lifting power of the moon and sun has changed its place before the waters vertically under 48 THE "ESTABLISHMENT" OF A PORT. the exciting body have had time to obey the full amount of force imparted to them. The moon ap- pears to move faster than the waters can follow her, and begins to influence a new area of the ocean, while the waters first acted on are still rising to her impulse. Thus, instead of a quiet heaping up of waters under the moon, we have a broad shallow tide-wave in mo- tion, following the apparent course of the moon in the heavens, but never flowing vertically under her. As this tide-wave moves over the ocean, it successively brings high-water to the coasts it meets in its pro- gress. Its direction and its force are modified by the obstacles in its way, such as the opposition of oceanic currents, the irregularities of coast-line, and the shape and bearing of the channels through which it flows. The broader and deeper the channel, the greater is the speed of the tide-wave ; thus it traverses thousands of miles of open ocean in the same space of time as it takes to flow through a narrow and shallow channel of trifling length. In every seaport it is high water at a certain fixed hour on the days of new and full moon, and this hour, which must be ascertained by careful observation, is called the " Establishment " of the Port. To find the time of any other tide in the same port, it is only ne- cessary to add the establishment to the time of the moon's passage over the meridian on any particular day. By connecting, on a map of the world, such points as have the same " establishment," lines may be drawn which represent the summit of a great tide-wave at a particular hour. Another set of lines may, in like CRADLE OF THE TIDES. 4!* manner, be drawn through places to which high water comes an hour later, and so on, until we shall have laid down a series of lines for every hour. Such lines, now frequently drawn on physical maps (as in the annexed woodcut), are called cotidal lines. The chief " cradle of the tides" appears to be in the Southern Ocean, where we have the greatest unin- terrupted surface of deep water exposed to the in- fluence of the moon. The Pacific, though its area is so great, is so studded with islands and shallows that it presents a much more obstructed basin for the action of the tide-wave than its apparent dimensions and equatorial position would lead us to suppose. The tide-waves formed round the southern polar con- tinent flow on all sides to the northward. That which reaches our coast starts from a point to the south of New Zealand, whence it rapidly advances in the direc- tion of the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at that prc- montory in thirteen hoars after it has left Van Die- 50 COURSE OF A TIDE-WAVE. man's Land, and at about the same time that it has brought high water along the east coast of Africa to the southern point of the peninsula of India, and to the islands of Samatra and Java. The portion of this wave which enters the Atlantic, moving obliquely, strikes the coast of Newfoundland and of Cape Blanco, in Africa, at the same time, namely, in twelve hours after it has left the Cape of Good Hope. In four hours more it reaches the mouth of the British Channel, and is there parted into three branches, which, by the trending of the coasts, are forced in dif- ferent directions. One portion flows up channel, but, owing to the shallowness, at so slow a pace, that it takes twice as long to reach the port of London from the Land's End as the unbroken wave took to accom- plish the distance from Cape Blanco. Another por- tion flows into St. George's Channel with slackening speed ; but the large residue of the wave moves with great rapidity round the west of Ireland, Scotland, and the Orkneys, and then more slowly traverses the German Ocean, bringing high water to the eastern shores of Scotland and England, until it meets the Channel tide about twenty hours after it had parted company off Cape Clear. Such is the course of the tide-wave in whose history we are more particularly interested, and this must suffice for our present slight sketch of oceanic phe- nomena. In the following chapters we shall speak of the natural productions of the sea, taking them not in the order of their scientific classification, but rather according to the localities or habitats in which they A WORLD WITHOUT AN OCEAN. ol arc found. We shall thus review the various kinds of sea coast, whether rocky or sandy, and glance at some marine objects which are only seen in the deeper waters. Enough has been said to show that on the con- tinued equilibrium, and the regulated movement of the sea, the welfare of the animal and vegetable crea- tion depends. It would be idle to speculate further on what the world would be, had the ocean no exist- ence. Its physical aspect, under such circumstances, has already been glanced at, and may perhaps be illus- trated by what we now know of the condition of the moon, where the existence of water has been, by many observers, questioned, and where the surface presents frightful gulfs and enormous mountains, supposed to be the result of powerful volcanic action. Such we may conceive would be the issue of a purely mineral world, formed, like the ball of the earth, of numerous elementary substances endued with chemical affinities, and placed in juxtaposition, so as to be capable of acting on one another. In such a case, a violent effervescence or chemical action would take place : metals would be oxydised ; acids formed, which, unit- ing with the oxydised metals, would produce neutral salts ; and these and similar changes would be re- peated until every chemical attraction had been satis- fied. There could then be no further change, and we should have a world, if such the "lifeless lump " could be called, formed of neutral salts and cinders, for ever revolving in space, without a history or an aim, and while partaking of God's sunshine, offering Him no 52 THE OCEAN ESSENTIAL TO LIFE. tribute of good fruits in return. That such is not the fate of our planet is due to the ocean. This is the fountain of organic life, as it is also of every rill that waters the soil, and every cloud that cools the air. Without it, no green herb would clothe the pas- tures, nor would " the valleys be covered over with corn :" neither could " anything wherein is the breath of life," exist on the face of the whole earth. And if these things constitute that which is indeed "the world," apart from its framework, most truly and forcibly is it said, " He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods." CHAPTER III. THE SANDS AND THEIR PRODUCTIONS. LARGE tracks of sand, exposed to the atmosphere, are proverbially monotonous and desert. Their surface is too loose and uncertain, and water finds its way through them with too great facility, to admit of the growth of a varied vegetation or to afford food and shelter to many animal inhabitants. In a great measure, this barren character applies to extensive sand deposits under the sea ; and yet the sandy sea-shore has many attractions which the sandy land-down cannot boast of. The constant flow of the ocean binds together the un- settled particles of sand, and the retreat of the tide from such a coast, if it afford the visitor no other en- joyment, gives him a delightfully smooth and firm 54 SANDY SEA-SHORE. promenade, generally of considerable length and breadth; while it rarely happens that monotony is so absolute as to destroy the picturesque associations of the shore. The constant pulsation of the waves on the margin of the tide, far from affecting us with the sense of mono- tony, serves rather to soothe the mind ; while the changes of light and shade on the surface of the sea supply sufficient variety to keep the senses awake. And these changes are quite sufficient, even on the tamest shores, to arrest the attention. Few have at- tempted to paint coast scenes like those which Crab be so graphically brings before us : " Where all beside is pebbly length of shore, And far as eye can reach, it can discern no more ;'' and none with his power of description. The coast which awakened his genius is one of the least picturesque in England ; but he saw it with the eyes of a poet and a naturalist. And all who learn the use of similar organs of vision will find that there is no place so dull as not to afford us abundant sources of pleasure. If we do nothing but watch the flocks of sea-birds which, on the recess of the tide, are attracted to the shore in search of food, their habits will soon begin to interest us. Gulls, Terns, and Sandpipers, of various species, will then become familiar friends; and in watch- ing their various ways, and tracing them when they leave us, discovering whence they come, and to what country they annually migrate, we shall begin to feel a strong interest in all that concerns them. The Dunlin, the most common of the Sandpipers (Tringa SEA-BIRDS. 55 variabilis) is found all round our coasts, where it col- lects, on sandy shores, in vast flocks, which, on the re- cess of every tide, are busily occupied in searching along the margin of the sea for the minute marine animals, on which they feed. In summer, this active little bird deserts its marine haunts, and retires to moors and un- frequented places, similar to those selected by the Plover, where it makes its simple nest and rears its brood. In August, both the young and the old birds return to the coast, and it is then especially that the most numerous and most active flocks are to be seen. Yarrell* well describes them as " incessantly upon the move, shifting their ground perpetually, running nimbly along, or taking short flights from place to place, frequently wading to follow the aquatic insects, worms, mollusca, * Brit. Birds, iii. p. 82. 56 THE ALBATROSS. and the smaller thin-skinned Crustacea, which are put in motion by every receding wave. If disturbed, the whole flock take wing together, and, wheeling along in half circles near the edge or the surface of the water, each bird exhibits alternately a dark or light appearance to the observer, as the upper or under side of its body happens to be turned towards him." The Terns, or Sea Swallows, by their very graceful form and rapid flight, skimming along the surface of the sea, seldom fail to attract the notice of the most casual visitor. But it is not until we examine them minutely that we are aware of the numtuous species which in- habit different parts of our coasts, each no doubt select- ing that place where he finds ground best fitted to his wants. No less than eleven species of Tern either visit or breed on some part of the British shore. Many of them migrate to very distant places in their winter rambles, exploring the shores of tropical countries, and even extending their flights to high latitudes in the southern hemisphere. No birds are better fitted to remain long on the wing. The elegant, boat-shaped body, small in proportion to the great length of wing, is easily supported in the air during a very long-con- tinued flight. To the same family of birds belong the Sea-gulls, which are mostly of larger size, and less slen- der form, but with very similar habits ; and also the famous Albatross, whose lengthy flight, reported by voyagers as continued for weeks or months together, is so celebrated. But the time which the Albatross can remain on the wing has, I think, been much exaggerated. Like the Gull and the Tern, though not FOOT-PRINTS ON THE SHORE. 57 a diving bird, it swims with great buoyancy, and, not- withstanding the enormous length of its wings, it does not appear to find much difficulty in mounting again in the air, after it has alighted on the water. It is quite true that when caught, and liberated on the deck of a ship, it finds it impossible to take wing : and hence it has been hastily inferred that, unless from some cliff or projection of considerable elevation, the Albatross cannot commence its flight ; and as the same birds are often found following the ship for many weeks together, it has been said that they continue all that time on the wing. But no one can have watched the Albatross with much attention, and not seen it alight frequently on the water. It lives on animal matter, which it finds floating on the sea ; and though it sometimes secures its food while on the wing by skimming along the water, it is just as common to see it close its wings and swim like a Gull : and when it wishes again to rise, it may be seen running and flapping along till it has acquired sufficient impetus, and finds a wave of sufficient height to start from. Then, with a not ungraceful motion, it soon resumes that steady flight, which may continue over a wide extent of sea. The foot-prints of sea-birds on the sands of the shore are often unnoticed, and are swept away by the first returning wave. So are the tracks of trailing shell-fish, which may sometimes be seen in considerable numbers furrowing the surface of fine hard sand. The Common Yellow Nerite (Littorina litoralis) is a frequent maker of these trails, as it moves its station from one small rock to another, patiently cutting a road through the sands 58 THE RIPPLE-MARK. as it proceeds on its journey. These marks, and the un- dulations left by the water on the surface, where regular minute ridges of sand follow each other in an orderly manner, like the furrows in a field, appear of so fugacious a nature as to be undeserving of notice. The retreating wave has left them behind, and the returning will sweep them away, and all be a smooth surface again. Yet, in these fugitive markings of the sand the geologist traces a resemblance which links them with time immeasur- ably distant in the past history of the world, and with impressions on rocks which have outlived the decay of centuries, but which were, in their origin, of no more apparent stability than these marks in the sand, or than our own foot-prints. When a surface of sandstone-rock is uncovered, it very frequently exhibits markings of a nature precisely similar to what we every day meet with on the sandy shore. There is the ripple-mark, denned with equal regularity and sharpness we see where every wavelet of the antediluvian ocean did its work ; there are the sinuous roads, cut out by the antediluvian molluscs, now visible in relief, by the mud which has silted into them ; the worm-like heaps of sand, which mark the position of the worm, or of the testaceous mollusc, are equally obvious in the sandstone, and on the recent shore; the very rain-drops which impressed the sandy surface thousands of years ago have left their record on the surface of the rock. When we see all these appearances on the newly turned-up rock, and find similar markings on the flat sands of the sea, it is impossible to avoid connecting the two observations, and admitting that, in what passes under our eyes as a THE RIPPLE-MARK- 59 daily occurrence on the sands, we find the explanation of the geological phenomenon. The sandstone-rock, hard as it now may be, was once a beach, as impressible as that in which we may now be leaving our foot-prints. And though, in thousands of cases, these foot-prints will be swept away by the next flow of the water, it may so happen that they will remain. And it is a wonderful circumstance that all trace of some of the gigantic animals which once inhabited the world has perished from the knowledge of mankind, save only the track of their foot-prints left in what was then adhe- sive mud, but which successive ages have converted into hard stone. If Robinson Crusoe was powerfully affected by meeting with the naked human foot-print in the sand, what a crowd of thoughts are awakened by disco- vering in the hard rock this only evidence of a gigantic animal ! A true poet has said, " It is the soul that sees : the outward eyes Present the object, hut the mind descries ; And thence delight, disgust, or cool indiff'rence rise." We may live among the grandest scenes of Nature, or may visit the noblest monuments of art, and remain insensible to their beauty or sublimity. Differently affected, we may find in the barren sands of the sea- shore enjoyment of the purest character, and specula- tions, which, rising from nothing more important than the trail of a sea-slug, will lead us to contemplate, and in measure, to comprehend some of the most extensive operations of Nature, bringing under review unnum- bered ages, past, present, and to come. 60 OLD OYSTER-SHELL. It is common to find on the sands the remains of Oyster-shells, so completely riddled with holes as to pre- sent the aspect of a pearly lacework, merely recalling by its general contour the form of the original shell, but retaining few of its characters. Meeting with such worm-eaten shells, many persons will pass them by without paying the slightest attention, or, at most, will honour them with but a heedless glance. Others may confine their reveries to recollections of oyster suppers. But it is just in proportion as our knowledge of Natural History extends, and as a taste for it exists in the mind, that such an object is capable of interesting us. Simple and common as it appears, a long chapter might be written in merely recording the history of its inhabitant from the time when it lay quietly on its bed among other Oysters, lodged in its firmly-built house, and appearing to defy all intruders, to the present dismantled state of the shell, resembling a ruined fortress, pierced in all directions with cannon shot. The number of enemies which the Oyster meets with, that gradually overcome his defences by mining in his shells, is considerable, not to speak of those who attack him in front : and no doubt the dilapidated example before us is the work of several sets of teeth. His first assailants were proba- bly small sea- worms of the class of Annelides, several kinds of which, some of them of great beauty, may often be seen crawling among Oysters when brought to table. These, boring through the shell, attacked him at all points. At first he resisted their assault by fresh de- positions of pearly matter, interposed between his soft parts and their intruding mouths, and thus pearls were SKATE-BARROWS. 61 cast in the path of the enemy. But alas ! they were offered to a swinish multitude, who turned aside to renew the attack on an unprotected point, till the poor Oyster's strength was well nigh exhausted in the strug- gle. Then in the holes pierced by the Annelides a parasitic sponge (Ilalicliondria cdaia) probably estab- lished itself, which ate further into his vitals, causing the softer parts of the shell to rot away, and spreading through its whole substance, like the dry-rot fungus through a solid beam of timber, until, under his accu- mulated misfortunes, the poor Oyster perished, and his loosened shell was cast to the mercy of the waves. Before describing the more common inhabitants of sandy shores, I shall mention two or three objects which frequently attract us on the sands, as they are wafted to our feet by the wave or left high and dry on shore from a previous tide. The first of these are, what are called Mermaid's Purses, which are of two or three sorts, one or other of which is known to most children who have rambled by the sea, though many persons may not be aware of the nature of the curious object which at- tracts their attention. The first and largest kind is four or five inches long, and about one-and-a-half in breadth, of a dark-brown colour, and a texture between horny and membranous, with a very fibrous structure. Its form is oblong, nearly rectangular, with the angles produced into long points. This sort of Mermaid's Purse is the egg, or sheath containing the young, of the several kinds of Ray-fish or Skate, and on some parts of the coast, according to Yarrell, they are called Skate-barrows, in allusion to their resemblance 62 MERMAID'S PURSE. in form to a four-handed barrow. In this secure case the young fish continues to live for some time, until the nourishment provided for it in the egg is ex- hausted, and the little creature, increased in size and strength, is able to burst the narrow enclosure, and seek his fortune in the open sea. These purses are produced at the latter end of spring, or early summer, and will then be found to contain the young fish, in various stages of growth, nicely coiled up, with his long tail bent back towards the head. At this early stage the fish bears a near resemblance to what it afterwards attains. The flat rhomboidal body, expanding at the sides into a wide winglike margin, composed of a modi- fication of the pectoral fins and the long and slender thorny tail, are quite as striking in the young as in the old specimen. In the Ray tribe there seems no distinct head ; this part and the neck, being confounded with the body and the expanded margin, forms merely a wedge-shaped anterior extremity. The mouth, and nostrils, and gill-openings, are found on the under sur- face, the eyes on the upper ; and this separation gives the countenance that peculiar distracted expression which is so hideous. The form of the body is admi- rably adapted to the habits of these fishes, which live on the bottom, where they glide along with a slow mo- tion, assisted by gentle movements of the pectoral fins. Being as flat as the surface of the ground over which they move, and nearly of the same colour, they can pursue their game with much security and at leisure. Another, and more beautiful kind of Mermaid's Purse, is the egg of the Dog-fish, a small species of Shark. MERMAID'S PURSE. 63 Some of the Sharks produce their young alive ; others bring them forth enclosed in these cases, which are de- posited by the parent in shallow parts of the sea, along the shore. They are oblong, convex at the side, semi- transparent, of a clear yellowish horn-colour, and with a firm horny texture. From each of the four angles issues a long tendril, which coils round sea-weeds or any other fixed body near which the egg may be deposited, and of which it can take hold ; and, thus anchored, it defies securely the tossing of the waves, awaiting its proper season for being hatched. There is an opening at each end of the purse, through which the sea-water finds* its way to the prisoner enclosed within, and at length the young Shark makes its exit through one of these, at the end nearest to which his head is placed.* Another anomalous object commonly found, consists of a number of firmly membranous little bladders, each * See Yarrell, Hist, of Brit. Fishes, 2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 487, &c. 64 NEST OF WHELK. about a quarter of an inch in breadth, flat on the inside, and convex on the outside, adhering together in regular order by their expanded margins : the whole forming a body which looks like a wasp's nest. In March or April, each of these little membranous sacs, which a month or two later is found empty and pierced with a hole, contains a soft yolk, in which is gradually formed a young univalve mollusc, whose shell begins to take its proper shape before he emerges from the membranous egg. These froth-like masses are indeed the eggs of the large Whelk (Buccinum un- datum), which inhabits deep- er water, beyond the recess of the tide, where it attaches and stones, from which they often become loosened and are cast up in rough weather, as are also the Whelks them- selves, whose dead shells we frequently meet with on shore. Somewhat similar eggs are produced by other allied species, the forms and localities differing in each. The eggs of a common species, with a coarse, white shell, sometimes banded with brown and yellow (Purpura la- pillus), are frequently seen attached to small stones, on the sides of rocky hollows. These are little oblong urns, each raised on a short stalk, fixed to a circular expanded base, and pierced by a hole. They generally EGGS OF MOLLUSCA. 65 occur in groups of ten, twenty, or more together. The egg-clusters of other Univalve Mollusca are equally cu- rious, but they are commonly found in deeper water, or may more properly be noticed when speaking of the rocks. These animals are much more frequent on rocky ground, and naturally prefer the stability of a fixed nursery, such as a rock af- fords, to deposit their eggs. But one species of Sea-snail (Natica monilifera), with a polished, light-brown shell, elegantly marked with dark streaks and spots, either leaves its egg-cluster loose, in sandy places, or attaches it so carelessly that it fre- quently becomes loose. These egg-clusters are really very curious and elegantly-formed objects, which must have often attracted the no- tice of a rambler, who felt puzzled to know what they were. They are firmly ge- latinous, or of the consist- ence of gristle ; transparent, or nearly so ; slightly coated with fine sand, and in shape resemble the hoof of an animal. When dry, they look not unlike pieces of thin Scotch oaten-bread. Their surface is marked with little hexagonal spaces, which define the eggs. But what is most to be admired in the structure, is the form of the F 66 BIVALVE SHELLS. curves which the hoof-like body assumes, which fit it for lying on loose sand, without becoming deeply buried in it. It is difficult to make this peculiar form clearly understood by mere description, but I have said suffi- cient to identify the object. The Mollusca which inhabit sandy shores habitually, and in the greatest numbers, are not the Univalve, or snail-like families, whose organization is more adapted for crawling over rocks and sea-plants, where also they find their appropriate food ; but another very distinct group of shell-coated animals, called CONCHIFEEA,* or TESTACEOUS ACEPHALA, which are capable of living buried, sometimes to a considerable depth in the sands. Some of this class of animals are indeed confined to rocky places, anchoring themselves in various ways per- manently in a position, either on a rock or on the stem of a sea-weed ; or forming hollow chambers by burrow- ing in the solid rock itself; but the majority of species inhabit sandy places, and their shells continually meet us on the sandy shore, while the living animals may be detected buried along the margin of the retreating tide. The shell, in all these animals, consists of two principal, saucer-shaped pieces, more or less perfectly covering the body of the animal, and united together by a more or less complex hinge, opened by a highly-elastic ligament. The Scallop and the Common Cockle offer well-known examples of such a shell : the first having a simpler structure, both in the hinge and in the animal, is better adapted for explaining the general features of organi- * " General Outlines of the Animal Kingdom," by Professor Rymer Jones, p. 375, et seq. SCALLOP. 67 zation, while the latter may be instanced as affording modifications of structure which adapt it to the pecu- liar locality to which it is confined. On opening the valves of a living Scallop we perceive, within the margin of the shell, a soft membrane, which lines the whole of the inner surface, and encloses the body of the animal as in a cloak, open in front through the centre ; so that a curtain, fringed round the edge with innumerable slender filaments, hangs from each valve of the shell. This membranous envelope, which is called the mantle, exists, though under many modifi- cations, in all the Mollusca, and indeed is one of their most essential parts. It is by means of this organ that all the shell-coated tribes cover themselves with the beautiful shells which are objects of so general admi- ration. The thickened margin of the mantle is fur- nished with glands which secrete both colouring-matter and carbonate of lime. From the latter material, de- posited in cellular substance derived from the animal, the shell is gradually formed by constant additions to its margin ; while the colouring-matter, poured in at the same time, gives to the outer surface all the peculiar markings which characterize each kind. The outer coat of the shell is therefore entirely the work of the margin of the mantle. Its increase in thickness is an after process, effected by the general surface of this organ, which throws off layers of pearly substance, and adds them continually, one after another, to the inner surface of the shell. Thus, as the shell increases in size, its walls grow in thickness. In the Scallop, among the fringing processes of the margin, are found 68 COCKLE. a number of glittering studs of metallic brilliancy, which are supposed to be eyes and at least are the only representative of those organs observed in the class, whose habits little require such a provision. Within the mantle are found the branchiae or lungs, which consist of four delicate leaves formed of radiating fibres of extreme fineness. The mouth is a simple orifice, bordered by membranous lips, and placed at one end of the body, between the two inner leaves of the branchiae. A great portion of the body consists of an extremely firm muscle, round which the stomach, liver, and other parts, are disposed, and which connects the two valves of the shell together ; by its expansion allowing them to open, and causing them to close by its contraction. This most powerful muscle alone keeps the shell closed ; and its strength must be familiar to every one who has opened an Oyster, whose resistance to the knife ceases only when this muscle is cut asunder. Such are the general features of the more simple conchiferous animals, as the Scallop and Oyster. If we examine the Cockle, we shall find some modifica- tions, and the full development of a highly-organized muscular foot. This organ exists but in a rudimentary form in the Scallop, whose habits suggest other modes of locomotion than those of running and leaping. The Scallop, which inhabits deep places, where it lies on a rocky or shelly bottom, swims or flies through the water with great rapidity, moving itself by suddenly opening and shutting the valves. In the Cockle the first differ- ence which strikes us is, that the edges of the mantle are not open all round, as in the Scallop, but united HABITS OF RAZOR-FISH. 69 together, at one side, into a short tube. On cutting a little deeper we perceive that the shell is held together by two muscles, one placed on each side of the central hinge. The hinge itself is differently formed, the liga- ment which connects the valves being external, and the joint furnished with a nicely-fitted apparatus of tooth- like plates. On the whole, we have a higher type of structure, while the development of a large muscular foot, capable of being either wholly retracted within the shell or protruded to a considerable length, marks a new feature in the animal, which at once suggests a difference in habits and destiny. That the differences observed in the organization of the Cockle, and of the allied genera, Mactra, Venus, &c., and which are found in a still more advanced state in the Myce or Gapers, and the Solen or Razor-shell, admirably fit them for the sphere of life for which they are designed, is at once obvious when we consider these modifications of structure in reference to the habitat of the animal. All these animals inhabit sandy or muddy places. Their dead shells are among the commonest which we meet with on almost every strand ; and they may be found in a living state, near low-water mark, buried in holes, which reveal themselves by slight depressions, from which little jets of sand and water may, every now and then, be seen to issue. For such a life as this their organization peculiarly fits them. Were their mantle open on all sides, like that of the Scallop, their branchiae would soon become choked with the sand or mud, which would have free entrance with the water received into the shell, and thus the animal would quickly be suffo- 70 HABITS OP RAZOR-FISH. cated. But the tubular opening through which the currents of water enter effectually protects the deli- cate breathing-apparatus. Their strong muscular foot, too, affords an instrument with which they can with great rapidity dig into the sand, and thus escape pur- suit. So rapidly is this mining operation performed, that it requires some dexterity and quickness to surprise even a Cockle in its hole, before it has burrowed beyond our reach. But it is not as a digging-tool only that the foot is employed; it is used in actual locomotion on the surface, to enable the animal either to advance with a crawling movement, or to make jumps along the sand. The Common Cockle is not the least nimble of these jumpers. It protrudes its foot to the utmost length, bending it and fixing it strongly against the surface on which it stands, and then, by a sudden muscular spring, the animal throws itself into the air, and by repeating the process again and again, it hops along at a rapid pace. In the Cockle, which lives at no great depth in the sand, the cohesion of the two membranes of the mantle is not complete, and the tubes or siphons are very short. In other genera, as the Razor-shells, which burrow to a greater depth, the lateral cohesion is much more perfect. The body of the animal is enclosed in a sort of sac, while the tubes, through which currents of water enter to the branchiee, are much protruded. The animal can thus lie deeply ensconced in the sand or mud, and keep the mouths of the tubes nearly on a level with the sui-face of the sand, in direct communi- cation with the water. The mode in which all the animals of this class feed STRUCTURE OP THE CELL OP ACEPHALA. 71 is not the least curious part of their history. They subsist, for the most part, like vegetables, without the trouble of seeking for prey. It is brought to the door of their shells, and they have but to " gape and swallow it." The water which enters at the openings in the mantle brings in with it nourishing particles of one kind or other, minute animals, &c. These, floating about in the shell, come under the influence of millions of minute cilia or vibratory hairs which clothe every part of the branchial fringe, and which, by their constant motion, form a current strong enough to drive forward to the mouth whatever is floating in the water. The food is thus presented to the lips, which have only to decide whether to receive it or let it pass into the influence of the retreating current, which will carry it out of the shell. To so low a type is animal will reduced in these passion- less creatures, which, nevertheless, exhibit the most won- derful perfection in the construction of their minutest organs, and the most beautiful adaptations of means to ends. The beauty of the shells of many of them is apparent to all the graceful forms of many species of Venus and Chione the rich colouring of the Pectens, the Spondyli, and Tellince but all these beauties are less impressive to the mind than the exquisite structure of the mantle by which these shells are secreted, and the admirable order with which the very particles of the shells are ai'ranged ; an order so exact, that the species to which a minute fragment of a shell belongs may often be determined, or approximated to, by mak- ing a microscopic examination of thinly-cut slices. Thus, an examination of shelly particles, no bigger than 72 CLASSIFICATION. grains of sand, may reveal to the naturalist much of the history of the shell of which it is the debris* The importance of such a fact to the geologist is obvious, but I speak of it here chiefly as affording an instance of the wonderful skill with which these humble works of an unseen Worker are constructed. " Lo, these are parts of His ways ; but how little a portion is heard of Him!"t In the scientific classification, or the division into genera, of bivalve shells, the most important characters derivable from the shell are to be found in the modifica- tions of the teeth and ligaments of the hinge, the po- sition of the impressions of the adductor muscle, and of the line which marks the adherence of the mantle with the shell. The first of these characters forms the basis of the Linnsean genera. In the simpler forms of hinge, as in the Oyster, the Scallop, and the Mussel, there are no teeth, the hinge consisting of a ligament, either sunk into a triangular pit, or forming a marginal line extending along the shell. The first step in ad- vance of this structure is found in the Mya, or Gaper, where a single spoon-shaped tooth receives the liga- ment. From this upward, through Lutraria, Ifactra, Cardium, &c., we are conducted to exceedingly com- plicated dental processes ; till we find \n-Arca and its allies an infinity of sharp teeth, like those of a pair of combs, fitting accurately into each other. In most genera the number and position of the teeth are nearly the same in all the species. But in a very natural * See Dr. Carpenter's paper on this subject in Report of British Association, 1847. f Job xxvi. 14. HEART URCHINS. 73 group, the genus Lucina, there is less uniformity in the hinge than usual ; and here we gladly have re- course to the impression of the adductor muscles, one of which, in this genus, is prolonged in a remarkable manner. The impression of the mantle appears also to afford excellent generic characters, though it has only recently been admitted by conchologists into their descriptions. It may be observed, on the inside of each valve, forming a narrow line, more glossy than the rest of the shell, connecting one muscular impression with the other. It forms different curves in different genera, and exhibits many minor variations. But our limits do not permit us to consider the niceties of classifi- cation, and we must refer for further information on the subject to Messrs. Forbes and Hanley's History of the British Mollusca. Much lower in the scale of being than Bivalve Mollusca, but elaborately organized, and offering many interesting points in their history, are the Heart Urchins, a tribe of animals enclosed in egg-like shells, coated with spines, which inhabit all our sandy bays- There are several recent British species, but I shall only mention the common Heart Urchin (Amphi- dotus cordatus), Mermaid's Head, or Sea Egg, as it is variously called, which is found all round the coast. When alive, it is thickly clothed with fine hair-like spines, each of which is articulated at base with a mi- nute nipple, forming a ball-and-socket joint, so that the spine can move freely in all directions. The spines are of different forms and length on different parts of the body, and, frail as they appear, serve the purpose to 74 AFFINITY WITH STAR-FISHES. which they are applied, of enabling the animal to sink itself in the sand, shovelling the fine particles out of the way, and throwing them over its back. When thrown upon shore, the spines are usually more or less broken, and soon are completely worn off, when the dead shell resembles a heart-shaped egg, of a dirty- white colour, frosted over with minute tubercles, which are largest on its under surface, where the orifice of the mouth is seen ; and it is marked, both on the back and lower surface, with five radiating smooth depressions, bordered with a double row of pin-holes. These spaces, which are much more developed on the back than on the oral surface, are called ambulacra ; and through the pores or pin-holes which border them, the animal pro- trudes long worm-like suckers, which serve the office of feet, and enable him to move about by a sort of warp- ing motion (to speak nautically), fixing the sucker of one fibrous cord in advance of his position, gradually bringing the rest forward, and so dragging the body along. Those on the oral surface are much less deve- loped, and chiefly serve to hold the ground. It is curious to find a creature whose organs of locomotion are most developed on the upper surface ; but we may be assured that they are not so placed without a wise design. It is easy to see that such an organization en- ables the creature to recover its natural position with ease, if accidentally inverted ; but the arrangement pro- bably serves many other purposes. The affinity of the Heart Urchin with the common Egg Urchins is readily seen ; their connection with Star-fish is, at first sight, less obvious. Nevertheless, a AFFINITY WITH STAR-FISHES. 75 careful comparison of the living animals will show many points in common : thus the five-rayed ambulacra, on the back of the Amphidotus represent the rays of the Star-fish ; and when we place a large number of species, recent and fossil, under review, the passage from the most branching Star-fish to the roundest Sea Egg may be clearly made out through a beautiful gradation of forms. We shall have occasion, probably, to return to the sub- ject in a subsequent chapter. The family of Echinidce, to which these animals belong, was much richer in forms in the earlier world than it at present appears to be ; and from the great facility with which the hard parts of the shelly integument may be preserved, the remains of these creatures have come down to us in a very perfect state. The study of them, therefore, is quite as interesting to the geologist as to the zoologist. It is of importance to the former to know the habits of the living species, that he may form a judgment on what those of the extinct kinds may have been, and thus arrive at just conclusions on the circumstances under which the rocks and gravels, where their remains are preserved, have been deposited. Of the sub-tribe of Heart Urchins (Spatangacece), very numerous species, many of them of highly curious and elegant forms, exist in the oolite and the chalk, and abound in many tertiary deposits. They all characterize marine strata, and generally indicate shallow parts of the sea. Very few of the kinds now living have been found fossilized, except in deposits which are evidently of a very recent date. Thus in these, as in other races of animals, there have been suc- cessions of species, each marking its own era. FLUSTRA FOLIACEA. Among the common productions of sandy shores se- veral species of Zoophytes present themselves, generally in a dead state, the fleshy parts having wholly disap- peared, leaving merely the skeleton or skin behind. The skeletons often resemble sea-weeds, both in the plant-like forms they assume, and in bearing along the branches little membranous sacs, which look like mi- nute flowers or seed-vessels, and are, indeed, organs of a similar nature, being the ovaries in which the germs of the young Polypes are contained. From sea-weeds the skeletons in question may always be known by their horny, or bony texture, and their generally pale, testa- ceous colour. There is but one group of sea-plants, the jointed corallines, which so far resemble some of them in being hard, and indeed stony in substance, as to lead to their being commonly confounded even by naturalists, with skeletons of Zoophytes. But these are rock-plants, which we shall speak of in another chapter. Most of the Zoophytes, also, are natives of rocky places, or of shingly ground, such as oyster-beds, beyond the reach of the tide. And it is only the spe- cies which are accidentally thrown up by the waves which we meet with on strands. Of these, one of the most common is Flustra foliacea, represented in the annexed cut, a much branched species, of a papery COMPOUND POLYPES. 