diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-0.txt | 4812 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 116509 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 4062843 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/695-h.htm | 5620 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/coverb.jpg | bin | 0 -> 203482 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/covers.jpg | bin | 0 -> 32242 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p109b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 214657 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p109s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 38448 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p114b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 228926 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p114s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 40236 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p117b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 228125 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p117s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 40822 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p129b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 201915 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p129s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 40681 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p135b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 271464 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p135s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39526 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p136b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 201184 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p136s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39952 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p163b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 218349 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p163s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39011 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p168b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 204051 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p168s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 40149 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p201b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 217538 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p201s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 40260 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p65b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 214962 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p65s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 38328 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p73b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 194720 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p73s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39500 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p81b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 198949 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p81s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39226 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p83b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 105341 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p83s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39780 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p85b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 203795 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p85s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 38975 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p92b.jpg | bin | 0 -> 228456 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 695-h/images/p92s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39273 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/glcus10.txt | 4883 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/glcus10.zip | bin | 0 -> 111436 bytes |
41 files changed, 15331 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/695-0.txt b/695-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..078e28c --- /dev/null +++ b/695-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4812 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Glaucus, by Charles Kingsley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Glaucus + The Wonders of the Shore + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: November 14, 2014 [eBook #695] +[This file was first posted on October 22, 1996] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLAUCUS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: Plate 1: Actinia Mesembryanthemum] + + + + + + GLAUCUS + OR + THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE + + + * * * * * + + BY + CHARLES KINGSLEY + + * * * * * + + _WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + * * * * * + + London + MACMILLAN AND CO. + AND NEW YORK + 1890 + + _The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved_ + + * * * * * + + RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, + LONDON AND BUNGAY. + +_First Edition_ (Fcap. 8vo), May 1855. _Second Edition_, August 1855. +_Third Edition_, 1856. _Fourth Edition_ (with Coloured Illustrations), +1859. _Fifth Edition_ (Crown 8vo), 1873. _Reprinted_ 1878, 1879, 1881, +1884, 1887, 1890. + + + + +Dedication. + + +MY DEAR MISS GRENFELL, + +I CANNOT forego the pleasure of dedicating this little book to you; +excepting of course the opening exhortation (needless enough in your +case) to those who have not yet discovered the value of Natural History. +Accept it as a memorial of pleasant hours spent by us already, and as an +earnest, I trust, of pleasant hours to be spent hereafter (perhaps, too, +beyond this life in the nobler world to come), in examining together the +works of our Father in heaven. + +Your grateful and faithful brother-in-law, + + C. KINGSLEY. + +BIDEFORD, + _April_ 24, 1855. + + * * * * * + + _The basis of this little book was an Article which appeared in the_ + _North British Review for November_ 1854. + + * * * * * + + BEYOND the shadow of the ship, + I watch’d the water snakes: + They moved in tracks of shining white, + And when they rear’d, the elfish light + Fell off in hoary flakes. + + * * * * + + O happy living things! no tongue + Their beauty might declare: + A spring of love gush’d from my heart, + And I bless’d them unware. + + COLERIDGE’S _Ancient Mariner_. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + WOOD ENGRAVINGS. +FIG. PAGE +1. Nymphon Abyssorum, NORMAN 81 +2. Caprella spinosissima, NORMAN 83 +3. Pentacrinus asteria, LINNÆUS 85 + COLOURED PLATES. +PLATE +1. 1. FLUSTRA LINEATA; (_a_) enlarged with polypes 73 + protruding. 2. FLUSTRA FOLIACEA. 3. VALKERIA + CUSCUTA; (_a_) natural size; (_b_) two + tentacles; (_c_) tentacles bent inwards; (_d_) + enlarged, showing the gradual eversion of the + animal. 4. CRISIA DENTICULATA; (_a_) natural + size. 5. GEMELLARIA LORIOATA; (_a_) natural + size. 6. SERTULARIA ROSEA; (_a_) natural size. + 7. CELLULARIA CILIATA; (_a_) natural size; (_b_) + one of the bird’s heads; (_c_) cell and bird’s + head, much enlarged. 8. CAMPANULARIA SYRINGA; + (_a_) natural size. 9. CAMPANULARIA VOLUBILIS, + enlarged. 10. SERIALARIA LENDIGERA. 11. + NOTAMIA BURSARIA; (_a_) natural size; (_b_) two + pairs of polype cells with the tobacco pipe + appendages +2. 1. CARDIUM RUSTICUM, (TUBERCULATUM). 2. PAGURUS 65 + BERNHARDI, in a Periwinkle Shell +3. 1. NEMERTIES BORLASII. 2. SABELLA? 3. 136 + Sand-tube of TEREBELLA CONCHILEGA (_See Plate_ + 8) +4. 1. SYNAPTA DIGITATA; (_a_) Ditto separating and 109 + throwing out capsuliferous threads. 2. + THALASSIMA NEPTUNI +5. 1. BALANOPHYLLEA REGIA, expanded; (_a_) Ditto, 117 + contracted; (_b_) Ditto coral; (_c_) Ditto, + tentacle enlarged; 2. CARYOPHYLLEA SMITHII + partly expanded; (_a_) Ditto, section of bony + plates; (_b_) Ditto, tentacle. 3. SAGARTIA + ANGUICOMA closed; (_a_) Ditto, basal disc + showing radiating septa. 4. SYNAPTA DIGITATA + (_See Plate_ 4); (_a_, _b_) Ditto, fingered + tentacles enlarged; (_c_) Ditto, Spiculæ; (_d_) + Ditto, anchor lying on its transparent + anchor-plate. 5. S. VITTATA? perforated + anchor-plate; (_a_) Spicula +6. 1. ACTINIA MESEMBRYANTHEMUM, partially expanded; 135 + (_a_) Ditto, closed. 2. BUNODES CRASSICORNIS. + 3. CARYOPHYLLEA SMITHII _Front_ +7. 1. ECHINUS MILIARIS, creeping over Modiola 168 + barbata. 2. Ditto, creeping up the glass. 3. + Hiding under stones +8. 1. LITTORINA LITTOREA (_See Plate_ 9); (_a_) 201 + operculum; (_b_) pallet; (_c_) part of pallet, + magnified. 2. NASSA RETICULATA (_See Plate_ + 11); (_a_) egg capsules; (_b_, _c_) fry; (_d_) + shell of fry; (_e_) pallet, magnified. 3. + PATELLA VULGARIS; (_a_) palate, natural size; + (_b_, _c_) Ditto, enlarged. 4. ECHINUS MILIARIS + (_See Plate_ 7); (_a_) teeth and digesting mill; + (_b_) suckers, enlarged; (_c_) spine and socket; + (_d_) shell denuded; (_e_) Pedicellaria. 5. + NEMERTES BORLASII (_See Plate_ 3); (_a_) head, + enlarged; (_b_) head expanded swallowing a + Terebella +9. 1. CUCUMARIA HYNDMANNI. 2. LITTORINA LITTOREA. 114 + 3. SIPHUNCULUS BERNHARDUS in shell of + TURRITELLA, with living BALANI +10. 1. SERPULA CONTORTUPLICATA. 2. HINNITES PUSIO. 129 + 3. DORIS REPANDA. 4. EOLIS PELLUCIDA. 5. + PHOLADIDÆA PAPYRACEA. 6. PHOLAS PARVA. 7. + FISSURELLA GRÆCA +11. 1. SYNGNATHUS LUMBRICIFORMIS. 2. SAXICAVA 163 + RUGOSA; (_a_) Shell of SAXICAVA RUGOSA. 3. + NASSA RETICULATA +12. 1. PEACHIA HASTATA. 2. URASTER RUBENS 92 + + + + +GLAUCUS; +OR, +THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. + + +YOU are going down, perhaps, by railway, to pass your usual six weeks at +some watering-place along the coast, and as you roll along think more +than once, and that not over-cheerfully, of what you shall do when you +get there. You are half-tired, half-ashamed, of making one more in the +ignoble army of idlers, who saunter about the cliffs, and sands, and +quays; to whom every wharf is but a “wharf of Lethe,” by which they rot +“dull as the oozy weed.” You foreknow your doom by sad experience. A +great deal of dressing, a lounge in the club-room, a stare out of the +window with the telescope, an attempt to take a bad sketch, a walk up one +parade and down another, interminable reading of the silliest of novels, +over which you fall asleep on a bench in the sun, and probably have your +umbrella stolen; a purposeless fine-weather sail in a yacht, accompanied +by many ineffectual attempts to catch a mackerel, and the consumption of +many cigars; while your boys deafen your ears, and endanger your personal +safety, by blazing away at innocent gulls and willocks, who go off to die +slowly; a sport which you feel to be wanton, and cowardly, and cruel, and +yet cannot find in your heart to stop, because “the lads have nothing +else to do, and at all events it keeps them out of the billiard-room;” +and after all, and worst of all, at night a soulless _réchauffé_ of +third-rate London frivolity: this is the life-in-death in which thousands +spend the golden weeks of summer, and in which you confess with a sigh +that you are going to spend them. + +Now I will not be so rude as to apply to you the old hymn-distich about +one who + + “—finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do:” + +but does it not seem to you, that there must surely be many a thing worth +looking at earnestly, and thinking over earnestly, in a world like this, +about the making of the least part whereof God has employed ages and +ages, further back than wisdom can guess or imagination picture, and +upholds that least part every moment by laws and forces so complex and so +wonderful, that science, when it tries to fathom them, can only learn how +little it can learn? And does it not seem to you that six weeks’ rest, +free from the cares of town business and the whirlwind of town pleasure, +could not be better spent than in examining those wonders a little, +instead of wandering up and down like the many, still wrapt up each in +his little world of vanity and self-interest, unconscious of what and +where they really are, as they gaze lazily around at earth and sea and +sky, and have + + “No speculation in those eyes + Which they do glare withal”? + +Why not, then, try to discover a few of the Wonders of the Shore? For +wonders there are there around you at every step, stranger than ever +opium-eater dreamed, and yet to be seen at no greater expense than a very +little time and trouble. + +Perhaps you smile, in answer, at the notion of becoming a “Naturalist:” +and yet you cannot deny that there must be a fascination in the study of +Natural History, though what it is is as yet unknown to you. Your +daughters, perhaps, have been seized with the prevailing “Pteridomania,” +and are collecting and buying ferns, with Ward’s cases wherein to keep +them (for which you have to pay), and wrangling over unpronounceable +names of species (which seem to be different in each new Fern-book that +they buy), till the Pteridomania seems to you somewhat of a bore: and yet +you cannot deny that they find an enjoyment in it, and are more active, +more cheerful, more self-forgetful over it, than they would have been +over novels and gossip, crochet and Berlin-wool. At least you will +confess that the abomination of “Fancy-work”—that standing cloak for +dreamy idleness (not to mention the injury which it does to poor starving +needlewomen)—has all but vanished from your drawing-room since the +“Lady-ferns” and “Venus’s hair” appeared; and that you could not help +yourself looking now and then at the said “Venus’s hair,” and agreeing +that Nature’s real beauties were somewhat superior to the ghastly woollen +caricatures which they had superseded. + +You cannot deny, I say, that there is a fascination in this same Natural +History. For do not you, the London merchant, recollect how but last +summer your douce and portly head-clerk was seized by two keepers in the +act of wandering in Epping Forest at dead of night, with a dark lantern, +a jar of strange sweet compound, and innumerable pocketfuls of +pill-boxes; and found it very difficult to make either his captors or you +believe that he was neither going to burn wheat-ricks, nor poison +pheasants, but was simply “sugaring the trees for moths,” as a blameless +entomologist? And when, in self-justification, he took you to his house +in Islington, and showed you the glazed and corked drawers full of +delicate insects, which had evidently cost him in the collecting the +spare hours of many busy years, and many a pound, too, out of his small +salary, were you not a little puzzled to make out what spell there could +be in those “useless” moths, to draw out of his warm bed, twenty miles +down the Eastern Counties Railway, and into the damp forest like a +deer-stealer, a sober white-headed Tim Linkinwater like him, your very +best man of business, given to the reading of Scotch political economy, +and gifted with peculiarly clear notions on the currency question? + +It is puzzling, truly. I shall be very glad if these pages help you +somewhat toward solving the puzzle. + +We shall agree at least that the study of Natural History has become +now-a-days an honourable one. A Cromarty stonemason was till lately—God +rest his noble soul!—the most important man in the City of Edinburgh, by +dint of a work on fossil fishes; and the successful investigator of the +minutest animals takes place unquestioned among men of genius, and, like +the philosopher of old Greece, is considered, by virtue of his science, +fit company for dukes and princes. Nay, the study is now more than +honourable; it is (what to many readers will be a far higher +recommendation) even fashionable. Every well-educated person is eager to +know something at least of the wonderful organic forms which surround him +in every sunbeam and every pebble; and books of Natural History are +finding their way more and more into drawing-rooms and school-rooms, and +exciting greater thirst for a knowledge which, even twenty years ago, was +considered superfluous for all but the professional student. + +What a change from the temper of two generations since, when the +naturalist was looked on as a harmless enthusiast, who went +“bug-hunting,” simply because he had not spirit to follow a fox! There +are those alive who can recollect an amiable man being literally bullied +out of the New Forest, because he dared to make a collection (at this +moment, we believe, in some unknown abyss of that great Avernus, the +British Museum) of fossil shells from those very Hordwell Cliffs, for +exploring which there is now established a society of subscribers and +correspondents. They can remember, too, when, on the first appearance of +Bewick’s “British Birds,” the excellent sportsman who brought it down to +the Forest was asked, Why on earth he had bought a book about “cock +sparrows”? and had to justify himself again and again, simply by lending +the book to his brother sportsmen, to convince them that there were +rather more than a dozen sorts of birds (as they then held) indigenous to +Hampshire. But the book, perhaps, which turned the tide in favour of +Natural History, among the higher classes at least, in the south of +England, was White’s “History of Selborne.” A Hampshire gentleman and +sportsman, whom everybody knew, had taken the trouble to write a book +about the birds and the weeds in his own parish, and the every-day things +which went on under his eyes, and everyone else’s. And all gentlemen, +from the Weald of Kent to the Vale of Blackmore, shrugged their shoulders +mysteriously, and said, “Poor fellow!” till they opened the book itself, +and discovered to their surprise that it read like any novel. And then +came a burst of confused, but honest admiration; from the young squire’s +“Bless me! who would have thought that there were so many wonderful +things to be seen in one’s own park!” to the old squire’s more morally +valuable “Bless me! why, I have seen that and that a hundred times, and +never thought till now how wonderful they were!” + +There were great excuses, though, of old, for the contempt in which the +naturalist was held; great excuses for the pitying tone of banter with +which the Spectator talks of “the ingenious” Don Saltero (as no doubt the +Neapolitan gentleman talked of Ferrante Imperato the apothecary, and his +museum); great excuses for Voltaire, when he classes the collection of +butterflies among the other “bizarreries de l’esprit humain.” For, in +the last generation, the needs of the world were different. It had no +time for butterflies and fossils. While Buonaparte was hovering on the +Boulogne coast, the pursuits and the education which were needed were +such as would raise up men to fight him; so the coarse, fierce, +hard-handed training of our grandfathers came when it was wanted, and did +the work which was required of it, else we had not been here now. Let us +be thankful that we have had leisure for science; and show now in war +that our science has at least not unmanned us. + +Moreover, Natural History, if not fifty years ago, certainly a hundred +years ago, was hardly worthy of men of practical common sense. After, +indeed, Linné, by his invention of generic and specific names, had made +classification possible, and by his own enormous labours had shown how +much could be done when once a method was established, the science has +grown rapidly enough. But before him little or nothing had been put into +form definite enough to allure those who (as the many always will) prefer +to profit by others’ discoveries, than to discover for themselves; and +Natural History was attractive only to a few earnest seekers, who found +too much trouble in disencumbering their own minds of the dreams of +bygone generations (whether facts, like cockatrices, basilisks, and +krakens, the breeding of bees out of a dead ox, and of geese from +barnacles; or theories, like those of elements, the _vis plastrix_ in +Nature, animal spirits, and the other musty heirlooms of Aristotleism and +Neo-platonism), to try to make a science popular, which as yet was not +even a science at all. Honour to them, nevertheless. Honour to Ray and +his illustrious contemporaries in Holland and France. Honour to Seba and +Aldrovandus; to Pomet, with his “Historie of Drugges;” even to the +ingenious Don Saltero, and his tavern-museum in Cheyne Walk. Where all +was chaos, every man was useful who could contribute a single spot of +organized standing ground in the shape of a fact or a specimen. But it +is a question whether Natural History would have ever attained its +present honours, had not Geology arisen, to connect every other branch of +Natural History with problems as vast and awful as they are captivating +to the imagination. Nay, the very opposition with which Geology met was +of as great benefit to the sister sciences as to itself. For, when +questions belonging to the most sacred hereditary beliefs of Christendom +were supposed to be affected by the verification of a fossil shell, or +the proving that the Maestricht “homo diluvii testis” was, after all, a +monstrous eft, it became necessary to work upon Conchology, Botany, and +Comparative Anatomy, with a care and a reverence, a caution and a severe +induction, which had been never before applied to them; and thus +gradually, in the last half-century, the whole choir of cosmical sciences +have acquired a soundness, severity, and fulness, which render them, as +mere intellectual exercises, as valuable to a manly mind as Mathematics +and Metaphysics. + +But how very lately have they attained that firm and honourable standing +ground! It is a question whether, even twenty years ago, Geology, as it +then stood, was worth troubling one’s head about, so little had been +really proved. And heavy and uphill was the work, even within the last +fifteen years, of those who stedfastly set themselves to the task of +proving and of asserting at all risks, that the Maker of the coal seam +and the diluvial cave could not be a “Deus quidam deceptor,” and that the +facts which the rock and the silt revealed were sacred, not to be warped +or trifled with for the sake of any cowardly and hasty notion that they +contradicted His other messages. When a few more years are past, +Buckland and Sedgwick, Murchison and Lyell, Delabêche