77 substance and dirty-white colour, flat, and built up of innumerable little oblong cells, placed back to back, like those of a honeycomb, and each crowned (as may readily be seen with the help of a pocket-lens) by four stout spines. It is these spines which give the surface of the Polypidom (as the plant-like body is called) its peculiar, rough, or harsh feel, observable if the finger be passed over the surface from the apex towards the base. This structure of cells (polypidom, or leafy-body) is not the remains of a single animal, but of a community of individuals as numerous as those of one of our cities, each of which dwelt within the narrow compass of one of the cells, in which he was born, lived, and died. This cell was his house, more literally his skin, within which he enjoyed an independent existence, at the same time that he was linked, by a common circulation, to the cells above and below him ; and thus had a double ex- istence, being at the same time himself, and a part of "the neighbours ;" or rather, a part of the compound animal represented by the polypidom itself, and whose individuality is exhibited by the regularity of its growth ; just as a plant, which may be considered as a community of separate leaves, proves its individuality by the orderly manner in which those leaves are arranged. The life enjoyed by this common Flustra may be taken as an example of that of a class of animals to which it is related, the compound Polypes whose remains, recent and fossil, constitute an enormous portion of the fossil- ized crust of the earth. The general form and structure of the individual Polypes may be illustrated by the 78 THEIR DOINGS. largest members of the group, the Sea Anemones, -whose flower-like bodies are seen expanded in every rock -pool left by the tide. The little Polypes which dwelt iu the cells of the Flustra were animals of a something similar form, though different structure, each crowned with a star-like flower; and the whole together exhaled an odour, when fresh, compared by some observers to that of the orange, by others to that of violets, and, again, to a mixture of the odour of roses and geranium.* The sea has its gardens as well as the land, and their denizens more wonderful, for the flowers of the sea enjoy animal life. It is common, in speaking of coral-banks and islands, to attribute the formation of these vast submarine de- posits to the work of the Polypes, and to extol the in- dustry of the little creatures in building up monuments whose vastness leaves the pyramids an immeasurable distance behind. And, in some sense indeed, coral- islands are their work ; but scarcely in a higher sense than peat-bogs may be said to be the work of mosses, or the coal-fields those of other classes of vegetables. In speaking of coral-islands as the work of the Polypes, we lose sight of the fact that the island itself is one vast polypidom, all whose living parts have, in the aggre- gate, as much individuality so far as they consist of a single species as the polypidom of the Flustra we have been examining. In coral-banks several species unite together, and each, of course, preserves its individuality; but it is quite conceivable to suppose a single species, forming a single mass, and gradually constituting a * See Johnston's Brit. Zoop. 2nd Edit., p. 342-3. ALCYONIUM DIGITATUM. 79 bank or island. Now, the growth of the insular mass no more depends on the will of the Polypes, of whose branches it consists, than the growth of any other skele- ton depends on the will of the animal whose organs secrete it. A very common Zoophyte, frequently thrown up on sandy shores from deep water, very different in aspect from the Flustra, but belonging to a neighbouring family of animals, is what is commonly call- ed Dead-men's Toes or Hands (Alcyonium diyi- tatum). This constitutes a fleshy semi-transpa- rent mass, coated with a tough orange-colour- ed skin and exceeding- ly sportive in shape : sometimes forming a mere crust on the surface of the shell to which it adheres ; at other times pushing up a trunk which divides into fin- ger-like branches. As it lies on the shore it cer- tainly offers few inducements, from its beauty, to re- commend it to further notice ; yet it is one of the many natural productions which only require to be looked at with a moderate attention to elicit from them much that is curious and beautiful in structure. If a piece 80 ITS STRUCTURE. of this Zoophyte, newly cast up, be placed in a vessel of sea-water, it will soon acquire favour in our eyes. The tough, orange skin, when closely looked at, will be found studded with innumerable star-like points, each furnished with eight rays, and marking the orifice of the cell in which a Polype is lodged. When the polypidom has remained a while in the water, its polypes, if still alive, will gradually protrude themselves from the starry points, pushing out a cylindrical body, clear as crystal, fluted like a column, and terminated by a flower-like, eight-rayed mouth ; the whole surface, at last, becoming densely clothed with these animated flowers. The un- sightly aspect of the trunk, which reminded us of fin- gers or toes, is now forgotten, just as we forget the fleshy branches of a cactus when we see it clothed with its gorgeous flowers. Nor is the internal structure of our Zoophyte less worthy of examination and admiration. Not to speak of its minute anatomy, a simple longitu- dinal section, if examined with a moderate lens, will reveal a complicated system of inosculating canals, which form a sort of circulation through the mass, by connect- ing with the rest of the body the Polype-cells, which are placed immediately under the outer skin. These tubes are bound together by a fibrous network, and lie im- bedded in a transparent jelly, which forms the fleshy part of the compound animal. The eggs are lodged in the tubes, and at length discharged through the mouth. Such is the simple structure of these animals, which are nevertheless arranged with as much care and nicety, in proportion to their organization, as we find in ani- mals much higher in the scale of being. ZOSTERA, OR GRASS WRACK. 81 The marine plants which occupy sandy shores are not numerous, though a great variety of beautiful kinds may often be picked up on the beach after a gale. These come from deeper water, either where the sand is more firmly compacted than on the shore, or where masses of rock interrupt its continuity, and afford a site for a colony of sea-weeds. One marine plant, however, the only British instance of a flowering plant inhabiting the sea, frequently forms extensive submarine meadows on sandy shores. This is the Grass Wrack (Zostera ma- rina), whose creeping stems, rooting at the joints, ad- mirably fit it for establishing itself on loose sands, and forming the nucleus of a soil in which other plants may grow. Its long, riband-like leaves, of a brilliant green colour and satiny lustre, waving freely in the water, afford shelter and nourishment to a host of marine animals and plants. Great numbers of epiphytic sea- weeds of small size, but many of them of exquisite beauty, may be collected on the leaves of Zostera, which are fre- quented also by numerous Zoophytes, and by the smaller gasteropodous Mollusca. A Zostera-bed. is therefore al- ways worth examining. But it is chiefly when the Zos- tera grows beyond the reach of the tide, and is raised by dragging hooks through it, that it is found so well clothed with Sea-weeds and Zoophytes. Nearer shore it frequently collects muddy particles, which defile all that grows upon it. This plant is collected on many parts of the coast, and even imported in large quantities from the Baltic, being sold under the market name of Alva marina, to the manufacturers of cheap bedding. It is said to form a very tolerable bed, and certainly a cheap 82 GEOLOGICAL SPECULATIONS. one. It also makes an excellent material for packing glass and earthenware. But it is time to take leave of the productions of the sandy shore, and explore those that seek a firmer foot- ing on submarine rocks, the truly prolific soil of the sea. I pass by the intermediate stages of shingly shores, and shores covered with boulders, neither of which are fa- vourable to the growth of marine plants, or the shel- tering of animals. On loose-lying boulders few sea- weeds, except Fucus nodosus, a coarse leathery species, with large air-bladders, and a few unsightly Ulvce, are found ; while the animals are restricted to the Common Limpet, and the least attractive of the Sea Anemones (Actinia Mesembryanthemurti), with scabby patches of Balani and Mussels, a few Periwinkles, &c. By ex- ploring the smaller stones lying on such a shore, many curious Annelides and small Molluscs, small Crabs, &c. may be captured ; and, therefore, these shores should not be neglected by the naturalist : but the labour is often disproportionate to the value of the crop he may ex- pect to reap. The study of such beaches will, however, always interest the geologist, whose speculations take a wider range, and who finds, in the slowly-changing character of such a beach, the explanation of many of the appearances presented to him on land. The gradual formation and accumulation of gravel by the action of water, and the commencement of conglomerate rocks, are often beautifully exhibited. Nor must the debris of marine shells, &c., which marks the limits of ordinary tides, be omitted in the general survey. It is curious to watch the gradual formation of beds of these remains, " IN THE BEGINNING." 83 and to trace them, as may frequently be done, above the present sea-mark, into fossil-beds filled with the remains of existing species. Following up these deposits further, we gradually find, by the introduction of new forms, which no longer exist in a living state on our shores, that we are challenging the videttes which stand senti- nel to another territory, inhabited by a different race of beings. And thus we are led, step by step, and often insensibly, far back into the dreamy regions of the early history of our planet ; into times and seasons when the sun looked down on no dwelling of man, but when his beams gave life to countless tribes of creatures whose race is now run, and whose half-told tale is found written in the earth or the rock. If their race be extinct and their glory departed, at least they live in marble, and human greatness can often boast no more. Finally, we reach a time when the waves of a primeval sea sounded hollow on a naked shore, and no ear listened to their music. " Sky, sun, and sea, were all the universe ; The sky, one blue interminable arch, Without a breeze, a wing, a cloud ; the sun Sole in the firmament, but in the deep Redoubled ; where the circle of the sea, Invisible with calmness, seemed to lie, Within the hollow of a lower heaven." MONTGOMERY. TOR ABBBT ROC CHAPTER IV. THE ROCKY SEA-SHORE j SEA-WEEDS. THE success of a marine-botanist, or Algologist, on a rocky coast will depend more on the extent of surface uncovered at low-water-mark, and on the outward con- formation of the rocks of which the tidal margin is com- posed, than on the geological structure of the district. Soil in some measure affects the vegetation of the sea, but not to any great extent. The roots of sea-plants bear little resemblance to those of land-plants. Few are fibrous, and few indeed send out extensive bundles of fibres to seek through a varying soil the substances necessary for their perfect growth. The roots of sea- weeds must be regarded more in the nature of holdfasts, destined to keep the vegetable fixed in a proper locality, ROOTS OF SEA-WEEDS. 85 than as separate organs contributing to the nourishment of the body. With this end in view, Nature furnishes sea-weeds, in the great majority of instances, with a simple conical disc, by which they strongly adhere to the smoothest surface ; and when a more root-like holdfast is given, it is merely a multiplication of such discs, or a strengthening by lateral ropes the original gripe taken of the rock. Roots of this nature may be seen in the large Oar-weeds (Laminarice) of our coasts, particularly in the L. digitata, a species with a long cylindrical walking-stick stem, crowned with a broad leaf, cloven into a great number of ribbon-like segments. In this plant, while young, the root consists of a few rudimen- tary processes : as it advances in growth, and as new props are required to support the additional weight, the branches of the root lengthen and others are gradually added, till a compact mass of interwoven fibres is formed, 86 BOOTS OP SEA- WEEDS ACT AS HOLDFASTS. each of which takes a separate gripe of the rock, by the disc at its extremity, and all combined form a conical mass, representing the simple disc of the Fuci and most other sea-weeds. On some sandy shores, there are sea- weeds with much more extensive roots, roots that re- semble those of grasses which cover sand-downs, extend- ing to a considerable depth in the sand, branching out in every direction, and forming a compact bed of fibres, and a firm foundation for the vegetation. Such roots are obviously induced by the nature of the soil on which the plant grows, and would be superfluous on a rocky bottom. The roots of sea-weeds seem to be little concerned in the active growth of the vegetable, except in the earlier stages. Like all the lower vegetables included in the class Cryptogamia, the sea-weeds are composed of a sim- ple aggregation of cells,* which form a more of less ho- mogeneous body through which fluids freely pass, and whose whole surface absorbs nourishment from the sur- rounding water. This is the reason why the geological nature of the district has little relation to that of the marine vegetation which clothes the rocks. But the character of this vegetation is greatly varied by the out- ward form of the rocky masses. Thus, on a shore com- posed of granite-rocks, where the masses are rounded and * A cell, in botanical language, means a little bag-like body, com- posed of membrane, and containing a living substance capable of spon- taneous growth by multiplication or division of its parts. Of such little bodies, millions of which may be contained within a cubic inch, all the soft parts of vegetables are composed. In sea-weeds the cells are often of large size. LOCALITIES. 87 lumpy, with few interstices or cavities in which water will constantly lie ; and presenting to the waves sloping ridges, along which the water freely runs up and down, very few species of sea-weeds, and these only of the coarsest kinds, are commonly to be met with. And thus the vegetation of granitic shores may be characterised as poor. But this poverty is owing altogether tp outward form. For, wherever the granite affords a tolerably flat surface, interspersed with deep cavities in which pools of water are constantly maintained, a vegetation will be found as varied and copious as on stratified shores of a totally different composition of rock. The best locali- ties are those in which there are the greatest number of rock-pools of moderate extent, with perpendicular sides, and a depth varying from one to three feet. Pools of this character, though situated near high-water-mark, so as to communicate with the sea only when the tide is near its height, often produce all the species which are considered to be characteristic of extreme low-water- mark. Their depth is sufficient to keep the water at a sufficiently even temperature, and then* steep sides afford that shade which the more delicate sea-weeds require. On chalky shores I have observed that sea-weeds are poor, and few in number. And this I attribute chiefly to the general absence of such rock-pools, though no doubt the soft nature of the rock has its influence, and the white surface, reflecting a greater quantity of light than the more delicate Floridece can endure, drives such species to a greater depth of water on chalky shores than on others, and thus beyond the influence of the tide, or the reach of the botanist. The frequent 88 THE LITTORAL ZONE. occurrence of favourable aspects on shores composed of sandstone, or of clay-slate and the colour of these rocks, render such shores the most prolific in species. I shall now take a rapid survey of the vegetation which characterises what is termed the littoral zone* or that belt of rock or shingle which extends from high- water to low-water-mark. Within this space a large proportion of the sea- weeds of our latitude is produced; and the remainder, with the exception of a few sti'ag- glers that extend into deeper water, occur within the limit of two, or, at most, of four fathoms beyond the lowest water of spring-tides. Sea-weeds are usually classed by botanists in three great groups, each of which contains several families, which are again divided into genera; and these, in their turn, are composed of one or many species. The num- ber of species as yet detected on the British coasts is about 370, and they are grouped into 105 genera. I cannot, in this place, enter into the niceties of classi- fication to which botanists resort in working out the history of these plants, but must confine myself to the general features of the great groups, and their distribu- tion. Taken in the order in which they present them- selves to us on the shore, and limiting each by its most obvious character, that of colour, we may observe : that the group of Green Sea-weeds (Chlorospermece) abound near high-water-mark, and in shallow tide-pools within the tidal limit ; that the Olive-coloured (Melano- spermeoe) cover all exposed rocks, feebly commencing at * See Prof. Edward Forbes, in Geol. Surv. Memoirs. CHLOROSPERMEJE, OR GREEN SEA-WEEDS. 89 the margin of high-water, and increasing in luxuriance with increasing depth, through the whole belt of ex- posed rock ; but that the majority of them cease to grow soon after they reach a depth which is never laid bare to the influence of the atmosphere : and that the Eed Sea-weeds (Rhodospermece) gradually increase in numbers, and in purity of colour, as they recede from high-water-mark, or grow in places where they enjoy a perfect shade, or nearly total absence of light, and are never exposed to the air, or subjected to a violent change of temperature. The Green Sea-weeds are the simplest in structure, and the least varied in species, on different coasts, and consequently the least interesting to the collector of specimens. With the exception of the beautiful genus Cladophora, which contains about twenty species, our British Chlorosperms are chiefly composed of Ulvce and Enteromorphce, whose forms vary with so little order, that it becomes difficult, and, in some instances, hope- less, to attempt to classify the varieties. The Entero- morphce are the first to make their appearance about high-water-mark, covering loose boulders of smooth rocks with a slippery vesture of bright green, or fill- ing the shallow tide-pools with grassy fronds. These plants consist of tubular membranes, simple or branch- ed, appearing to the naked eye like fine green silk, and showing to the microscope a surface composed of minute cells, full of granules. The commonest species near high-water-mark is E. compressa, which com- mences of a very stunted size, and with thread-like branches, if exposed to the air, and gradually acquires 90 CHLOROSPERME^G, OR GREEN SEA-WEEDS. length and breadth as it grows in deeper water. When fully developed, it has a frond divided nearly to the root into many long, subsimple branches, which bear a second or third series, all of them much attenuated at their insertion, and more or less distended at the ex- tremity. The diameter of the tube varies extremely, and the broader and simpler individuals are only to be known from E. intestinalis, by their being branched ; the tube in the latter species being absolutely simple. To the JZnteromorphce succeed Ulvce, distinguished from Enter omorplice merely by being flat, instead of tubular. The beautiful lettuce-like plaited leaves found in tide- pools, belong to plants of this genus, the commonest species of which is U. latissima. It has a very broad, more or less ovate, plaited leaf, of a brilliant green, and remarkably glossy, when in perfection reflecting glaucous tints, if seen through clear sea-water, and is certainly a very ornamental species. It is sometimes brought to table as a laver, or marine sauce, but it is much inferior in flavour to the Purple Laver (Porphyra laciniata), a plant of the same family, equally beauti- ful, equally common, and more generally collected for food. The Purple Laver grows on exposed rocks near low-water-mark, and though called purple, assumes at different seasons of the year different shades of colour, according to its age. In form it resembles the Green Laver ( Viva latissima), but it is of a still more delicate substance, consisting of a perfectly transparent and very thin membrane, elegantly dotted with closely-set grains, to which it owes its colour. When these grains are in perfection they are of a dark violet-purple ; and GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ULV^E. 91 this is the case in winter and early spring, when the plant is collected for table. Later in the year the fronds are of stunted size and more or less olivaceous colour, and much less suitable for gathering. The plant appears to be of very rapid growth and decay, a few weeks sufficing for its full development. Like many fugitive plants, however, it is not confined to one season, but continues to develope throughout the year; but with this difference, that the plants deve- loped in summer are very much smaller, more tena- cious, and of a dull colour. These last are regarded by some authors as a different species, and called P. unibilicata. There is a circumstance connected with the history of our common Ulvce, Enter omorphce, tmdPorphyrce, which deserves notice. Most of the species common to the European shores are found in all parts of the world to which a marine vegetation extends. In the cold waters of the Arctic Sea, Ulva latissima, Enteromorpha com- pressa, and Porphyra laciniata, vegetate in abundance ; and these same plants skirt the shires of tropical seas, and extend into the southern ocean as far as Cape Horn. Vegetation, at least with its most obvious features, ceases in the south at a much lower parallel than in the Arctic regions, and the shores of the Antarctic lands appear to be perfectly barren, producing not even an Ulva. But the fact of the great adaptability of plants of this family to different climates, is beautifully illustrated by the last land-plant collected by the acute naturalist attached to our Antarctic expedition. The last plant that struggles with perpetual winter was gathered at GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION Cockburn Island, 64 S. (a latitude no greater than that of Archangel, where the vine is said to ripen in the open air), and this proved to be an Ulva ( U. crispa*), identical with a small species which may often be seen in this country on old thatch, or on damp walls and rocks, form- ing extensive patches of small green leaves. It is not common to find marine plants with so wide a distribution ; but a nearly equal extent of sea is characterised by another of the British Chlorosperms, of a much greater size and more complex structure. On most of the rocky coasts of Britain may be gathered in tide-pools, or rocks near low- water- mark, an Alga of a bright green colour and spongy texture, cylindrical, and much branched, the bran chesdividing pretty regularly by repeated forkings, and the whole invested, when seen un- der water, with a downy coat of colourless filaments. The name of this plant is Codium tomentosum. Under the microscope it is found to be wholly composed of * See " Flora Antarctica," vol. ii. p. 498. In the northern hemi- sphere, Ulva crispa extends to Spitzbergen, in lat. 80. DDIUM TOMENTOSHM. OP ULVA AND CODIUM. 93 small threads, of a tenacious, membranous consistence, filled with a dense granular fluid, closely and intri- cately matted together; the threads in the centre of the branches having a longitudinal direction, while those of the circumference are horizontal, presenting their closely-set tips to the surface of the frond. This plant abounds on the shores of the Atlantic, from the north of Europe to the Cape of Good Hope : it appears to be equally common in the Pacific, extending along the whole western coast of the American Continent : it is found in the Indian Sea, and on the shores of Australia and New Zealand : nor is there any certain character by which the specimens of one country may be known from those of another. Allied to the Codium in structure, and not uncom- mon in rock-pools, is a slen- der and extremely elegant little plant, Bryopsis plumo- sa, which consists of a mul- titude of soft green feathers gracefully connected toge- ther. Its substance is ex- ceedingly flaccid, and the branches fall together when removed from the water, but immediately expand on re-immersion. Few of our marine plants are more beautiful; and the pleasure of admiring its graceful characters may be indefinitely prolonged, as it is one of the plants which may be most BBYOF8IS PHUMOS4 94 AFFINITIES OF BRYOPSIS. easily grown in bottles of sea-water. Whilst it continues to vegetate, it will keep the water sweet and pure, and no care is needed except to close the mouth of the bottle, so as to prevent evaporation. The Bryopsis, in all its characters, has the structure of a vegetable ; nor does it much resemble the Zoophytes in aspect. And yet it is one of those plants which closely link the lower mem- bers of the vegetable kingdom with those of the ani- mal. Through Bryopsis, the passage is very clear into Acetabularia, an elegant Mediterranean plant, which closely resembles a Zoophyte, and which was, indeed, till lately, classed in that division of animals. Instances of this kind of seeming con- nection between the two great kingdoms of the organized world, meet us frequently among the lower groups of either, and often, as in this case, where connection is least looked for. The genus Cladophora, to which I have already alluded, consists of the branching species of the green division of the old ge- CLADOPHORA HUTCHINSI.fi. *^ nus Conferva. These plants are formed of strings of cells, one cell growing from the apex of another, so as to form a jointed thread. The spe- cies are distinguished by differences in the branching, in the proportionate length of the cells, and in their diame- ter; and nearly all of them are beautiful objects. They mostly form scattered tufts, in rock-pools, but some MELANOSPERME.E. 95 occur gregariously in extensive patches, covering rocks of Fuci with a bright green fringe. I shall now notice a few of the more common of the Olive-coloured group of Sea-weeds, or Melanospermece, so called, because their reproductive grains, or spores, are of a dark colour, or so opaque that they appear dark when seen by transmitted light. This group consists of much more perfectly-formed plants than those we have just noticed. They are, also, commonly of much greater size: the largest of all sea-plants belong to them. The olive sea-weeds commence to grow, as I have already said, just within the margin of the tide, and they extend throughout the whole of the littoral zone, and to the depth of one or two fathoms below low- water-mark. The first species we meet with is Fucus canaliculatus, the smallest and most slender of the British Fuci. It grows in scattered tufts, one or two inches high, on rocks about high-water-mark, and is at once known by having narrow, channelled stems and branches, without air-vessels. It rarely grows in water of a greater depth than three or four feet, and never in places where it is not exposed for several hours daily to the air. To it succeed Fucus nodosus, a large species, with leathery, thong-like stems, distended at intervals into knob-like air-vessels, and covered in winter and spring with bright-yellow berries ; and F. vesiculosus, a more membranous kind, having a forked leaf, traversed by a midrib, and bearing numerous air-vessels in pairs, at either side of the rib. This species is gregarious, covering wide patches of rock from a foot or two be- low high-water to low-water-mark. Growing thus, at 96 COMMON FUCI. different times, in a very different depth of water, it varies greatly in size. The specimens found near high-water- mark are small, and generally without air-vessels, these organs not being required to float the plant in shallow water : while all that grow in deep water are abundantly provided with them, and have fronds several feet in length, that stand erect in the water, buoyed up by the air-vessels. About the level of half-tide a fourth species of Fucus makes its appearance, Fucus serratus, distin- guished from all the rest by its toothed margin, and the absence of air-vessels. This species abounds on all the rocks, to the limit of low-water, growing, like F. vesiculosus, in society. These four species are all the true Fuci that are common to every part of the coast, and that impart to the vegetation of the rocky sea- beach its peculiar olive-brown character. All of them, but particularly F. serratus and F. vesiculosus, are em- ployed in the manufacture of kelp, an impure carbonate of soda, obtained by burning the dried stems of these plants. Before the alteration of the tariff, and especially in war-time, when the market was badly supplied with alkali, great revenues were obtained by the owners of rocky shores from the trade in kelp ; but, now that soda is procured by an inexpensive chemical process from rock-salt, the manufacture of kelp has been much neg- lected, and has dwindled down to insignificance. At pre- sent the only demand for this commodity, is from the manufacturers of iodine, the chief source of that valuable substance being found in the Algce of this family. It is much to be regretted that a trade, once so valuable to a large population on the western coast of Scotland and FUCUS VESICULOSUS. 97 Ireland, where the means of livelihood are scanty, should have ceased to yield a profitable return ; but these are revolutions to which all manufactures are subject. At some future time other uses may be found for the abundant crop of these plants which our shores supply. At present large quantities come into use, either in the state of ashes, or in a fermented state, as a valuable manure for green crops. Their value as manure is said to be enhanced in districts most removed from the sea ', and this may not be merely on the principle that " cows afar off have long horns," but the mineral substances they contain may be less abundant in the soils of inland districts than in those nearer the coast, to which the spray of the sea must carry a considerable quantity of these salts. None of our common Fuci are known beyond the waters of the Atlantic except F. vesiculosvis, whicli occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, and again in the Pacific, on the western shore of North America. This species, indeed, is the most patient of the family in enduring a great variety of conditions. As to climate, it submits to the frozen rigour of the Arctic circle, and to the tropical fervour of the Canary Islands. In the latter country, however, it appears to be on the very verge of extinction, the fronds being reduced to the smallest compass, consisting of little more than the root and the fructification ; just as we see annuals grown in a poor and dry soil frequently dwindle to a pair of leaves and a flower, and these of the smallest size. Comparing the specimens from the Canary Islands with those grown in deep water in the North of Europe, we find so much H 98 SEASON OP REST. difference, that they will hardly be suspected of being relations ; yet the two forms may readily be traced into each other, and this without going beyond the evidence collected on our own shore. A change similar to that caused by heat in the plant from the Canaries is induced in this country by the very opposite con- ditions of fresh water and muddy soil. The Fucus balticus of northern writers, which is found in very muddy enclosed arms of the sea, near high-water-mark, and under the influence of fresh water, is a variety of F. vesiculosw much resembling, especially when in fruit, the starved variety found in the Canaries. This affords us a striking instance of the opposite means which Nature often employs to bring about the same result, and may teach us that the adaptations which we find in the various races of animals and plants have some other controlling cause than the circumstances in which the species find themselves. All we can determine on this subject seems to be, that every species of animal or plant has its natural condition, known only, in the first instance, to the Author of Nature ; and that a de- parture from that natural condition, in either direction, will alter the character of the individual. But, until we have tested the matter by direct experiment, we cannot pronounce on the result. No one, by reasoning on the subject, would be prepared for the fact that the heat of the tropical sea would exercise the same transforming power on a particular plant as the mud and fresh water of a colder climate. A similar difference in the causes which effect the same end, may be noticed in comparing the means by which Nature provides a season of rest for SEASON OF REST. 99 the plants of tropical and of temperate climates. In temperate climates the cold and wet of autumn and winter strip the trees, and reduce the greater part of the vegetable kingdom to a state of torpor. Between the tropics* the same effect is brought about by the heat and drought of summer. The leaves of tropical trees (within certain parallels) are burned off the branches, while buds, coated with hard scales, are formed, that preserve the embryo foliage till the return of genial showers shall call forth the dormant powers of life. A tropical forest, so stripped, has much of the aspect of a wintry one in a temperate climate ; and, physiologically, the condition of vegetation is the same. But, what can be more opposite than the atmosphere the light through which the pictures are seen ? The snow-clad earth, the clear and bracing air, and a dark-blue sky of a cli- mate like that of Norway or Canada, contrast strongly with the burnt-up, dusty soil, air like the breath of a furnace, the hazy distance in which every object dances with a flickering motion, and the fierce heat that pours down from a pale blue sky. Yet the effect on vege- tation is the same : a season of rest is provided in either case, which is absolutely necessary to ensure the healthy growth of the plants of these opposite climates. Close along the margin of the sea, either above or below high-water-mark, may be seen on most rocky shores, small circular somewhat scurfy patches, consist- ing of minute, rigid, branching plants. These, when dry, look perfectly black, but on the return of moisture * See Gardner's " Travels in Brazil," p. 242, &c. 100 SUBMARINE LICHENS. exhibit a clear olive-tint, while their tissues soften, and the frond becomes pliable. The patches I allude to consist of two species or varieties of the genus Lichina; the smaller one, L. confinis, growing just above high- water- mark, where it is wetted by the spray without being submerg- ed ; the larger, L. pygmoRa, growing in places inundated every tide. These little plants have sometimes been considered as A Ic/ce, sometimes as belonging to the class of Lichens. By those who regard them as Algae they are placed in the group of Melanosperms ; but their fructification little resembles that of any of the genu- ine members of this group, while it has a consider- able affinity to that of many Lichens. Most botanists now, therefore, consider them, as their first observers proposed, to belong to the true Lichens. Their subma- rine locality alone connects them with the Algae. But submerged Lichens are by no means anomalous; several undoubted members of that family grow in places ha- bitually flooded, such as the rocky beds of mountain rivulets, or even along the margin of the sea, within the range occupied by the Lichinae. About the limit of ordinary low-water, and to the depth of one or two fathoms beyond that limit, the rocky shore is fringed with a broad belt of luxuriant sea- plants, mostly consisting of the family called Laminariece among which some of the larger members of the Fucoidece, and a great number of the F lor ideas, or Red LAMIXARIE2E. 101 Sea-weeds, find a favourable locality. The Laminariea or Oar-weeds, are the largest of all sea-plants. Their stout, woody stems, and broad, ribbon-like, glossy, olive leaves, must be familiar to every one. When seen through clear water, as you pass over them in a boat, they form a picture resembling a miniature forest of palm-trees, as their great fronds stand expanded in the water, while fishes swim in and out among the flat branches. None of those of our climate attain a length of more than twelve or fourteen feet, and even at this size the weight of a single frond is very great. But, these are pigmies compared to some of the gigantic Lami- nariece of the Southern, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, where great trunks, twenty feet long and upwards, sup- port huge bunches of leaves that form when expanded a circle of equal diameter. One species is said to have stems reaching to the enormous length of fifteen hun- dred feet, buoyed up by air-vessels from a great depth, and extending afterwards for a considerable distance along the surface of the sea. This plant, Macrocystis pyrifera, is found through most parts of the Pacific Ocean, and abounds in the southern parts of the Atlan- tic, but has not been noticed in the Northern Atlantic. Its stems are slender, becoming much branched, and bear a profusion of lanceolate, serrated leaves, each of which springs from an oblong air-vessel. Another spe- cies (Nereocystis Lutkeanus) from the north-west coast of America has stems, resembling whipcord, three hun- dred feet in length, which support a great air-vessel at their extremities, six or seven feet long, crowned with a bunch of dichotomous leaves, each thirty or forty feet in 102 DICTYOTEJE. length. On the air-vessels of this gigantic sea-weed, the Sea Otter, according to the observations of an excellent observer,* finds a favourite resting-place, when fishing ; while the long tenacious stems furnish the rude fisher- men of the coast with excellent fishing-lines. In tide-pools exposed to the sun, and also on the bot- tom of the sea beyond the tidal influence, the family of Dictyotece is found ; generally scattered, but sometimes growing in society. These are the most beautiful members of the group of Melanosperms, and some of them, especially Pa- dina Pavonia, or the Peacock's-tail, highly curious productions. This charming plant is only known with us on the south coast of England, where it oc- curs in many places ; but it is one of the com- monest shore-plants of the tropical sea, and also fringes the mar- gin of the Mediterranean. It is an annual, appearing with the early summer, and fading before the autumn sets in. When growing, its fan-shaped fronds are rolled up into cups, while the delicate fibres with which they are bordered, and which form concentric bands over their surface, decompose the rays of light, and reflect the most beautiful glaucous and prismatic tints. The * Dr. Henry Merteiis, in Hook. Bot. Misc. vol. iii. p. 4, 5. OLIVE SEA- WEEDS. 103 remainder of the Melanosperms, including the Sphace- larice and Ectocarpi, are plants of small size, filamentous and much-branched, and form bunches or tufts, growing for the most part on other plants. Thus, most of the Fuel and Laminarieoe become covered, as the season ad- vances, with small parasites belonging to these families : and others grow on the smaller Algse in tide-pools. Several are objects of much beauty. With a short account of the Red Sea- weed or Rho- dosperms I shall conclude this hasty sketch of the various tribes of Algce. The Red Sea-weeds are by far the most numerous in species, the most beautiful in form and colour, and the most perfect or elaborate in structure of all the class of Algae. They also characterise a greater depth of water. Many of them grow beyond the influence of the tide, and can only be procured by the dredge, except when a strong gale loosens them from their position, and throws them up on the beach. The majority grow close to low-water- mark, and are to be seen only for an hour or two at the spring-tides : so that a person visiting the shore at neap- tides may leave it ignorant of half its treasures. The favourite locality of the more delicate Floridece (as the Rhodosperms are frequently called) is on the perpendi- cular sides of deep tide-pools under the shade of larger plants. In such places, either Fucus serrahis orHiman- thalia lorea commonly grows on the top of the rocky margin, while the fronds rest on the surface of the water. On removing the Fuel a host of delicately-beau- tiful Floridece will often be revealed. This is the usual position of the various species of Griffithsia, some of the 104 HABITS OF THE FLORIDE.E. most beautiful of the filiform Alga?. Where the pools are not shaded by large plants on the margin, the northern aspect will be foun d most fertile, especially when ledges of rock project be- yond the rest, and such is the favourite locality of Delesseria sanguinea, whose beautiful rosy leaves, veined with darker striae, are the delight of amateur collectors of sea- weeds. Most Florideoe flourish in clear water. But this is not the case with several of the Callithamnia, the most delicate of the filiform kinds, whose slender pinnated fronds, when laid out on paper, resemble minutely beau- tiful tracery- work, and mock the attempts of the pencil to do them justice. The species of this genus flourish most in places where a .coating of mud covers the rocks, or where the water itself is habitually muddy. Often the botanist, searching for Callithamnia, must content himself with bringing home handfuls of mud which merely exhibit the presence of some red filaments, till washed out : yet from this unpromising soil the most charming plants are often procured. A well-known and most successful collector of these plants, is in the habit of visiting, at low-water, in a boat, the muddy base of a small harbour-pier, and gathering indiscri- minately any lump of red which the muddy surface of the pier affords : and from the washings of these lumps, VARIETY OP COLOUR. 105 Callithamnion gracillimum, C. thuyoideum, C. byssoi- deum and Dasya ocellata, and other rarities are procured. Mud-banks yield some of the most beautiful Polysiphoniae, as for instance, P. vaiiegata; but most of this genus pre- fer the purer water of rock- pools. The exquisite P. pa- rasitica is found only in clear water at the verge of low tide or on the banks of Nullipores, which charac- terise a still lower level. I have spoken of the Floridece, or Rhodosperms, as the Red Sea-weeds ; but it must not be supposed that they are all of a clear red colour, nor does colour sup- ply us with more than an imperfect guide in determining them. The red colour appears to depend in great de- gree on the amount of direct light which reaches the growing plant. The same species which exhibits a full red colour when growing in the shade, assumes every variety of paler tint till it ends in a clear yellow, as it grows under the influence of sunshine, and in shallower water. This is very apparent in the Chondrus crispus or Carrigeen, well known for producing a peculiar gela- tinous pi'inciple used in cookery and medicine. When this plant grows in places shaded from the sun, its fronds are of a very dark purple, reflecting prismatic colours from the surface; but growing, as it frequently does, in shallow pools exposed to full sunlight, it becomes green 106 USES IN THE ARTS. and even yellowish-white before it altogether ceases to vegetate. Similar changes may be observed in many other common species, especially in Ceramium rulrwn, and Laurencia pinnatifida. Light does not always act as a destroyer of colour among these plants in some tribes it affects them by darkening the purples into browns, as in the Polysiphonice. Among these, P. fasti- giata, which grows parasitically on Fucus nodosus, in places where it is exposed to the air for several hours every day, assumes the dark brown of a member of the olive-group. Mere colour, therefore, may lead the stu- dent into error, if he decide solely by it, to the neglect of peculiarities of structure and fructification. Several of the Rhodosperms are in different countries either employed as articles of food or used in the arts, in the manufacture of strong sizes and glues. Their nourishing principle appears to reside in a peculiar compound found in several kinds, to which the name Carrigeenin has been given by the chemists. It was first extracted, as the name imports, from Chondrus crispus, the Carrigeen of our coasts, a plant which may be collected to an unlimited extent on all rocky parts of the British shores. The fronds, properly prepared by drying, will keep for any length of time, and a strong jelly may be extracted, when required, by simply boiling in water. Similar jellies are yielded by other species of Chondrus, as well as by the Gigartince, Gracilarioe, and certain Gelidia, some of which yield mucilages of so great strength as to be employed as glue. There have recently been imported into this country samples of an Eastern species, Gracilaria spinosa, which, under the CORALLINES. 