and Phillips, +Forbes and Jamieson, and the group of brave men who accompanied and +followed them, will be looked back to as moral benefactors of their race; +and almost as martyrs, also, when it is remembered how much +misunderstanding, obloquy, and plausible folly they had to endure from +well-meaning fanatics like Fairholme or Granville Penn, and the +respectable mob at their heels who tried (as is the fashion in such +cases) to make a hollow compromise between fact and the Bible, by +twisting facts just enough to make them fit the fancied meaning of the +Bible, and the Bible just enough to make it fit the fancied meaning of +the facts. But there were a few who would have no compromise; who +laboured on with a noble recklessness, determined to speak the thing +which they had seen, and neither more nor less, sure that God could take +better care than they of His own everlasting truth. And now they have +conquered: the facts which were twenty years ago denounced as contrary to +Revelation, are at last accepted not merely as consonant with, but as +corroborative thereof; and sound practical geologists—like Hugh Miller, +in his “Footprints of the Creator,” and Professor Sedgwick, in the +invaluable notes to his “Discourse on the Studies of Cambridge”—have +wielded in defence of Christianity the very science which was faithlessly +and cowardly expected to subvert it. + +But if you seek, reader, rather for pleasure than for wisdom, you can +find it in such studies, pure and undefiled. + +Happy, truly, is the naturalist. He has no time for melancholy dreams. +The earth becomes to him transparent; everywhere he sees significancies, +harmonies, laws, chains of cause and effect endlessly interlinked, which +draw him out of the narrow sphere of self-interest and self-pleasing, +into a pure and wholesome region of solemn joy and wonder. He goes up +some Snowdon valley; to him it is a solemn spot (though unnoticed by his +companions), where the stag’s-horn clubmoss ceases to straggle across the +turf, and the tufted alpine clubmoss takes its place: for he is now in a +new world; a region whose climate is eternally influenced by some fresh +law (after which he vainly guesses with a sigh at his own ignorance), +which renders life impossible to one species, possible to another. And +it is a still more solemn thought to him, that it was not always so; that +æons and ages back, that rock which he passed a thousand feet below was +fringed, not as now with fern and blue bugle, and white bramble-flowers, +but perhaps with the alp-rose and the “gemsen-kraut” of Mont Blanc, at +least with Alpine Saxifrages which have now retreated a thousand feet up +the mountain side, and with the blue Snow-Gentian, and the Canadian +Sedum, which have all but vanished out of the British Isles. And what is +it which tells him that strange story? Yon smooth and rounded surface of +rock, polished, remark, across the strata and against the grain; and +furrowed here and there, as if by iron talons, with long parallel +scratches. It was the crawling of a glacier which polished that +rock-face; the stones fallen from Snowdon peak into the half-liquid lake +of ice above, which ploughed those furrows. Æons and æons ago, before +the time when Adam first + + “Embraced his Eve in happy hour, + And every bird in Eden burst + In carol, every bud in flower,” + +those marks were there; the records of the “Age of ice;” slight, truly; +to be effaced by the next farmer who needs to build a wall; but +unmistakeable, boundless in significance, like Crusoe’s one savage +footprint on the sea-shore; and the naturalist acknowledges the +finger-mark of God, and wonders, and worships. + +Happy, especially, is the sportsman who is also a naturalist: for as he +roves in pursuit of his game, over hills or up the beds of streams where +no one but a sportsman ever thinks of going, he will be certain to see +things noteworthy, which the mere naturalist would never find, simply +because he could never guess that they were there to be found. I do not +speak merely of the rare birds which may be shot, the curious facts as to +the habits of fish which may be observed, great as these pleasures are. +I speak of the scenery, the weather, the geological formation of the +country, its vegetation, and the living habits of its denizens. A +sportsman, out in all weathers, and often dependent for success on his +knowledge of “what the sky is going to do,” has opportunities for +becoming a meteorologist which no one beside but a sailor possesses; and +one has often longed for a scientific gamekeeper or huntsman, who, by +discovering a law for the mysterious and seemingly capricious phenomena +of “scent,” might perhaps throw light on a hundred dark passages of +hygrometry. The fisherman, too,—what an inexhaustible treasury of wonder +lies at his feet, in the subaqueous world of the commonest mountain burn! +All the laws which mould a world are there busy, if he but knew it, +fattening his trout for him, and making them rise to the fly, by strange +electric influences, at one hour rather than at another. Many a good +geognostic lesson, too, both as to the nature of a country’s rocks, and +as to the laws by which strata are deposited, may an observing man learn +as he wades up the bed of a trout-stream; not to mention the strange +forms and habits of the tribes of water-insects. Moreover, no good +fisherman but knows, to his sorrow, that there are plenty of minutes, ay, +hours, in each day’s fishing in which he would be right glad of any +employment better than trying to + + “Call spirits from the vasty deep,” + +who will not + + “Come when you do call for them.” + +What to do, then? You are sitting, perhaps, in your coracle, upon some +mountain tarn, waiting for a wind, and waiting in vain. + + “Keine luft an keine seite, + Todes-stille fürchterlich;” + +as Göthe has it— + + “Und der schiffer sieht bekümmert + Glatte fläche rings umher.” + +You paddle to the shore on the side whence the wind ought to come, if it +had any spirit in it; tie the coracle to a stone, light your cigar, lie +down on your back upon the grass, grumble, and finally fall asleep. In +the meanwhile, probably, the breeze has come on, and there has been +half-an-hour’s lively fishing curl; and you wake just in time to see the +last ripple of it sneaking off at the other side of the lake, leaving all +as dead-calm as before. + +Now how much better, instead of falling asleep, to have walked quietly +round the lake side, and asked of your own brains and of Nature the +question, “How did this lake come here? What does it mean?” + +It is a hole in the earth. True, but how was the hole made? There must +have been huge forces at work to form such a chasm. Probably the +mountain was actually opened from within by an earthquake; and when the +strata fell together again, the portion at either end of the chasm, being +perhaps crushed together with greater force, remained higher than the +centre, and so the water lodged between them. Perhaps it was formed +thus. You will at least agree that its formation must have been a grand +sight enough, and one during which a spectator would have had some +difficulty in keeping his footing. + +And when you learn that this convulsion probably took plus at the bottom +of an ocean hundreds of thousands of years ago, you have at least a few +thoughts over which to ruminate, which will make you at once too busy to +grumble, and ashamed to grumble. + +Yet, after all, I hardly think the lake was formed in this way, and +suspect that it may have been dry for ages after it emerged from the +primeval waves, and Snowdonia was a palm-fringed island in a tropic sea. +Let us look the place over more fully. + +You see the lake is nearly circular; on the side where we stand the +pebbly beach is not six feet above the water, and slopes away steeply +into the valley behind us, while before us it shelves gradually into the +lake; forty yards out, as you know, there is not ten feet water; and then +a steep bank, the edge whereof we and the big trout know well, sinks +suddenly to unknown depths. On the opposite side, that flat-topped wall +of rock towers up shoreless into the sky, seven hundred feet +perpendicular; the deepest water of all we know is at its very foot. +Right and left, two shoulders of down slope into the lake. Now turn +round and look down the gorge. Remark that this pebble bank on which we +stand reaches some fifty yards downward: you see the loose stones peeping +out everywhere. We may fairly suppose that we stand on a dam of loose +stones, a hundred feet deep. + +But why loose stones?—and if so, what matter? and what wonder? There are +rocks cropping out everywhere down the hill-side. + +Because if you will take up one of these stones and crack it across, you +will see that it is not of the same stuff as those said rocks. Step into +the next field and see. That rock is the common Snowdon slate, which we +see everywhere. The two shoulders of down, right and left, are slate, +too; you can see that at a glance. But the stones of the pebble bank are +a close-grained, yellow-spotted rock. They are Syenite; and (you may +believe me or not, as you will) they were once upon a time in the +condition of a hasty pudding heated to some 800 degrees of Fahrenheit, +and in that condition shoved their way up somewhere or other through +these slates. But where? whence on earth did these Syenite pebbles come? +Let us walk round to the cliff on the opposite side and see. It is worth +while; for even if my guess be wrong, there is good spinning with a brass +minnow round the angles of the rocks. + +Now see. Between the cliff-foot and the sloping down is a crack, ending +in a gully; the nearer side is of slate, and the further side, the cliff +itself, is—why, the whole cliff is composed of the very same stone as the +pebble ridge. + +Now, my good friend, how did these pebbles get three hundred yards across +the lake? Hundreds of tons, some of them three feet long: who carried +them across? The old Cymry were not likely to amuse themselves by making +such a breakwater up here in No-man’s-land, two thousand feet above the +sea: but somebody or something must have carried them; for stones do not +fly, nor swim either. + +Shot out of a volcano? As you seem determined to have a prodigy, it may +as well be a sufficiently huge one. + +Well—these stones lie altogether; and a volcano would have hardly made so +compact a shot, not being in the habit of using Eley’s wire cartridges. +Our next hope of a solution lies in John Jones, who carried up the +coracle. Hail him, and ask him what is on the top of that cliff . . . +So, “Plainshe and pogshe, and another Llyn.” Very good. Now, does it +not strike you that this whole cliff has a remarkably smooth and +plastered look, like a hare’s run up an earthbank? And do you not see +that it is polished thus only over the lake? that as soon as the cliff +abuts on the downs right and left, it forms pinnacles, caves, broken +angular boulders? Syenite usually does so in our damp climate, from the +“weathering” effect of frost and rain: why has it not done so over the +lake? On that part something (giants perhaps) has been scrambling up or +down on a very large