107 name Agar-Agar, is largely consumed in China, both as an article of food, and as yielding a very strong glue. The jelly prepared from it is certainly superior to that yielded by our Ckondrm. A Swan River species (Gigartina speciosa, Sond.) affords a gelatine of perhaps equal value. Both these might be obtained in abun- dance, should a demand for them arise. These few in- stances, selected out of a multitude, show that the Algae are not undeserving the notice of the economist, espe- cially in a country where the constant increase of popu- lation renders desirable every effort to increase the sup- ply of food. That the vast stores of Carrigeen which our coasts afford, have been wholly neglected during the recent famine, is the result partly of ignorance, and partly of the invariable companion of ignorance, prejudice. The only other Rhodosperms which I shall notice are the very curious tribe of Corallinece, the jointed Coral- lines of Linnreus, plants which have been regarded, al- most universally since the time of Ellis, as members of the animal kingdom. This tribe is most numerous in species as we approach the tropics, and the British ex- amples are not many ; but one of them, Corallina offici- nalis, is so common on all our coasts, that it must have attracted the notice of every one who has paid any atten- tion to marine productions, and it will serve as a type of the family. It will at once be seen that this plant differs from other sea-weeds in being of a calcareous nature, effervescing when thrown into an acid solution and in this respect it resembles a true coral. It neither produces Polypes, however, nor exhibits any animal character, 108 CORALLINES. while it yields spores, contained in receptacles perfectly analogous to those of the Algae of the red series, to which its colour also allies it. These spores were observed and figured by Ellis; and it is therefore the more strange that the vegetable nature of the family has not been earlier acknowledged. Co- rallina officinal is generally occurs in society, covering the bottoms of shallow tide- pools with its jointed fronds, which afford a welcome resting-place to many of the smaller Algse and to marine animals. It always springs from a broad, calcareous base, often of considerable thickness, which incrusts the surface of the rock. It commences to vegetate, though feebly, immediately within the limit of high- water, and extends throughout the whole littoral zone, gradually acquiring fuller development as the water deepens ; and the best specimens are always to be found nearest to low-water-mark. It is occasionally dredged from the depth of three or four fathoms, or perhaps more ; but specimens from water of that depth are less perfect than those collected about low-water-mark, clearly showing that, at that level, the species is in the situation best adapted to its nature. The species of the genus Corallina are very imperfectly known, and many supposed species may ultimately prove to be merely varieties of this common and very generally diffused NULLIPORES. 109 plant, which in some form or other inhabits the shores of most temperate latitudes. Along with Corallina officinalis, and also creeping among the roots of various other Algse, may often be seen the fronds of a lichenoid species of calcareous plant, Melobesia (or Nullipora) lichenoides, affixed to the sur- face of the rocky soil. This is of the same family as the Corallina, but simpler in structure. By some authors it is supposed to be merely the imperfectly-developed state of a Coralline ; but the evidence for this opinion does not appear satisfactory, and in the imperfect state of our knowledge it is better to consider these plants distinct. In appearance they are widely different, though similar in microscopic structure and substance. The Melobesia belongs to a group of the family, cha- racteristic of a deeper water, and which we shall have occasion to speak of in our chapter on Dredging. The very imperfect outline which I have just given of the several groups of marine plants, is all that the plan of this little volume admits of, without trenching too much on subj ects of perhaps more general interest. The great elegance of many of the sea-weeds, and the ease with which specimens may be preserved, retaining much of their original beauty, attract many persons who occasionally visit the sea-shore ; and sea-weeds are col- lected either as objects of scientific interest, or for the manufacture of pictures for albums or screens. Those who collect sea-weeds for the latter purpose, in general care little to know their history ; but perhaps when some of its facts are known, they may be regarded as not without interest. I have, therefore, mentioned 110 SEA-WEED PICTURES. some of the principles on which the classification of these plants is based, and described some of the com- moner species of our shores. For a more detailed his- tory of the family, I must refer my readers to books more expressly written on the subject.* * See the Author's " Phycologia Britannica," containing coloured plates and detailed descriptions of all the British Sea-weeds ; also, his " Manual of the British Marine Algae," 2nd edit, with 27 plates of genera. CHAPTER V. THE ROCKY SEA-SHORE : MARINE ANIMALS. IN the vegetation of the sea, Nature has provided both shelter and food for an infinitude of animals. Were we to speak of the uses of sea-weeds, and confine ourselves to their adaptation to the wants of man, we should much misinterpret the office which this portion of the vegetable world discharges in the general economy. However great their uses to man, these are absolutely insignificant in comparison to those benefits for which the lower tribes of animated nature are indebted to the sea-weeds. Troop after troop of animals, one more highly organized than another, either derives its nou- rishment from the sea-weed itself, or uses the subma- rine forest as a hunting-ground, where it fulfils the 112 VARIETY OF ANIMALS. appointed course of its busy life. Adhering to the roots of sea- weeds we find the scarcely organized, but ob- viously animated Sponge, whose place in the scale of creation seems so nearly balanced between the animal and the vegetable that naturalists have debated to which of the kingdoms it properly belongs. To the stems and leaves adhere multitudes of incrusting ani- mals, some of which, till we examine them somewhat closely, and watch their animal motions and propen- sities with some care, seem to consist merely of masses of jelly ; while others display, in their outward forms, the branching appearance of mosses, every branch clothed with scales, and crowned, when the animal is in vigour, with starry flowers. The rocks from which the sea-weeds spring afford a resting-place to stationary animals, which, in the shelter of these submerged groves, watch the approach of prey; and through the branches, in every direction, tribes as different from each other in form and structure as it is possible to conceive, sport and multiply, and contend in ceaseless motion. No spot of rock is absolutely desert, and no sea-weed grows that does not support its multitude of living things. The zoologist, therefore, on any rocky shore, may find abundant occupation ; and he who does not limit him- self to the mere collection and determination of new spe- cies, but enters into the more noble departments of his science Anatomy and Physiology, will in the most barren places find animals, the investigation of whose history will afford him constant sources of pleasure. At the base of the animal scale, and apparently in close connection with the vegetable kingdom, yet, when SPONGES. 113 closely examined, resembling no vegetable in organi- zation, is found the family of Sponges, a considerable number of which inhabits the shores of the British Islands. Dr. Johnston * enumerates fifty-six species, which he groups under nine genera, distinguished from one another by characters derived from differences in the structure and mineral composition of the skeleton. The outward forms of Sponges are exceedingly sport- ive, and even the same species, at different periods of its life, or under the influence of different circum- stances, often exhibits an outward aspect of very op- posite character. Some are, indeed, tolerably constant in form, especially the branching species ; but the ma- jority are shapeless, or assume a form depending in great measure on the objects in connection with them. It thus becomes necessary, in studying the Sponges, to acquaint ourselves intimately with the exact structure of the skeleton. The spongy body is of the simplest nature ; it consists of a horny or sometimes stony net- work, composed of innumerable interlacing fibres, con- nected together and inosculating, till a porous mass, full of holes and passages, is the result. This is the skele- ton, and such is seen in the common Sponges in every- day use. When the creature is alive, every portion of the horny fibre is coated over with a semifluid slimy matter, like a half-consistent jelly, seemingly inert and unorganized, and yet the seat of whatever life the Sponge contains. It is by this slime, which may be pressed out with the finger, that the network is depo- * " History of the British Sponges and Corallines, by G. Johnston, M.D." 114 NOURISHMENT OF SPONGES. sited, and from it the whole growth of the mass pro- ceeds. The slimy substance is apparently void of sen- sation, for it does not shrink when wounded ; and the only motion resembling animal life which the mature Sponge exhibits is in the imbibition and expulsion of continuous currents of water. If any species of Sponge be examined, the holes with which the substance is everywhere pierced may be seen to be of two kinds, one of larger size than the rest, few in number, and opening into wide channels, or tunnels, which pierce the Sponge through its centre j the other minute, extremely nume- rous, covering the whole surface, and communicating with the innumerable branching passages which make up the body of the skeleton. According to the obser- vations of Dr. Grant, water is freely imbibed through the smaller holes, and continuously expelled in jets through the larger, as long as the animal retains life. These currents may be seen if a small specimen of a living Sponge be placed in a watch-glass or other shallow vessel of salt-water, and examined through the micro- scope ; and it appears to be through their agency that the substance is nourished. Nourishing particles dis- persed through the water are received into the universal stomach, and what is not required is ejected through the canals. Such is the simple history of the Sponges. Their pro- pagation is provided for in a curious manner. At cer- tain seasons of the year, if a Sponge be cut open, innu-. merable minute bud-like points will be found attached to the sides of the lining of the canals. These are the gemmules or young eggs of the sponge. As they increase PROPAGATION OF SPONGES. 115 in size they are gradually clothed with vibratile hairs (cilia) ; and at length, being fully formed, fall off as oval bodies ; not inert, like the eggs of more active animals, or like their parents, but moving freely by the perpetual vibration maintained by their cilia. These cilia, by their united action, create strong currents round the little body, which drive it forward into K00 OF 8PONOJ . the stream that issues from the opening of the Sponge, and thence into the open sea, where its motion is continued till it has reached a place suitable for its development. When this is done it soon attaches itself; its wanderings cease, and it commences the quiet vegetative life of its parent. The instincts which guide animals in the care of their young are among the most interesting that the lower animals exhibit ; but here, at the base of the scale, we find a passive parent whose young are endowed with powers of motion denied to its mature growth, and these obviously supply, by a beautiful arrangement, the deficiencies of the mother. When we look a little higher in the animal scale, we shall find other instances of greater activity in the young than in the mature animal ; and even among the lower vegetable tribes, the spores are often endowed with pro- per movements. The little seed-like bodies from which the Alga? spring, are, in many instances, clothed with cilia, like the eggs of the Sponges, and enjoy, for a brief period, a similarly active life. The animal egg of the Sponge and the vegetable egg of the Conferva are both moved by the same agency, and each appears to select the situation best adapted for its growth. The phases 116 POLYPES, OR ZOOPHYTES. of animal and vegetable existence have approached so near, that it requires the exercise of nicer tests than the eye to discriminate between them. We arrive at a point where the dry definitions of science cease to speak an intelligible language, and where the presence of the Unseen Worker begins to be felt. In the history of the Sponges we find beings occupy- ing nearly a middle rank between plants and animals, though necessarily considered as belonging to the latter. To such the term Zoophytes, or animal plants, might properly be given. This name is, however, commonly restricted by Naturalists to another group, clearly ani- mal in their nature, but which exhibit a skeleton often branched like a plant, and bearing bodies I'esembling seed-vessels and flowers. I have incidentally alluded to these in a former chapter, and shall now enter into their history a little further. The rocky sea-shore will supply numerous species of this group of animals, from the fleshy Sea Anemone, the largest and most highly organ- ized of our native species, to the minute scaly Lepralia, which forms shagreened patches on the surface of rocks, shells, and sea-weeds. All the true Corals, including the precious coral of commerce and the Mushroom-Corals which ornament the cabinets of the curious, together with the horny, moss-like Sertula-rice of our own shores, are skeletons of the Zoophytes. The animals which inhabit them are termed Polypes, and are either single and solitary, as in the case of the Sea Anemone, or form a compound body, several individuals being connected together by a fleshy column, common to them all, through which a more or less perfect circulation is ORGANIZATION OP POLYPES. 117 maintained, and unity given to the compound body. In so large a class we must expect to find great dif- ferences in organization ; some are much simpler in structure than others ; some are free to move about from place to place ; others and a greater number are fixed, as by a root, to the surface of some object : but all the animals of the group have soft and in- articulate, bag-shaped bodies, furnished at the upper extremity with a mouth, or opening, leading to the stomach. The mouth is generally surrounded by one or more circles of fleshy arms, or tentacula, which ex- pand, like the rays of a star, and in many cases are contractile, or capable, at the will of the animal, of being drawn in from their greatest extension, and trans- formed into mere fleshy, bud-like points. Tentacula, which, when fully expanded, are (in the Hydra) several inches in length, by a voluntary effort, and with great rapidity, contract so as nearly to disappear altogether. In many kinds the tentacula, however, are non-contrac- tile, and are either constantly expanded in the water, or merely drawn within the walls of the cell in which the animal lives, without any diminution of their volume. The Polypes possess no obvious nervous system. Their respiration is supposed to be conducted by cilia, which clothe the surface of the tentacula, and maintain a con- stantly-changing current of water on the delicate sur- face of those organs. While there is a great common resemblance between the skeletons, or polypidoms, of all the compound Zoo- phytes, the animals by whose organs they are secreted are so different, that zoologists arrange them in two 118 THEIR DIFFERENT CLASSES. classes, the Anthozoa, which have a body capable of contraction in every part, and perfectly symmetrical, with but a single aperture for the entrance of food ; and the Polyzoa (or Bryozoa), whose bodies are unsymmetri- cal, and incapable of contraction, while they are fur- nished with a separate mouth and vent. The first are obviously akin to radiate animals, while the latter show a close resemblance in structure to the simpler members of the Mollusca. The Polyzoa, though of much smaller size than many of the Anthozoa, are much more perfectly organized, and of a higher type in animal existence. In the compound Anthozoa the individuality of the Polypes is not clearly maintained, but each is, as it were, a bud issuing from a common fleshy trunk, of similar sub- stance ; while in the Polyzoa every individual is distinct within its own precincts, though connected, like the Siamese twins, by a common band. Dr. Johnston aptly compares the former to " a chain of which all the links are welded ;" the latter, " to a necklace, where the beads are strung together by a common thread." The Antho- zoa are divided by Dr. Johnston into three orders, easily recognisable by the nature of the skeleton ; the 1st, Hydroida, having Polypes enclosed in horny, tubular, plant-like sheaths, forming an external covering to their trunk ; the 2nd, Asteroida, a calcareous or horny axis, or internal skeleton, surrounded by the fleshy parts of the compound body; and the 3rd, Helianthoida, having a calcareous or coriaceous skeleton composed of plates, radiating, like the gills of a mushroom, towards a com- mon centre. The British Asteroida being all natives of the deeper parts of the sea, will more properly be CORYNB PUSILLA. 119 noticed in the next chapter ; I shall, therefore, here confine myself to a few common examples of the Hy- dro ida and Helianthoida. The old genera, Tubularia and Sertularia of Lin- nseus, now divided into many genera, furnish us with the best-known examples. We may take as an example of the first of these, a very common little species, found on stones and sea-weeds be- tween tide-marks, especially in clear rock-pools. I allude to the Coryne pusilla of our present arrangement, to which name Dr. Johnston re- duces five supposed species of authors. This little creature certainly varies much in size ' ^'POKT^ ^ and degree of ramification ; but the differences are scarcely sufficient to separate per- manent varieties. It offers us an instance of a very reduced skeleton, the tube being a thin, horny mem- brane, wrinkled cross-wise at very close intervals, and continued, in the shape of skin, over the terminal heads of the Polypes. The animal originates in creeping fibres. These throw up erect stems, from which are irregularly given off branches, each crowned with an oblong fleshy head, of a glassy lustre and red colour, armed with numerous short and thick tentacula, standing out like blunt spikes on every side, and but imperfectly retractile. The mouth is terminal. Though we call 120 SERTULARI.E. the club-shaped knob at the end of the branches a head, it in fact contains the whole proper body of the Polype, the substance which fills the tube being merely a me- dulla common to all. The flexibility of the branches, and their perfect union with the base of the head, en- able the animal to move the latter part in every direc- tion. Besides this, it can shorten or lengthen the head at pleasure, protruding the mouth, and bending it round to catch any object of prey. Its motions, which are slow, and not ungraceful in their delibei*ation, may readily be watched in a small vessel of sea-water, and specimens may be found on almost any rocky shore. Of the restricted genus Sertularia, seventeen British species are known, many of which are only found in deep water. I shall take as an example S. filicula, a common but elegant species, found on sea-weeds near low-water- mark, especially at the root of the large Oar-weed, and often thrown up along the shore. The Sertularice are of a horny colour and texture, branched like plants, sometimes forked, but very generally feathered or pin- nate. Their branches are toothed ; and, when mag- nified, are found to consist of a single tube, jointed at intervals, and bearing along its sides prominent cells, alternate, or in opposite pairs, one placed at each side of the branch. In some species they are close together, and very distant in others. In these cells, which are hollow, and open at the end, the Polypes reside. When expanded, they show a mouth surrounded by several radiating tentacula ; but they can withdraw themselves at pleasure within the narrow walls of their cell. Besides the cells in which the Polypes reside, most Sertularice SERTULARI2E. 121 produce bag-like bodies, called vesicles, in which their ova are contained. These are very rarely found on S. filicula, but may be seen abundantly, especially in early spring, on another com- mon species (S. oper ulata), which frequently forms a rigid beard to the stems of the great Oar-weed. The form of the vesicles varies much in different kinds, and often affords an excellent character to distinguish one closely- allied species from another. In Plumularia cristata, a PORTION. beautiful feathery species, common on sea-weeds near low-water-mark, especially on Halidrys siliquosa, the vesicle is exceedingly curious, seemingly formed by the union and metamorphosis of several cells. It consists of an oblong pouch, with a tubular rib along its dorsal margin, from which issue numerous transverse, crested ribs, which will be better understood by the annexed figure than by a more detail- ed description. The genus Plumularia is readily known from Sertularia by having its cells unilateral, or all placed along one side only of the branches. Speaking of Plumularia cristata, Dr. Johnston introduces some re- flections which apply equally to most of the Zoophytes of this division, and which I shall therefore quote. Each plume has been calculated to contain about five hundred Polypes, and a single specimen of ordinary size 122 PLUMULARIA CRISTATA. will number from five to six thousand. " Now," says Dr. Johnston, "many such specimens, all united, too, by a common fibre, and all the offshoots of one com- mon parent, are often lo- cated on one sea-weed, the site, then, of a population which nor London nor Pekin can rival. But PI. cristata is a small species ; and there are specimens of PI. falcata, or Sertularia argentea, of which the fa- mily may consist of eighty A T E T 3w^ AND MAas to one hundred thousand individuals. It is such calculations, always underrated, that illustrate the 'mag- nalities of Nature,' and take us by surprise, leaving us in wonderment at what may be the great object of this her exuberant production of these ' insect millions peopling every wave.' " * But, So He ordained, whose way is in the sea, His path amidst great waters, and His steps Unknown ; whose judgments are a mighty deep, Where plummet of Archangel's intellect Could never yet find soundings; but from age To age let down, drawn up, then thrown again With lengthened line and added weight, still fails ; And still the cry in Heaven is, ' the depth ! MONTGOMERY. Johnston's Brit. Zoop. p. 93. SEA ANEMONES. 123 Such are the characters of some of our commoner compound Zoophytes. We shall next examine a few belonging to the order Helianthoida, which are of a very different description, being solitary or simple Polypes. The commonest and best known of these are the Sea Anemones or Actlnice, several kinds of which are to be found on every shore. When the Sea Anemone is left dry by the retiring tide, it withdraws its tentacles from view by retracting them within the mouth, and the whole body shrinks into a conical lump of wrinkled flesh. The same happens if the creature be touched with a finger while expanded. Were we to form our idea of its beauty by inspecting it in this state, we should have little cause to stop and admire it. But, placed in water, and allowed to recover itself, few marine animals are more beautiful than the various kinds of these Actiniae. They may aptly be compared to the flowers of Mesembryanthema, with their myriads of lustrous petals forming a starry whole. Here the ten- tacula, which surround the disc in many rows, represent the petals of the flower, or may be likened to the " rays of glory " in the passion-flower ; and, in the brilliancy of their colours, and the lustre of their substance, they much exceed their vegetable analogues. It is im- possible, in an uncoloured woodcut, to do justice to creatures displaying sometimes the most delicate, some- times the richest tints, but the vignette at the head of this chapter may serve to give some general notion of their contour to persons who have never seen them. Those who visit the rocky sea-shore will soon recognise in the deep tide-pools near low- water-mark numerous 124 COEAL BANKS. beautiful kinds, ornamented with all the colours of the rainbow. The internal structure of the Sea Anemone is very curious. The Polypes of the Hydroida are exceedingly simple in structure, their flesh being composed of a homogeneous mass of cells, heaped together, and formed into a bag-like body. In these Helianthoida the struc- ture is much more compound : there is an outer leathery skin, separated from the inner coat or wall of the stomach by a hollow space, in which are placed numer- ous vertical partitions or lamiuso, radiating towards the centre like the gills of a mushroom. These plates have their origin on the inner surface of the leathery coat, to which they act as a support ; some of them project so far as to touch the walls of the stomach, and others are narrower and shorter than the rest, exactly as we find the gills of a mushroom. A similar structure is found re- presented in stone, in the well-known Mushroom Coral or Madrepore of our cabinets, which is indeed the skeleton of an animal closely allied to the Sea Anemone. In the Sea Anemone, the laminae continue fleshy during the life of the animal; in the Madrepore they secrete a coating of carbonate of lime, which thickens by degrees, and at length forms a stony cast of the animal. The lower parts gradually die away, as the stony matter increases, while the Polype-body, continuing to live, is pushed upwards, and thus the Corals of this family are produced. In the seas of tropical and subtropical countries, the species of Calcareous Corals of the Helianthoid order are exceed- ingly numerous, and their office in the natural economy most wonderful Ceaselessly, from the earliest ages of MODERX BRITISH CORALS. 125 the world, have they gone on, withdrawing lime from the waters of the sea, and fixing it in their tissues, till not mountains or islands merely, but whole continents have been formed by their debris. In the limestones of many districts vast beds of fossil Madrepores are found. The well-known ornaments manufactured at Torquay, exhibit beautiful sections of antediluvian animals of this group. The work is still in progress. Fresh beds of such limestones, of unknown extent, are gradually form- ing throughout the Pacific Ocean, and along the shores of the great southern continent of New Holland. In our British seas, very few examples of this section of Zoo- phytes remain, of the multitudes which once inhabited our shores ; but in the modern sea one does exist, to which a considerable geological interest is attached, from its being also undoubtedly found in the crag for- mation. This Coral, Turbinolia Milletiana, has been dredged in a living state off the coast of Cornwall, and off the west of Ireland ; but it is very rarely found. A more common species, Cary- ophyllea Smithii, is found on various parts of the coast. It bears a miniature resem- blance to the exotic Madre- pores, having the same mushroom folds ; while its animal, when expanded, closely resembles a common Sea Anemone. Twenty different kinds of Actiniae, or Sea Anemones, are known to British Naturalists, but probably several 126 LUCERNARI.E. others remain unnoticed. Many have as yet been seen in only one locality ; the history of others is very im- perfectly known ; and accurate drawings of several kinds are wanting : there is, therefore, still open a most inte- resting field to the observer of these beautiful creatures. Among their allies is a particularly elegant species, often found adhering to the smaller sea-weeds in rock- pools. With the general aspect of an Actinia, it differs in having a bell-shaped body, raised on a narrow stalk, and in having its tentacula collected in tufts at regular distances round the margin. These differences are suffi- cient to mark a generic group, which is called Lu- cernaria, and of which three species have been found on the British coast. The most common is distinguished by having a marginal tubercle LCOEKUABIA AUKICULA. ^ ^6 C6ntr6 Of the SpaCB between each tuft of tenta- cles. Its body is clear as crystal, and coloured variously in different specimens, being sometimes green, some- times red, and sporting into various other tints. When it desires to shift its quarters, it can detach itself at will from the object to which it adheres, and swim, with considerable quickness, to a new position, by alternately expanding and contracting its body. All the Polypes we have yet spoken of belong to the class A nthozoa ; but we must remember that there is BRYOZOA, OR SEA MOSSES. 127 another class of these creatures, with an organization quite different, though with an outward similarity in the polypidom, namely, the Polyzoa, or, as they are as commonly called, the Bryozoa, or Sea Mosses. In the Anthozoa, the skeleton, whether horny or stony, has little or no organic connection with the fleshy parts, to which it acts as an internal support, or an external defence ; for though secreted by the organs of the Zoophytes, when it is once formed, it has no further capability of development, and no circulation is maintained through its substance. But in the Polyzoa, the polypidom con- tinues to be, at all times, a living portion of the animal which inhabits it. It is, in fact, a sort of hardened skin, closely adhering to the Polype, and continuous with its softer parts. None of the animals of this group occur in a naked or separate form. They are all asso- ciated in compound bodies, and lodged in cells, within which, when at rest, the Polype lies concealed, doubled up upon itself. They do not possess the remarkable contractile powers of the Anthozoa, but when they re- treat within their cells, they merely fold themselves closely together. When expanded, the fore-part of the body is protruded, exhibiting a mouth surrounded by a circle of slender tentacula. The species of this class are very numerous, but mostly of smaller size and less beauty than those of the Anthozoa. A considerable number are merely scaly crusts, adhering to the surface of rocks and Algse. These, when carefully examined, exhibit the beauty and regularity of structure insepa- rable from the works of creation, but are commonly passed over by the collectors of pretty things, as merely 128 VARIETY OF LEPRALIzE. white, scaly crusts, altogether devoid of interest. What the parasitic fungi are to larger vegetables, these little animals are to their more showy neighbours. But even in the humblest kinds, it is astonishing what a variety of beautiful structures are met with. The common observer may pass over the species of Lepralia without discrimination, as being merely rude scurfs, deforming the sea-weeds or shells over which they spread ; but, if PECISS OP LEPHALLE, MAOSIFIE he carefully examine them, nearly forty kinds, distin- guished by very curious and elegant varieties of form, will reward his labour. The polypidom in this genus consists of a single layer of cells, adhering by their under surface to rocks, shells, or sea-weeds, and dis- posed in regular order in a more or less perfectly cir- cular manner, formed row beyond row, in concentric layers. Some of the more curious forms of the cells are represented magnified in our figure. Several of the Polyzoa, especially those of the family called Eschar idee, have appendages to their cells of a very singular nature, the use of which has not yet been determined. These odd-looking organs are attached to the outer side of the cell, and resemble in form the head of a bird furnished with a bill which can open and BIRD'S-HEAD APPENDAGES. 129 shut like a pair of pincers. Each head is fixed on a flexible stalk, and while the creature lives, main- tains a constant and regular motion up and down, opening and shutting the bill at intervals. All specimens of the same species do not produce them, nor are they found on all the cells of a single specimen ; and they exist indiscriminately on certain species of different genera, while often species otherwise closely al- lied are not furnished with them. From this group of the class Zoophytes we pass, by a very easy transition, to the more simple members of the MOLLUSCA, those forming the subdivision tunicata. They are so called, because their soft parts are enclosed, not in a shell, like the majority of the class, but in a tough, leathery coat or tunic. The commonest example of a tunicated Mollusc is found in the various kinds of Ascidice, or Sea Squirts, some of which are found attached to sea-weeds and stones, in the littoral zone ; others are frequently thrown up from deeper water on the beach, and may be dredged in abundance in almost any locality. Some are of a large size, several inches in length. Their outer form is that of a bag, with a smooth or variously-roughened semi-transpa- rent skin, furnished with two small openings, through which, on the slightest pressure, a jet of water is sent to a considerable distance. These creatures lead a very inactive life. Attached by their base to plants, they trust for nourishment to whatever small fry are brought 130 ASCIDICE, OR SEA SQUIRTS. to their mouths by currents in the water. They have not the elegance of form of the Sea Anemones, but many are painted with the most gaudy colours. Their inter- nal structure is very simple, and connects them closely with the division of Mollusca which form bivalve shells, the tunic in the Ascidice being strictly analogous to the shell of the Conchifer. Their metamorphoses have been watched by several distinguished Naturalists, and offer highly curious points in their history. In the young or tadpole state, they are extremely active, swimming about by rapid motions of the tail, till the young creature finds a spot where he can take root. Then the tail disappears, and grasping fibres, or roots, spring from the body, which gradually assumes the form and adopts the quiet life of the parent from which it sprung. It is thus, by giving to the young animal powers which she denies to the fully grown, that Nature, in these and many other of the stationary lower animals, provides for the proper dispersion of the species. Among more perfect animals, it is the old take care of the young, and provide for them : here we find the young possess instincts which they lose at an advanced period of their life. The Ascidice, which, because they are common and of large size, I have instanced as examples of the tunicated Mollusca, are simple animals, each creature living by itself ; but I should give an imperfect idea of the class if I did not allude to the compound Ascidians, animals of similar structure, which yet live associated, or con- nected together into a compound body, such as we have already seen among the Zoophytes. These are very COMPOUND ASCIDIJ3. 131 numerous on our shores; but the most varied forms are taken only by the dredge. Still, on the stems of Sea- weeds, within tide-marks, especially on the various kinds of Cystoseira, and on the Laminarice, numerous kinds, some of them extremely beautiful, may be found. The stems of the Olive-coloured Sea-weeds are often literally concealed by clasping masses of firm jelly, whose sur- face is marked with radiating stars, blue, crimson, or orange, or various in colour, resembling a tesselated pavement, or the polished section of a Torquay madre- pore-stone. These belong to the animals in question, and to the tribe Botryllidoe. The gelatinous crust is a matrix common to the whole community; while each star that glitters on its surface consists of numerous separate in- BOTRYIXOB. dividuals, similar in most points of their structure to the bag-like Ascidice. It is im- possible, without colour, to do justice to such delicate creatures by a figure, and the wood-cut in the margin is merely intended to guide the eye. A brief outline of what is known of the British species of this highly curious family is given in the first chapters of Forbes and Hanley's " British Mollusca," to which I must refer for further information : but a more complete history, accompanied by coloured figures, is required before the study of these curious creatures can be rendered popular. These Ascidians are among the humblest members of the great class of MOLLUSCA. This class includes the 132 PEOGRESSIVE STRUCTURE whole group of animals which produce what are properly called shells, the favourite study of the conchologist ; also a multitude which are shell-less at all periods of their life ; and others, whose shells are reduced to mem- branous plates concealed under the fleshy folds of their bodies. Commencing with the shapeless bag of the Ascidice; proceeding thence, through the bivalve shells into Sea Slugs ; and so, through the various tribes of univalve shells, we pass under review a great variety of animals, rising in complication of structure one above another, until we arrive at the Nautilus and the Cuttle- fish, which close the great group, by a type of structure in which the peculiar organization of the vertebrate is dimly sketched. The lowest Mollusca are scarcely more organized than the Zoophytes : the highest closely border on the most perfect animals. The study of this class therefore is, in all respects, highly important. To the mere student of comparative anatomy it offers a rich field of research ; for here, within circumscribed bounds, he can trace the gradual development of organs from the first idea, as it were, to their full perfection. To the collector of beautiful objects, the countless varieties of shells, so easily preserved and so varied in contour and colour, afford continual sources of interest ; and their proper classification, a pleasant problem for the exercise of ingenuity : although it must be admitted that the proper classification of shells cannot be arrived at, if the nature of the animal which forms them be not carefully studied. A striking proof of this is shown in the genus Patella, of the older authors. If we merely consider the form of the shell, this group appears to be IN THE MOLLUSC A. 133 strictly natural. But when we examine the creatures of which these shells are the covering, we find them so differently organized that it is impossible to regard them as of the same genus. It would therefore be just as natural, classing quadrupeds by their skins, to place the leopard and the camelopard in the same genus be- cause they have similar coats, as it would be to com- bine, under one group, the various species of the Lin- nsean genus Patella. Conchology, within a few years, has made more advances in a philosophical direction than most of the other natm*al sciences. Up to a re- cent period, it was the lowest of all scientific pursuits, and appeared the most useless. Now, however, that the subject begins to be studied on better pi-inciples, a new light has burst upon it, and a thousand interesting facts in the lives of the shell-coated animals are re- vealed. Nor is the interest which attaches to Conchology merely derived from our increased knowledge of the habits and instincts of an extensive class of animals. Its bearings on Geology place it among the most import- ant of the minor divisions of Zoology. Shelly-coated Mollusca have existed in the waters of the sea and of rivers from a very early period of the world's history, and have left in most stratified rocks and gravels abundance of their shells, preserved in a more perfect manner than the remains of most other animals. Now, as the species in the early rocks differ from those found in later forma- tions, quite as much as the latter from the Mollusca of our modern seas, the gradual change in the character of the imbedded shells marks a certain interval of time 134 IMPORTANCE OP CONCHOLOGY. in the world's history. To understand and apply the evidence derivable from this source, requires a most careful study, not only of the different forms of fossil- shells, but of the forms and habits of existing species. In fact, it is impossible to understand the character of these fossils without an intimate knowledge of Concho- logy. To distinguish species, to insist on minute cha- racters, to collect minute shells, appear often to the unthinking utilitarian but trifling hobbies of mere tri- flers. Yet on these apparent trifles depend some of the most important problems of Geology ; and if the con- chologist blunder in reading the " Medal of Creation," * all the deductions of the geologist will be vitiated. To trace the history of a species of shell, from its first appearance in an early bed, to its final extinction in a later formation, requires an intimate knowledge, not merely of the species in question, but of the changes which, under modified circumstances, other species un- dergo, before their vitality yields to an altered condi- tion. It is a highly curious fact, that there is a term to the life of a species, as well as to that of an individual. What that term is we know not ; but the remains of extinct species and genera prove the fact. But before the final extinction of a species, except the change of circumstances be so sudden as to cause the instan- taneous death of every individual of the kind, the fiy, developed under altered circumstances of habitat, will vary from the characters of their parents, and present the peculiarities of the species in a weakened degree ; their * I need scarcely remind the reader that there is such a book as Dr. Mantell's " Medals of Creation." DECLINE OF SPECIES. 135 descendants, if they have any, will be of still feebler character ; and, should the modifying cause continue to increase, the species will then probably cease to exist. The sudden and complete influx of fresh water to a basin previously covered by the sea would instantane- ously kill all its testaceous animals. But were the change gradual, these same animals and their descend- ants would exist in water considerably less salt ; though , they would probably cease to propagate before the lake had become wholly fresh. A curious instance of gra- dual change in a fossil marine species from the influx of fresh water, was observed by Professor E. Forbes* in the island of Cos. In this case the change of circumstance was clearly marked, through the several beds in which the shell occurred, till the species altogether ceased. These forms or varieties, depending on the influx of fresh water, are shown in the annexed figure. I have noticed similar change in the character of the common Littorina rudis of our own coasts, whose shell, when the animal occupies its proper habitat, be- tween tide-marks, is thick and strong, with shallow grooves between the spires. But this species sometimes climbs up rocks of considerable height, and remains upon them, trusting to the washing of the spray for its nourishment. The specimens I allude to were found among the crevices of a sea-cliff on the West of Ireland, * " Travels in Lycia," 2 vols. 8vo., 1847. 136 BURROWING SHELLS. at a height of nearly two hundred feet above the sea, a situation which the tide never washes over, but where the giant waves of the Atlantic throw up pretty con- stantly a feathery spray. This spray collects in pools on the summit of the crag, where it is largely diluted with rain-water; and here, in this unpromising locality, multitudes of Littorina rudis have taken up their abode. The specimens are quite as large as the usual state of the species, but the substance of the shell is nearly as thin as that of a Limneus, especially about the aperture, and the grooves between the spires are much deeper than usual. Still, though changed, the species is easily recognized; nor is there the slightest disposition to pass into L. petrcea. I have already, in the chapter on Sands, spoken of some of the general habits and structure of the bivalve Mollusca, the great majority of which live in sandy or muddy places. Some, however, like the Edomites, take up their abode in the rock, and hollow out for them- selves dwellings in it. Such is the Pholas, of which we have several British species, which are often found imbedded in limestone or sandstone rock, though oc- casionally they con- tent themselves with houses of clay. How so frail a shell as Pho- las Candida, which is PHOLAS CANDIDA. as thin as paper, and as brittle as glass, is able to work its way through hard stone, has long been a puzzle to Naturalists ; some of whom assert that it MUSSELS. 137 works by means of an acid solvent ; others that it bores like an auger, by revolving, and rasps away the surface of the rock with the rough points on its surface. The question remains a knotty one, and my space forbids me to discuss it here. The Mussels are another group of bivalve shells, which inhabit rocky ground, but are in- capable of burrowing into the rock. Nature has not, however, left them unprovided with means for securing their position. She has destined them to a sedentary life on the naked surface of rocks, exposed to the great- est violence of the waves. The common Mytilus rugosm, or Rock Mussel, may be seen covering, by thousands, the surface of rocks near low-water-mark, always choosing the most open situations. But here it is as firmly anchored as a ship in harbour. Its foot, which is so small as to be useless for purposes of progression, is employed in weaving silken threads of great strength, which it affixes to the rock and to its neighbour mus- sel; and thus mutually combined, and each grasping the rock, the community of mussels live together in security. But the great majority of the Mollusca which inhabit rocky places belong to a very extensive group, called Gasteropoda, the whole of the under side of whose body consists of a strongly muscular, flattened foot, on which they glide along with a slow but regular motion, leaving generally a slimy track behind them. It is needless to say that the Slug and the Snail are examples of a naked and a shell-covered Mollusc of this kind. But not merely these land Molluscs, but all the univalve marine and fresh-water shells, and all the naked Sea 138 GASTEROPODOUS MOLLUSCA. Slugs, properly so called, belong to this class of Gastero- poda. There is here an obvious advance in organization above the bivalves, even in the external characters of the an iraal. The body is more symmetrical j there is a greater distinction of parts, an obvious head, an evident tail ; and, save that the body is without legs, we have often a considerable outward resemblance to some vertebrate animal, in the form of the body and in the expression of the countenance. For here is a well-formed face, sur- mounted by two or four tentacula, commonly called horns, which either, as in the Snail, carry each an eye at its summit, or, as is the case in most of the marine kinds, have an eye on a prominence at the base. When we look at the internal structure of these animals, the advance in organiza- tion is still more clearly shown. The organs of digestion and of circulation are formed on a very per- fect type, and the nervous system is not only amply develop- ed, but there is a well-defined nervous centre, or brain. The mouth, in many spe- cies, is furnished with sharp and strong teeth; in others, the process of digestion is facilitated by strong, bony gizzards, which bruise the food in its LIMPET'S TONGUE. 139 passage into the stomach; and in others the tongue is armed with spinous processes, obviously intended to assist in the preparation of the food. The tongue of the Common Limpet, shown in the preceding figure, is a curious piece of mechanism. It is from two to three inches long, and half a line in diameter, flat, between horny and membranous, with a spoonlike extremity, and when at rest, retracted into the stomach. Its whole extent is armed with transverse rows of sharp, hooked teeth, four in each row; and between the rows are placed two trifid, rather obliquely-set teeth, one at each side of the strap. Our figure shows the general form of the whole tongue, and a small portion magnified. So large a class as the Gasteropoda necessarily in- cludes animals of very different aspect and variously- modified structure, which it becomes necessary to clas- sify on some principle derived from their organization. The classification usually adopted is founded on differ- ences in the shape and position of the gills, or breath- ing apparatus. The Common Land Snails, as well as the Fresh-water Snails, breathe air, which is received into a cavity lined with a delicate network, analo- gous to the lungs of air-breathing animals; and the fresh-water kinds are obliged to rise to the surface every time they require to take in fresh air. These constitute the first group, or Pulmoni branchiata. Such a mode of aerating the blood would obviously be unsuited to marine Gasteropoda; consequently, all the remaining orders are furnished with gills, variously placed. There are eight of these orders; and I shall mention five, as 140 CLASSIFICATION OP containing animals commonly met with. The Nudi- branchiata* or Slugs with naked gills, have the gills placed on the outside of the body, expanding freely in the water, like the tentacula of the Sea Anemone. Few marine animals offer more beautiful forms, gaily orna- mented with colours, and fringed with tentacula; while their breathing apparatus often displays the most elaborately-branched leaves, placed like the petals of a flower. The Tectibranchiata, or Slugs with covered gills, are animals of a something similar aspect, apparently soft Slugs, but often fur- nished with an internal shell. In these the gills are placed on one side of the body, under the deep folds of the mantle. Among sea- weeds, near low-water-mark, a deep purple Mollusc of this group may be found, called Aplysia. It is one or two inches long, with a snail-like body, a prominent head, furnished with four ear- shaped tentacula, two near the tip of the snout, and on the forehead two more, at the base of which are seen a pair of small, peering * A monograph of the British species of this group, illustrated by exquisitely beautiful plates, is in course of publication (through the Ray Society) by Messrs. Alder and Hancock. GASTEROPODOUS MOLLUSCA. 141 eyes. The back of the creature opens with two wide lobes, which can be expanded or closed over the opening at the animal's will. When open, they expose to view, on the right side, the finely-fringed and lobed branchiae, seated in a deep hollow beneath a fold of the mantle. Next stand the Pectinibranchiata, the most numerous order of Gasteropoda, comprising all the spiral univalve shells. In these the gills are pectinated, or shaped like the teeth of a comb, and placed in a large hollow chamber in the animal, communicating with the sur- face by a wide slit, through which the water finds free access to the gills. This type is obviously ana- logous to the Pulmoniferous order, except that in these the medium is water, and not air. Closely allied to this order are the Scutibranchiata, which have pec- tinated gills, similarly placed in a special chamber ; but in these the shell is wide, and cup, or shield-shaped, in- stead of being spiral. Such is the Common Limpet (Pa- tella], which may be taken as the type of the order. And, lastly I shall mention the Cydobrancldata, in which the gills form a fringe round the margin of the body, be- tween the edge of the mantle and the foot. To this belongs the Chiton, the only mul- tivalve shell among the Gasteropoda. There are two or three common species, which may be found adhering to stones near low-water-mark. They are Slugs, coated with eight transverse, shelly plates, resembling the plates 142 HABITS OP GASTEROPODA: of ancient armour, which, connected with a tough mar- ginal band, form a complete shield to the animal. These several orders of Gasteropoda are as various in their habits as in their organization. A large number feed on marine plants, but many are carnivorous, prey- ing on other Mollusca, as well as on any animal sub- stance offered to them. Among spiral shells, those with circular mouths to the shell, like the old genus Turbo, are vegetable feeders; while such as have an aperture ending in a canal, like Buccinum, and Murex, are animal-feeders. Very important modifications of inter- nal structure indicate this difference of food, and the external organs, particularly about the mouth, exhibit a corresponding variety of form. In those which feed on vegetables the mouth is generally a slit, furnished with more or less perfect lips, armed with a simple cutting apparatus, which is often a powerful instrument, en- abling the animal to eat its way through comparatively hard substances. But the animal feeders are provided with a much more complex organ, which serves the double purpose of an arm to secure the prey, and a channel to convey it to the stomach. The proboscis of the Whelk, or JBuccinum, is an organ of this character of a highly curious structure ; and, armed with it, the creature can pierce through the hardest shells in search of food. This proboscis can either be protruded to a considerable length, and used as an arm movable in every direction, or it may be wholly drawn in, contract- ing on itself, like the horns of a snail, till it disappear within the body of the animal. Its movements depend on the action of a very complex system of muscles. It THEIR ORGANIZATION. 143 consists of two cylinders, one within the other; the outer of which serves for the attachment of the motor muscles and the general protection of the organ, while the inner, opening near the extremity with a longitudinal mouth, armed with two strong cartilaginous lips, encloses the tongue and a great part of the oesophagus. The tongue is armed with sharp spines, and, acting in concert with the hard lips, which can be opened or shut, or strongly pressed together, it forms a sort of rasp or auger, by which very hard substances are rapidly perforated ; and then the tongue being protruded, the hooked spines with which it is armed are admirably fitted for the col- lection of food. The mode in which the shells of Gas- teropoda are formed is very similar to what takes place among bivalve shells. These beautifully-painted struc- tures are secreted by the glandular margin of the mantle, or soft skin, which clothes the upper part of the body of the Mollusc; and their form depends on the shape of the body they are destined to cover, while the outline of the border is alike regulated by that of the mantle. In the border of the mantle are placed the glands through which colouring-matter is added to the lime of which the shell consists, and here also the whole of the outer coat of the shell is formed by constant an- nual additions to the lip. The after-growth of the shell in thickness, is provided for by secretions almost always colourless, from the general surface of the mantle. These are supplied in thin layers, one over the other, at stated periods, so that the older a shell is, the thicker will be the substance. In most of the shell-coated Gasteropoda the mantle is concealed by the shell, or its margin only 144 FORMATION OP SHELL. may be seen just protruded round the aperture, as the creature crawls along; but in the Cyprcea, or Cowry, and in such shells as have a similarly polished coat, the mantle folds back over the surface of the shell, to which it imparts the high polish and the beautiful markings these shells display. The annexed section of the shell otNassa reticulata is intended to show the nature of its internal spires. Notwithstanding the defences pro- vided by Nature for the shelly Mol- luscs, they have many enemies, from whose attacks the largest and strongest shells do not always afford protection. Among these enemies are some ani- mals which have no means of piercing the shell, but must watch their opportunity when the owner is quiet- ly feeding, or so far extended that he cannot retreat before the fatal blow is given. No one can have picked up many spiral shells on the shore without noticing that several of them were tenanted, not by the proper owner of the shell, but by a kind of Crab, which has taken up his abode in " the hollow-wreathed chamber." These Crabs belong to a peculiar genus, called Pagurus, or the Hermit Crabs, which are obviously fitted by Nature for such a life, and unsuited to any other; and the Pagurus would find himself quite as much inconvenienced by the loss of his stolen coat as the natural owner himself. We may, therefore, wonder that Nature should have left him so unprovided as to subject him to the necessity of feloniously appropriating the goods of another. But, it HERMIT CRABS. 145 may well be replied, that he was specially destined to keep the shelly Molluscs in check, as some enemies seem provided to every animal, that the balance might be preserved between the several species of the animal kingdom. But, be this as it may, we find in the forma- tion of the Pagurus his charter for acting as he does. All the forepart of his body is coated with mail, like that of other crabs, while his hind-parts are soft, and covered with a membrane in which the mere rudiments of shelly plates may be traced. The tail, however, is furnished with a pair of hooks, by which it can lay hold of ob- jects. The back-part of his body, indeed, so obviously resembles that of one of the Spiral-shelled Molluscs, that it requires but a glance to see that the cast-off clothes of one will equally suit the other. And in early life the Paguri are probably contented with nestling in the deserted shells which may be found on the shore, and to which they readily attach themselves by means of the hooks of their tail, so that they can move about with as great ease as if there was a regular organic adhesion. But, as they advance in size, they require larger houses ; the first-selected shells are therefore de- serted, and new ones chosen. Sometimes the Pagurus continues to select deserted shells. But, judging from the freshness of the shell in which we find him, it is probable that he more frequently attacks living speci- mens, seizing the animal with his claws before it has time to retreat ; and, having devoured its flesh, appro- priates the shell. Mr. Bell* states that such is pro- bably the fact, though he has not himself witnessed it. * "History of British Crustacea," p. 173. L 146 KOCK-POOLS. It would extend this chapter too much to mention, or even to glance at, the other groups of animals, ex- amples of which are to be found on the rocky sea-shore. Enough has been said to show the richness of the subject. No shore is so absolutely barren but it will provide some interesting object for investigation among the lower animals, and there will generally be found everywhere examples of all the greater groups. And there are few shores which produce nothing but com- mon kinds ; the most unfavourable-looking places often unexpectedly yield something which is rarely found. The pursuit of Marine Zoology is, therefore, always interesting, for the attention is kept constantly alive. With the varying nature of the ground the population varies. And nothing can well exceed the beauty of a clear rock-pool, seen under strong sunlight, and through a calm surface, tenanted by its varied ani- mated tribes, all fulfilling the duties allotted to their several kinds. The transparent shrimp, now resting on its oars, midway in the water, watching your motions with its peering eyes, and attentive to the slightest disturbance, now darting through the pool, and hiding himself among sea-weeds ; the basking Sea Anemone displaying his starry flowers; the Purple Rock Urchin* studding the bottom of the pool with spiny globes ; and the quiet Molluscs leisurely pursuing their way, * This species, Echinus lividus, is peculiar to the west coast of Ireland, where it is very common, living in society in pools between tide-marks. Its habits are as curious as its aspect is beautiful. It is chiefly remarkable for burrowing circular holes in limestone, clay- slate, or even in trap-rocks. ANIMAL LIFE IN THE SEA. 147 feeding as they go : these, mingled with the varied contour and colour of delicate sea-plants, form a pic- ture which has its prototype nowhere but in fairy- land. " The sounds and seas, each creek and bay, With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals Of fish that with their fins, and shining scales, Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft Bank the mid sea : part single, or with mate, Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves Of coral stray ; or sporting with quick glance, Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold; Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend Moist nutriment ; or under rocks their food In jointed armour watch : on smooth the seal And bended dolphins play : part huge of bulk, Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, Tempest the ocean : there leviathan, Hugest of living creatures, on the deep, Stretched like a promontory, sleeps or swims, And seems a moving land ; and at his gills Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea." MILTON. CHAPTER VI. AMONG the amusements of the sea-shore there is, perhaps, none so capable of yielding a varied pleasure to a person whose taste for Natural History is awak- ened, as dredging, where it can be carried on under favourable circumstances. It is not on every coast that dredging can be practised. On some, the surf is habi- tually too great to admit of boating, as on parts of the west of Ireland, where a rock-bound shore presents no harbours for boats, and the fishermen are destitute of any other than canvas canoes, totally unfit for the pur- poses of dredging. On these coasts the broad waves of the Atlantic, continually rolling in, keep up a troubled NATURALISTS DREDGE. 149 water, in which the pursuits of the deep-sea naturalist can rarely be carried on. In other places, a rocky, or as it is technically called a foul, bottom, presents insuper- able obstacles to the use of a dredge.* It is only, there- fore, in certain favoured localities that dredging can be resorted to as an amusement by the frequenter of the sea-shore. Land-locked bays and harbours, where a quiet water flows over a smooth or a shingly bottom or lies on oyster- or scallop-beds, are the favourite ground for the amateur dredger; and these will generally yield him abundance of sport for the length of a summer-day. Those who have never seen a dredge may wish to have one described. There are several varieties of the instru- ment. The common one, with a single scraper, being in use among the fishermen on most parts of the coast, needs no de- scription, as it may generally be had by inquiring of your boatman ; but there is another kind to which the name of Naturalist's Dredge may be given, which possesses some advantages over the common dredge, * N.B. A piece of leather fixed to the scraper is a good protection to the network of the dredge when passing over a rough gravelly bottom. 150 NATUKALIST'S DREDGE. and which can only be had by ordering it specially of a blacksmith. This kind was first recommended many years ago by Robert Ball, LL.D., the well-known zoolo- gist, and its value has been largely tested, especially in deep-sea dredging. It is an iron rectangukr frame, made with a scraper at each side, and having a bag attached to it in the usual manner. Its handles are movable, being connected by eyelet holes with the bars of the frame below, and united, where they join above, by a ring and screw, so that when you wish to pack up the dredge, the handles, on the ring being unscrewed, fold up, and the whole fits into a small compass. This compactness is one advantage of this kind of dredge, as it renders it much more easy of carriage. But its great value lies in the double scraper, which makes it a mat- ter of no consequence on which side the instrument is thrown down. It cannot be reversed. The top and bottom being alike, it is a matter of indifference which shall scrape the ground. In working with a common dredge, if the instrument be not carefully thrown down it is very liable to overset, and unless it fall with the scraper in the proper position, it will not collect any- thing. The Naturalist's Dredge cannot overset, because either side scrapes equally well. And this, when dredg- ing in deep water, is a quality of the greatest value.* * Since the publication of the previous edition of this volume Dr. Ball has improved the construction of his dredge, by shortening the handles to the length of the frame, and substituting for the parts cut off, chains, which are connected by a plain ring. This change obviates the necessity of unscrewing the ring when you wish to pack up the dredge, which is therefore always ready for work at a mo- NATURALIST'S DREDGE. 151 We will suppose the dredger afloat, on a fine day and in a favourable locality, furnished with his dredge, ment's notice. The flexibility of the chain also increases the biting power of the scraper. The joint connecting the handle with the frame has also been improved, as represented in the following figure. The frame is only about a foot long : the whole apparatus may therefore be packed up, to fit in the pocket of your great-coat. Galvanized iron is the best to resist the action of the sea-water. The following letter to Dr. Ball, from N. B. Ward, Esq., of Fern- House notoriety, contains the testimony of two well-known practical naturalists to the great utility of his dredge, and the facility of using it. " Clapham, 8 Sept. 1853. " MY DEAR SIR, " You will be pleased, although not surprised, to hear a good account of your little dredge. My friend, Dr. Budd, of Plymouth, had always used the common oyster-dredge, requiring a large boat and the labour of two men. We fairly tested the merits of both by 152 DRAGGING FOR SEA-WEEDS. and with some collecting boxes and bottles, and a sieve to sort the smaller animals from the mud and silt. When the water is clear and not very deep, the aspect of the bottom, as the boat glides quietly over it, often affords a charming submarine picture, as well as reveals the places where the dredge may be most profitably thrown down. The larger sea-weeds, seen like a forest waving in the clear water below you, generally mark the posi- tion of rocks, and forbid the use of the dredge ; but often the treasures of such ground may be rifled by using another instrument, called a drag, which can sometimes be employed on foul ground with much effect. This instrument consists of a series of hooks attached to a transverse bar and con- nected with a rope. It ought to weigh at least five or six pounds. This is to be drag- ged along among the leaves of the large sea-weeds, care being taken, when the ground is very foul, not to allow it to fr,ll into holes among the rocks, in which it would be liable to be caught. By suffering it to drag among the sea-weeds, some of these will be detached, and being caught by the hooks, may readily be hauled dredging over the same ground for nine or ten hours in Plymouth Sound. Your little dredge did thrice the work with half the labour. I cannot tell you how deeply indebted I feel to you for it, &c. " Believe me, yours most truly, " N. B. WARD." " To Robert Ball, LL.D., &c. Dublin." PARASITES ON LAMINARI^I. 153 up ; and such leaves often afford a rich harvest. The stems and fronds of the Great Oar-weed are very gene- rally clothed with smaller Algse, of which many species are to be obtained only on them. The beautiful Ptilota plumosa is altogether confined to the stems of Laminaria diffitata, and these stems are also the favourite habitat of many other of the more delicate Floridce. Callitham- nion Pluma, a minute but very beautiful species, forms upon them a covering resembling fine crimson velvet ; Delesseria ruscifolia ; Rhodymenia palmetto,, and Poly- siphonia urceolata, are also commonly to be met with. The number of marine animals attached to these weeds is also considerable. Several of the Sertularian and other Zoophytes ; various and beautiful kinds of Bo- tryllus and of other compound Ascidians, as well as several of the Gasteropodous Molluscs, may be collected either on the broad leaves or among the roots of the Laminarise. Two kinds of Patella (P. pellucida and P. Icevis), both remarkable for longitudinal streaks of iri- descent colours on an olive shell, may be found feeding on the LamiuariaD ; the former generally upon the broad leaves, the latter among the fibres of the root, or upon the fleshy stem, and very frequently within the bulb of L. bulbosa. To the labours of these little Molluscs may, indeed, be partly attributed the annual destruction of these gigantic Algse. Eating into the lower part of the stems, and destroying the branches of the roots, they so far weaken the base, that it becomes unable to support the weight of the frond ; and thus the plant is detached and driven on shore by the waves. 154 TOWIXG-XET. A Towing-net contrived by Dr. Ball for the capture of Crustacea, Acalephce, &c., may be here introduced, as a means of obtaining many most interesting natant animals and vegetables. The diameter of the hoop may be about Jive inches. The net is made of canvas or gauze, in double cones, both ends open. The inner cone prevents the regurgitation of the captives ; the glass tied at the end (an ordi- nary cupping-glass) enables the captor to see what he has caught. He may then untie the string and put the animals away, or he may thrust the glass up through the hole in the inner cone and empty it into his jars. In some cases it may be ad- visable to strap some corks round the glass to prevent its sinking when used in a feeble tide-way : the coi'ks may also serve as fenders to prevent the glass being broken against the sides of the vessel. At depths beyond which the Laminarise cease to vegetate, that is, from about four to ten fathoms, the bottom of the sea is frequently covered with a vegetation of a very different character, which, indeed, will scarcely be taken, by a hasty observer, to belong to the vegetable kingdom at all. In speaking of Coral- lines in a former chapter, I alluded to a kindred race of vegetables, called Nullipores or Melobesia?, of a stony NULLIPORES. 155 character, whose outward coating and much of whose interior fabric, are composed of carbonate of lime, se- creted in their cells, and forming an organized portion of their bodies. Vegetables of this class bear a striking resemblance to the skeletons of some of the larger cal- careous Zoophytes, especially to some of the Celleporse j but they may always be known from true Zoophytes by the absence of pores, or polype-cells, in the surface ; and when their structure is carefully examined with a microscope, their vegetable nature is still more obvious. To examine one of the Nullipores, it is necessary that a portion of the specimen intended for examination be first macerated for some time in dilute muriatic acid. This will dissolve the opake carbonate of lime which fills the cells, and leave the tissue iu a state in which minute portions of it may readily be dissected, and placed under the microscope. It will then be found of NOLLIPORES a nature precisely similar to the cellular tissue of other Algse. In their outer aspect the Nullipores are of very various characters. Some of them resemble Lichens in form, being thin as paper, expanding into leafy lobes, and forming circular patches on the surface of rocks. In others the leafy lobes stand erect, or are laid one 156 PARASITES ON NULLIPOK.E. beside another in globose masses, something like the gills of a mushroom. Others are much more solid, and resemble masses of smooth calcareous rock, here and there rising into wart-like prominences ; and others again are very much branched, like stony trees or shrubs. When growing, the colour of the frond is more or less of a livid purple, becoming, on the death of the plant, of a brick-dust hue. Various others of the smaller Algae, and a considerable number of marine animals, may be collected on the Nullipore-banks. Among the Alga? which especially frequent the Nulli- pores, one of the most interesting is Padinellaparvula, an olive, Lichenoid species, very frequently found at- tached to various Nullipores. Polysiphonia parasitica, P. subulifera, and P. furcellata, are also among the rarities frequently found in this locality ; and the more common plants are Rhodymenia bifida, It. ciliata and broad varieties oiDictyota dickotoma. Among animals, several of the Annelides, and some of the Naked Mol- luscs, will reward the zoologist ; and the collector of minute shells may secure several of the Rissoce on this ground. Banks of Nullipores are, however, not very prolific ; and though they afford sufficient interest for a few hauls of the dredge, and are therefore always worth a visit, their variety is soon exhausted, and the dredger soon satiated. Very frequently, also, a large portion of the bank consists of dead fronds, and these yield little to interest the explorer. A more fertile ground for the dredger is found on the borders of scallop- or oyster-banks, the former being generally at a depth below the level at which most marine plants vegetate, though an occasional straggler PLANARIA. 157 here and there maintains its ground. On scallop- banks, in from ten to fifteen or twenty fathoms, the variety of marine animals is so great, that the dredge rarely comes up without bringing with it some object to interest the dredger. These are of many races, extending upwards from the simplest members of the animal kingdom, the Sponges, to the more highly organized Molluscs. In so great a variety, I can notice only a few of the more striking species. I shall begin with an animal of a very low type of structure, the Planaria. Of this genus some species are found in the sea, though the majority are natives of fresh water, where they may be seen glid- ing over the stems and leaves of water-plants, and among the threads of Confervee, feeding on such small animals as come in their way, and as they are able to over- come. The species re- presented in our figure was taken on the west coast of Ireland. It was about two inches long, of an oval form, very thin and flat, of a milky white colour, marked with narrow longitudinal stripes, or lines, of a dark-brown or blackish hue. It had two ear-like appendages at its broader end ; and its 158 INSENSIBILITY OF PLANARIA. other extremity, or tail, was somewhat pointed. The ears were curved backwards, and finely dotted with minute specks. It moved along with some rapidity, chiefly by contraction of the margin, which was more or less curled while the body kept in motion. On being captured, it was put into a bottle of sea-water, in company with some other animals, for the purpose of further examination ; but one of these (I am uncertain which) attacked, and actually eat off about half the body of the Planaria before it was detected. The latter, however, seemed to feel no inconvenience from the loss of its hinder parts, and moved about as rapidly, and with as much apparent ease and pleasure, as if nothing had occurred. This insensibility to mutilation is a com- mon character of these animals, and seems to show that they have really, as well as apparently, no nervous cen- tres. It is well known that if a Planaria be cut in pieces, all the several parts will continue to live and move about ; and each of them, however small, will, in due time, become a perfect animal, complete in all its parts. But what is still more curious, it has been ob- served that if the Planaria be mutilated while in motion, its separate parts will continue to move in the same direction as the animal had been following be- fore the mutilation. This is a very curious fact, as the parts of most other animals which are similarly viva- cious, when broken up, move off in opposite directions. According to the observation of anatomists, the flesh of the Planaria is of a very simple structure, nearly gelatinous, with little or no trace of muscular fibre ; and no traces of nervous filaments have been clearly as- certained. Some species, however, have coloured specks ANNELIDES, OR RED-BLOODED WORMS. 159 at the anterior end of the body ; and these have been supposed to be eyes, though no proof of their being organs of vision has been discovered. There is but one aperture, which serves the place both of moiith and vent. This communicates with a much-branched stomach, where the food is received and digested ; and the undigested matter is rejected by being driven back by the way through which it came. Besides this diges- tive apparatus, there is a rudimentary vascular system, consisting of a delicate network of vessels ramifying through the body. Such is the simple arrangement of parts in these animals. They were formerly placed near the Leeches, which are of a much higher type of struc- ture, though externally somewhat similar ; but they are now arranged with the intestinal worms, to which their structure nearly allies them. None of the Planarice, however, are found in the bodies of other animals. A considerable number of the class of ANNELIDES the group to which the Common Earth- Worm and the Leech belong are natives of the sea, and many of them are objects of great beauty. Some are curious in their structure : and others, equally curious and beautiful, are sought after by fishermen to be used as bait. All these animals have so much general resemblance to each other, that it requires little observation to recognise any as belonging to the group, when you are once familiar with any member of it. They are all of a long, gene- rally a worm-like form, capable of contracting conside- rably in length, and of extending the body again. The body is composed of a set of rings or joints, connected by a common flexible skin or covering ; and every joint except the first, which serves as a head, and the 160 STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION last, which constitutes the tail, is precisely like the one above or below it, save in size ; those of the middle portion of the body being frequently larger than the rest. The head is frequently furnished with eyes, and with more or less perfectly formed tentacula, or feelers. It contains the mouth, which in many species is armed with formidable jaws, or with cutting teeth, which fur- nish these voracious creatures with a powerful means of attacking their prey. Most, if not all of them, are carnivorous. The blood-sucking propensities of some, as of the common Leech, are proverbial. The blood of all these worms is remarkable for its red colour, and it circulates through a double system of arteries and veins. The mode in which this blood is aerated varies con- siderably in different members of the class ; and as the differences of breathing apparatus indicate important varities of habit among these animals, these differences have been happily chosen by Cuvier, as the basis on which his systematic division of ANNELIDES, or Red- blooded Worms, is constructed. He divides this class of animals into three groups or orders. In the first, which he calls Abranchiata, there is no external breath- ing apparatus ; but along the sides of the body are disposed a number of minute holes, by which the sur- rounding medium, be it air or aerated water, is freely admitted into little bags, concealed beneath the skin. Over the membranous surface of these bags the blood- vessels form a delicate network, by which the contained fluid is exposed, through the thin membranous wall, to the action of the air or water. To this group belong the Earth- Worms, the Leeches, and several creatures of similar habits, frequenting muddy places in sestuaries OF THE ANNELIDES. 161 and rivers. In the second family, or Dorsibranchiata, external breathing organs, or gills, often resembling beautiful feathery tufts, are attached in pairs either to every segment of the body, or to a certain number of the middle segments. These organs sometimes dis- play the most elegant varieties of form and the richest colours, and afford, by their minor variations, excel- lent characters for classifying the smaller groups or genera. To this order belong the majority of the marine Annelides ; and among the rest, the Arenicola piscato- rum (Lug Worm), so commonly used as bait by fisher- men. Lastly, there is the family called Tubicola, which , differs from the two preceding groups in being com- posed of sedentary animals. In both the former orders the animals possess considerable activity : as the Earth- Worm, which pushes its way through the soil, in which it excavates extensive galleries ; or as the Leech, which progresses by successive steps by means of the suckers attached to its head and tail ; or as the individuals of the Dorsibranchiate order, which creep along by means of the bristly oars attached to each joint of the body, or swim through the water by the help of the same organs. But in the Tubicola we find a set of animals which have partly the aspect of Earth- Worms, partly that of Dorsibranchiate Worms, yet which differ from both in having the greater part of their body enclosed in a more or less perfectly formed tube or shell, which is permanently attached to some extraneous object. When the animal has once taken up its position, it remains fixed throughout its life. The greater part of the body being enclosed in the sheath, we do not find the gills or M 162 SPECIES OF SERPUL.E. breathing-holes distributed throughout its length, where, indeed, they could scarcely be of any use ; but we find them confined to the uppermost segments, or head, round which they form a most elaborate and richly-tinted col- lar of lace, which even Queen Elizabeth herself might have been proud to wear. Some of the commonest, as well as most perfect, ex- amples of the order Tubi- cola, are the various kinds of Serpula ; the smaller species of which may be found on al- most every sea-weed, at least on all the more coarsely- growing kinds, as well as on every object which has lain for any length of time in the sea. Stones near low-water- mark ; shells, whether dead or living ; pieces of crockery- ware, or even iron instru- ments any substances, in BERPULA. short, which lie quietly at the bottom of the sea, and afford a point of attachment, are seized on in time by one Serpula or another as a foundation for his worm-like house. The tube in which these worms encase themselves is formed of regular shell, apparently secreted like the shells of the Mollusca, by the outer covering or skin of the animal. It rarely possesses any colour but white, and SERPULAR1A TUBULARIA. 163 is usually opake and milky. In some species it is trans- parent and brilliant as glass ; in some it is round, in others sharply angular ; in some perfectly smooth, in others transversely wrinkled. Some species constantly coil up their tubes in a nearly-regular, spiral manner, others twist them into every variety of shape. In some the tube is prosti'ate, in others erect ; and in some it is prostrate during its early growth, and afterwards, when the animal has attained a mature size, rises upward, free and erect. Some kinds live in society, others are solitary. One of the largest of our British kinds, S. tubularia, represented in our figure, is very commonly brought up in the dredge, attached to old dead shells, &c., on scallop-banks. It generally is solitary, one Serpula occupying a shell to itself, over whose surface it first winds its way with gradually-widening tube, until, having acquired nearly its full diameter, it rises from the shell with graceful bend, and prolongs its tube in an erect position to the length of three or four inches. The tube is about the thickness of a quill, of a dull white colour, cylindrical, and marked with a few transverse wrinkles at short intervals. Within this tube the animal can wholly retreat, closing the aperture by means of a shelly plate affixed to a fleshy horn, which rises at one side of the mouth. When the animal displays itself, as it opens while seeking for prey, its head, surrounded by the richly-coloured collar of gills, composed of numerous slender pieces, pecti- nated on their inner faces and spreading like a starry- flower, is protruded for some distance from the tube ; and here it waits, ready to seize on any small animal 164 SPECIES OF SABELLA, ETC whose curiosity or misfortune may lead it within reach of its jaws. Nor are the other members of the family Tubicola less curious and beautiful than the Serpula, although they do not construct so perfect tubes. Instead of clothing themselves with a shelly tube, secreted by their skin, these animals, called Sabella, Terebella, and Am- phitrite, form tubes composed of sand or of any small pieces of shell which they happen to come into contact with, and which, by means of a viscid matter exuded from their bodies, they glue together, so as to make a tolerably regular tubular coat. The empty tubes of a species of Sabella may often be found on sandy shores, heaped together along with dead shells and sea-weed, and the living worm may be found in its tube, buried in the sand near low-water-mark. These sand-tubes are neatly constructed of grains of nearly equal size, glued together into a wall not much thicker than paper. The form of the tube is cylindrical, or very narrowly funnel-shaped, the lower end being smaller, and gradually widening upwards. Other kinds dwell .in society, like the Sabella alveolata, which forms extensive honeycombed masses, constructed of grains of sand, and attached to rocks near low-water-mark. Sometimes a wide surface of the rock is completely covered by these aggregated tubes. When the water retires, nothing is seen but the mouths of the tubes, in each of which a drop of water is generally retained ; but, when the water again flows in, this sandy honey- comb is transformed into a scene of much beauty. From each aperture a neck protrudes, wreathed with concen- DORSIBRANCHIATA ' THE SEA-MOUSE. 