scale, and so rubbed off every corner which was +inclined to come away, till the solid core of the rock was bared. And +may not those mysterious giants have had a hand in carrying the stones +across the lake? . . . Really, I am not altogether jesting. Think a +while what agent could possibly have produced either one or both of these +effects? + +There is but one; and that, if you have been an Alpine traveller—much +more if you have been a Chamois hunter—you have seen many a time (whether +you knew it or not) at the very same work. + +Ice? Yes; ice; Hrymir the frost-giant, and no one else. And if you will +look at the facts, you will see how ice may have done it. Our friend +John Jones’s report of plains and bogs and a lake above makes it quite +possible that in the “Ice age” (Glacial Epoch, as the big-word-mongers +call it) there was above that cliff a great neve, or snowfield, such as +you have seen often in the Alps at the head of each glacier. Over the +face of this cliff a glacier has crawled down from that neve, polishing +the face of the rock in its descent: but the snow, having no large and +deep outlet, has not slid down in a sufficient stream to reach the vale +below, and form a glacier of the first order; and has therefore stopped +short on the other side of the lake, as a glacier of the second order, +which ends in an ice-cliff hanging high up on the mountain side, and kept +from further progress by daily melting. If you have ever gone up the Mer +de Glace to the Tacul, you saw a magnificent specimen of this sort on +your right hand, just opposite the Tacul, in the Glacier de Trelaporte, +which comes down from the Aiguille de Charmoz. + +This explains our pebble-ridge. The stones which the glacier rubbed off +the cliff beneath it it carried forward, slowly but surely, till they saw +the light again in the face of the ice-cliff, and dropped out of it under +the melting of the summer sun, to form a huge dam across the ravine; +till, the “Ice age” past, a more genial climate succeeded, and neve and +glacier melted away: but the “moraine” of stones did not, and remains to +this day, as the dam which keeps up the waters of the lake. + +There is my explanation. If you can find a better, do: but remember +always that it must include an answer to—“How did the stones get across +the lake?” + +Now, reader, we have had no abstruse science here, no long words, not +even a microscope or a book: and yet we, as two plain sportsmen, have +gone back, or been led back by fact and common sense, into the most awful +and sublime depths, into an epos of the destruction and re-creation of a +former world. + +This is but a single instance; I might give hundreds. This one, +nevertheless, may have some effect in awakening you to the boundless +world of wonders which is all around you, and make you ask yourself +seriously, “What branch of Natural History shall I begin to investigate, +if it be but for a few weeks, this summer?” + +To which I answer, Try “the Wonders of the Shore.” There are along every +sea-beach more strange things to be seen, and those to be seen easily, +than in any other field of observation which you will find in these +islands. And on the shore only will you have the enjoyment of finding +new species, of adding your mite to the treasures of science. + +For not only the English ferns, but the natural history of all our land +species, are now well-nigh exhausted. Our home botanists and +ornithologists are spending their time now, perforce, in verifying a few +obscure species, and bemoaning themselves, like Alexander, that there are +no more worlds left to conquer. For the geologist, indeed, and the +entomologist, especially in the remoter districts, much remains to be +done, but only at a heavy outlay of time, labour, and study; and the +dilettante (and it is for dilettanti, like myself, that I principally +write) must be content to tread in the tracks of greater men who have +preceded him, and accept at second or third hand their foregone +conclusions. + +But this is most unsatisfactory; for in giving up discovery, one gives up +one of the highest enjoyments of Natural History. There is a mysterious +delight in the discovery of a new species, akin to that of seeing for the +first time, in their native haunts, plants or animals of which one has +till then only read. Some, surely, who read these pages have experienced +that latter delight; and, though they might find it hard to define whence +the pleasure arose, know well that it was a solid pleasure, the memory of +which they would not give up for hard cash. Some, surely, can recollect, +at their first sight of the Alpine Soldanella, the Rhododendron, or the +black Orchis, growing upon the edge of the eternal snow, a thrill of +emotion not unmixed with awe; a sense that they were, as it were, brought +face to face with the creatures of another world; that Nature was +independent of them, not merely they of her; that trees were not merely +made to build their houses, or herbs to feed their cattle, as they looked +on those wild gardens amid the wreaths of the untrodden snow, which had +lifted their gay flowers to the sun year after year since the foundation +of the world, taking no heed of man, and all the coil which he keeps in +the valleys far below. + +And even, to take a simpler instance, there are those who will excuse, or +even approve of, a writer for saying that, among the memories of a +month’s eventful tour, those which stand out as beacon-points, those +round which all the others group themselves, are the first wolf-track by +the road-side in the Kyllwald; the first sight of the blue and green +Roller-birds, walking behind the plough like rooks in the tobacco-fields +of Wittlich; the first ball of Olivine scraped out of the volcanic +slag-heaps of the Dreisser-Weiher; the first pair of the Lesser Bustard +flushed upon the downs of the Mosel-kopf; the first sight of the cloud of +white Ephemeræ, fluttering in the dusk like a summer snowstorm between us +and the black cliffs of the Rheinstein, while the broad Rhine beneath +flashed blood-red in the blaze of the lightning and the fires of the +Mausenthurm—a lurid Acheron above which seemed to hover ten thousand +unburied ghosts; and last, but not least, on the lip of the vast +Mosel-kopf crater—just above the point where the weight of the fiery lake +has burst the side of the great slag-cup, and rushed forth between two +cliffs of clink-stone across the downs, in a clanging stream of fire, +damming up rivulets, and blasting its path through forests, far away +toward the valley of the Moselle—the sight of an object for which was +forgotten for the moment that battle-field of the Titans at our feet, and +the glorious panorama, Hundsruck and Taunus, Siebengebirge and Ardennes, +and all the crater peaks around; and which was—smile not, reader—our +first yellow foxglove. + +But what is even this to the delight of finding a new species?—of +rescuing (as it seems to you) one more thought of the Divine mind from +Hela, and the realms of the unknown, unclassified, uncomprehended? As it +seems to you: though in reality it only seems so, in a world wherein not +a sparrow falls to the ground unnoticed by our Father who is in heaven. + +The truth is, the pleasure of finding new species is too great; it is +morally dangerous; for it brings with it the temptation to look on the +thing found as your own possession, all but your own creation; to pride +yourself on it, as if God had not known it for ages since; even to +squabble jealously for the right of having it named after you, and of +being recorded in the Transactions of I-know-not-what Society as its +first discoverer:—as if all the angels in heaven had not been admiring +it, long before you were born or thought of. + +But to be forewarned is to be forearmed; and I seriously counsel you to +try if you cannot find something new this summer along the coast to which +you are going. There is no reason why you should not be so successful as +a friend of mine who, with a very slight smattering of science, and very +desultory research, obtained in one winter from the Torbay shores three +entirely new species, beside several rare animals which had escaped all +naturalists since the lynx-eye of Colonel Montagu discerned them forty +years ago. + +And do not despise the creatures because they are minute. No doubt we +should most of us prefer discovering monstrous apes in the tropical +forests of Borneo, or stumbling upon herds of gigantic Ammon sheep amid +the rhododendron thickets of the Himalaya: but it cannot be; and “he is a +fool,” says old Hesiod, “who knows not how much better half is than the +whole.” Let us be content with what is within our reach. And doubt not +that in these tiny creatures are mysteries more than we shall ever +fathom. + +The zoophytes and microscopic animalcules which people every shore and +every drop of water, have been now raised to a rank in the human mind +more important, perhaps, than even those gigantic monsters whose models +fill the lake at the Crystal Palace. The research which has been +bestowed, for the last century, upon these once unnoticed atomies has +well repaid itself; for from no branch of physical science has more been +learnt of the _scientia scientiarum_, the priceless art of learning; no +branch of science has more utterly confounded a wisdom of the wise, +shattered to pieces systems and theories, and the idolatry of arbitrary +names, and taught man to be silent while his Maker speaks, than this +apparent pedantry of zoophytology, in which our old distinctions of +“animal,” “vegetable,” and “mineral” are trembling in the balance, +seemingly ready to vanish like their fellows—“the four elements” of fire, +earth, air, and water. No branch of science has helped so much to sweep +away that sensuous idolatry of mere size, which tempts man to admire and +respect objects in proportion to the number of feet or inches which they +occupy in space. No branch of science, moreover, has been more humbling +to the boasted rapidity and omnipotence of the human reason, or has more +taught those who have eyes to see, and hearts to understand, how weak and +wayward, staggering and slow, are the steps of our fallen race (rapid and +triumphant enough in that broad road of theories which leads to +intellectual destruction) whensoever they tread the narrow path of true +science, which leads (if I may be allowed to transfer our Lord’s great +parable from moral to intellectual matters) to Life; to the living and +permanent knowledge of living things and of the laws of their existence. +Humbling, truly, to one who looks back to the summer of 1754, when good +Mr. Ellis, the wise and benevolent West Indian merchant, read before the +Royal Society his paper proving the animal nature of corals, and followed +it up the year after by that “Essay toward a Natural History of the +Corallines, and other like Marine Productions of the British Coasts,” +which forms the groundwork of all our knowledge on the subject to this +day. The chapter in Dr. G. Johnston’s “British Zoophytes,” p. 407, or +the excellent little _résumé_ thereof in Dr. Landsborough’s book on the +same subject, is really a saddening one, as one sees how loth