165 trie circles of gilded hairs, and ending in a head sur- mounted by a branching crown, which reflects rainbow colours. The whole resembles a bed densely covered with fairy flowers of strange shape and delicate struc- ture. Such are some of the commoner kinds of Tubicolar Annelides ; those of the Dorsibranchiate order, which we commonly meet with in dredging, are still more beautiful, and some of them are among the most splen- didly coloured objects that the animal kingdom presents to us. The rainbow tints of the humming-bird, and the metallic lustre of the gayest beetle, have their equals in many of the members of this family of worms. If we are free from associations of disgust at the worm-like body, we cannot help being struck with the beauty of its clothing, or the really graceful motions of these little animals, gliding like serpents among the crevices of rocks and shelly masses, or half swimming, half crawling along the bottom of a rock-pool. Naturalists, struck with their beauty and grace, have assigned to them the names of nymphs, as Nereis, Euphrosyne, Eunice, Alciopa, Aphrodita, and others. Our British seas fur- nish examples of many of these genera, but, as yet, the several species have not received, from British naturalists, that close attention which they deserve, and a monograph, illustrated by figures, is much wanted for their elucidation. A great variety of species, varying in size and form, may be observed in dredging. One of these, which sel- dom fails to attract the dredger's notice by the lustre of its coat, though its frequency may cause it to be thrown 166 STAR-FISHES. back as of no value, is the Sea- Mouse, or Aphrodita (Halithea) aculeata, which is frequently met with in dredging over muddy ground. The body of this crea- ture is oval, three or four inches in length, or sometimes more, soft, dull grey, clothed with a fine silky substance on the back, and thinly covered with small hairs which reflect rainbow colours. The sides are broadly margined with several rows of stiff purple spines, among which are long silky hairs half an inch to an inch in length, of metallic lustre, and reflecting the most brilliant pris- matic colours. Oranges and greens of the richest tints are the most abundant. Under the silky hairs of the back are concealed fifteen pairs of scaly plates, one of which is affixed to each ring of the body, and covers over the branchial organs or gills. The under surface is smooth, transversely divided into about forty rings or segments. Each segment is produced at the margin into a short fleshy lobe or oar-like body, armed with a triple row of stiff spines. These oars, or feet (for they answer partly the purposes of swimming, partly those of crawling), may be contracted at the will of the animal into conical lumps, and the spines may be wholly with- drawn, each within its proper sheath. The spines are curious microscopic weapons, each armed with barbed teeth like those of a fish-spear, capable of inflicting a severe wound on any soft body. No one can have thrown down the dredge many times, on almost any sort of ground, and failed to bring up one or other of the various animals called Star-fishes, whoso name sufficiently indicates their form. Sometimes the dredge comes up literally filled with these creatures, LILY STONES, OR ST. CUTHBERT'S BEADS. 167 thousands being brought up in a single haul, as if the bottom were formed of a living bank of them, or as if we had disturbed a submarine hive in the process of swarming. The countless myriads of living Star-fishes which thus cluster together, may serve to explain to us the profusion with which similar animals, whose remains are now found in rocky strata, were dispersed through the waters of the early world. But, while we have this similarity in relative quantity between the modern races and those of ancient days, we find in this, as in most other cases, a complete change in the types most com- mon at different periods of the world's age. The ani- mals which represent our Star-fishes in early strata have wholly perished from the modern waters ; and the very- type of structure to which they belonged has nearly be- come extinct, and is now confined to a very few species. In the seas which once flowed over the British Islands there lived a race of Star-fishes whose bodies were af- fixed, like flowers, to a slender stalk, composed of nume- rous shelly plates, disposed like the bones in a vertebral column, and connected together and rendered flexible by the fleshy coat of the animal. This stalk was fixed to some foreign body, and thus the Star-fish remained at anchor, ready to seize upon any animal which came within the length of its tether, but, unlike its modern representative, unable to pursue its game to any dis_ tance. The petrified remains of these curious animals are commonly called Lily Stones, or Encrinites,and the joints of their stem are known by the name of "St. Cuthbert's beads." Whether they became, at any period of their life, free from the stalk, and capable of independent 168 YOUNG FEATHER STARS. motion, is uncertain, as we have no living species to tell the tale ; and, to judge by the remains found in a fossil state, it does not appear probable. The modern seas of Britain furnish us with but a single species of the family Crinoidce, the group to which the Lily Stars of early times belonged ; and it is not a little curious that this species, though it afterwards becomes free, swimming about like any other Star-fish, is in its infancy affixed to a stalk perfectly analogous to that of the Encrinite. When first detected, in this young state, it was, indeed, supposed to be a distinct ani- mal, and believed to be the pigmy representative of the Lily Star. Subsequent ob- servations have shown that the little creature is merely the young of the Feather Star (Comatula rosacea), the only living Crinoid Star-fish in the British seas. Young Feather Stars, or, as they were called, Penta- crinus Europeus, are found affixed to the stems of va- rious Zoophytes. They are about half an inch or three- quarters in height, with a body more or less resem- bling (according to its age) the perfect Comatula, fixed to a column consisting of several pentagonal joints, FEATHER STAR. 169 attached by an expanded base to the Zoophyte. The column is perfectly flexible, and can be moved at the will of the animal in any direction. Mr. J. V. Thompson, who originally discovered this curious little creature, subsequently succeeded in tracing its development until he found the lily-shaped body had acquired most of the characters of the youngest- Comatula which he could procure in a free state, and was thus led to the conclusion, which the observations of other naturalists have since confirmed, that the supposed Pentacrinus was merely the young of the Comatula, or Feather Star. The Feather Star itself is certainly the most beau- tiful of our Star-fishes, but must be seen in a state of life and activity, as it rises in the dredge, to have all its beauties appreciated. Like so many of its kindred, it is exceeding fragile, breaking up shortly after it finds itself in captivity, so that it can rarely, even with the greatest care, be brought to shore in an uninjured state. The body is small, clothed on the back with dense jointed filaments, and having five long slender arms cloven nearly to the base, and thus looking like ten, each branch being closely feathered with slender processes of a very elaborate structure. The whole body is of a deep rose colour, and resembles, when its arms are expanded, a beautiful living flower, every part of which seems alive with independent motions. It would be vain to attempt in a woodcut to give a just impression of such an object, and mere description can afford but a feeble notion of its wondrous beauty. The Feather Star is found all round our coasts, and is frequently brought up in from ten to twenty fathoms water, attached to different kinds 170 OPHIUR^: AND OPHIOCOJLE. of sea- weed, which it lays hold of by means of the claws, which tip the filaments that clothe its body. Professor Forbes's second family, the Ophiuridce, are those which are now most abundant in the British seas, and whose remains, were the bottom of our ocean now converted into rock, would be found in the greatest plenty through its marbles. It is these that come up in the dredge in such vast profusion ; yet the different kinds are not numerous, only twelve having been as yet noticed on the British shoi'es. They are easily recognised from the true Star-fishes by their small round bodies, from which issue five long serpent-like or worm-like legs, which are armed with spines, and move about in all directions. When the creature swims or crawls about, either of which motions it can effect with great ease, its long legs twist and wriggle, or lash the water like whips, while the spines serve as additional locomotive organs over flat surfaces. The British species are classed under two genera, the OPHIUR^;, or Sand Stars, of which two kinds inhabit our shores, and the OPHIOCOM^E, or Brittle Stars, of which we possess ten. These last are the most characteristic of the type, some of them having legs (if we may so call them) several inches long, and no thicker than small whipcord, with round bodies half an inch in diameter. The rays of such species remind us, as Pro- fessor Forbes well remarks, of so many Centipedes or Annelides attached, at regular distances, round a little Sea Urchin. All these animals are very brittle, and if not plunged, immediately on being gathered, into fresh- water, so as to cause instant death, it is impossible to prevent their falling in pieces. SUCKING-FEET OP STAR-FISHES. 171 In the true Star-fishes, or Asteriadce, the body itself is divided into rays like those of a star. The rays are channelled on their lower surface, and pierced by holes, through which protrude a multitude of suckers, that serve for organs of prehension, to grasp food, and for organs of motion to enable the animal to change its position. It is exceedingly curious to watch the activity that exists among these numberless sucking-feet when a living Star-fish is placed on its back in a shallow vessel of water. If it had previously been touched on the lower surface, all the feet will have recoiled within the body, leaving nothing visible but a series of minute tubercles ; but, when the Star-fish is allowed to recover its ease, they will quickly issue, like so many worms, from their holes, and, after moving backwards and for- wards through the water, will bend round in the direc- tion of the nearest ground : those that first reach it will affix their suckers, and by contracting will pull down a portion of the body, so as to enable others to attach themselves, until, a sufficient number of suckers being attached, their conjoint power is sufficient to bring round the body of the Star-fish to its proper position. These sucking-feet, or cirrhi, are tubular, and filled with fluid when fully extended. The mechanism by which they are extended is very simple. Each is con- nected with a globular vesicle contained within the body of the Star-fish immediately beneath the hole from which the sucker issues. When the animal wishes to extend the feet, the sides of the vesicle forcibly contract, and in so doing propel the fluid which they contain into the tubular feet, which then elongate and 172 THE SUN STAR. become tense ; and when it desires to withdraw them, a contraction of its muscles drives back the fluid into the concealed vesicle. By this alternate action all the neces- sary motions are obtained. The skeleton of a Star-fish, or that part which remains when all the soft flesh has been removed, is a wonderfully beautiful structure, con- sisting of hundreds of nicely-fitted calcareous pieces arranged in a regular pattern, perfectly symmetrical in all its parts. We cannot undertake to write a description of such a skeleton, which resembles a piece of crochet- work ; but one may easily be procured by any person who will take the trouble to pick up a Star-fish on the shore, and place it for some days in an ant-hill. These nimble anatomists will soon remove all the soft parts, and polish the bones with the greatest care, without injuring or displacing the minutest portion of the shell. An interesting series of specimens might be obtained by preparing such skeletons of all our native kinds. The British species of true Star-fishes are fourteen, which are considerably more varied in character than the OPHIUKID/E, or Brittle Stars. In the latter group we have but two generic types ; but in the former there are no less than eight, distinguished from each other by characters taken from the outline of the body, the number of rows of sucking-feet, and the arrangement of the spines covering the surface and bordering the avenues.* These differences are readily seen, and the groups indicated by them appear naturally associated. One of the most beautiful of the commoner kinds is the Sun Star (Solaster papposct), whose disc is surrounded * Forbes's " Star-fishes," p. 75, &c. THE LINGTHORN. 173 by twelve or thirteen broad rays, and the whole of the upper surface covered with tubercles ; each tubercle crowned with a tuft of eighteen or twenty long striated spines. The colours are variable, but generally brilliant. Frequently the whole is a brilliant red ; sometimes the disc is red, and the rays white, and sometimes the whole surface is deep purple. Professor Forbes once took a specimen, in which the body was of a fine red, while the spiniferous tubercles were bright green. Very different in aspect from the Sun Star is the Birdsfoot Sea Star (Palmvpes metribranaceus), one of the most singular of our native species. In this the body is pentagonal? with very blunt angles, separated by wide and shallow sinuses, and the whole is so exceedingly thin that it looks more like a piece of shagreened skin than any- thing else. The colour is white, with a red centre and five red rays proceeding one to each angle. The whole upper surface is covered with tufts of minute spines, arranged in rows. Lastly, I may mention the Lingthorn (Luidia fragilissima), the largest and one of the most interesting of our British species, and very different in aspect from either of those already noticed. It appears to be peculiar to the British seas, and has been taken on various parts of the coast. Those that I have seen in a living state were dredged on the Galway coast. This Star-fish measures at least two feet across. Its body is deeply divided into five or seven lobes, which taper much to the extremity, and are many times longer than the breadth of the disc. The upper surface is per- fectly flat, and densely clothed with minute tufted spines, while the margins of the lobes are fringed with several 174 HABITS OF THE LINGTHORN. rows of longer spines. The suckers are very long and active. The colour is an orange or brick-red on the upper surface, and on the lower a pale yellow. But the most curious circumstance connected with this Star-fish, and which indicates an analogy to the Brittle Stars, is the power which it possesses of breaking itself to pieces under the influence of rage or despair. Professor Forbes gives the following amusing account of its propensities : "Never having seen one before, and quite unconscious of its suicidal powers, I spread it out on a rowing bench, the better to admire its form and colours. On attempt- ing to remove it for preservation, to my horror and dis- appointment I found only an assemblage of rejected members : my conservative endeavours were all neutral- ized by its destructive exertions, and it is now badly represented in my cabinet by an armless disc and a discless arm. Next time I went to dredge on the same spot, determined not to be cheated out of a specimen in such a way a second time, I brought with me a bucket of cold fresh-water, to which article Star-fishes have a great antipathy. As I expected, a Luidia came up in the dredge, a most gorgeous specimen. As it does not generally break up before it is raised above the surface of the sea, cautiously and anxiously I sunk my bucket to a level with the dredge's mouth, and proceeded in the most gentle manner to introduce Luidia to the purer element. Whether the cold air was too much for him, or the sight of the bucket too terrific, I know not; but in a moment he proceeded to dissolve his corporation, and at every mesh of the dredge his fragments were seen escaping. In despair I grasped at the largest, and MADRErORIFORM TUBERCLE. 175 brought up the extremity of an arm, with its terminat- ing eye, the spinous eyelid of which opened and closed with something exceedingly like a wink of derision." * The dismembered fragments of the Luidia continue active long after their dispersion. The feet move about and attach themselves to any object that comes within their reach, retracting and pushing out with as much vigour as they did when the creature was entire. A similar irritability is often seen in the dismembered portions of other of the lower animals which indulge in these "destructive" propensities. The Star-fishes possess a curious organ, whose use has not hitherto been satisfactorily ascertained by ana- tomists. Its position is indicated externally by a sort of wart, placed on some part of the upper surface of the disc and marked with radiating striae, resembling the plates of a Madrepore or the gills of a Mushroom. This body is commonly called the madreporiform tubercle. When the animal is cut open, a curved calcareous column, composed of minute hexagonal plates, united together into larger, joint-like portions, and invested with a skin, is seen connecting the inner surface of the tubercle with the plates about the mouth. After men- tioning the various offices attributed to it, none of which appear satisfactory, Mr. Forbes seems inclined to regard it, with Dr. Coldstream, as the analogue of the stalk of the Crinoid Star-fishes ; an opinion which will be acceptable to all who delight to contemplate the unities of nature. We leave the uses of this curious organ untold to be determined by future observation ; * Forbes's i4 Star-fishes," p. 138. 176 THE COMMON EGG URCHIN : but we see in its structure a memory kept up of an organ which is more fully developed in a kindred race. The Star-fishes are closely connected with another family, which differs chiefly in the more condensed form of the body, and the more perfect solidification of its shelly coat. I mean the SEA URCHINS, of which more kinds than one frequently come up in the dredge. The common Egg Urchin (Echinus sphcera), the largest and best known of our British species, may be taken as an example of the race. On comparing one of these Urchins with a Star-fish, such as the Luidia, there is, at first sight, so little outward similarity, that we should scarcely suppose their close connection. But the more we exa- mine them, the greater is the number of points which we establish between them : the rows of sucking-feet common to both ; the radiating lines in which all the organs are disposed, and the correspondence between the compartments into which the body is divided. There remains, in the opposite scale, the difference of form. But when we examine a series of Star-fishes, we find a beautiful gradation of form, in which those with the longest rays are insensibly connected with others which are scarcely more radiated than some Urchins. There are flat, discoid Urchins, and others of every degree of convexity, till we come to the globose form of our Sea Egg. We have also in the Sea Eggs, the representative of the madreporiform tubercle of the Star-fishes, in a state certainly much reduced, but sufficiently obvious. So that, on the whole, the evidence in favour of the close affinity of these two families of animals greatly outweighs that against their connection. ITS ORGANS OP MOTION. 177 The Egg Urchin (Echinus sphcera) is so well known that I scarcely need enter into a minute description of its form. As commonly seen ornamenting the chimney- pieces of cottages near the sea-side, it is a slightly-de- pressed sphere, divided by five double rows of minute holes (called ambulacra), into ten gore-shaped spaces, of which each alternate one is twice as broad as the other. These spaces are moreover studded with rows of pearls, arranged with much regularity, and of various sizes. When the animal was alive, a short white spine, used by the Urchin as an organ of motion, or of de- fence, was articulated by a socket-joint to each pearly tubercle, which formed the ball on which it freely revolved. From each pair of holes of the ambulacra issued a sucker, like that of the Star-fish, and used for the same purposes. So that the Urchin, which now looks so armless and bald, was furnished with hundi-eds, nay, thousands, of active organs, arms or legs, as he required them. Nor were these by any means all the apparatus with which he was provided. On the surface of his coat, among the spines, were multitudes of ex- ceedingly minute and beautifully-formed pincers, which were in perpetual action, moving about from side to side, and opening and shutting their three-forked apex continually. These most singular organs, which are also found on some Star-fishes, are called by naturalists pedicellarice ; but their use to the animal is wholly unknown, and by some writers they are described as parasitic creatures of different species. I can hardly so regard them, and, whatever their office may be, must suppose them a part of the animal on which 178 PEDICELLAEI^;. they are found. The annexed drawing will give a general idea of their appearance in the Egg Urchin. They are of three kinds, differing from each other in the form of the head. Below, a hard, calcareous column, slightly knobbed at each end, enclosed by the stalk which is slender there; but, where the column ends, widens into what is called the neck. This part, com- posed of a tough skin, is quite trans- parent, and very flexible, and while life continues, it FEDICEIXARIJS. bends about in all directions. At the summit of this neck is a convex head, crowned with three hard, calcareous teeth, beau- tifully sculptured, and of three principal shapes ; some long and slender, others short and very obtuse. A more full account of their history and structure will be found in Forbes's " Star-fishes," pp. 155 159. The shell of the Egg Urchin is not at all less curious than the organs with which it is clothed. The globose box in which the softer parts of the animal are shut up, is by no means the simple crustaceous body which, at first sight, it may seem to be ; but is built up of several hundreds of pieces, accurately fitted together, like the fragments which compose a fine piece of mosaic work. The lines which separate them are scarcely visible STRUCTURE OP AN URCHIN SHELL. 179 without close inspection ; but the shell may easily be, if allowed to macerate for some days iu fresh water, broken up into its component parts. These will be found to be of various sizes and shapes, in different parts of the shell, but nearly all are pentagonal, and one so nicely fitted to the other, that no minute space is left without its covering. The very complex structure of this shell may at first seem to be a waste of skill, an expenditure of contrivance uncalled-for by the wants of the creature. But we may be assured that there is no such waste in Nature j and, in the present instance, the structure is easily accounted for, and may be shown to be the best which could be devised to answer the required purpose. It is required to form a globose shell sufficiently hard to afford protection to the soft parts of the animal, and so constructed that it will gradually enlarge, with the growth of the creature, without any alteration of form. A simple crust would not answer these purposes, for, once formed and hardened, it would be incapable of further growth. A crust composed of a multitude of pieces, as this is, completely answers the purpose ; for the whole body may be caused to increase in growth, with the greatest regularity, by constant minute addi- tions to the edges of the several pieces. And this is the method by which the shell of the Urchin does increase. If we examine a living Urchin, we shall find that every portion of the surface of the shell, and even of the spine, is coated over with a delicate living mem- brane, and that this membrane insinuates itself between each of the pieces of the shell, however closely pressed together they appear. In this membrane resides the 180 DENTAL APPARATUS faculty of secreting the carbonate of lime for the fonna- tion of shell, and this, as fast as it is secreted, is depo- sited, layer after layer, round the edges of each plate, so that these are constantly enlarging during the active growth of the animal, till it has attained its full size. The spines are deposited in the same way, by the mem- brane which clothes them, and exhibit, in their struc- ture, as seen in the microscope, the most exquisitely beautiful and regular arrangement of particles that can well be conceived. Under the ceaseless activity of the vital power, the deposition of shelly matter proceeds, and results in a structure whose exactness and beauty it would be vain to imitate. The bony contents of the shell are not at all less ela- borate ; and when we consider the apparently low grade of the animal for whose use they are designed, and the simplicity of other parts of its organization, we cannot fail to be struck with wonder at the amount of skill and contrivance lavished on its dental apparatus. The pre- hension of food is certainly the first requirement of animal life, and consequently we find the organs con- nected with its mastication and digestion, the mouth and stomach, those that are most prominently deve- loped in the lower animals. Some of these appear to be mere stomachs, endowed with a capacious gullet, and a set of sucking lips. In others, the organs for cutting or tearing food, or for grinding it to jelly, are extremely powerful ; and when their strength is compared with the weakness or inertia of their other organs, they give us that impression of disproportion which leads to the idea of monstrosity, and which may, in some degree, OF THE EGG URCHIN. 181 account for the disgust or horror with which we view many of these creatures. Indeed, except in their minute size, they resemble in their characters many of the fabled monsters of antiquity, whose voracity was one of their most appalling qualities. Magnify any of the insect race, or of the worms, to the size of elephants or serpents, and what portentous monsters they become ! Their mouths and jaws seem utterly disproportionate in strength and complexity to the rest of their structure, though not at all disproportionate to the office which these scavengers of creation discharge in the general scheme. But few animals can boast a dental appara- tus equal in complexity to that of the Egg Urchin ; a set of harder-pointed teeth ; more grinding jaws, with a surface regularly " dressed," like that of a mill-stone ; or stronger and more varied muscular bands, by which the motions of the whole structure are regulated. In an Urchin of the usual size this system of bony jaws and teeth forms a conical body, about an inch and a half long, placed with its pointed end toward the large aperture at the base of the shell, and extending back- wards into the body of the animal. It is attached by strong muscles to five bony arches that surround the mouth of the shell, and several other sets of muscles serve to propel it forward, to cause it to retreat, to move the mass from side to side, or to cause the jaws to act on one another, like pairs of millstones. The cone consists of five triangular pieces or jaws, hollowed out, with an opening down the centre in front ; arched behind, and with the two sides flattened and finely grooved. In the hollow of these jaws is placed a long 182 SEA CUCUMBERS. movable tooth, which plays up and down. When the cone is put together, the flat, dressed surfaces of the five jaws, which stand round in a circle, are brought into contact. All the food which is received at the mouth must pass between these surfaces ; and as there are sys- tems of muscles which enable them to play up and down and across, a more perfect mill for grinding down the food cannot well be conceived. We have not space more fully to describe it, but the excellent popular account given by Professor Jones,* and the examination of a living specimen, will enable any one to understand the uses of the several parts of this singular mechanism. Of the same class with the Sea Urchins and Star- fishes, but exhibiting its characters in a weaker degree, and showing in form and structure a tendency towards the Annelides, are the Holothuriadce, or Sea Cucumbers, of which several species occasionally come up in the dredge. Their name, Sea Cucumbers, is very expres- sive of their form in a contracted state, when the body shrinks up into an oblong mass, slightly tapering to each end, and rough with wrinkles and with the rows of sucking-feet, which it has in common with the Urchins and Star-fishes. In its texture it is tough and leathery, without calcareous plates. The absence of a shell, the presence of feathery tentacula about the mouth, and the shape of the body, are differences between these creatures and the Urchins ; while the two latter circum- stances, together with the mode of progression by alter- nate contractions and extensions of the body, connect them with the Annelides. The general form of this " * General Outline of the Animal Kingdom," p. 16C, &.-. TIIYONE PAPILLOSA. 183 family may be understood from the annexed figure, which represents Thyone papillosa, a species found on various parts of the coast. It differs from other animals of the family chiefly by having its sucking-feet scat- tered in an irregular manner over the whole surface, instead of being confined to five rows along the angles of the body. In other respects it resembles most of its kindred. Its length is about three inches, but it can at pleasure extend and contract considerably. The colour is a dusky brownish white, sometimes varied with spots. The tentacula, commonly whitish, are ten in number, pinnate, and capable of being much expanded, or wholly retracted within the orifice of the mouth. In captivity it is not always easy to persuade it to put forth these delicate organs to their full extent, but a bath of clean water will often put it into good-humour. We have already noticed the self-destruction of some 184 DEEP-SEA ZOOPHYTES. of the Star-fishes j the Sea Cucumbers have an equally singular habit of a similar kind. As their skin is too tough and strong to admit of voluntary dismemberment, they resort to the unique mode of vomiting up their intestines in fact, the whole of their internal organs. Yet it does not appear that life is destroyed by this process. At least, it does not suddenly cease; and, according to the observations of Sir J. G. Dalyell, the lost parts are renewed, after months have elapsed, even in cases where the disembowelling process has been car- ried to an extreme point, leaving " the body an empty sac." Holothurise are often taken with their internal parts more or less deficient, yet apparently existing in health and vigour : in such, probably, the lost parts are in process of restoration. Many interesting members of the class of Zoophytes, or compound Polypes, are met with in dredging, a general account of whose classification has been given in a former chapter. For a more specific account of the deep-sea species, I must refer to Dr. Johnston's admira- ble work on the subject, and will here just notice some of the other ASTEROIDA, which I purposely omitted when speaking of the other two orders, HYDROIDA and HE- LIANTHOIDA. This group is distinguished from either of the others by a readily-seen character, namely, the softer parts of the compound animal invest and enclose the harder parts, or skeleton. The coral of all this group is therefore internal. The precious coral of commerce is the skeleton of one of these Zoophytes ; and so is the Gorgonia fldbellum, or Venus's Fan, a well-known West Indian species which forms a beautiful network, strength- THE SEA-PEN. 185 ened by a branching system of ribs, like the ribs and fibres of a skeleton leaf. Four British species of Gor- gonia, one of them common on the Devonshire coast, are recorded. G. verrucosa, the commonest of these, is from six to twelve inches high, and much branched, like a tree ; but its branches do not form a network. Its coral has a dense, black axis of a horny substance, which encloses a white pith, and is coated with a whitish crust, covered with warts, arranged in somewhat spiral lines. Such is the aspect of the dried Polypidom. When living, the crust is soft and flesh-coloured. The Alcyonhim, another member of this order, has already been noticed. More interesting and beautiful forms are found in the family of Pennatulidce or Sea-pens, of which three species, arranged under as many genera, are natives of Britain. These curious animals present us with the fact of compound bodies, in all respects ana- logous to corals, existing in an unattached state (that is not rooted or fixed to any base, but freely planted in soft mud), and possibly capable of a motion through the water from place to place. The fact of this motion has been asserted by several naturalists, but observations are wanting in corroboration. The Sea-pen itself (Penna- tula phosphorea) is one of the most singular and beauti- ful of the British Zoophytes. The Polypidom is three or four inches in length, fleshy, of a purplish-red colour, narrow and naked at the lower end, and feathered on its upper half with long, closely-set pinnse, along the margins of which the polype-cells are placed. These pinna3 are obliquely curved backwards, and capable of separate or united motion ; and they have been supposed, 186 VIRGULARIA MIRABILIS. by authors who believe in the swimming powers of this Zoophyte, to have the regu- lar oar-like motion of fins. Through the centre of the stalk runs a calcareous co- lumn, which serves to stiffen the body of the Polypidom. When irritated, this Zoo- phyte is brilliantly phos- phorescent ; but it does not emit light unless disturbed, or under the influence of pain. Professor Forbes has remarked that, when it is touched, the luminosity com- mences at the point of con- tact, and proceeds upwards to the polypiferous portion of the Zoophyte, but never in a contrary direction; and when the centre of the poly- piferous portion is struck, the Polypes below the injury are not affected, while those above it emit light. " When thrown into fresh water, the Pennatula scatters sparks about in all directions, a most beautiful sight." The Virgularia mirdbilis is another of this family, closely STRUCTURE OP POLYPIDOM AND POLYPES. 187 allied to Pennatula, but of a much more slender form, resembling a rod, whence its name. It is several inches long and quite straight, traversed by a cylindrical calca- reous stem or column, coated with a transparent flesh. Through nearly its whole length this rod-like body is fur- nished with short fin-like lobes of a crescent shape, which approach in pairs, but are not strictly opposite ; they are about the eighth of an inch asunder, and are fur- nished along the margin with a row of urn-shaped polype- cells. These lobes have the power of contracting, so as to lie closely imbricated one on another ; and of expand- ing to an angle of about 30, so as to leave open spaces between. They are of a pale orange-fawn colour, grace- fully curved backwards, and each contains about eight polype-cells. The Polypes are objects of great beauty, and their form may be very well seen even after death; for, though capable of retractation within the cell, the tentacula have no contractile power, and may be made to expand in their full extension by merely pressing upon the cell. The Polype thus displayed is an eight- rayed star, the rays curved backwards, channelled, and elegantly pectinated along each margin. In the centre is the mouth with prominent lips. The Virgularia is found chiefly in Scotland and the north of Ireland, and I have taken it recently on the Galway coast in Bur- turbui Bay. The only remaining British Zoophyte of this group, Pavonaria quadrangularis, is exceedingly rare, and has as yet been taken only near Oban, on the West of Scotland. In its form it bears a consider- able resemblance to the Virgularia, but is curved, and of much greater dimensions, the length being 188 INSECTS AND CRUSTACEA DISTINGUISHED. sometimes forty-eight inches. When irritated it emits a bluish light. The great class of CRUSTACEA, of which Crabs and Lobsters are familiar examples, demands some notice, but is so varied in its aspect and in the numerous types which its orders, families, and genera pi'esent to us, that I cannot attempt to give, in the few pages to be devoted to the subject, even an outline sketch of its clas- sification. I can scarcely do more than notice in this place a few of the commoner Crabs which one meets with in dredging. The class Crustacea of modern authors was included by Linnaeus among his Insects, and formed a part of the Aptera or wingless insects of that author. The struc- ture of a Crab or Lobster, or a Wood-louse, which are all members of the class, does indeed in many ways resem- ble that of the true Insects. The body is cased with hard materials, it is divided by articulations into several rings, it is furnished with jointed legs and with those curious organs called antennae or feelers, and it possesses a mouth constructed on a very similar type. There is one peculiarity, however, in which there is a remarkable difference between the Crustacea and both the Insect and Spider Classes. These latter groups of animals are des- tined to live in the ah*, and their respiration is conse- quently performed by lungs. Even such species of them as are aquatic carry with them under water the quantity of air necessary to their existence, just as a diver inflates his lungs before he leaves the surface ; though it is quite true that some breathe through the medium of gills while they continue in a rudimentary state. The GILLS OF CRUSTACEA. 189 Crustacea, being either water animals, or constantly frequenting very damp places, respire through the me- dium of gills. This is one important feature in their economy by which they differ from insects. Another is, that they continue to increase in bulk after they have attained the mature form of their kind. In the insect, increase in bulk, and the changes of skin which it re- quires, are confined to the metamorphic stages through which the animal passes, and cease when the limbs acquire their permanent form. In the Crustacean, though the earlier stages undergo metamorphoses, some of them quite as singular as those that we find among insects, the animal continues to increase in size long after its limbs have been completely formed ; and the provision by which this is effected is not the least curious point in their history. Differences of this im- portant nature, and others of a similar kind, added to the immense extent of both classes, have induced mo- dern naturalists to separate the class Crustacea from the other articulate animals with which Linnaeus com- bined them. The different aspects which the gills assume in the various groups of Crustacean animals, while they afford, as in other classes, excellent classifying characters, ex- hibit to us some beautiful adaptations, which are quite as interesting to the unlettered observer as to the sys- tematic naturalist. In some of the more minute indi- viduals of the race, as in the Water-fleas, which may be found by myriads in any stagnant pool, the respiratory organs are seated in the legs themselves, whose covering is so delicate that it admits the vessels that ramify over 190 CRUSTACEA CAST THEIR SHELLS. it to have sufficient contact with the water to allow of the perfect aeration of the blood. This little creature may be said to breathe through its legs and arms, which may be seen in constant motion playing through the fluid, and causing a constant flow of new particles to the exposed surface of the blood-vessels. Can we conceive a more ecstatic little being than this, whose every motion is an inspiration ! at least, whose mus- cular efforts bear a direct proportion to the aeration of its blood ; the power that is expended in every effort being renewed by the very act of making that effort. In these lowest members of the class we find the legs themselves performing the office of gills ; but though among the higher types of structure, the legs are used for the more common purposes of swimming or walking, we still find the gills connected with the upper portion of the legs, where they are inserted into the body. Thus the active motions of walking and swimming contribute to the aeration of the blood, by causing a correspondent motion in the branehise. These organs are lodged in two chambers, situated one at each side of the under surface of the carapace or broad shelly plate, which freely communicate by wide openings with the water. In opening a Crab or Lobster, at table, these gills gene- rally come off" attached to the bases of the smaller legs. The dexterity of the Crustacea in casting their shells is certainly wonderful. When one considers the hardness of the shelly coat, and the extraordinary forms which it assumes, especially the large claws terminating slender arms, and is told that all this coat of mail is annually thrown off in a single piece by the contained animal, THE CRAT-FISH. 191 the greatest proficient in Chinese mechanical puzzles may well be posed at this greater puzzle. One is tempted to ask, too, remembering the beautiful arrange- ment provided for the growth of the shell in the Sea Urchin, why something similar was not devised to assist the Crab ; why one creature should enjoy the protection of its house of defence at so little trouble, the walls gradually widening as his wants increase ; while an- other has, every returning season, either to burst, or by violent muscular efforts, to flay itself alive, and then wait, defenceless and naked, till a new coat grows on its back. I suppose happiness is equally distributed, and that what would be death to one animal may be sport to another ! Possibly the extraordinary efforts made by the Crab or Lobster, in throwing off their shells, may be attended with pleasurable sensations. The process of moulting has been observed by the celebrated naturalist Reaumur in the fresh- water Cray- fish (Astacus fluviatilis), and most probably that of other kinds is effected in a similar manner. In the autumn the Cray-fish retires into a hole, where it remains for some time without food. While thus stationary, the old shell becomes gradually loosened, and a new and soft cuticle is formed beneath it. The Cray-fish is now greatly excited, and by violent efforts seeks to free its new skin from the old shell, which it is about to cast away. When this has been done, the difficulty remains of escaping from its trammels. Its limbs are so per- fectly encased in armour, that, at first sight, it seems im- possible to escape from the confinement without break- ing the shell to pieces. But the Cray-fish has no such 192 VOLUNTARY DISMEMBERMENT. intention. He knows that by persevering exertions he can rid himself of his burthen ; and with many violent efforts, and many a weary struggle, he succeeds in getting rid, first of the carapace, or body -shell ; then of the leg-coverings ; then of the tail-piece ; and, finally, of all the shelly coat, down to the coverings of the antennae ; and even the coating of the stomach, with its curious dental apparatus. And the whole is thrown off without loosening the joints or rupturing the shell. It would be impossible for any mounter of specimens to extract the flesh with such nicety, and without injury to any portion of the case. The power of voluntary dismemberment possessed by the Star-fishes is shared also by the Crustacea, who will cast away their legs, and even the ponderous claw-bear- ing arms, on being alarmed, or on suffering injury in these members ; and this without the appearance of ex- periencing pain, or more than temporary inconvenience. They walk away, with their remaining limbs, as if nothing particular had happened. After a time the lost portion is gradually restored, the new limb sprout- ing out from the stump of the old. Thus Lobsters and Crabs are frequently met with, one of whose arms is of much greater size than the other, the smaller one being evidently a second growth. The general form of the body and the organs of loco- motion are considerably varied in the different families of Crustacea, according to the habits of the animal. In some of the lower races, the body presents a series of rings, or pieces nearly of equal form and size, arranged one after another, and each furnished with a pair of VARIETIES OP FORM. 193 crawling or swimming legs, the whole animal bearing a great resemblance to one of the Annelides, but showing a slight advance in organization. As we rise to higher and more developed forms, we find a gradual concentra- tion of the parts of the body, effected by the more or less perfect coalition of its ring-like parts into solid pieces. At the same time, one definite idea or plan seems to pervade the whole class. According to this idea the body of a Crustacean consists of twenty-one ring-like pieces, seven of which belong to the region of the head, seven to the region of the thorax, or central part of the body, and seven to the abdominal region, commonly called the tail. In almost every case the pieces belonging to the region of the head are consider- ably condensed, their pairs of legs being converted into the organs of the mouth, which, in this class, as in in- sects, is highly compound in structure. In many of the lower Crustacea, as in the Isopoda the group to which the Wood-louse belongs, and which includes a large number of marine animals, which resemble Wood-lice in form, the joints of the thorax are distinct from each other, resembling rings, and not materially differing from those of the tail. But in the higher Crustacea, as in the Lobster, and still more in the Crab, the thoracic portion is covered externally by a single solid shelly piece. It appears like a single joint of the body, and its compound nature is only indicated by the number of pairs of legs which rise from its lower surface. In some species there is an indication of rings on the surface of the shell, more or less evident ; but in others all such tokens of compo- sition are obliterated. The joints of the abdomen or o 194- ORGANS OF LOCOMOTION. tail, which are so evident in the Lobster, are more con- centrated in the Crabs ; and in the singular animals called King Crabs (Limuli), common on the shores of warm countries, a complete concentration of the abdo- minal pieces takes place, a broad shield, as solid as the carapace of the Crab, being substituted for the ring-like plates. These variations of form, from the most perfect separation of parts to the most complete union, offer an interesting study ; but the change must be traced through an extensive series of genera and species. The organs of locomotion are very different in the different groups. Some Crustacea are adapted for swimming, others for crawling, and others, again, lead a nearly sedentary life, as parasites on other animals, often on fishes, and, in many cases, on the larger Crus- tacea themselves. The Crabs afford us an instance of the greatest compactness in the body, the segments of the head being minute, and often concealed under the thorax, and those of the abdomen also of small size, and coiled up under the ample shield of the same portion ; so that the whole body seen from above resembles a box. In this tribe, five pairs of legs belonging to the thoracic portion, are largely developed, the first pair being con- verted into claws; and the creature can move with great ease and considerable speed on land, or crawl along the bottom of the sea. But its motion, owing to the position of the legs, is either sideways or back- wards : it cannot move in a forward direction. In many Crabs, especially in those that frequent deep water, the last pair of legs have their terminal joints very much widened and flattened' in fact, converted LOBSTER, SPIDER-CRAB. 195 into oars, by the help of which these Crabs swim with great ease, while the formation of their other legs per- mits of their crawling with equal facility when they desire it. In the Lobster, and all the long-tailed Crus- tacea, such as the various kinds of Shrimp and Prawn, the tail is the chief instrument of locomotion. Owing to the form of the body, these animals, notwithstanding their well-developed legs, make but slow work of it when they attempt to crawl. But nothing can exceed their activity in swimming or, more properly, in darting backwards through the water. The rapid motions of a Shrimp or Prawn must be familiar to every sea-side visitant. Those of a Lobster, though less frequently seen, are equally rapid, and both are effected in the same manner. The tail in these animals is furnished at its extremity with a number of broad flat plates, so placed as to close together when this organ is extended, and to open and present a broad fan to the water on every downward stroke. The lobster turns his back, which is smooth and rounded, so as to present little resistance to the water, in the direction in which he wishes to move, and then by a vigorous stroke of the tail, whose front, presented to the water, is concave, and its extremity furnished with a spreading fan, he can dart backwards to the distance of eighteen or twenty feet. Among the Crabs which one commonly meets with in dredging are several kinds, belonging to more than one modern genus, to which the popular name of Spider-Crab is given. These are all characterized by having long and slender legs like those of Spiders, and generally a triangular body, more or less pointed, or produced into a 196 SWIMMING-CRABS. snout in front. The commonest species of these (Steno- rhyncus phalangium) is met with on most parts of the coast, frequenting scallop-banks, and similar ground. Its body is an inch or more in length, triangular, and rough with several spines, and rising into prominences. Its legs are three or four times as long as its body, with long slender joints, and it has a pair of stout arms, terminating in large claws. Both legs and arms are rough with hairs. Its habits are sluggish, its motions slow and feeble, and when caught it does not show fight nor make the efforts to escape, which most other Crabs do on being captured. Very frequently its shell is completely covered with a growth of sea-weeds or Zoophytes. Others of the group of Spider-Crabs have similar habits and general aspect, except that some are smooth, with fewer prominences on the shell. Leaving them, we next find the family of Maiadce. These bear a considerable resemblance to the true Spider-Crab, especially in the triangular form of the body, and its usually rough surface ; but their legs are stouter and less elongate. The resemblance to the Spider is still sufficiently great, and they obtain this name from fishermen. The largest of the group, Maia squinado, is eaten on some parts of the coast. It has an oval body, very convex, produced in front into two stout horns, and roughened over all parts of its surface with spines and tubercles of various sizes. The legs are stout and exceedingly rough and hairy, with tuberculated joints. The claws are small, and the arms not much stouter than the legs. The family of Swimming-Crabs or Portunidce, many kinds of which are met with in VELVET-CRAB, MASKED-CRAB. 197 dredging, offers a form of body and limbs strikingly dis- similar to those of the Spider-Crabs, and a corresponding difference of habits. In these the body is generally very broad in proportion to its length, and wider in front than it is behind. The front margin of the shell has a rounded outline, but is more or less toothed ; the ros- trum is broad, and but little prominent, and the eyes are widely separated. But the most striking character of the family is found in the hinder pair of legs, which are converted into oars, and used by the animal in swim- ming. The habits of these Crabs are much more active than those of the Spiders, their limbs much stronger, and they are all armed with a peculiarly effective pair of stout pincers. The Velvet-Crab (Portunus puber) is a well-known species of this family, several of which are among the most beautiful of the British Crabs. The Velvet-Crab is so named from its coat, the whole sur- face of the shell, and of the legs, except some polished longitudinal ridges, being covered with a short pile of soft hairs. The colours of the living animal are a beau- tiful compound of reddish-brown and blue ; but they soon fade after death. Some remarkable forms of body are found in the genus Ebalia, Crabs of small size, of which there are three British species. The carapace in these is rhomboidal, the lateral angles being much pro- duced. It is marked with elevations and depressions, so arranged as to represent a more or less perfectly formed face. But the most natural resemblance to a human face is found in the markings of the shell of Corystes cassivelaunus, called from this peculiarity the Masked- Crab by Professor Bell. It is the Cancer personatus of 198 "PINNA AND HER CANCER FRIEND." Linnaeus. In this species the length of the shell is con- siderably greater than its breadth, and of an oval form, with a central ridge which represents the nose, lateral depressions for the eyes, and a transverse line, bordered by broad but shallow ridges, for the mouth and lips. In some specimens the parts of this face are much more prominent than in others. The species is otherwise remarkable for the great length of its claws and of its antennae. It generally frequents deep water, but is occasionally cast on shore. I must not omit to notice two species of minute Crabs, whose curious semi-parasitical habits have long rendered them famous. The readers of Darwin's fan- tastic poem must be familiar with the history of " Pinna and her Cancer friend." It was known to the ancients that a minute Crab sought refuge in the shell of the Pinna, and modern re- search has detected others which take up their residence within the shells of several other kinds of bivalves, espe- cially of Mussels and Cockles. These little Crabs belong to the genus Pinnotheres, and two species are found on our coast. One of them, P. pisum, is very commonly found within the shell of the Common Mussel, especially when raised from deep water. Its shell is from a quar- ter to nearly half an inch in breadth, rounded and convex, of a thin substance and brownish colour, with one or two yellow spots. The other species, P. veterum, is usually found within the shell of the Pinna, and differs in being of a more angular form and uniform brown colour. The habits of both species appear to be similar. METAMOKPHOSES OP CRUSTACEA. 199 They retreat to the shells of the MOLLUSCA, not to feed on the animal, as a true parasite does, but, as is sup- posed, for protection, as other animals would take re- fuge in a nest or cave. The shells of these Crabs, at least of the female, are very soft and thin, and possibly this is the cause of their singular habits. It is a pity, at least for the poet, that truth obliges us to omit the romantic stories once believed regarding the mutual affection of the pair thus oddly consorted. A highly curious fact in the history of the CRUSTACEA relates to their metamorphoses, the young animal pass- ing through stages as wonderful as those observed in the class of Insects. To Mr. J. Vaughan Thompson natu- ralists are indebted for the discovery of the metamor- phic stages in the Common Crab, and several others of the order to which it belongs. Other observers have since witnessed the development of many other species, and thus rendered it probable that all the higher Crustacea pass through similar stages of existence. Before Mr. Thompson's observations the little creatures, which are now known to be young Crabs, were considered as be- longing to a distinct genus, called Zoea, placed in a dif- ferent order of Crustacea, widely apart from the Crab- 200 COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. family; just as a Tadpole might be placed by a person who merely regarded its form, and was ignorant of its history,in a widely-different family from the pai'ent Frog. When first hatched, the young of the Crab presents the singularly grotesque form represented in our figure. It has a helmet-shaped head, terminating behind in a long horn, and furnished in front with a pair of huge sessile eyes, and it moves through the water by means of its long swimming tail. After the first change of skin the body assumes something like its permanent shape ; the eyes become stalked ; the claws are developed, and the legs resemble those of the Crab ; but the change is still incomplete, for the tail is still long and furnished with false feet, like that of a Lobster. The swimming habit has not yet been laid aside. At the next stage, while the little creature is still about the eighth of an inch in diameter, the crab-form is completed, the abdomen fold- ing in under the carapace. All the subsequent changes are merely changes of coat, consequent on the growth of the now complete animal. In these several metamor- phoses we see portrayed, in succession, the peculiarities of three different types, one rising above the other in structure. In the first stage the Crab resembles one of the least perfect Crustacea, such as the Water-flea ; in the second it assumes the aspect of the Lobster ; and finally puts on the form of the most perfect animals of the class. Thus it is that Nature advances step by step, gradually bringing out through successive stages of being new organs and new faculties, and leaving as she moves along, at every step, some animals that rise no higher, as if to serve for land-marks of her doings ANALOGIES. 201 through all succeeding time. And this it is that makes the study of Comparative Anatomy so fascina- ting. Not that I mean to favour a theory of develop- ment, which would obliterate all idea of species, by supposing that the more compound animal forms were developments of their simpler ancestors. For such an hypothesis Natural History affords no evidence ; but she gives us, through all her domains, the most beautiful and diversified proofs of an adherence to a settled order, in which new combinations are continually brought out. In this order, the lowest grades of being have certain characters, above which they do not rise, but propagate beings as simple as themselves. Above them are others which, passing through stages in their infancy equal to the adult condition of those below, acquire, when at maturity, a perfection of organs pecu- liarly their own. Others again rise above these, and thus structures become gradually more compound ; till at last it maybe said that the simpler animals represent, as in a glass, the scattered organs of the higher races. CHAPTER VII. THE MICROSCOPIC WONDERS OF THE SEA. AN eloquent modern writer, in arguing for the existence on this earth of an invisible world of spirits, draws a striking illustration of his subject from our connection with the lower animals, whose forms we indeed see around us, but the secrets of whose being, whose motives of action, and whose final destiny, remain unfathom- able mysteries. "We are," says he, "in a world of spirits, as well as in a world of sense, and we hold com- munion with it, and take part in it, though we are not conscious of doing so. If this seems strange to any one, let him reflect that we are undeniably taking part in a third world, which we do indeed see, but about which THE WORLD OF BRUTE ANIMALS. 203 we do not know more than about the angelic hosts, the world of brute animals. Can anything be more marvellous or startling, unless we were used to it, than that we should have a race of beings about us whom we do but see, and as little know of their state, or can describe their interests or their destiny, as we can tell of the inhabitants of the sun and moon ? It is, indeed, a very overpowering thought, when we get to fix our minds on it, that we familiarly use, I may say hold in- tercourse with, creatures who are as much strangers to us, as mysterious as if they were the fabulous, unearthly beings, more powerful than man, yet his slaves, which Eastern superstitions have invented. We have more real knowledge about the angels than about the brutes. They have, apparently, passions, habits, and a certain accountableness, but all is mystery about them. We do not know whether they can sin or not, whether they are under punishment, whether they are to live after this life. We inflict very great sufferings on a portion of them, and they in turn, every now and then, seem to retaliate upon us, as if by a wonderful law. We depend on them in various important ways ; we use their labour, we eat their flesh. This, however, relates to such of them as come near us. Cast your thoughts abroad on the whole number of them, large and small, in vast forests, or in the water, or in the air, and then say whe- ther the presence of such countless multitudes, so various in their natures, so strange and wild in their shapes, living on the earth without ascertainable object, is not as mysterious as anything which Scripture says about the angels ? Is it not plain to us that there is a world 204 THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD. inferior to us in the scale of beings, with which we are connected without understanding what it is 1 and is it difficult to faith to admit the word of Scripture con- cerning a connexion with a world superior to us?" When we consider the animal kingdom from this point of view, and further reflect that each of the species of which it consists is as isolated from every other species, and forms to itself as much a world within its own borders, as does the human family, the co-exist- ence of innumerable phases of being, in the presence of each other, is more and more wonderful, and may well lead us to infer the reality of things beyond our senses to perceive, and but dimly revealed to our reason ; and yet we see but a little way into the wonders of creation, if we confine our researches to objects visible to the unassisted eye. The improvements effected of late years in the micro- scope, may well be said to have opened to us a material world of whose existence we should otherwise be wholly ignorant. The number of species of animals and plants now known, whose forms are so minute that they are individually invisible to the naked eye, and only appre- ciable when collected together in masses, is very great ; and the catalogue is daily enlarging as the waters of the sea, and of lakes and ponds, are more carefully sub- jected to examination. What to the naked eye seems like a green, or brownish slimy scum, attached to the stalks of water-plants, or floating on the surface of stag- nant pools, displays to the microscope a series of ele- gant and curious forms, endowed with a most perfect symmetry and delicate structure of parts, each acting DIATOMACE.E. 205 in the circle of its narrow sphere as perfectly as the more bulky creations above it. The great work of Ehrenberg has made the forms of many of these curious creatures sufficiently known ; and a most elaborate monograph of a portion of them,* recently published in this country, has added much to the general history of the subject, while it affords to British students exquisitely accurate figures and careful descriptions of all the British species of the group illustrated. The plants included in this microscopic world are classed by botanists under two families, the Desmidiece, which exclusively inhabit fresh water, and the Diato- macece, a great number of which are marine. The forms of these minute organ- isms are strange ; they ex- hibit mathematical figures, circles, triangles, and paral- lelograms, such as we find in no other plants, and their surface is often most elaborately sculptured. Isthmia obliquata here figured, is found in spring and early summer on the stems of many of the filiform Algae, where it forms little glittering tufts a line or two in height. It has been brought from many distant parts of the world, both of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. * Ralfs on British Desmidiese. coloured plates. London, 1848. Thirty-five 206 PEED ON FLIXT. Many other species accompany it in our own and other seas. The Licmophora, or Fan-bearer, which we also figure, is one of the most beautiful of our native kinds, and is very common in April and May on the leaves of Zostera, as well as on many of the smaller Algee. It is very generally distributed round the British coasts, forming gelatinous masses of a clear brown colour on the plants it frequents. Under the microscope, however, its colours are much more gay, a yellow shade, variously banded and marked with deeper- coloured spots, tinging the fan-like leaves, which are borne on slender threads transparent as glass. The pieces or joints of which these plants are composed, are called/rashes ; and each frustule consists of a single cell, whose coat is composed of a very deli- cate membrane made of LICMOPHORA FLABELLATA. organized silex. That these plants have thus the power of withdrawing silex, or flint-earth, in some manner from the waters of the sea, and fixing it in their tissues, is certain, but the exact method in which this is effected has not been ascertained. A remarkable point in their history re- sults from this power of feeding on flint. It is this : "MANY A LITTLE MAKES A MIOKLE." 207 their bodies are indestructible. Thus, their constantly- accumulating remains are gradually deposited in strata, under the waters of the sea as well as in lakes and ponds. At first the effect produced by things so small thou- sands of which might be contained in a drop, and mil- lions packed together in a cubic inch, may appear of trifling moment, when speaking of so grand an operation as the deposition of submarine strata. But as each mo- ment has its value in the measurement of time, to what- ever extent of ages the succession may be prolonged, so each of these atoms has a definite relation to space, and their constant production and deposition will at length result in mountains. The examination of the most an- cient of the stratified rocks, and of all others in the as- cending scale, and the investigation of deposits now in course of formation, teach us that from the first dawn of animated nature up to the present hour this prolific family has never ceased its activity. England may boast that the sun never sets upon her empire, but here is an ocean realm whose subjects are literally more numerous than the sands of the sea. We cannot count them by millions simply, but by hundreds of thousands of mil- lions. Indeed it is futile to speak of numbers in rela- tion to things so unaccountable. Extensive rocky strata, chains of hills, beds of marl, almost every description of soil, whether superficial or raised from a great depth, contain the remains of these little plants in greater or less abundance. Some great tracts of country are literally built up of their skeletons. No country is destitute of such monuments, and in some they constitute the leading features in the structure of the soil. The world is a vast 208 VICTORIA BARRIER. catacomb of Diatomacece ; nor is the growth of those old dwellers on our earth diminished in its latter days. These earliest inhabitants of the world seem destined to outlive beings of larger growth, whose race has a definite limit, both ends of its existence comprised far within the duration of a species of Diatomacece. Many of the existing species are found in a fossil state, even in early beds. No part of our modern seas is without this ever-springing vegetation. Of this fact the late Antarctic Expedition * afforded many striking proofs. One of the objects of that expedition was to obtain soundings of the deep sea ; and these were made at depths which would have engulfed Chimborazo in the abyss : yet the lead constantly brought up Diatomacece, even if nothing else. Nor did the eternal winter of the Antarctic Sea diminish the number of these vegetables. Other sea-plants ceased at Cockburn Island, in the low latitude of 64 S. ; and thenceforward the Diatomacece formed the whole vegetation. The icy wall, called Vic- toria Barrier, which at length stopped the southward progress of the intrepid navigators, was found em- browned with them. Floating masses of ice, when melted, yield them in millions. In many places they formed a scum on the surface of the icy sea. But per- haps the most remarkable fact observed, is the result of soundings continued for four hundred miles along the Victoria Barrier, where the existence of a bank, of un- known thickness, but at least of the extent of surface stated, was found composed almost wholly of skeletons of these microscopic vegetables. Nothing else came * See Hooker's " Flora Antarctica," vol. ii. UBIQUITY OP DIATOMACE.E. 209 up with the lead. Here then was a submarine deposit in process of formation equalling in extent any similar deposit of the earlier world. Such strata are doubtless in course of accumulation in most parts of the ocean, and may be observed on our own shores ; but this Ant- arctic bank is the grandest example of the kind which has been carefully investigated by an able naturalist. But it is not only the sea and the land which yield the relics of these plants j the Diatomacece perform long journeys through the air ! This remarkable fact rests on the authority of the accurate Darwin, who collected at sea small dust, which fell from the atmosphere on the planks and rigging of the ship, which dust, when examined by the microscope, was found composed of Diatomacece. These were on their flight from America to Africa. From their silicious nature they resist even the strong heat of volcanoes, and their remains are found thrown up in the pumice and dust from the crater. In fact, it is difficult to name a nook on the face of the earth, or in the depths of the sea, where they are wholly absent, either in a dead or living state ; and their office in the general economy, besides affording food for the humbler members of the animal kingdom, seems to be the preparation of a soil for a higher class of vegetables. This they effect by the minute division of the silicious particles laid up in their tissues, and probably make this nearly insoluble earth more fit for assimilation by other plants. We must also suppose them endowed, like other vegetables, with the power of decomposing carbonic acid and liberating oxygen; and thus, in their countless myriads, exercising no mean p 210 THEIR VEGETABLE NATURE ESTABLISHED. place in the household of Nature. Like their mistress, these, her humblest servants, work in secret. We know not what we owe them. But continued, as their exist- ence is, through all time, and dispersed, as they are, through every part of the world even where the ice- bound sea is peopled by nothing else we may rest assured that they do perform some work which renders them worthy the care of a Providence who creates nothing superfluous. I have spoken of the Diatomacece as vegetables. Ehrenberg and many other writers re- gard them as infusorial animals ; and indeed they have been bandied about from the animal to the vegetable kingdom at various times, according to the views of different naturalists. Latterly the evidence seems to have preponderated on the vegetable side, especially since the brilliant discoveries of Mr. Thwaites,* com- municated to a late meeting of the British Association, have shown that their fructification is precisely analo- gous to that of some of the lower Algee, and that the fruit resembles a spore. A similar mode of fruiting is now discovered among Desmidiece, which were also classed with Infusoria by Ehrenberg, and of these a large number, in fruit, are figured in the work of Mr. Ralfs, before alluded to ; but as they are natives of fresh water, it is out of place to enter on their history here. I may, however, remark, that the curious spiny bodies found fossilized in flint, which often pass for Xanthidia, are now proved to be only the spores of various genera of jDesmidiea-mother is not like its daughter, or its own mother, but resembles its sister, its grand-daughter, and its grand-mother." Our figure, copied from Professor E. Forbes, represents both states of the only recorded British species. In Steenstrup's Memoir, already alluded to, the vari- ous aspects of these alternate developments have been ably discussed ; and the Author has, I think, clearly HISTORY OF APHIDES, ETC. 235 established his position that even metamorphoses so unexpected as these, are not at variance with the har- mony of Nature, but are really instances and further manifestations of that harmony. His object is to show that, under some modification or other, they exist in all classes of animals below the Vertebrates. The well- known circumstances in the history of Aphides, and the existence of numerous sexes of bees, wasps, and ants, each having its assigned office, have been skilfully com- pared with the facts we have just been discussing, and an unexpected connection established among them. It is thus one department of Nature throws light upon another, proving that to understand any part it is neces- sary to be acquainted with more. And this consider- ation ought to cure us of making rash assertions as to what is or is not possible in a natural phenomenon. When Chamisso first announced his discovery of the propagation of Salpce, he was laughed at as a dreamer. And now, not only is the fact, as described by Chamisso, established in its minutest details, but it is shown to be by no means isolated, and it receives support and con- firmation from the most unexpected quarters. Now is it pleasant in the summer-eve, When a broad shore retiring waters leave, A while to wait upon the firm fair sand, When all is calm at sea, all still at land ; And there the ocean's produce to explore, As floating by or rolling on the shore ; Those living jellies which the flesh inflame, Fierce as a nettle, and from that their name ; Some in huge masses, some that you may bring In the small compass of a lady's ring ; 236 TREASURES, THE VULGAR IN THEIR SCORN REJECT. Figured by Hand Divine there 's not a gem Wrought by man's art to be compared to them ; Soft, brilliant, tender, through the wave they glow, And make the moonbeam brighter where they flow, Involved in sea-wrack, here you find a race, Which science doubting, knows not where to place ; On shell or stone is dropped the embryo seed, And quickly vegetates a vital breed. While thus with pleasing wonder you inspect Treasures, the vulgar in their scorn reject, See as they float along th' entangled weeds Slowly approach, upborne on bladdery beads ; Wait till they land, and you shall then behold The fiery sparks those tangled fronds infold, Myriads of living points ; the unaided eye Can but the fire and not the form descry. And now your view upon the ocean turn, And there the splendour of the waves discern; Cast but a stone, or strike them with an oar, And you shall flames within the deep explore ; Or scoop the stream phosphoric as you stand, And the cold flames shall flash along your hand ; When, lost in wonder, you shall walk and gaze On weeds that sparkle, and on waves that blaze. CKABBB. CHAPTER VIII. ON FISH AND FISH DIET. (YARRELL.) A CHAPTER on marine fishes will not be considered out of place in an " Introduction to the Natural History of the British Coasts," or " The Sea Side Book," and, accordingly, a few pages are here devoted to a notice of those marine species most in request for the table, with reference to their relative value as an article of food ; their numbers ; variety ; cheapness ; edible and nutritious qualities ; when best in season ; and the various modes by which they are captured. Geographers assume that more than two-thirds of the surface of the globe is covered with water, and Fishes, as a Class, are probably more numerous than Birds. The external form is very variable, and too well known to require particular description. The Mac- 238 SCALES OF FISHES. kerel may be quoted as one of the most elegant in shape, as well as perfect in its adaptation, to the ele- ment in which it moves, but the external figures of several species have been accurately measured and studied by naval architects for models of vessels, as speed or tonnage might be the power required. The surface of the body is, in most instances, covered by scales, which vary considerably in size, num- ber, and thickness, according to the species. Each scale is attached to the skin of the fish by its anterior edge, and in arrangement they overlap each other. They exhibit in their structure both radiating and concentric lines, or strise. If examined with a lens of sufficient magnifying power, the straight or radiating lines indicate the situation of minute tubes con- ;' \''\ veying a fluid, by which the sub- ^iKJfi stance of the scale is nourished. The concentric lines mark the edges of the laminae forming the SCALE OP ORET MULLET. scale itself, the outermost line being the edge or margin of the last layer deposited on its inner surface, and the number of these lines be- comes greater as the fish advances in age, thus mark- ing the growth. The row of scales along the side of the fish, forming the lateral line, in addition to the structure common to the scales on the other parts of the body, are pierced in their centre by a tube which allows the escape of the mucous secretion produced by the glands underneath them. The scales may be considered as defending the skin of the fish from the PERIODICAL MIGRATIONS OP FISHES. 239 action of the water in which it resides, and it is ob- served that those species in which the scales are small, are furnished with the largest quantity of pro- tecting mucus or slime. The membranes of the fins are thin, and more or less transparent, supported by slender, elongated por- tions of bone, of variable degrees of flexibility. The names given to the different fins have reference to the particular part of the body to which they are attached. The principal organ of motion in fishes is the tail, assisted by the simultaneous action of the pectoral and ventral fins. The economy of Na- ture is conspicuous in the habits of fishes. Some always swim at or near the surface, others about mid- water, and many close to the bottom : all parts of the water are alike occupied, and some peculiar qualities and powers are found to belong to each of the species, thus affecting by choice these different stations in the water. By a portion of the older Ichthyological writers, fishes were supposed to perform, like some birds, certain periodical migrations, making long voyages from north to south at one season of the year, and the reverse at another. It does not seem to have been sufficiently considered, that, inhabiting a medium which varied but little either in its temperature or productions, locally, fishes are removed beyond the influence of the two principal causes which render a temporary change of situation necessary. The law of Nature which obliges them to repair to the shal- lower water of the shores at a particular season, ap- 240 MODES OF TAKING FISHES. pears to be one of those wise and bountiful provisions of the Creator, by which not only is each species per- petuated with the greatest certainty, but a large portion of the parent animals are thus brought within the reach of man, who, but for the operation of this law, would be deprived of many of those species most valuable to him as food. It may be observed further, that as there is scarcely a month throughout the year in which the fishes of some one or more species are not thus brought within the reach of man, a constant succession of wholesome food is spread before him, which costs him little beyond the exercise of his in- genuity and his labour to obtain. The modes of taking fish are very variable, and the practice of capturing them by hooks and speai*s is probably of very remote antiquity.* Nets appear to have been first used in this country about the year 678, when the peasantry on the coast of Sussex were first instructed in the use of nets by Bishop Wilfrid ;+ * Although fish with fins and scales were allowed to the Israelites for food, it does not seem that much use was made of this indulgence until the later days of the Jewish History. In the Old Testament, the only direct reference to the consumption of fish is where we learn that Mediterranean fish were brought across the country by the Phoenicians for sale at Jerusalem, Neh. xiii. 16. The fish brought to the city were sold at a particular gate, called the Fish-gate, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14, Neh. iii. 3, and xii. 39. Fish-ponds are mentioned, Sol. Song vii. 4 ; and there are such allusions to fishing with nets, Job xix. 6, Isaiah li. 20 ; with hooks, Job xli. 1 ; Isaiah xix. 8 ; Amos iv. 2 ; and with spears, Job xli. 7; as show that these operations were well known. In the New Testament we read oftener of fish and fishing. His- tory of Palestine, by Dr. Kitto. t " Origins and Inventions," by W. Pulleyn. THE TRAWL-NET. 241 some of the nets in use at the present day are, how- ever, more immediately the subjects to be here de- scribed, as well as the modes by which they are suc- cessfully worked. The trawl, or trawling-net, more generally used than any other on those parts of our coast where the ground surface is of sand, or otherwise smooth, has a beam of eighteen or twenty feet in length, the extent of the beam being the breadth of the mouth of the net ; the length of the net is from three to four times the length of the beam. In the representation of this net here given, the rope that runs through the block is called the trawl-warp, and is the only connection between the boat and the net when the net is over- board. The ropes passing obliquely backward from the block to the ends of the trawl-beam are called the bridle, and serve effectually to keep the open mouth of the net square to the front as the net is drawn along over the ground by the boat. The trawl-beam is four inches in diameter, and is supported at the height of twenty or twenty-four inches above the ground by a heavy frame of iron of a particular form 242 PRODUCE OP TRAWL-NET. at each end of the beam, called the trawl-heads, which assist by their weight to sink the net and keep it on the ground. The upper edge of the netting is at- tached along the whole length of the beam ; the lower edge is fastened along a heavy rope called the ground- rope, and follows, on the ground, considerably behind and below the advanced straight line of the beam, forming the portion of the circle seen through the upper surface of the net in the representation. This sort of net is only adapted for taking those fish that live upon, or very near, the bottom. When drawn along, the first part of the net that touches the fish is the ground-rope, from the contact of which the fish darts upwards ; but that part of the net hanging from the beam is not only over, but also in advance of him, while the onward draught of the net, by the progress of the boat, soon brings the fish against the closed end of the tail, and if he then shoots forward towards the mouth of the net, he is stopped and en- tangled in pockets that only open backwards. As the fish in the tide-way lie with then" head against the stream, the fishermen trawl with the tide; that is, draw the net down with the stream, carrying only so much sail on their boat as will give their net the proper degree of speed along the ground generally at the rate of two and a half or three miles an hour. When it is desirable to examine the contents of the net, the beam is hauled up to the side of the boat by the trawl-warp, the tail of the net is handed in, untied, and the contents shaken out. The produce, depend- ing somewhat on the nature of ground over which the MACKEREL. 243 net has been drawn, generally consists of Red- Mullet, different species of Gurnard Common Cod-fish and others of the same family, various flat-fish and Skate, with abundance of asteria, Crustacea, echini, and mol- lusca. The salable fish being selected, the tail of the netting is re-tied, and the net again lowered to the ground ; and while the vessel continues its course, the refuse of one haul is swept overboard to make room for the produce of the next. This refuse forms the very harvest of the naturalist, and is to be obtained by hampers-full at a very small cost. Zealous collectors go to sea with the fishermen, and have by far the best chance for the most interesting examples, others ar- range to have a hamper-full brought on shore for them. The boats used for trawling vary in size, depending on the district frequented, from eighteen or twenty tons burden up to one hundred tons; the length of the beam, and the weight of the trawl-net, bear a corre- sponding proportion. Trawling is most successfully pursued through the winter months of the year, and if the weather be a little rough, larger returns are expected. It is not unusual to hear it remarked that calm and variable weather is not suited to the working of the trawl. With the advance of spring, preparations for the mackerel season is next the object of the fisherman's attention. As an article of food, the mackerel is in great request. Many are caught in March and April but those taken in May and June are generally con- sidered to be superior in flavour to those of the spring 244 MACKEREL NETS. or autumn. To be eaten in perfection, this fish should be very fresh. The most common mode of fishing for mackerel, and the way in which the greatest numbers are taken, is by drift-nets. The drift-net is twenty feet deep, by one hundred and twenty feet long; well corked along the top, but without lead at the bottom. They are made of small fine twine, which is tanned of a reddish- brown colour, to preserve it from the action of the sea-water, and it is thereby rendered much more durable. The netting measures one inch and a half from knot to knot, forming a mesh of three inches. Twelve, fifteen, and sometimes eighteen of these nets, called rands or breadths, are attached lengthways, by tying them along a thick rope, called the drift-rope, and lacing the end of each net or rand to the end of the rand which pi'ecedes it on the drift-rope. When arranged for depositing in the sea, a large buoy, fre- quently an empty barrel of considerable size, attached to the end of the drift-rope, is thrown overboard, the vessel is put before the wind, and as she sails along, the rope with the nets thus attached is passed over the stern into the water, till the whole extent of the net is run out. The net thus deposited, hangs suspended in the water perpendicularly twenty feet deep from the drift-rope, and extending from three-quarters of a mile to a mile, or more, depending on the number of nets belonging to the party or company thus engaged in fishing together. When the whole of the nets are thus handed out, the drift-rope is shifted from the stern to MODE OP USING. 