were, not +merely dreamers like, Marsigli or Bonnet, but sound-headed men like +Pallas and Linné, to give up the old sense-bound fancy, that these corals +were vegetables, and their polypes some sort of living flowers. Yet, +after all, there are excuses for them. Without our improved microscopes, +and while the sciences of comparative anatomy and chemistry were yet +infantile, it was difficult to believe what was the truth; and for this +simple reason: that, as usual, the truth, when discovered, turned out far +more startling and prodigious than the dreams which men had hastily +substituted for it; more strange than Ovid’s old story that the coral was +soft under the sea, and hardened by exposure to air; than Marsigli’s +notion, that the coral-polypes were its flowers; than Dr. Parsons’ +contemptuous denial, that these complicated forms could be “the +operations of little, poor, helpless, jelly-like animals, and not the +work of more sure vegetation;” than Baker the microscopist’s detailed +theory of their being produced by the crystallization of the mineral +salts in the sea-water, just as he had seen “the particles of mercury and +copper in aquafortis assume tree-like forms, or curious delineations of +mosses and minute shrubs on slates and stones, owing to the shooting of +salts intermixed with mineral particles:”—one smiles at it now: yet these +men were no less sensible than we; and if we know better, it is only +because other men, and those few and far between, have laboured amid +disbelief, ridicule, and error; needing again and again to retrace their +steps, and to unlearn more than they learnt, seeming to go backwards when +they were really progressing most: and now we have entered into their +labours, and find them, as I have just said, more wondrous than all the +poetic dreams of a Bonnet or a Darwin. For who, after all, to take a few +broad instances (not to enlarge on the great root-wonder of a number of +distinct individuals connected by a common life, and forming a seeming +plant invariable in each species), would have dreamed of the +“bizarreries” which these very zoophytes present in their classification? + +You go down to any shore after a gale of wind, and pick up a few delicate +little sea-ferns. You have two in your hand, which probably look to you, +even under a good pocket magnifier, identical or nearly so. {37} But you +are told to your surprise, that however like the dead horny polypidoms +which you hold may be, the two species of animal which have formed them +are at least as far apart in the scale of creation as a quadruped is from +a fish. You see in some Musselburgh dredger’s boat the phosphorescent +sea-pen (unknown in England), a living feather, of the look and +consistency of a cock’s comb; or the still stranger sea-rush (_Virgularia +mirabilis_), a spine a foot long, with hundreds of rosy flowerets +arranged in half-rings round it from end to end; and you are told that +these are the congeners of the great stony Venus’s fan which hangs in +seamen’s cottages, brought home from the West Indies. And ere you have +done wondering, you hear that all three are congeners of the ugly, +shapeless, white “dead man’s hand,” which you may pick up after a storm +on any shore. You have a beautiful madrepore or brain-stone on your +mantel-piece, brought home from some Pacific coral-reef. You are to +believe that its first cousins are the soft, slimy sea-anemones which you +see expanding their living flowers in every rock-pool—bags of sea-water, +without a trace of bone or stone. You must believe it; for in science, +as in higher matters, he who will walk surely, must “walk by faith and +not by sight.” + +These are but a few of the wonders which the classification of marine +animals affords; and only drawn from one class of them, though almost as +common among every other family of that submarine world whereof Spenser +sang— + + “Oh, what an endless work have I in hand, + To count the sea’s abundant progeny! + Whose fruitful seed far passeth those in land, + And also those which won in th’ azure sky, + For much more earth to tell the stars on high, + Albe they endless seem in estimation, + Than to recount the sea’s posterity; + So fertile be the flouds in generation, + So huge their numbers, and so numberless their nation.” + +But these few examples will be sufficient to account both for the slow +pace at which the knowledge of sea-animals has progressed, and for the +allurement which men of the highest attainments have found, and still +find, in it. And when to this we add the marvels which meet us at every +step in the anatomy and the reproduction of these creatures, and in the +chemical and mechanical functions which they fulfil in the great economy +of our planet, we cannot wonder at finding that books which treat of them +carry with them a certain charm of romance, and feed the play of fancy, +and that love of the marvellous which is inherent in man, at the same +time that they lead the reader to more solemn and lofty trains of +thought, which can find their full satisfaction only in self-forgetful +worship, and that hymn of praise which goes up ever from land and sea, as +well as from saints and martyrs and the heavenly host, “O all ye works of +the Lord, and ye, too, spirits and souls of the righteous, praise Him, +and magnify Him for ever!” + +I have said, that there were excuses for the old contempt of the study of +Natural History. I have said, too, it may be hoped, enough to show that +contempt to be now ill-founded. But still, there are those who regard it +as a mere amusement, and that as a somewhat effeminate one; and think +that it can at best help to while away a leisure hour harmlessly, and +perhaps usefully, as a substitute for coarser sports, or for the reading +of novels. Those, however, who have followed it out, especially on the +sea-shore, know better. They can tell from experience, that over and +above its accessory charms of pure sea-breezes, and wild rambles by cliff +and loch, the study itself has had a weighty moral effect upon their +hearts and spirits. There are those who can well understand how the good +and wise John Ellis, amid all his philanthropic labours for the good of +the West Indies, while he was spending his intellect and fortune in +introducing into our tropic settlements the bread-fruit, the mangosteen, +and every plant and seed which he hoped might be useful for medicine, +agriculture, and commerce, could yet feel himself justified in devoting +large portions of his ever well-spent time to the fighting the battle of +the corallines against Parsons and the rest, and even in measuring pens +with Linné, the prince of naturalists. + +There are those who can sympathise with the gallant old Scotch officer +mentioned by some writer on sea-weeds, who, desperately wounded in the +breach at Badajos, and a sharer in all the toils and triumphs of the +Peninsular war, could in his old age show a rare sea-weed with as much +triumph as his well-earned medals, and talk over a tiny spore-capsule +with as much zest as the records of sieges and battles. Why not? That +temper which made him a good soldier may very well have made him a good +naturalist also. The late illustrious geologist, Sir Roderick Murchison, +was also an old Peninsular officer. I doubt not that with him, too, the +experiences of war may have helped to fit him for the studies of peace. +Certainly, the best naturalist, as far as logical acumen, as well as +earnest research, is concerned, whom England has ever seen, was the +Devonshire squire, Colonel George Montagu, of whom the late E. Forbes +well says, that “had he been educated a physiologist” (and not, as he +was, a soldier and a sportsman), “and made the study of Nature his aim +and not his amusement, his would have been one of the greatest names in +the whole range of British science.” I question, nevertheless, whether +he would not have lost more than he would have gained by a different +training. It might have made him a more learned systematizer; but would +it have quickened in him that “seeing” eye of the true soldier and +sportsman, which makes Montagu’s descriptions indelible word-pictures, +instinct with life and truth? “There is no question,” says E. Forbes, +after bewailing the vagueness of most naturalists, “about the identity of +any animal Montagu described. . . . He was a forward-looking philosopher; +he spoke of every creature as if one exceeding like it, yet different +from it, would be washed up by the waves next tide. Consequently his +descriptions are permanent.” Scientific men will recognize in this the +highest praise which can be bestowed, because it attributes to him the +highest faculty—The Art of Seeing; but the study and the book would not +have given that. It is God’s gift wheresoever educated: but its true +school-room is the camp and the ocean, the prairie and the forest; +active, self-helping life, which can grapple with Nature herself: not +merely with printed-books about her. Let no one think that this same +Natural History is a pursuit fitted only for effeminate or pedantic men. +I should say, rather, that the qualifications required for a perfect +naturalist are as many and as lofty as were required, by old chivalrous +writers, for the perfect knight-errant of the Middle Ages: for (to sketch +an ideal, of which I am happy to say our race now affords many a fair +realization) our perfect naturalist should be strong in body; able to +haul a dredge, climb a rock, turn a boulder, walk all day, uncertain +where he shall eat or rest; ready to face sun and rain, wind and frost, +and to eat or drink thankfully anything, however coarse or meagre; he +should know how to swim for his life, to pull an oar, sail a boat, and +ride the first horse which comes to hand; and, finally, he should be a +thoroughly good shot, and a skilful fisherman; and, if he go far abroad, +be able on occasion to fight for his life. + +For his moral character, he must, like a knight of old, be first of all +gentle and courteous, ready and able to ingratiate himself with the poor, +the ignorant, and the savage; not only because foreign travel will be +often otherwise impossible, but because he knows how much invaluable +local information can be only obtained from fishermen, miners, hunters, +and tillers of the soil. Next, he should be brave and enterprising, and +withal patient and undaunted; not merely in travel, but in investigation; +knowing (as Lord Bacon might have put it) that the kingdom of Nature, +like the kingdom of heaven, must be taken by violence, and that only to +those who knock long and earnestly does the great mother open the doors +of her sanctuary. He must be of a reverent turn of mind also; not rashly +discrediting any reports, however vague and fragmentary; giving man +credit always for some germ of truth, and giving Nature credit for an +inexhaustible fertility and variety, which will keep him his life long +always reverent, yet never superstitious; wondering at the commonest, but +not surprised by the most strange; free from the idols of size and +sensuous loveliness; able to see grandeur in the minutest objects, +beauty, in the most ungainly; estimating each thing not carnally, as the +vulgar do, by its