245 the bow of the vessel, and she rides by it as if at anchor. The benefit gained by the boat's hanging by the end of the drift-rope is, that the net is Kept strained in a straight line, which, without this pull upon it, would not be the case. The nets are shot in the evening, and sometimes hauled once during the night, at others allowed to remain in the water all night. The fish, in shoals, roving in the dark through the water, hang in the meshes of the net, which are large enough to admit them beyond the gill-covers and pectoral fins, but not large enough to allow the thickest part of the body to pass through. In the morning early, preparations are made for hauling the nets. A capstan on the deck is manned, about which two turns of the drift-rope are taken. One man stands forward to untie each net from the drift-rope, which is called casting off the lashings ; others hand in the net with the fish caught, to which one side of the vessel is devoted ; the other side is oc- cupied by the drift-rope, which is wound in by the hands at the capstan. The whole of the nets being hauled in, and the fish secured, the vessel runs back into harbour with her fish ; or depositing them on board some other boat in company, that carries for the party to the nearest market, the fishing- vessel remains at sea for the next night's operation. Near to land another mode of fishing for mackerel is adopted, which is thus described by Mr. Couch in his MS. : A long deep net is employed, of which, unlike the former, the meshes are too small to admit 246 HAND-LINE FISHING. any of the fish. Two boats are necessary ; one of which is rowed round the shoal, while the net is thrown overboard by two men to enclose it ; the other boat is employed in keeping steady the end of the net, and warping it, the sooner and more surely to prevent the escape of the fish. When this is effected, the scan stands like a circle enclosing the captives, and the men proceed to draw it together at the ends and bottom; at the same time throwing pebbles at that place where the circle closes, to prevent the approach of the fish to the only place where escape is possible. When at last the enclosure is perfect, and the net raised from the ground, the fish thus brought to the surface are taken on board in flaskets. Such is the mode of proceeding with the sean in deep water, or at a distance from shore ; but in some places it is hauled on the beach in the manner of a ground-net, with less trouble and expense. A third mode of fishing is with a hand-line, and is called railing (trailing). The mackerel will bite at any bait that is used to take the smaller kinds of fish; but preference is given to what resembles a living and active prey, which is imitated by what is termed a lask, a long slice cut from the white silvery part of one of its own kind; a small slip of tin, or a silver coin, with a hole through it ; it is found also that a slip of red leather, or a piece of scarlet cloth, will com- monly succeed ; and a scarlet coat has, therefore, been called a mackerel bait for a lady. The boat is put under sail, and a smart breeze is considered favourable ; hence termed a mackerel breeze. The Hue is short, EXCITING SPORT. 247 but is weighed down by a heavy plummet, and in this manner, when these fish abound, two men will take from five hundred to a thousand in a day. It is sin- gular that the greatest number of mackerel are caught when the boat moves most rapidly, and that even then the hook is commonly gorged. It seems that the mackerel takes its food by striking across the course of what it supposes to be its flying prey. A gloomy atmosphere materially aids this kind of fishing for mackerel. This mode of fishing has been described in glowing terms by the author of " Wild Sports of the West " (of Ireland), thus : " It was evident that the bay was full of mackerel. In every direction, and as far as the eye could range, gulls and puffins were collected ; and } to judge by their activity and clamour, there appeared ample employment for them among the fry beneath. We immediately bore away for the place where these birds were numerously congregated, and the lines were scarcely overboard when we found ourselves in the centre of a shoal of mackerel. For two hours we killed these beautiful fish, as fast as the baits could be renewed and the lines hauled in ; and when we left off fishing, actually wearied with sport, we found that we had taken above five hundred, including a number of the coarser species, called Horse Mackerel. There is not on sea or river, always excepting angling for salmon, any sport comparable to this delightful amusement ; full of life and bustle, everything about it is animated and exhilarating ; a brisk breeze, and fair sky, the boat in quick and constant motion, all is 248 THE HERRING. calculated to interest and excite. He who has ex- perienced the glorious sensations of sailing on the Western Ocean, a bright autumnal sky above, a deep green lucid swell around, a steady breeze, and as much of it as the hooker can stand up to, will estimate the exquisite enjoyment our morning's mackerel fishing afforded." The mackerel cast their roe at the end of June, or the beginning of July, and, like all other fish, are much depreciated as an article of food at that time, and for some weeks afterwards ; the fish being thin, and what flesh remains has lost much of its former flavour and firmness. By the end of September they are again fit for table. The very young mackerel, which are called shiners, are from four to six inches long by the end of August. In the fishing season of the fol- lowing summer these young, then one year old, may be distinguished from older fish by their comparative want of size. The truly adult mackerel attains to sixteen or seventeen inches, with a proportionate in- crease in bulk, the weight about two pounds. Speci- mens of twenty to twenty-three inches in length have been recorded, but the largest fish in this species are not considered the best for the table. Their food is the fry of other fish. Next to the mackerel-fishing, as to season, and of greater importance, is that for the herring ; a truly valuable species, inhabiting the deep water all round our coast, and only approaching the shores in any quantity for the purpose of depositing its spawn within the influence of the two principal agents in vivifica- HERRING NET. 249 tion, increased temperature and oxygen ; and as soon as that essential operation is effected, the immense shoals that haunt our coast disappear, but individuals are found, and some are taken at other times through- out the year. Our common herring spawns towards the end of October or the beginning of November ; and it is for two or three months previous to this, when they assemble in immense numbers, that the fishing is carried on, which is of such great and national im- portance. And here, Mr. Couch observes, " we cannot but admire the economy of Divine Providence, by which this and several other species of fish are brought to our shores, within reach of man, at the time when they are in their highest perfection, and best suited to be his food." The mode of fishing for herrings is by drift-nets, similar to those employed for taking mackerel, with a slight difference in the size of the mesh ; the netting being one inch and a quarter from knot to knot, and the aperture therefore but two inches and a half. The net is suspended by its upper edge from the drift- rope by various shorter and smaller ropes, called buoy- ropes ; and considerable practical skill is required in the arrangement, that the net may hang with the meshes square, smooth, and even, in the water, and at the proper depth ; for, according to the wind, tide, situation of their food, and other causes, the herrings swim at various depths below the surface. The size of the boat for this purpose depends on the distance from shore at which the fishery is carried on ; but, whether in deep or shallow water, the nets 250 THE PILCHARD. are in actual use only during the night. It is found that the fish strike the nets in much greater numbers when it is dark than while it is light ; the darkest nights, therefore, and those in which the surface of the water is ruffled by a breeze, are considered the most favourable. It is supposed that nets stretched in the day-time alarm the fish, and cause them to quit the places where that practice is followed : it is therefore strictly forbidden. Herrings are often caught on the baited hooks of the fisherman, and they are frequently taken by anglers with an artificial fly. They are known to feed upon minute crustaceans, small medusae, and the spawn and fry of fishes ; and they are caught by boys when angling from piers and rocks at various places along our southern coast. The extravasation or redness on the cheeks and gill-covers does not appear till the fish has been dead twenty-four hours. What the herring is in value to the population of the northern portions of the British Islands, Scotland in particular, the pilchard is to the inhabitants of Cornwall and the southern parts of Ireland. The united testimony of all Cornish men engaged in the Irish hening fishery is, that they never saw, in any season, more than one or two pilchards to the north either of the Small's Lighthouse on the Welsh shores, or of a line extending from that spot to Waterford, in Ireland. As they are engaged in the capture of the herring, and as that is carried on in precisely the same manner as the drift-net fishery for the pilchard, their rarely taking more than one or two pilchards, in a season to the north of that line, is worthy of notice. THE PILCHARD. 251 A better proof could scarcely be adduced, as the same nets are used in many instances for both purposes. The southern range of this species is confirmed by the fact that the pilchard is found at Brest, Rochelle, Bordeaux, Malaga, and along the coasts of Spain and Portugal ; it is found also on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, about some of its many islands, and also at Algeria. The natural history of the pilchard in Cornwall, has been very fully detailed by Mr. Jonathan Couch, in an Essay written by him for the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society ; and to this Essay our pages, on this subject, will be indebted for various particulars. " On the coast of Cornwall the pilchards are found through all the seasons of the year, although their habits undergo variation in different months. In January, they keep near the bottom, and would scarcely be seen, were they not found in the stomachs of fishes taken with a line. In February, they have been known to assemble in considerable shoals. In March they are frequently more abundant ; but this union in the spring is partial, and not permanent, so that they are not taken in considerable numbers until July, when the ordinary fishing with drift-nets begins. " In the season of the fishery," Mr. Couch observes, " the Cornish coasts manifest extraordinary activity and with reason for no other employment diffuses its Fishing with seans begins in August ; and from that time to the end of the year, pilchards are found 252 MODES OF FISHING FOR PILCHARDS. in large bodies, traversing in succession the coasts of Cornwall. The fishery for pilchards is carried on by drift- er driving-nets, and by scans. The modes of using both these kinds of nets has been already noticed. Drift-nets are shot across the tide, and across the course of the shoal of fish ; and the heads of the fish in drift-nets so shot are all in one and the same direction, unless the tide has turned while the nets were afloat. When the sean is used, another net, called a stop-net, which is about half the length of the sean, is carried in another boat. As soon as the seaners begin shooting their net, the crew of the smaller boat at once throw out their stop-net in a contrary direction, and thus complete the circle around the shoal of fish in much less time than if one net only was employed. It is very usual to shoot two, and in some cases three stop-nets. The number of pilchards occasionally taken is enormous. When the fishermen find their nets covered with sea-lice (Entomostraca), they always expect large catches. Of these minute thin-skinned crustaceans, scarcely equal in size to a flea, Mr. Couch has found the stomach of a pilchard crammed, perhaps containing many thou- sands; they feed also on the ova and small fry of other fishes. Mr. Couch states also that a gentleman, who resided several years at Croisie, in France, informed him that it is the custom of French fishermen to scatter the salted roe of fish about their nets in order to attract the pilchard; and that he has seen this spawn in the stomachs of the fish thus caught. THE SEAN, OR SEINE NET. 253 The partiality of fish, generally, to the hard roe or ova of other fish, is well known ; and the prepared roe, or pea, of the salmon is frequently used as bait by anglers in this country. In a conversation with the late Mr. Audubon on modes of fishing in America, the naturalist said, that it was usual, when fishing for mackerel in the bays of that country, to have on board each boat a common sort of wooden mill in which some of the entire fish were ground to a pulp, and this soft mass was thrown by hand into the water about the nets. Another mode of attracting fish is that of using fire or lights. This is practised in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and in America. The French also, when fishing for an- chovies, to obtain greater success, light up a fire on an iron grate fixed at the stern of the boat, having found that anchovies will assemble about a light. The most common form of the scan, seine, or saine net, for in each of these modes is this name to be met 254 MODE OP USING THE SEINE. with, is here represented. It is commonly used on the flat, sandy, shallow shores around our coast, parti- cularly in the southern counties. When of moderate size, and manageable by two men, they wade with it a considerable distance into the water on the gra- dually-inclining shore, and when the water reaches above their middle, the net is opened and strained by the men separating, and drawn on shore, each man holding and drawing it by the two ropes at his end, the upper one being called the cork or head line, the lower one the lead or ground line. In this way, basse, gurnards, grey-mullet and atherine are surrounded and taken. When large scans are used, the greater part of the net, beginning at one end, is arranged in a boat, the other end is retained on shore : the boat proceeds seaward forming a half circle, and paying off the net as it advances on the water till the whole is out, then taking the lines to the shore. If well managed, all the fish within the space encircled are thus drawn on shore and captured. If the net is formed with a pouch or bag halfway between the two ends, it is then considered as a drag or draught net. The seans before referred to, as used for herrings and pilchards, are of much greater length and depth, and are square at each end, the more conveniently to lace them together, either to add net to net, or to join the two ends, when enclosing a shoal of fish. Few persons would credit the very large amount invested in nets, and they are tanned with a view to their preservation, as they are then found to last much longer. Nets are generally made by elderly men who are past the exertion required for the rougher employment of fishing. Making a new ANCIENT PRACTICE. 255 net is tolerably straightforward easy work, but the knowledge of how to mend a net is more essential to the fisherman than the ability to make one. By netters in general, net-mending is but little thought of, but the owners of fishing nets entertain great res- pect for a good mender, as the saving to them is enor- mous. The Saviour of mankind, walking by the sea of Galilee, " saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mend- ing their nets." * We learn, besides, that then, as now, net-fishing was practised in the dark, Simon saying, " we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing : nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net,"t when the influence of their Divine Master produced for them the miraculous draught. The net, of which an engraved representation of a part only is here given, is the trammel or flue net, * Matthew iv. 21. t Luke v. 5. 256 THE TRAMMEL NET. and is formed of three separate portions. The small meshed twine netting is called the lint, and in a net thus composed of three parts, the more flexible lint hangs loosely between the two portions of the much larger-sized cord meshes which are called the wallings. These wallings are of equal length and depth on both sides or rather before and behind the lint or lining portion, which is always double the length and depth of the wallings, whatever their length and depth may be ; depending on the particular purpose or place for which the net is intended. The meshes of the wallings should be four times larger than the meshes of the lint. This sort of net corked along the head-line, and leaded at the bottom, is commonly used as a stop-net. Hanging in the water like a drift-net to intercept the passage of any passing fish, a scan or a draught- net is pulled towards it from a distance, and any fish flying from before the draught-net passes through the walling, and forms by his momentum a bag or pocket for himself in the looser lint of the net from which he seldom escapes. When this net is used in a river it should be long- enough to reach quite across it, from bank to bank, and the water being disturbed for some distance both above and below the trammel, both wallings come into operation. The next net, and the last to be here figured and re- ferred to is called a keer-drag, and is an effective machine where the ground is smooth, for collecting small fishes, and various other marine animals. The bottom and sides of the oblong mouth of this KEER-DRAG FISHING. 257 net are formed of an iron rod about seven feet long, of which about fifteen inches at each end are bent once at right angles ; to these ends a straight beam of wood, three inches in diameter, is fixed, which should be rounded for the convenience of handling. The wood by its buoyancy, when the net is in use in the water, tends to preserve the vertical position of the frame- work. To the mouth of the net thus formed by the union of the iron and wood a piece of netting is to be ap- plied all round, which should diminish gradually, both in the size of the net and its mesh, till, at the distance of seven or eight feet from the framework, it should terminate in a round open mouth, about the size of the top of a stocking. The mesh of the net for the last three feet should be very small, as it is at this part the most strenuous efforts to escape will be made; particu- larly by the pipe-fish (Syngnathi). The net is to be drawn along the ground by a slight rope over the stern of a boat, which should not be rowed fast. This tow-rope ends towards the net by a bridle, and thus the mouth of the net is not only kept 258 HOOK AND LINE FISHING. square to the front, but its vertical position is also pre- served. The open tail of the net being closed and securely tied, and the apparatus put overboard from a row-boat, keeping hold of the tow-rope, and taking care that the mouth of the net preserves its position, it should be towed leisurely about, the iron bottom traversing the ground, and the quantity of contents obtained soon leads to a knowledge of the best localities. Should the mouth of the net get foul of any opposing substance on the ground, it is only necessary to push the boat back in the line of its previous course, and the net comes away clear, being thus pulled in the opposite direction. When inclined to examine the net, the framework may be raised by the tow-rope, high enough to lodge the wooden beam on the edge of the boat's stern, but higher than that is unnecessary : the tail of the net is to be handed in, untied, and the contents shaken out into a tub for examination. The tail of the net being re-tied, the frame may be lowered and towed about as before ; and while the net is again at work at the bottom, the collector may be engaged over the con- tents of his tub in the boat. Of the various sea-fish brought to market a large portion is caught by hooks and lines, more particularly on those parts of the coast where, from the ground being foul, as it is called, uneven in its surface, covered with fragments of hard rock, the water very deep with strong and rapid tides, the effective use of a net is more or less impracticable. Two forms or modes of using hooks and lines are HOOK AND LINE FISHING. 259 in use, one called long lines, the other hand-lines. The long line has hooks fastened at regular dis- tances along its whole length, by shorter and smaller cords, called snoods ; these snoods are six feet long each, and fastened to the long line twelve feet from each other, to prevent the hooks becoming entan- gled. Near the hooks these shorter lines, or snoods, are formed of separate threads loosely fastened together, to guard against division by the teeth of the fish. Some variations occur at different parts of the coast, as to the number of hooks attached to the long line, as well as in the length of the snood ; but the distance on the long line between two snoods is always double the length of the snood itself. Buoys, buoy-ropes, and anchors or grapples, and sometimes large stones, are fixed one to each end of the long line : the hooks are baited with gar-fish cut in pieces, sandlaunce, limpet and whelk, &c. ; the lines are always laid, or, as it is termed, shot, across the tide ; for if the tide runs upon the ends of the line, it will force the hooks together, by which the whole tide's fishing is lost. The lines are deposited generally about the time of slack water, be- tween each ebb and flow, and are taken up or hauled for examination after having been left about six hours, or one flood or ebb. An improvement upon this more common plan was some years ago suggested by Mr. Cobb, who was sent to the Shetlands by the Commissioners appointed for the improvement of the fisheries. He fixed a small piece of cork within a certain distance of the hook, about twelve inches, which raised and floated the bait 260 LINE FISHING. so as to prevent its falling on the ground; by which method the bait was more freely shown to the fish, from the constant and variable motion produced upon it by the tide. In the old way the bait was frequently hid from the fish by being covered with sea-weed, or was consumed by some of the numerous star-fish and crabs that infest the ground. The fishermen, when not engaged in shooting, haul- ing, or re-baiting the long lines, fish with hand-lines, armed with two hooks kept apart by a strong piece of wire : each fisherman manages two lines, holding one line in each hand ; a heavy leaden weight is attached to the lower end of the line not far from the hooks, to sink the bait down near the ground, where the fish princi- pally feed. These two modes of line-fishing are prac- tised to a great extent nearly all round the coast ; and enormous quantities of cod, haddock, whiting, coal- fish, pollack, hake, ling, torsk, conger, and all the various flat fish, usually called by the general name of whitefish, are taken. Of codfish alone, the number taken in one day is very considerable ; from one hun- dred to one hundred and fifty fish have been caught on the banks of Newfoundland in ten or eleven hours by one man ; and a master of fishing vessels trading to the London market stated that eight men, fishing under his orders off the Dogger-bank, in twenty-five fathoms water, have taken eight score of codfish in one day. These are brought to Gravesend in stout cutter-rigged well-boats, and a portion sent up to Billingsgate mar- ket by each night-tide. It may be here stated, for the information of those FISH AS DIET. 261 who select at market fish for themselves, that a fish caught with a hook, and the marks are frequently ob- vious about the mouth, are generally better subjects for the table than those taken in a net. The net en- closes the invalids among fish, as well as the healthy, and a fish, on his feed, caught by a baited hook, is the more likely to be in good condition. Choose a fish with a short body, a small head, and a thick shoulder ; such a fish is most likely to be firm to the touch. The flesh of fishes as an article of food appears to have been in great request from remote ages of the world, and the variety of species among them supplying wholesome diet is even greater than in any other class of animals. I have profited by the example set by Mr. Bellamy, of Plymouth, in his very useful " House- keeper's Guide to the Fish-market," to show at one view, by adopting his form of table, the months in which the fishes most in request as food are in season ; and when, generally, in good condition. 262 THE HOUSEKEEPER'S GUIDE. Atherine . Tun. Feb. .Mar. Apr. - - July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Basse . . - - - - May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Brill . . - - Mar. A pr. May June July Ang. Sep. Oct. Nov. - Cod-fish . Ian. - - - - - Oct. Nov. Dec. Coal-fish . Ian. Oct. Nov. Dec. Conger . . - - Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. - - Dab. . . Inn. Feb. - - June Tuly Aug. S,p. Oct. Nov. Dec. Dory . . Tan. - - - May June I uly Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Flounder . - - - - - - Tuly Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. - Gurnard . Tan. Feb - - - - - Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Hake . . - - - Apr. May June T uly Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Haddock . Jan. Oct. Nov. Dec. Herring . - - - - - - Inly Aug. Sep. Oct. - - Mackerel . Tan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July - - Oct. Nov. Dec. Mullet, grey Fan. Feb. - - - July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Mullet, red Tan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May - - - Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Pilchard . June July Aug. S.p. Oct. Nov. - Plaice . . - - - - May June July Au_. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Pollack . - - - May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Pout . . Tan. Fell Mar. Apr. - - - - Oct. Nov. Dec. Skate . . t ic or theo ,her all the year through. Salmon. . - - Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. - - - - Sea-trout . - - Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. - - - - Sea-bream - - - - - June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Smelt . . - - - - - June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Sole . . . Jan. - - Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Trout . . - - - Apr. May June July Aug. - - - - Turbot . . Jan. Feb - - May June Tuly Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Whiting . Jan. Feb - - - - - - Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Wrasses . - - - May June Tulv Aug. Sep. Oct. 1 Nov. - NUTRITIVE POWERS OF FISH. 263 Dr. Pereira, in his " Treatise on Food and Diet," remarks " that the flesh of fish is less satisfying to the appetite than the flesh of either quadrupeds or birds. As it contains a larger proportion of water it is ob- viously less nourishing. A fish diet, therefore, is less substantial than either butchers' meat or poultry. Medicinally we employ it, when the digestive powers are unable to assimilate stronger kinds of aliments, or when it is considered desirable to avoid the stimulus which butchers' meat communicates to the system. The jockeys who waste themselves at Newmarket, in order to reduce their weight, are never allowed meat, when fish can be obtained." Haller found himself weakened by a fish diet ; and he states that persons are generally debilitated by Lent diet. Mr. Bellamy, a surgeon at Plymouth, says, " I am not aware that the continued use of fish, if consumed in its healthful state, has any other influence on the human body than that of somewhat reducing its mus- cularity and vigour." Dr. Cullen, however, maintained that the nutritive powers of fish are nearly, if not quite, equal to those of meat ; and in support of his opinion he states that he has known several instances of persons who felt no weakness from a Lent diet, and he further observes that there are several instances of villages inhabited almost wholly by fishermen, and who, therefore, live very much on this sort of aliment, but in whom no di- minution of health or vigour appears. Subjoined is a short statement of the amount of 264 NUTRITIVE POWERS OP FISH. solid contents in one hundred parts of various articles of food, derived from the published tables of Professor Brande and Dr. John Davy, from which the propor- tional amount of nutriment in each may be inferred. Fractional parts are purposely omitted. Beef Brande. . 26 Davy. . 26 Pollack . . . Davy. . 19 Veal . . Mutton . Pork . 25 . . 29 . . 24 . 27 . 26 30 Whiting. . . . Gurnard .... Dory . . 21 . 23 . 22 Chicken . Cod-fish . 27 . 21 . 27 . 19 Mackerel . . . Skate .... . 27 . 22 Haddock . . 18 . . 20 Salmon .... . 29 Sole . 21 . 21 22 Turbot . 20 Char . . . . 22 Brill 20 Smelt 19 Hake . . 17 But an interesting communication on this subject has very recently been published in the " Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh," contributed by Dr. John Davy, and read in April, 1853, the import- ance of which will, it is hoped, be an excuse for this partial reproduction. " What are the nutritive qualities of fish, compared with other kinds of animal food ? Do different species of fish differ materially in degree in nutritive power ? Have fish, as food, any peculiar or special properties ? These are questions, amongst many others, which may be asked, but which, in the present state of our know- ledge, I apprehend it would be difficult to answer in a manner at all satisfactory. " On the present occasion, I shall attempt little more ANTI-SCROFULOUS PROPERTIES OP FISH. 265 than an opening of the enquiry, and that directed to a few points, chiefly those alluded to in the foregoing queries. "The proposition probably will be admitted, that the nutritive power of all the ordinary articles of animal food, at least of those composed principally of muscular fibre, or of muscle and fat, to whatever class belonging, is approximately denoted by their several specific gravities, and by the amount of solid matter which each contains. " That fish generally are easy of digestion, excepting such as have oil in their muscular tissue, appears to be commonly admitted, as the result of experience, a re- sult that agrees well with the greater degree of softness of their muscular fibre, comparing it with that either of birds or of the mammalia, such as are used for food. " A more interesting consideration is, whether fish, as a diet, is more conducive to health than the flesh of the animals just mentioned, and especially to the pre- vention of scrofulous and tuberciilar disease. " From such information as I have been able to col- lect, I am disposed to think that they are. It is well known that fishermen and their families, living princi- pally on fish, are commonly healthy, and may I not say above the average ; and I think it is pretty certain that they are less subject to the diseases referred to than any other class, without exception. At Plymouth, at the Public Dispensary, a good opportunity is afforded of arriving at some positive conclusion some exact knowledge of the comparative prevalency of these dis- eases in the several classes of the community. The 266 FISHERMEN EXEMPT FROM TUBERCULAR DISEASE. able physician of that institution, my friend, Dr. Cook- worthy, at my request, has had the goodness to consult its records, and from a communication with which he has favoured me, it appears that of 654 cases of con- firmed diseases of the lungs,* the probable result of tubercles, entered in the register of the Dispensary, 234 males, 376 females, whose ages and occupations are given individually, the small number of four only were of fishermen's families, one male and three females, which is in the ratio of one to 163 ; and of watermen, who fish with hook and line, when other work is scarce, generally very poor, and of habits generally by no means temperate or regular, the number, including their fa- milies, did not exceed eleven, of whom ten were males, and one a female, which is in the ratio of one to 58-8. The entries from which the 654 cases are extracted, Dr. Cookworthy states, exceeds 20,000. He assures me, that had he taken scrofula in all its forms, the result would, he believes, have been more conclusive." Other returns, supplied by the Registrar-General, render the fact of this exemption of fishermen still more remarkable, especially considering the preva- lency of tubercular consumption in the working classes generally throughout the United Kingdom. " If the exemption be mainly owing to diet, and that a fish diet, it may be presumed that there enters into the composition of fish, some element not com- mon to other kinds of food, whether animal or vege- table. This I believe is the case, and that the pecu- liar element is iodine. * Phthisis and Haemoptysis. MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF FISH. 267 " I may briefly mention, that in every instance in which I have sought for this substance in sea-fish, I have found distinct traces of it, and also, though not so strongly marked, in the migratory fish, but not in fresh-water fish. The trials I have made have been limited to the following : viz., the Eed Gurnet, Mackerel, Haddock, Common Cod, Whiting, Sole, Ling, Herring, Pilchard, Salmon, Sea-Trout, Smelt, and Trout. In the instance of the fresh-run Salmon, Sea-Trout and Smelt, a slight trace of iodine was de- tected; in the spent Salmon descending to the sea, only a just perceptible trace of it was observable, and not a trace of it either in the Parr or in the Trout. " That iodine should enter into the composition of sea-fish, is no more perhaps than might be expected, considering that it forms a part of so many of the inhabitants of the sea on which fish feed ; to mention only what I have ascertained myself, in the common Shrimp I have detected it in an unmistakable manner, and also in the Lobster and Crab ; and likewise in the Common Cockle, Mussel, and Oyster." Dr. Pereira, in his treatise "On Food and Diet," says iodine has been found in the Mediterranean Sea, by Balard.* Professor Liebig also includes iodides in his analysis of sea-water, t Sea-weed and sponge con- tain iodine, and are used medicinally on that account. Iodine, in combination, was detected in cod-liver oil by Herberger.J * P. 105. t " Chemistry in its application to Agriculture and Physiology," p. 110, 2nd Edit. J Pereira on Food and Diet, p. 287. 2G8 SALUTARY EFFECTS OF A FISH DIET. " The medicinal effects of cod-liver oil, in mitigating, if not in curing, pulmonary consumption, appear to be well established. And as this oil contains iodine, the analogy seems to strengthen the inference, that sea- fish generally may be alike beneficial. " The inference regarding the salutary effects of fish depending on the presence of iodine, in the prevention of tubercular disease, might be extended to some other diseases, especially to that formidable malady goitre, the mitigation or cure of which has, in so many instances, been effected by iodine ; and which, so far as I am aware, is entirely unknown amongst the inhabitants of sea-ports and sea-coasts, who, from their situation, cannot fail to make more or less use of fish." The muscle, or flesh of fish, as before observed, is easy of digestion, and neither loads the stomach nor the system. Two physicians, of great experience, at the west end of London, find their advantage in taking fish only, at dinner, almost daily. A surgeon in extensive practice at the West End, tells me, that whenever he foresees he shall have a hard day's work, and be obliged to go out in the even- ing, he arranges for an early dinner of fish, and finds that he gets through a hard day with imich more ease to himself than if he had taken a heavy dinner of meat. A case of local inflammation, which resisted all the usual means, gave way entirely after persevering in a fish diet for nine weeks, and wholly abstaining from meat. COMMERCIAL VALUE OF FISH. 269 The fisheries of the British Islands, and the men engaged therein, require the constant attention of the Government. Considering the value of fish as an article of food, the supply immense, the source inex- haustible, its positive worth, " an amount of human food equal to little less than a million of money drawn forth annually from the waters," obtained at moderate cost, giving employment to thousands of adventurous, hard-working, honest men, who are most serviceable members of the community either in peace or war ; hence our obvious advantage as islanders in promoting that occupation which is the nursery of seamen, the willing, able, and powerful agents of our commerce and our defence. " It is gratifying to be able to state, in conclusion, that within these two years no fewer than twenty- seven Sailors' Homes have been established in the United Kingdom." Spectator, 10th of September, 1853, p. 867. CHAPTER IX. SEA-SIDE PLANTS, BIRDS, DRIFTWOOD, ETC. COAST scenery is so varied in its character that it is impossible to describe it, without localizing ; and our plan prevents us from indicating any place. Nothing can be more dissimilar than the eastern and western shores of the British Islands, the one flat, sandy, shingly, with few harbours, and a slightly-indented coastline ; the other rock-bound, with bluff headlands, abounding in harbours, and deep bays which penetrate far into the land, while all exposed places are lashed by the heavy swells of the Atlantic. A person who has WESTERN SHORES. 271 seen the sea only on the east coast of England, can form but a feeble conception of that glorious mirror, where the Almighty form Glasses itself in tempests ; in all time, Calm or convulsed in breeze, or gale, or storm, Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime, Dark heaving ; boundless, endless, and sublime. The general colour of the water, and the play of light on the surface, are totally different on our eastern and western coasts. The greater depth near land on a rock-bound shore, and the different colour of the bottom, cause the waters on the west coast to have a deeper blue ; and the absence of sand and mud give them greater clearness, so that it is not uncommon, in gliding along in a boat, to see below us sea-weeds waving and fishes swimming at a depth of many fathoms. But it is not merely in colour that the western ocean sur- passes the sea on our eastern coasts. The broad At- lantic, free from impediments for a thousand leagues, breasts high against the rocks ; and even in summer there is often a swell such as is seen only in the storms of winter elsewhere. These ground-swells, clear as emerald, moving in with a slow and stately step, break in thunder on the rocks, throwing up glorious showers of spray : and this amid the sunshine of a summer's noon, when there is no wind, or only suffi- cient breeze from the land to throw back the top of the wave in a feathery crest, while the great mass of water, with arching neck, breaks in an opposite direction. Not that such occurs on every summer day : there are times when the ocean takes its rest. But these great 272 MARITIME VEGETATION. breakers are the relics of some storm which has roused his strength a thousand miles away, and come to our peaceful coasts, like the rejoicings after victory, to tell of his power and majesty. The aspect of the coast is thus indefinitely varied. There are, however, cha- racters, which a natural- ist will at once detect, common to most sea- shores. The vegetation, in general, has not the luxuriance which an in- land situation affords. The trees are of smaller size, of slower growth, and apt to be bent by the prevalent winds, or their tops shorn by the salt air. On many coasts, trees will not grow beyond the shelter of walls or rocks, and forest- trees dwindle into stunt- ed shrubs. Then there are numerous plants which are peculiar to the sea- shore, and which are never found far from the HORNED FOPFT. coast. I have already mentioned the Sea-reed (Ammophila arundinacea)-which flourishes among drifting sands, and binds together the CRUCIFEEOUS PLANTS. 273 mass with its matted roots. Still nearer to the beach, and even among the larger stones that border it, many gay-flowered plants are seen scattered about. The Yellow-horned Poppy (Gflaucium luteum) and the Eringo (Eringium maritimum) are very characteristic of such a locality. The Horned Poppy forms a large crown of deeply-cut and very rough leaves, from which rise seve- ral straggling stems that lie along the ground, bearing here and there large yellow flowers, succeeded by horn- like pods, several inches in length. The Eringo is more erect, branching and bushy, and exceedingly rigid, with blue-green cut leaves, spinous like those of holly, and dense heads of small blue flowers. Several cruciferous plants, with flowers having four petals, forming a cross, and succeeded by long or short green pods, are peculiar to the sea-coast. One of these is the Sea-kail, well known in cultivation, but which may also be found on several sandy shores. Another is the Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), supposed to be the origin of all the varieties of garden cabbage and greens, including cauliflower and brocoli in the list ; these latter being monstrous states of the flowering branches. Wild Cabbage is particularly abundant under Dover cliffs, and all along that chalky shore ; and in severe springs the young sprouts, which are earlier than those produced in gardens, are collected and brought to market. Some parts of the cliffs look precisely like cabbage-gardens. Another plant of this family, the Sea-rocket (Cakile maritimd), with weak, smooth stems and rather succulent, pinnatifid leaves and purplish flowers, is common in sandy places. And two species of Stock (Matthiola incana and M, sinuatd) are 274 PLANTS OP SALT-MARSHES. among the rarer species, the former being, perhaps, scarcely a genuine wild plant. Where the coast is muddy, another genus of this family, Cochlearia, or Scurvy-grass, makes its appearance. Of this genus there are five British species, one of which is the Horse-radish. All cruciferous plants have anti-scorbutic qualities, and perhaps there is not any unwholesome plant in the order. Many are used for food, and all those that have soft and fleshy leaves and succulent roots, like the Tur- nip and Radish, are suitable for that purpose. The species are widely dispersed through temperate climates, but very rare in hot countries ; and they are eight times more numerous in the northern than in the southern hemisphere. Many are now dispersed, through the agency of man, to every climate. Salt-marshes near the coast have their peculiar vege- tation. Coarse Sedges and Rushes grow in the wetter places, mixed with patches of Aster, whose purple flowers enliven the otherwise dreary and dismal scene. Various smaller plants are scattered in drier places. The Thrift or Sea-pink (Armeria maritima), and the different kinds of Sea-lavender (Statice) are peculiarly gay, growing wherever the mud becomes hardened. The former is not confined to such places, but often forms extensive patches or continuous soft cushions along the margin of the sea, and in May bears a profusion of its pretty pink flowers, which continue opening for the two following months. The Thrift is met with again on the summits of mountains, at a distance from the sea ; but is not commonly found in intermediate places, except occasionally on the banks of large inland lakes. Some PLANTS OF SALT-MARSHES. 