size or its pleasantness to the senses, but +spiritually, by the amount of Divine thought revealed to Man therein; +holding every phenomenon worth the noting down; believing that every +pebble holds a treasure, every bud a revelation; making it a point of +conscience to pass over nothing through laziness or hastiness, lest the +vision once offered and despised should be withdrawn; and looking at +every object as if he were never to behold it again. + +Moreover, he must keep himself free from all those perturbations of mind +which not only weaken energy, but darken and confuse the inductive +faculty; from haste and laziness, from melancholy, testiness, pride, and +all the passions which make men see only what they wish to see. Of +solemn and scrupulous reverence for truth; of the habit of mind which +regards each fact and discovery, not as our own possession, but as the +possession of its Creator, independent of us, our tastes, our needs, or +our vain-glory, I hardly need to speak; for it is the very essence of a +nature’s faculty—the very tenure of his existence: and without +truthfulness science would be as impossible now as chivalry would have +been of old. + +And last, but not least, the perfect naturalist should have in him the +very essence of true chivalry, namely, self-devotion; the desire to +advance, not himself and his own fame or wealth, but knowledge and +mankind. He should have this great virtue; and in spite of many +shortcomings (for what man is there who liveth and sinneth not?), +naturalists as a class have it to a degree which makes them stand out +most honourably in the midst of a self-seeking and mammonite generation, +inclined to value everything by its money price, its private utility. +The spirit which gives freely, because it knows that it has received +freely; which communicates knowledge without hope of reward, without +jealousy and rivalry, to fellow-students and to the world; which is +content to delve and toil comparatively unknown, that from its obscure +and seemingly worthless results others may derive pleasure, and even +build up great fortunes, and change the very face of cities and lands, by +the practical use of some stray talisman which the poor student has +invented in his laboratory;—this is the spirit which is abroad among our +scientific men, to a greater degree than it ever has been among any body +of men for many a century past; and might well be copied by those who +profess deeper purposes and a more exalted calling, than the discovery of +a new zoophyte, or the classification of a moorland crag. + +And it is these qualities, however imperfectly they may be realized in +any individual instance, which make our scientific men, as a class, the +wholesomest and pleasantest of companions abroad, and at home the most +blameless, simple, and cheerful, in all domestic relations; men for the +most part of manful heads, and yet of childlike hearts, who have turned +to quiet study, in these late piping times of peace, an intellectual +health and courage which might have made them, in more fierce and +troublous times, capable of doing good service with very different +instruments than the scalpel and the microscope. + +I have been sketching an ideal: but one which I seriously recommend to +the consideration of all parents; for, though it be impossible and absurd +to wish that every young man should grow up a naturalist by profession, +yet this age offers no more wholesome training, both moral and +intellectual, than that which is given by instilling into the young an +early taste for outdoor physical science. The education of our children +is now more than ever a puzzling problem, if by education we mean the +development of the whole humanity, not merely of some arbitrarily chosen +part of it. How to feed the imagination with wholesome food, and teach +it to despise French novels, and that sugared slough of sentimental +poetry, in comparison with which the old fairy-tales and ballads were +manful and rational; how to counteract the tendency to shallowed and +conceited sciolism, engendered by hearing popular lectures on all manner +of subjects, which can only be really learnt by stern methodic study; how +to give habits of enterprise, patience, accurate observation, which the +counting-house or the library will never bestow; above all, how to +develop the physical powers, without engendering brutality and +coarseness—are questions becoming daily more and more puzzling, while +they need daily more and more to be solved, in an age of enterprise, +travel, and emigration, like the present. For the truth must be told, +that the great majority of men who are now distinguished by commercial +success, have had a training the directly opposite to that which they are +giving to their sons. They are for the most part men who have migrated +from the country to the town, and had in their youth all the advantages +of a sturdy and manful hill-side or sea-side training; men whose bodies +were developed, and their lungs fed on pure breezes, long before they +brought to work in the city the bodily and mental strength which they had +gained by loch and moor. But it is not so with their sons. Their +business habits are learnt in the counting-house; a good school, +doubtless, as far as it goes: but one which will expand none but the +lowest intellectual faculties; which will make them accurate accountants, +shrewd computers and competitors, but never the originators of daring +schemes, men able and willing to go forth to replenish the earth and +subdue it. And in the hours of relaxation, how much of their time is +thrown away, for want of anything better, on frivolity, not to say on +secret profligacy, parents know too well; and often shut their eyes in +very despair to evils which they know not how to cure. A frightful +majority of our middle-class young men are growing up effeminate, empty +of all knowledge but what tends directly to the making of a fortune; or +rather, to speak correctly, to the keeping up the fortunes which their +fathers have made for them; while of the minority, who are indeed +thinkers and readers, how many women as well as men have we seen wearying +their souls with study undirected, often misdirected; craving to learn, +yet not knowing how or what to learn; cultivating, with unwholesome +energy, the head at the expense of the body and the heart; catching up +with the most capricious self-will one mania after another, and tossing +it away again for some new phantom; gorging the memory with facts which +no one has taught them to arrange, and the reason with problems which +they have no method for solving; till they fret themselves in a chronic +fever of the brain, which too often urge them on to plunge, as it were, +to cool the inward fire, into the ever-restless seas of doubt or of +superstition. It is a sad picture. There are many who may read these +pages whose hearts will tell them that it is a true one. What is wanted +in these cases is a methodic and scientific habit of mind; and a class of +objects on which to exercise that habit, which will fever neither the +speculative intellect nor the moral sense; and those physical science +will give, as nothing else can give it. + +Moreover, to revert to another point which we touched just now, man has a +body as well as a mind; and with the vast majority there will be no _mens +sana_ unless there be a _corpus sanum_ for it to inhabit. And what +outdoor training to give our youths is, as we have already said, more +than ever puzzling. This difficulty is felt, perhaps, less in Scotland +than in England. The Scotch climate compels hardiness; the Scotch bodily +strength makes it easy; and Scotland, with her mountain-tours in summer, +and her frozen lochs in winter, her labyrinth of sea-shore, and, above +all, that priceless boon which Providence has bestowed on her, in the +contiguity of her great cities to the loveliest scenery, and the hills +where every breeze is health, affords facilities for healthy physical +life unknown to the Englishman, who has no Arthur’s Seat towering above +his London, no Western Islands sporting the ocean firths beside his +Manchester. Field sports, with the invaluable training which they give, +if not + + “The reason firm,” + +yet still + + “The temperate will, + Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill,” + +have become impossible for the greater number: and athletic exercises are +now, in England at least, becoming more and more artificialized and +expensive; and are confined more and more—with the honourable exception +of the football games in Battersea Park—to our Public Schools and the two +elder Universities. All honour, meanwhile, to the Volunteer movement, +and its moral as well as its physical effects. But it is only a +comparatively few of the very sturdiest who are likely to become +effective Volunteers, and so really gain the benefits of learning to be +soldiers. And yet the young man who has had no substitute for such +occupations will cut but a sorry figure in Australia, Canada, or India; +and if he stays at home, will spend many a pound in doctors’ bills, which +could have been better employed elsewhere. “Taking a walk”—as one would +take a pill or a draught—seems likely soon to become the only form of +outdoor existence possible for too many inhabitants of the British Isles. +But a walk without an object, unless in the most lovely and novel of +scenery, is a poor exercise; and as a recreation, utterly nil. I never +knew two young lads go out for a “constitutional,” who did not, if they +were commonplace youths, gossip the whole way about things better left +unspoken; or, if they were clever ones, fall on arguing and brainsbeating +on politics or metaphysics from the moment they left the door, and return +with their wits even more heated and tired than they were when they set +out. I cannot help fancying that Milton made a mistake in a certain +celebrated passage; and that it was not “sitting on a hill apart,” but +tramping four miles out and four miles in along a turnpike-road, that his +hapless spirits discoursed + + “Of fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute, + And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.” + +Seriously, if we wish rural walks to do our children any good, we must +give them a love for rural sights, an object in every walk; we must teach +them—and we can teach them—to find wonder in every insect, sublimity in +every hedgerow, the records of past worlds in every pebble, and boundless +fertility upon the barren shore; and so, by teaching them to make full +use of that limited sphere in which they now are, make them faithful in a +few things, that they may be fit hereafter to be rulers over much. + +I may seem to exaggerate the advantages of such studies; but the question +after all is one of experience: and I have had experience enough and to +spare that what I say is true. I have seen the young man of fierce +passions, and uncontrollable daring, expend healthily that energy which +threatened daily to plunge him into recklessness, if not into sin, upon +hunting out and collecting, through rock and bog, snow and tempest, every +bird and egg of the neighbouring forest. I have seen the cultivated man, +craving for travel and for success in life, pent up in the drudgery of +London work, and yet keeping his spirit calm, and perhaps his morals all +the more righteous, by spending over his microscope evenings which would +too probably have gradually been wasted at the theatre. I have seen the +young London beauty, amid all the excitement and temptation of luxury and +flattery, with her heart pure and her mind occupied in a boudoir full of +shells and fossils, flowers and sea-weeds; keeping herself unspotted from +the world, by considering the lilies of the field, how they grow. And +therefore it is that I hail with thankfulness every fresh book of Natural +History, as a fresh boon to the young, a fresh help to those who have to +educate them. + +The greatest difficulty in the way of beginners is (as in most things) +how “to learn the art of learning.” They go out, search, find less than +they expected, and give the subject up in disappointment. It is good to +begin, therefore, if possible, by playing the part of “jackal” to some +practised naturalist, who will show the tyro where to look, what to look +for, and, moreover, what it is that he has found; often no easy matter to +discover. Forty years ago, during an autumn’s work of +dead-leaf-searching in the Devon woods for poor old Dr. Turton, while he +was writing his book on British land-shells, the present writer learnt +more of the art of observing than he would have learnt in three years’ +desultory hunting on his own account; and he has often regretted that no +naturalist has established shore-lectures at some watering-place, like +those up hill and down dale field-lectures which, in pleasant bygone +Cambridge days, Professor Sedgwick used to give to young geologists, and +Professor Henslow to young botanists. + +In the meanwhile, to show you something of what may be seen by those who +care to see, let me take you, in imagination, to a shore where I was once +at home, and for whose richness I can vouch, and choose our season and +our day to start forth, on some glorious September or October morning, to +see what last night’s equinoctial gale has swept from the populous +shallows of Torbay, and cast up, high and dry, on Paignton sands. + +Torbay is a place which should be as much endeared to the naturalist as +to the patriot and to the artist. We cannot gaze on its blue ring of +water, and the great limestone bluffs which bound it to the north and +south, without a glow passing through our hearts, as we remember the +terrible and glorious pageant which passed by in the glorious July days +of 1588, when the Spanish Armada ventured slowly past Berry Head, with +Elizabeth’s gallant pack of Devon captains (for the London fleet had not +yet joined) following fast in its wake, and dashing into the midst of the +vast line, undismayed by size and numbers, while their kin and friends +stood watching and praying on the cliffs, spectators of Britain’s +Salamis. The white line of houses, too, on the other side of the bay, is +Brixham, famed as the landing-place of William of Orange; the stone on +the pier-head, which marks his first footsteps on British ground, is +sacred in the eyes of all true English Whigs; and close by stands the +castle of the settler of Newfoundland, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh’s +half-brother, most learned of all Elizabeth’s admirals in life, most +pious and heroic in death. And as for scenery, though it can boast of +neither mountain peak nor dark fiord, and would seem tame enough in the +eyes of a western Scot or Irishman, yet Torbay surely has a soft beauty +of its own. The rounded hills slope gently to the sea, spotted with +squares of emerald grass, and rich red fallow fields, and parks full of +stately timber trees. Long lines of tall elms run down to the very +water’s edge, their boughs unwarped by any blast; here and there apple +orchards are bending under their loads of fruit, and narrow strips of +water-meadow line the glens, where the red cattle are already lounging in +richest pastures, within ten yards of the rocky pebble beach. The shore +is silent now, the tide far out: but six hours hence it will be hurling +columns of rosy foam high into the sunlight, and sprinkling passengers, +and cattle, and trim gardens which hardly know what frost and snow may +be, but see the flowers of autumn meet the flowers of spring, and the old +year linger smilingly to twine a garland for the new. + +No wonder that such a spot as Torquay, with its delicious Italian +climate, and endless variety of rich woodland, flowery lawn, fantastic +rock-cavern, and broad bright tide-sand, sheltered from every wind of +heaven except the soft south-east, should have become a favourite haunt, +not only for invalids, but for naturalists. Indeed, it may well claim +the honour of being the original home of marine zoology and botany in +England, as the Firth of Forth, under the auspices of Sir J. G. Dalyell, +has been for Scotland. For here worked Montagu, Turton, and Mrs. +Griffith, to whose extraordinary powers of research English marine botany +almost owes its existence, and who survived to an age long beyond the +natural term of man, to see, in her cheerful and honoured old age, that +knowledge become popular and general which she pursued for many a year +unassisted and alone. Here, too, the scientific succession is still +maintained by Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Gosse, the latter of whom by his +delightful and, happily, well-known books has done more for the study of +marine zoology than any other living man. Torbay, moreover, from the +variety of its rocks, aspects, and sea-floors, where limestones alternate +with traps, and traps with slates, while at the valley-mouth the soft +sandstones and hard conglomerates of the new red series slope down into +the tepid and shallow waves, affords an abundance and variety of animal +and vegetable life, unequalled, perhaps, in any other part of Great +Britain. It cannot boast, certainly, of those strange deep-sea forms +which Messrs. Alder, Goodsir, and Laskey dredge among the lochs of the +western Highlands, and the sub-marine mountain glens of the Zetland sea; +but it has its own varieties, its own ever-fresh novelties: and in spite +of all the research which has been lavished on its shores, a naturalist +cannot, I suspect, work there for a winter without discovering forms new +to science, or meeting with curiosities which have escaped all observers, +since the lynx eye of Montagu espied them full fifty years ago. + +Follow us, then, reader, in imagination, out of the gay watering-place, +with its London shops and London equipages, along the broad road beneath +the sunny limestone cliff, tufted with golden furze; past the huge oaks +and green slopes of Tor Abbey; and past the fantastic rocks of Livermead, +scooped by the waves into a labyrinth of double and triple caves, like +Hindoo temples, upborne on pillars banded with yellow and white and red, +a week’s study, in form and colour and chiaro-oscuro, for any artist; and +a mile or so further along a pleasant road, with land-locked glimpses of +the bay, to the broad sheet of sand which lies between the village of +Paignton and the sea—sands trodden a hundred times by Montagu and Turton, +perhaps, by Dillwyn and Gaertner, and many another pioneer of science. +And once there, before we look at anything else, come down straight to +the sea marge; for yonder lies, just left by the retiring tide, a mass of +life such as you will seldom see again. It is somewhat ugly, perhaps, at +first sight; for ankle-deep are spread, for some ten yards long by five +broad, huge dirty bivalve shells, as large as the hand, each with its +loathly grey and black siphons hanging out, a confused mass of slimy +death. Let us walk on to some cleaner heap, and leave these, the great +Lutraria Elliptica, which have been lying buried by thousands in the +sandy mud, each with the point of its long siphon above the surface, +sucking in and driving out again the salt water on which it feeds, till +last night’s ground-swell shifted the sea-bottom, and drove them up +hither to perish helpless, but not useless, on the beach. + +See, close by is another shell bed, quite as large, but comely enough to +please any eye. What a variety of forms and colours are there, amid the +purple and olive wreaths of wrack, and bladder-weed, and tangle +(ore-weed, as they call it in the south), and the delicate green ribbons +of the Zostera (the only English flowering plant which grows beneath the +sea). What are they all? What are the long white razors? What are the +delicate green-grey scimitars? What are the tapering brown spires? What +the tufts of delicate yellow plants like squirrels’ tails, and lobsters’ +horns, and tamarisks, and fir-trees, and all other finely cut animal and +vegetable forms? What are the groups of grey bladders, with something +like a little bud at the tip? What are the hundreds of little +pink-striped pears? What those tiny babies’ heads, covered with grey +prickles instead of hair? The great red star-fish, which Ulster children +call “the bad man’s hands;” and the great whelks, which the youth of +Musselburgh know as roaring buckies, these we have seen before; but what, +oh what, are the red capsicums?— + +Yes, what are the red capsicums? and why are they poking, snapping, +starting, crawling, tumbling wildly over each other, rattling about the +huge mahogany cockles, as big as a child’s two fists, out of which they +are protruded? Mark them well, for you will perhaps never see them +again. They are a Mediterranean species, or rather three species, left +behind upon these extreme south-western coasts, probably at the vanishing +of that warmer ancient epoch, which clothed the Lizard Point with the +Cornish heath, and the Killarney mountains with Spanish saxifrages, and +other relics of a flora whose home is now the Iberian peninsula and the +sunny cliffs of the Riviera. Rare on every other shore, even in the +west, it abounds in Torbay at certain, or rather uncertain, times, to so +prodigious an amount, that the dredge, after five minutes’ scrape, will +sometimes come up choked full of this great cockle only. You will see +hundreds of them in every cove for miles this day; a seeming waste of +life, which would be awful, in our eyes, were not the Divine Ruler, as +His custom is, making this destruction the means of fresh creation, by +burying them in the sands, as soon as washed on shore, to fertilize the +strata of some future world. It is but a shell-fish truly; but the great +Cuvier thought it remarkable enough to devote to its anatomy elaborate +descriptions and drawings, which have done more perhaps than any others +to illustrate the curious economy of the whole class of bivalve, or +double-shelled, mollusca. (Plate II. Fig. 3.) + + [Picture: Plate 2: 1. Cardium Rusticum, (tuberculatum). 