275 others of the plants of salt-marshes have a similar fancy for mountain air, particularly two kinds of Plantain (Plantago maritima and P. coronopus) ; and the chief difference which climate makes upon them is, that the leaves in the shore-grown plants are more succulent and contain a greater quan- tity of soda. One of the most characteristic plants of salt ground is the jointed Glass- wort (Sali- cornia herbacea), a small herb with fleshy stems, divided into joints, with minute flowers concealed in the axils of the scale- like leaves. This plant, like Samphire, is some- times gathered for pick- ling ; but it is rather an old-fashioned pickle, not often seen, even in coun- try places. In the south of Europe, several others of the genus grow in great profusion, and are largely collected and burned for the sake of the soda contained in their ashes. The Scdicornia belongs to the same family as the common weed called Goose-foot (Chenopodium) ; and others of its kind are natives of the coast; such as the various kinds of Orache (Atri- plex), some of which are shrubby and not unornamental, 276 .MARITIME PRIMULACE^E. and the Wild-beet (Beta maritima), whose leaves may be used as Spinach. The Spinach itself is one of the same tribe, many of which are used as esculents in various parts of the world. Some of them, such as the Garden Beet, or Mangold Wurzel ; and the Chenopodium quinoa, which is largely cultivated in Peru, are among the most important green crops in the countries where they flourish. Sometimes the Atriplices, particularly A . portulacoides, of our shores, grow in the pools of brackish water, or the drains made along a muddy shore, and then, not unfrequently, their stems may be found cloth- ed with tufts of a delicate little sea-weed, Bostrychia scorpioides, the only one of the Floridece which is found in brackish water. It seems strange to find a genuine sea-weed growing upon the stems of a flowering plant. A common little shore- plant, Glauxmaritima, placed by botanists in the same family as the Primrose, is interesting, not merely from its beauty, but from its im- perfectly exhibiting the cha- racters of the order. In the Primulacece there is gene- rally a well-formed and large corolla, as is sufficiently obvious in the various kinds of Primrose, Auricula, and Polyanthus. In Glaux that organ is wholly wanting, but a coloured calyx supplies MARITIME PB1MULACE.E. 277 its place ; in all other respects the little plant has the structure of the family. It has creeping stems which send up erect branches from two to six inches high, with small, oblong, fleshy leaves in whose axils small pink flowers are sessile. Each flower is five-cleft, and contains five stamens and one style. The common Brook-weed (Samolus Valerandi), which grows in wet places, is another Primulaceous plant, interesting both from its structure and history. In form its flowers resemble very minute primroses, but have a row of rudimentary stamens alternate with the lobes of the corolla, and the sides of the ovary are united to the calyx. In both these characters it differs from other Primulacece. The point most curious in its history is that it is one of a small genus, whose species are found widely apart, and that it is itself a native not merely of the shores of Europe and America, but also of South Africa and New Holland. With the exception of Car- damine hirsuta, perhaps none of our wild-plants, that is not an absolute weed, has a wider range than Samolus. In places similar to where the Glaux is found, grow Arenaria marina and rubra (if they be distinct), small biennials with awl-shaped, opposite, fleshy leaves, and starry purple flowers that open in sunshine ; each flower with five petals, ten stamens, and three styles. These little plants are associated by botanists with the Chickweed, and also with Pinks and Carnations in an order called Caryophyllece. To the same order belongs the Catchfly (Silene), a species of which (Silene mari- tima), with bladdery calyces and smooth fleshy leaves, grows along the margin of the sea. 278 VEGETATION OP SAND-DOWNS. Sand-downs, where the herbage is close and thick, have often a very gay flora, composed of a great number of plants. The surface is generally carpeted with white clover, mixed with mosses, chiefly of the genus Tortida, and small, fine-leaved grasses, especially Nardus stricta and some of the more wiry leaved Festucce, with here and there the characteristic Sand-reed. Such is the composition of the greensward which forms the ground- work of the piece. This is gaily ornamented with a pro- fusion of the bright pink stars of Centaury (Urythrcea), several kinds of which are distinguished. These are diminutive Gentians, with all the bitterness of foliage and brightness of flower peculiar to that family of plants. Among them may sometimes be seen their more ambi- tious brother the Chlora, with his golden eight-lobed crown ; but this is rarely found except where there is limestone or chalk in the soil. Next we are attracted by different varieties of Wild Pansies ( Viola tricolor and V. lutea), some of them blue, others yellow, and others a mixture of these colours with creamy white. Then Eye-bright, which, though diminutive, often indeed dwindled down to a pair or two of leaves and a pair of flowers, is still worthy both of its English name, and the more sounding Greek Euphrasies,. Milkwort (Polyyala), of three colours, white, blue, or red, abounds on such ground ; as does also the singularly elegant Asperula cynanchica, whose hair-like stems, with narrow leaves in distant whorls, support a branching tuft of white or pink tubular, four-cleft flowers. This graceful little plant is of the same family as the Madder (Rubia), and the Ladies' Bedstraw (Gralium), and is still more closely EUPHORBLE OR SPURGES. 279 connected with a greater favourite than either, the Woodruff' (Asperula odorata). Several small species of Clover (Trifolium), some of them rare, are scattered about. One of the prettiest of these, though not rare, is T. arvense, or Hare's-foot Clover, a species with erect wiry stems, narrow leaves, and long cylindrical heads of flowers, clothed with soft silky hairs. These may be collected for the winter nosegay, the silky heads re- taining their form and much of their colour in drying. Several wild Geraniums and Stork's-bills (Erodium) abound, the long finely-cut leaves of the latter being more beautiful than the comparatively insignificant flowers. The more bare patches of sand are frequently diversified with scattered tufts of a half-shrubby Spurge (Euphorbia paralias), one or two feet high, with erect stems, clothed with closely-set, oblong, somewhat fleshy leaves, and bearing an umbel of greenish-yellow flowers. Like all the Spurges, it contains abundance of an acrid milky juice, which flows when any part of the stem or leaf is wounded. Most of the Spurges grow in similarly dry ground, in various parts of the world, and perhaps nowhere are they found of larger size or of stranger forms than in the burning sands of Africa. There the smooth stem, clothed with thin leaves, which marks our British kinds, is exchanged for a succulent stem, often destitute of leaves altogether, or having those organs converted into spines, or into lumpy bodies. The stem of some is columnar, rising into trees twenty to forty feet high, and bearing great naked branches like arms of gigantic candelabra ; that of others is globose, or melon-shaped, armed with spiny ribs and furrows ; and others again 280 CONVOLVULUS SOLDANELLA. have a multitude of snake-like stems issuing from the expanded crown of their roots. In others the root itself forms the reservoir, being as large as a turnip or a beet ; while an annual vegetation of soft leaves and flower- stalks is all that rises above the surface of the ground. All these varieties of habit are obviously designed to enable these plants to endure the climate and soil for which they are destined. Nourishment in some is stored up in the leaves, in others in the stem, and in others in the root, that they may have something to feed upon through the burning days and dewless nights of an African summer. Other plants contend with the diffi- culties of their situation by other means. Thus, one of the most beautiful of our native sand-hill plants, Con- volvulus Soldanella, sends creeping stems under the sur- face of the sand in all directions, and these emit from the joints, or nodes, bundles of finely-divided, hair-like roots, that penetrate the loose soil, and ramifying as they go along, are constantly forming mouths ready to suck up every drop of water that penetrates the sand. Besides this provision of abundant roots, its leaves, though less fleshy than in some plants, are so in some degree, and retain, in their tissues, moisture even in seasons of drought. Along the sandy shores of other countries, and throughout the tropics, are found species of Convolvulus related to our G. Soldanella, and these support existence by means of a similar system of creep- ing underground stems and fibrous roots. But with the soil the habit is varied ; thus, in the arid plains of Persia, where probably a stiffer soil may prevent the spreading of underground stems, there are species of VEGETATION OF ROCKY GROUND. 281 Convolvulus forming thorny shrubs, not tmlike our furze-bushes. It is singular to see such rigid and dry- looking sticks, yielding, in their season, flowers of the same structure and delicacy as the beautiful Bindweed of our hedges. Rocky ground along the coast has its peculiar plants, but perhaps a less numerous list than that with which the sands supply us. Of course I omit a large num- ber which are not confined to the shore, though they often mainly contribute to form some of the sweetest of the minute pictures that abound along the nooks and coves of the sea-coast. Primroses and Violets and Wild Thyme, are as abundant by the shore as they are in inland places, and so are Wild Roses. But there is one species of Rose, Rosa spinosissima, the origin of all the garden varieties of Scotch Roses, which is most abundant by the shore, growing either among rocks or on the sands. In the latter situation it is often ex- tremely stunted, its stems not rising more than two or three inches above the surface, but even in that humble condition crowned with the large milk-w r hite blossom of their kind. The leaves of this species are peculiarly small and neat, and its stems densely clothed with slen- der, spreading spines. On various parts of the English coast, especially in the south, different kinds of Helian- themum, or Rock-rose, cover maritime rocks, and are gay the whole summer with ever-renewing troops of white or yellow flowers whose crumpled petals scarcely last a day. The stamens of these plants are sensitive. If the filaments be touched on the outside, near the base, the tuft will be seen gradually to open, till they lie down in 282 GRASSY PASTURES NEAR THE SEA. a circle distant from the pistil. The distribution of the British Helianthema is rather curious, from the scat- tered localities in which the several kinds occur. In Ireland there are only two species, one found but very sparingly in the south-west of Cork, the other confined to the Isle of Arran, on the Galway coast. In steep places by the sea, and especially on mural cliffs, the Tree-mallow (Lavatera arborea) is abundant in many places. This is the most woody of the British Mallows, forming an arborescent bush, six or eight feet high. Biit, notwithstanding its woody character it is only a biennial, and perishes after having once ripened fruit. The Tamarisk (Tamarix), though not common in a wild state, is well-known in gardens. It naturally grows by the sea-side, and is by much the most shrubby of the British coast-plants. Its long sprayey branches, clothed with minute leaves, and bearing late in autumn dense clusters of flesh-coloured flowers, are singularly elegant, as they wave to and fro in the breeze. We have but one native species; but several others are found on the sea-shores of Europe and Asia, and some characteristic districts in the steppes of Tartary, where these thin, twiggy shrubs alone relieve the widely-spread desolation and barrenness. Grassy pastures near the sea are sometimes well-stored with small bulbous plants, which dot them over with flowers, bright in their brief season. Early in spring the Vernal Squill (Sdlla vernd), and late in autumn the Autumnal (S. autumnalis), open their fairy stars of blue, on tiny scapes, an inch or two in height. These are common to many of our coasts. Another minute bulb MARITIME BIRDS. 2S3 (Trichonema Columnce), the smallest British species of the Iris family, occurs in one or two places * on the south coast of England, where it finds, perhaps, its most northern locality. It belongs to a genus whose species gradually increase in number and in gay clothing as you approach the sun, and which has its maximum at the Cape of Good Hope, where many sorts, with rich purple, golden, or milk-white flowers of large size span- gle the roadsides, or cover the barren ground near the sea with a many-coloured sheet. Several of the smaller Orchidece are found in similar places, especially Orchis morio, whose dark purple flowers are among the first heralds of summer, and Lady's-tresses (Spiranthes au- tumnalis), which scents the grass in the hottest months. In rambling thus along the shore, whether it be the bold headland, the sandy down, or the flat beach that engages our notice, plants are not the only objects that arrest the eye of a naturalist. Ever and anon his attention is attracted by the appearance of some bird, either one of the regular denizens of the coast, or a pass- ing visitant. The birds which we meet with near the sea are so numerous, that (as I am not going to write a bird-history) I shall not notice them all, and those which I shall mention must be spoken of in a very cursory manner. Many that visit wooded shores belong more properly to woods and groves. The singing birds are of this description, with the exception of the Lark, which frequents open pastures near the sea as much as those further inland, and may be heard pouring out his shrill melody above our heads through the live-long summer * Dawlish Warren, Devonshire. 284 NATATORES, OR SWIMMING BIRDS. day. Several, which in their habits are strictly land- birds, and never enter the water or feed on the products of the sea, pass their lives in its neighbourhood, and continually meet us on rocky coasts. Of these the Chough or Cornish Crow (Fregilus graculus) is one of the most remarkable. Its size is between that of a Rook and a Jackdaw, but it is more shapely than either, of a glossy blue-black colour, with bright red bill and legs. The bill is more slender than in others of the crow family, and is remarkably curved, and sharp- pointed. These birds build in inaccessible crags and cliffs along the coast, forming a nest of sticks, lined with wool and hair, in which are laid four or five yel- lowish white spotted eggs. They feed on insects and berries, and sometimes on grain. Like others of the Crow tribe, they are easily tamed, if taken young, and exhibit in captivity the same restless curiosity and love of pilfering, and hiding what they steal, that mark the Raven and Jackdaw. Montagu has given us an inter- esting account of one of these birds which he kept for several years in his garden, and which became exceed- ingly bold and familiar. His account will be found copied into Yarrell's admirable " History," a source from which I have not scrupled to draw in the short notice that follows. But the birds most characteristic of the coast belong to the groups of NATATORES, or Swimmers, distinguished by having webbed feet, which act as paddles in propel- ling them through the water. This very extensive group contains numerous families, several of which are included in the British Fauna. At the head of the list THE DUCK FAMILY. 285 are the Anatidce, or Ducks and Geese; a family pecu- liarly characteristic of high latitudes, from which vast flocks annually migrate southwards, visiting our shores in the winter months. Some remain with us all the year, some only in the breeding-season, and others rarely show themselves, except when driven here, as into a har- bour of refuge in a severe season. The habits of many of this family are more lacustrine than littoral. They prefer inland pieces of water, fens, &c., nestling among the tall reeds and willows of the margin. But some are strictly littoral in their habits. One of the commonest of the latter is the Shell-drake (Tadorna milpanser), a strikingly handsome species, with glossy-green head and neck, a white collar, and a body diversified with patches of chestnut, white and black ; bright-red bill and flesh- coloured legs. The head is shorter and rounder than in the common Duck, and the bill is remarkable for a pro- minence above, and a strong short hook at the extre- mity. The Shell-drake frequents sandy places near the coast, building in old rabbit-holes, and making its nest of grass, often ten or twelve feet distant from the en- trance. This habit has in some places obtained for them the local name of Burrow-duck. Their commoner name is perhaps given from their being accustomed to feed on small mussels or other shell-fish ; or, as Mr. Yarrell suggests, perhaps a corruption of shield-drake, because this bird is frequently introduced into heraldry. Very different in its colour, but somewhat similar in form, is the Scoter (Oidemia nigra), a common winter visitant. This bird has a uniformly black plumage, with black 286 THE BARNACLE. bill and legs. The head is shaped like that of the Shell-drake, but the bill wants the strong hook at the extremity. It frequents the sea-shore in many places, often in considerable numbers, and feeds on small shell- fish and other molluscous animals. The flesh is oily, with a strong fishy taste, and thus " being identified with fish, it is allowed by the Romish Church to be eaten in Lent and on fast-days; and so great is the demand for it, that many devices are in use on the sea- coasts of [Roman] Catholic countries to obtain these ducks for the use of the table." * Mr. Yarrell, from * The statement here given, on the authority of Mr. Yarrell, is, I have been recently informed, much too broad and unqualified. There is no general rule of the Roman Church on this subject, but in certain localities old customs of this nature have long prevailed, which are permitted, but not enjoined. That the Barnacle was formerly eaten in Ireland on fast-days as fish, and that it may still be so used in some remote parts of the island, is a common opinion ; and a learned friend has pointed out to me a curious passage, to be found in an old Dutch book of travels in Europe, " Zeer gedenkwaardige en naan- keurige historische Reis-beschrijvinge door Vrankrijk, Spangie, Ita- lien, Duitsland, Engeland, Holland en Moscovien, p. 445," published at Leyden in 1700, of which there is a copy in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, to the following effect. Speaking of Ireland, the author says, " There are also many other animals, among which may be remarked a sort of bird out of the marshes, called Barnacles, which are produced in a wonderful manner. For they have neither father nor mother, nor come forth out of any eggs, but out of the gum of the fir-trees, which are common on the sea-shore. They are seen first to open the mouth, afterwards to move the body, and as soon as they feel themselves loose, fly into the air, or plunge into the water of the marshes. The clergy and ecclesiastics of the kingdom eat of these animals in the fasts, and give out that they are not produced from flesh of any kind." In making these remarks, I wish distinctly to THE MERGANSERS. 287 whose work I make this extract, gives an interesting account of the stratagems employed for this purpose at places on the French coast, where the pursuit of this game is deemed so important as to be a matter of muni- cipal regulation. At the end of the family of Ducks are placed the Mergansers, of which we have four Bri- tish kinds. They differ chiefly from others of the family by the comparatively long and slender bill, furnished with fine teeth along the edges and hooked at the extremity. The form of their body resembles that of other Sea-ducks, and their habits are very similar. All our species are furnished with crests, or long feathers at the back of the head. The Smew (Mergus albellus), the smallest and commonest, is a very elegantly marked bird, white, diversified with black and grey ; a black face, and slate-coloured bill, with a white neck and breast, and a white head, all but the face and poll- feathers, the latter, forming the crest, being partly greenish-black and partly white. The Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serratoi-) is a larger species, painted with equal variety, but in gayer colours. The head and throat are of a rich shining green, the neck white, say, that nothing is farther from my thought, or would give me greater pain, than to wound the feelings of any member of the Church of Rome, in whose communion are included many friends whom I highly esteem, and one to whom I am bound by the closest ties of friendship. As to the matter in question, eating Barnacles as fish, we must bear in mind that at the time the custom originated, every one including the naturalists of that day firmly believed in the marine origin of this bird. To a later period the Whale and Porpoise were supposed to be fishes and if their flesh also had been eaten as fish, who would have questioned the propriety of the practice ? 288 THE DIVERS. except a narrow dark line behind ; at either side, before the wings, are numerous large white feathers, bordered by velvet-black ; the lower part of the neck and breast is chestnut-brown, varied with dark streaks, and the body and wings are elegantly diversified with white, black, and brown feathers. The Goosander (Mergus merganser), our largest species, is found chiefly in the northern parts of the kingdom, whose shores it visits in winter. In its colours it somewhat resembles the last, having a dark-green head and throat; but the upper part of the body is more uniformly dark ; and it wants the black-edged feathers in front of the wing, and, instead of the mottled breast, the lower part of the neck and under -surface of the body is a reddish-buff. These Mergansers naturally lead us to the Grebes and Divers, or Colymbidce, a family at once distinguished from the Duck tribe by the long conical bill, and the position of the legs, which are placed so far back, to- wards the tail, that when the bird leaves the water, it stands nearly erect. The foot in the Grebes is only partially webbed, the toes being deeply divided, and merely winged with membrane ; but in the Divers we find feet webbed like those of the Ducks. The Grebes have long beaks, and long bodies, but short wings, and an obsolete tail, and frequently long and dense feathers on the neck, forming a thick ruff round the throat. Their habits are more properly lacustrine than marine ; they feed on small fish and aquatic insects, which they take by diving, pursuing their game under water with great agility. The little Dab-chick, so often seen in THE GUILLEMOTS AND PUFFINS. 289 lakes and rivers, is the smallest and commonest of the genus, and its habits give a correct notion of those of the other species. The true Divers (Colymbi) most strongly exhibit the habits of the family. Of these the Great Northern Diver (Colymbus glaeialis) is the largest, and, when fully grown, the handsomest; the upper part of the body being dark, elegantly spotted with trans- verse rows of white spots ; the lower surface white ; the head and neck black, with greenish tints, and two ring- like collars of mottled feathers. It is " a most expert and indefatigable diver, and remains down sometimes for several minutes, often swimming under water, and as it were flying with the velocity of an arrow through the air." It feeds on small fish, the shoals of which it follows along the coast, and captures its prey by diving after it. In the breeding-season these birds pass in- land, and build their simple nest in some retired spot, on the borders of a lake or inlet. They are very shy at all times, and particularly at this season. The family of Alcadce, consisting of Guillemots, Auks, Kazor-bills, and Puffins, contains several species that pass their lives in swimming and diving after fish, or in sitting perched on rocks in retired places of the coast. All these are birds of social habits, and con- gregate in vast flocks on the rocky islets and headlands of our northern and western coasts, where the pursuit of this game, either for the capture of the birds or their eggs, is conducted with the appliances more of savage than civilized life the fowlers being suspended in mid-air by slender ropes from the cliff. In the form of the body these birds are very similar to the Divers ; 290 HABITS OP GUILLEMOTS. the legs, which are short and thick, are inserted very- far back, and give a still more erect carriage to the bird when on shore. The wings are short and small in proportion to the bulk of the body, and in one or two species so small as to be unfitted for flight. In this, and other respects, there is an obvious resem- blance between this group and the Penguins of the southern hemisphere, in which the deficiency of wing, and fish-like motions and habits, are carried to their greatest extent. The Alcadae of the north may, in- deed, be taken as the representatives of the Penguins (Spheniscidce) of the south. The Common or Foolish Guillemot ( Uria troile) is met with at all seasons. In breeding-time these birds congregate by hundreds and thousands on the rocks that they frequent, which, for the time, they and their associates convert into populous bird-cities. Nor are these bird-cities limited to single species. In May, when they begin to congregate, Guil- lemots, Auks, Eazor-bills, and Puffins, as well as Gulls, visit the rocks in vast troops, and then begin such a hubbub and flutter that you would think there was going to be a fierce contest for the nesting-ground. But, after much debate, the matter is amicably settled, and the rock portioned out in ledges, one above another, to the different kinds. Here each lays its solitary egg, on the bare rock, or with very little protection ; and on these eggs the birds sit, with fearless fidelity for the allotted time, in their peculiar erect posture. The name "foolish" is given to the Guillemots because, whilst hatching, they will rather suffer themselves to be taken by the hand than desert their charge. A rock thus THE PUFFIN. 291 peopled from top to bottom with thousands of grave- looking birds, while others are soaring and screaming about them is a very singular sight. The vast numbers of these birds surprise us, too, when we remember that each pair lays but a single egg. And such is also the case with the Penguins of the south, and with several other kinds of social birds. Nature has given them this limited power of multiplication, and has not exempted them from the usual number of enemies and accidents and their enemies, besides man, are many yet the race goes on still increasing. Is it their good temper or their stolidity that favours increase in this extraordinary degree ? The young birds soon leave the rock, and, long before they can fly, are found swimming in the sea below, diving and catching fish like their parents. Fishermen assert* that the young Guillemot, when about to leave the rock, climbs on the back of its mother, and is by her carried down to the water. The Puffin, or Sea-parrot (Fratercula arctica) is a round, little, black- and-white bird, with a singular parrot-shaped beak, ribbed with orange. It frequents the same sort of places as the Guillemot, and its habits are similar, except that it does not expose its egg without protection. Where it finds holes or crevices ready-made to its use, it helps itself freely to them, and will even disperse rabbits, driving them out of their burrows. But when no holes are to be found, the male bird makes a burrow to the depth of three or four feet, digging out the ground with his strong bill. In this burrow is laid the solitary egg, which is hatched after a month's incubation. * Vide Waterton. 292 THE CORMORANT. Of the Pelican family (Pelican.idce) there are three British species, the Cormorant, the Shag, and the Gan- net. These are birds of much more active habits than the last-named family, with bodies of more shapely form, more ample wings, and stronger flight. Their most re- markable characteristic is a surface of naked skin about the throat, capable of considerable dilatation, so as to serve as a pouch for conveying unswallowed food. This skin in the true Pelican is developed into an enormous bag. In its British representatives it is comparatively but rudimentary. The Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carlo) is a dusky bird, with a blackish body, lighter-coloured wings, a crested pole, a yellow face, a long, slender, hooked bill, and green eyes. It may be seen on most parts of the coast, perched on rocks, or sitting on the ledges of mural cliffs, watching for fish. Occasionally, in winter, it flies inland, and pursues its game in rivers and lakes ; but its usual haunt is the rocky shore. It is a most expert fish-catcher, and formerly in this country was domesticated, and employed in taking fish for its master. Old writers give many accounts of this practice. In China, to the present day, an allied species (Ph. sinensis) is employed for the same purpose. I copy the account given by a recent traveller in that country. " There were two small boats, containing one man and about ten or twelve birds in each. The birds were standing perched on the sides of the little boat, and apparently had just arrived at the fishing-ground. They were now ordered out of the boat by their masters ; and so well trained were they that they went on the water immediately, scattered themselves over the canal, and CATCHING FISH IN CHINA. 293 began to look for fish. They have a beautiful sea-green eye, and, quick as lightning, they see and dive upon the finny tribe, which, once caught in the sharp-notched bill of the bird, never, by any possibility, can escape. The Cormorant now rises to the surface, with the fish in his bill, and the moment he is seen by the Chinaman he is called back to the boat. As docile as a dog, he swims after his master, and allows himself to be pulled into the san-pan, where he disgorges his prey, and again resumes his labours. And, what is moi'e wonderful still, if one of the Cormorants gets hold of a fish of large size, so large that he would have some difficulty in taking it to the boat, some of the others, seeing his dilemma, hasten to his assistance, and with their efforts united capture the animal, and haul him off to the boat. Sometimes a bird seemed to get lazy or playful, and swam about without attending to his business ; and then the Chinaman, with a long bamboo, which he also used for propelling the boat, struck the water near where the bird was, calling out to him in an angry tone. Immediately, like the truant schoolboy, who neglects his lessons and is found out, the Cormorant gives up his play, and resumes his labours. A small string is put round the neck of the bird, to prevent him from swallowing the fish which he catches."* The Shag (Ph. graculus) is very similar in aspect and habits to the Common Cormorant, but is of smaller size, and is at once distinguished by its uniform dark-green colour. The Gannet (Sula alba) is more robust than either of the Cormorants, with a shorter and thicker neck, a large head, and a broadly-conical, * Fortune's China, pp. 99, 100. 294 THE GANNET. very sharp and strong bill. The prevalent colour of the full-plumaged bird is white, the tips of its wings only being black, and some black lines about the face, resem- bling eyebrows or spectacles. The naked skin of the face is blue, the eyes pale yellow, and the head and neck buff-colour. The plumage of the young bird is very- different, being blackish, spotted irregularly with small white specks. The habits of the Gannet are strictly marine, and it breeds, like other sea-birds, on precipitous rocks, where it forms a rude nest of reeds and grass. In some localities, as on the island-rock of St. Kilda, and others of the Hebrides, the Gannets congregate in vast numbers. Twenty-two thousand birds, besides immense numbers of eggs, are annually consumed in St. Kilda alone, without seriously injuring the colony. The birds are still so numerous there that it is supposed they destroy annually a hundred millions of herrings. Their mode of fishing is quite peculiar, and singularly grace- ful. Hovering to and fro, with rapid flight, over the surface of the sea, when it spies a fish swimming below, the Gannet suddenly rises perpendicularly over the spot, and then, closing its wings, drops head foremost on its prey, with more than arrowy speed, and almost unerring aim. It feeds entirely on fish, and chiefly on the various kinds of herrings. Beside those captured for food, large numbers are annually destroyed for the sake of the valuable down. The family of Laridce, containing the Gulls, Terns, and Petrels, has been incidentally mentioned in a former- chapter. It consists of a large number of species pecu- liarly oceanic in their habits, and widely scattered over GULLS. 295 the world. Many of the species, besides visiting the shores of Northern Europe and Arctic America, extend their flights to far southern latitudes, and some appear to live constantly on the open sea, except when they visit the shore in the breeding-season. All are remark- able for the strength of their flight, and the easy grace of their motions as they soar or glide through the air with a scarcely-perceptible movement of wing ; but some are much more active than others. Their form is elegant and well-proportioned : some, as the Terns, resemble swallows in shape and rapidity of flight ; and others, as several of the Gulls, seem analogous to pigeons. Almost all undergo remarkable changes of plumage at different ages, and some have also an annual change, the colours at the breeding-season becoming darker. This change rapidly takes place, without any moulting, the feathers of the head, which are originally white, gradual- ly assuming a dark-brown or black colour. These birds are mostly voracious feeders, seizing indifferently on dead or living animal substances found floating on the sea, or thrown up at the recess of the tide. Large flocks both of Gulls and Terns are then busy with the Mollusca and Radiata on the sands ; and at other times they may be seen hovering over the water, on the watch for any floating animal substance. This they perceive from a considerable height, and secure by a rapid descent and pounce ; sometimes by merely curving down and skim- ming the surface ; at other times, by closing the wings, and dropping suddenly under water. Both sexes in the Gulls have similar plumage ; but the males are known by being of larger size than the female. Their cry is 296 THE KITTY- WAKE AND SKUA. peculiar, between a scream and a laugh, and if heard in their wilder haunts, among precipitous rocks, and dash- ing waves, however discordant, is not unpleasing, when, perhaps, it is the only sound proceeding from a living thing that disturbs the solitude. Heard, as I have often heard it, on the summit of cliffs eight or nine hundred feet high, rising from the depths below, where each individual bird looks like a floating speck of foam, it gives a spirit to the scene that ever after attaches to the recollection of it. Various are the species of Gulls that breed upon our coasts, and various the stations they pre- fer. The Kitty-wake (Larus tridactylus), so called from its cry, prefers the highest and steepest crags, where it perches its sea-weed nest on almost inaccessible ledges. Others build on flatter shores, or less secluded places. Some, like the Skua (Lestris cataractes), have been called parasites, from their predaceous habits. " They rarely take the trouble to fish for themselves; but watching the Gulls while thus employed, they no sooner observe one to have been successful than they imme- diately give chase, pursuing it with fury, and obliging it, from fright, to disgorge the recently-swallowed fish ; they descend after it to catch it, and are frequently so rapid and certain in their movements and aim, as to seize their prize before it reaches the water." * From the nature of their food all the birds of the family are extremely oily, and many have the habit, when cap- tured, of vomiting up quantities of clear oil, of a very offensive smell, and this apparently as a means of de- fence. The Fulmar (Procellaria glacialis), a large grey * Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 603. THE FULMAR. 297 and white species, that forms very populous colonies on some of the remoter western islands of Scotland, and is occasionally seen elsewhere, is remarkable for the quan- tity of this oil which it disgorges. Yet, notwithstanding its strong-tasted flesh, it is eagerly sought after by the islanders, who annually consume many thousands of the young birds, besides multitudes of eggs. In pursuit of these the intrepid fowler has to ascend or descend frightful precipices, or to hang suspended in mid-air. The birds, according to Mr. Macgillivray, build only on the steep faces of the cliff, where small patches of grass here and there occur : " The nest is formed of herbage, seldom bulky, generally a mere shallow excava- tion in the turf, lined with dried grass and the withered tufts of sea- pink, in which the bird deposits a single egg, of a pure white colour when clean, which is seldom the case, and varying in size from two and a half to three inches in length, by two inches in breadth. The small- est bird of the fami]y, and the smallest web-footed bird known, is the Storm Petrel (Thalassidroma pelagica), well known to mariners by the name of Mother Carey's Chicken, and dreaded by them from its supposed appear- ance immediately before a storm. In a sailor's supersti- tion it is believed to rise out of the sea. This little creature lives almost constantly at sea, except during the breeding- season, when it visits maritime rocks, and unfrequented parts of the coast, and there deposits its solitary egg in holes or crevices. It feeds on any floating animal sub- stance, or on such small soft animals as it can master ; and when at sea, may be seen constantly flying about hither and thither, at a short distance from the surface, 298 MOTHER CAREYS CHICKEX. on the watch for prey. Its name, Petrel, is given, Mr. Yarrell tells us, from its " habit of paddling along the surface, from the Apostle Peter, who walked on the sea." The last little bird of which we have spoken ends the list of our marine birds, and naturally suggests to us a storm, as a storm does a shipwreck ; and from a shipwreck to floating pieces of timber, or drift-wood, the passage is easy and natural. We shall now inquire whether such floating spars are worth examining. They often come ashore covered externally with Bar- nacles, and pierced through and through by the Teredo and Limnoria. All these animals have something interesting in their history. The Common Barnacle " WHAT OUR EYES HAVE SEEN." 299 (Pentelasmis anatifera) has a fabulous history sufficient- ly amusing, indicated by the specific name, anatifera. Our ancestors believed that Barnacle geese were the offspring of these marine creatures : and worthy Master Gerard gives a circumstantial account of the whole process, and moreover prefaces it with a voucher, that tellers of marvellous tales are apt freely to offer, " What our eyes have seen, and hands have touched, we shall declare." Nor is this all, for he favours us with a figure repre- senting the metamorpho- sis going on. The Bar- nacle belongs to a very curious class of animals, called CirrJiipoda, which combine the characters of Crustacea and Mollusca in a remarkable man- ner, and, though usually placed with the latter, are, perhaps, nearer akin to the former. The Barnacle FENTZIASMIS ANATIFERA. is lodged within a white shell, flattened at the sides, opening by a slit down one edge, and fixed on a soft, flexible, fleshy stalk. The shell is composed of five pieces, joined together by mem- branes. Within this coat of mail lies the soft body of the Barnacle, with its head towards the lower end of the 300 CIRRHIPODA. shell, near the place where it is fixed to the stalk, and its tail at the upper extremity. The tail is not unlike that of a Crustacean, and is bordered on each side with six lobes (representing the segments of the articulate body of that class), each of which supports a pair of long, ciliated arms, or cirrhi, the whole resembling a plume of purple feathers. These cirrhi, when the ani- mal is alive, are constantly in motion, projecting out- ward, and expanding into an oval, concave net, then retracting inwards, and closing upon whatever may have come within their reach. They are so placed that any small matter which becomes entangled within them can rarely escape, and finds a ready passage to the mouth. Very similar to the Barnacle is the animal of the Bala- nus, whose shells cover, in scurfy patches, the surface of exposed rocks, as well as drift-wood, or any other sub- merged substance. These shells are usually white, shaped like truncated cones, and composed of several ribbed pieces closely fitted together, with an aperture at top, closed by an operculum, and within this house the crea- ture is lodged. Like the Barnacle, it puts out its arms in search of food, though to a less extent. There are many varieties of both kinds ; that is to say, of the sessile and stalked Cirrhipoda. Some of the former of large size, form a lodgment in the coats of Whales ; others lodge themselves in Corals or Sponges. The habits of the race are very uniform. Once fixed, they remain so during their lives, taking chance for subsist- ence. In an early stage, however, they are free to move from place to place, and are lively little beings, swimming about with the speed of Water-fleas (Daphni animals of different Analogy, J orders or genera resemble each other in habit, or in some prominent character, and appear to occupy a similar position in the groups to which they respectively belong, such plants or animals are said to be analogues one of another. Anatidce (an order of sea-birds, containing Ducks and Geese), 285. INDEX AND GLOSSAEY. 317 Anchovies, 253. Annelides( Red-blooded Worms) described, 159; classification, 160; Abranchiata, 160; Dorsi- branchiata, 161 ; Ttdiicola, 161 ; various examples, 162 165. Anthozoa (a sub-class of Zoo- phytes), 118 ; division into orders, 118; examples, 1 1 9 125. Aplysia (a Sea-Slug), 140. Aphrodite aculeata (Sea Mouse) described, 166. Area (a genus of shells), 72. Arenaria rubra, 277. 4re}iicolapiscatorum(LueWoim), 161. Argonaut, 310. Arnieria (Sea Pink), 274. Ascidice (Sea Squirts), their his- tory, 129, 130 ; compound, 130. Asperula cynanchica, 278. Aster tripolium, 274. Asteriadcn(& family of Star-fishes), 171 ; examples of. 172175. Asteroida (an order of Zoophytes), 118 ; described, 184; British species of, 185,187. Atherine, 254. Attractive force of the moon, 41, 43, 44. of the sun, 41. Bacillaria paradoxa (a minute Alga), motion of, 211. Bait for a lady, 246. Balani, 82, 300. Barnacle (Penttlasmis anatifera), 299. Basse, 254. Beroe, 222. Beta maritima (Wild Beet), 276. Bird-cities, 290. Bird's head appendage of Cellzt- larias, 129. Bivalve Mollusca (Acephala), 66, &c. ; classification, 72. Boats for trawling, 243. Bostrychia scorpioides, 276. Botany, pleasures of, 13. Botryllidae (a family of compound Ascidians}, 131. Bottom of the sea, 31. Branchi