2. Pagurus + Bernhardi, in a Periwinkle Shell] + +That red capsicum is the foot of the animal contained in the cockleshell. +By its aid it crawls, leaps, and burrows in the sand, where it lies +drinking in the salt water through one of its siphons, and discharging it +again through the other. Put the shell into a rock pool, or a basin of +water, and you will see the siphons clearly. The valves gape apart some +three-quarters of an inch. The semi-pellucid orange “mantle” fills the +intermediate space. Through that mantle, at the end from which the foot +curves, the siphons protrude; two thick short tubes joined side by side, +their lips fringed with pearly cirri, or fringes; and very beautiful they +are. The larger is always open, taking in the water, which is at once +the animal’s food and air, and which, flowing over the delicate inner +surface of the mantle, at once oxygenates its blood, and fills its +stomach with minute particles of decayed organized matter. The smaller +is shut. Wait a minute, and it will open suddenly and discharge a jet of +clear water, which has been robbed, I suppose, of its oxygen and its +organic matter. But, I suppose, your eyes will be rather attracted by +that same scarlet and orange foot, which is being drawn in and thrust out +to a length of nearly four inches, striking with its point against any +opposing object, and sending the whole shell backwards with a jerk. The +point, you see, is sharp and tongue-like; only flattened, not +horizontally, like a tongue, but perpendicularly, so as to form, as it +was intended, a perfect sand-plough, by which the animal can move at +will, either above or below the surface of the sand. {67} + +But for colour and shape, to what shall we compare it? To polished +cornelian, says Mr. Gosse. I say, to one of the great red capsicums +which hang drying in every Covent-garden seedsman’s window. Yet is +either simile better than the guess of a certain lady, who, entering a +room wherein a couple of Cardium tuberculatum were waltzing about a +plate, exclaimed, “Oh dear! I always heard that my pretty red coral came +out of a fish, and here it is all alive!” + +“C. tuberculatum,” says Mr. Gosse (who described it from specimens which +I sent him in 1854), “is far the finest species. The valves are more +globose and of a warmer colour; those that I have seen are even more +spinous.” Such may have been the case in those I sent: but it has +occurred to me now and then to dredge specimens of C. aculeatum, which +had escaped that rolling on the sand fatal in old age to its delicate +spines, and which equalled in colour, size, and perfectness the noble one +figured in poor dear old Dr. Turton’s “British Bivalves.” Besides, +aculeatum is a far thinner and more delicate shell. And a third species, +C. echinatum, with curves more graceful and continuous, is to be found +now and then with the two former. In it, each point, instead of +degenerating into a knot, as in tuberculatum, or developing from delicate +flat briar-prickles into long straight thorns, as in aculeatum, is +close-set to its fellow, and curved at the point transversely to the +shell, the whole being thus horrid with hundreds of strong tenterhooks, +making his castle impregnable to the raveners of the deep. For we can +hardly doubt that these prickles are meant as weapons of defence, without +which so savoury a morsel as the mollusc within (cooked and eaten largely +on some parts of our south coast) would be a staple article of food for +sea-beasts of prey. And it is noteworthy, first, that the defensive +thorns which are permanent on the two thinner species, aculeatum and +echinatum, disappear altogether on the thicker one, tuberculatum, as old +age gives him a solid and heavy globose shell; and next, that he too, +while young and tender, and liable therefore to be bored through by +whelks and such murderous univalves, does actually possess the same +briar-prickles, which his thinner cousins keep throughout life. +Nevertheless, prickles, in all three species, are, as far as we can see, +useless in Torbay, where no wolf-fish (Anarrhichas lupus) or other owner +of shell-crushing jaws wanders, terrible to lobster and to cockle. +Originally intended, as we suppose, to face the strong-toothed monsters +of the Mediterranean, these foreigners have wandered northward to shores +where their armour is not now needed; and yet centuries of idleness and +security have not been able to persuade them to lay it by. This—if my +explanation is the right one—is but one more case among hundreds in which +peculiarities, useful doubtless to their original possessors, remain, +though now useless, in their descendants. Just so does the tame ram +inherit the now superfluous horns of his primeval wild ancestors, though +he fights now—if he fights at all—not with his horns, but with his +forehead. + +Enough of Cardium tuberculatum. Now for the other animals of the heap; +and first, for those long white razors. They, as well as the grey +scimitars, are Solens, Razor-fish (Solen siliqua and S. ensis), burrowers +in the sand by that foot which protrudes from one end, nimble in escaping +from the Torquay boys, whom you will see boring for them with a long iron +screw, on the sands at low tide. They are very good to eat, these +razor-fish; at least, for those who so think them; and abound in millions +upon all our sandy shores. {70} + +Now for the tapering brown spires. They are Turritellæ, snail-like +animals (though the form of the shell is different), who crawl and browse +by thousands on the beds of Zostera, or grass wrack, which you see thrown +about on the beach, and which grows naturally in two or three fathoms +water. Stay: here is one which is “more than itself.” On its back is +mounted a cluster of barnacles (Balanus Porcatus), of the same family as +those which stud the tide-rocks in millions, scratching the legs of +hapless bathers. Of them, I will speak presently; for I may have a still +more curious member of the family to show you. But meanwhile, look at +the mouth of the shell; a long grey worm protrudes from it, which is not +the rightful inhabitant. He is dead long since, and his place has been +occupied by one Sipunculus Bernhardi; a wight of low degree, who connects +“radiate” with annulate forms—in plain English, sea-cucumbers (of which +we shall see some soon) with sea-worms. But however low in the scale of +comparative anatomy, he has wit enough to take care of himself; mean ugly +little worm as he seems. For finding the mouth of the Turritella too big +for him, he has plastered it up with sand and mud (Heaven alone knows +how), just as a wry-neck plasters up a hole in an apple-tree when she +intends to build therein, and has left only a round hole, out of which he +can poke his proboscis. A curious thing is this proboscis, when seen +through the magnifier. You perceive a ring of tentacles round the mouth, +for picking up I know not what; and you will perceive, too, if you watch +it, that when he draws it in, he turns mouth, tentacles and all, inwards, +and so down into his stomach, just as if you were to turn the finger of a +glove inward from the tip till it passed into the hand; and so performs, +every time he eats, the clown’s as yet ideal feat, of jumping down his +own throat. {72} + + [Picture: Plate 1: Flustra Lineata etc.] + +So much have we seen on one little shell. But there is more to see close +to it. Those yellow plants which I likened to squirrels’ tails and +lobsters’ horns, and what not, are zoophytes of different kinds. Here is +Sertularia argentea (true squirrel’s tail); here, S. filicula, as +delicate as tangled threads of glass; here, abietina; here, rosacea. The +lobsters’ horns are Antennaria antennina; and mingled with them are +Plumulariæ, always to be distinguished from Sertulariæ by polypes growing +on one side of the branch, and not on both. Here is falcata, with its +roots twisted round a sea-weed. Here is cristata, on the same weed; and +here is a piece of the beautiful myriophyllum, which has been battered in +its long journey out of the deep water about the ore rock. For all these +you must consult Johnson’s “Zoophytes,” and for a dozen smaller species, +which you would probably find tangled among them, or parasitic on the +sea-weed. Here are Flustræ, or sea-mats. This, which smells very like +Verbena, is Flustra coriacea (Pl. I. Fig. 2). That scurf on the frond of +ore-weed is F. lineata (Pl. Fig. 1). The glass bells twined about this +Sertularia are Campanularia syringa (Pl. I. Fig. 9); and here is a tiny +plant of Cellularia ciliata (Pl. I. Fig. 8). Look at it through the +field-glass; for it is truly wonderful. Each polype cell is edged with +whip-like spines, and on the back of some of them is—what is it, but a +live vulture’s head, snapping and snapping—what for? + +Nay, reader, I am here to show you what can be seen: but as for telling +you what can be known, much more what cannot, I decline; and refer you to +Johnson’s “Zoophytes,” wherein you will find that several species of +polypes carry these same birds’ heads: but whether they be parts of the +polype, and of what use they are, no man living knoweth. + +Next, what are the striped pears? They are sea-anemones, and of a +species only lately well known, Sagartia viduata, the snake-locked +anemone (Pl. V. Fig. 3 {74}). They have been washed off the loose stones +to which they usually adhere by the pitiless roll of the ground-swell; +however, they are not so far gone, but that if you take one of them home, +and put it in a jar of water, it will expand into a delicate compound +flower, which can neither be described nor painted, of long pellucid +tentacles, hanging like a thin bluish cloud over a disk of mottled brown +and grey. + +Here, adhering to this large whelk, is another, but far larger and +coarser. It is Sagartia parasitica, one of our largest British species; +and most singular in this, that it is almost always (in Torbay, at +least,) found adhering to a whelk: but never to a live one; and for this +reason. The live whelk (as you may see for yourself when the tide is +out) burrows in the sand in chase of hapless bivalve shells, whom he +bores through with his sharp tongue (always, cunning fellow, close to the +hinge, where the fish is), and then sucks out their life. Now, if the +anemone stuck to him, it would be carried under the sand daily, to its +own disgust. It prefers, therefore, the dead whelk, inhabited by a +soldier crab, Pagurus Bernhardi (Pl. II. Fig. 2), of which you may find +a dozen anywhere as the tide goes out; and travels about at the crab’s +expense, sharing with him the offal which is his food. Note, moreover, +that the soldier crab is the most hasty and blundering of marine animals, +as active as a monkey, and as subject to panics as a horse; wherefore the +poor anemone on his back must have a hard life of it; being knocked about +against rocks and shells, without warning, from morn to night and night +to morn. Against which danger, kind Nature, ever _maxima in minimis_, +has provided by fitting him with a stout leather coat, which she has +given, I believe, to no other of his family. + +Next, for the babies’ heads, covered with prickles, instead of hair. +They are sea-urchins, Amphidotus cordatus, which burrow by thousands in +the sand. These are of that Spatangoid form, which you will often find +fossil in the chalk, and which shepherd boys call snakes’ heads. We +shall soon find another sort, an Echinus, and have time to talk over +these most strange (in my eyes) of all living animals. + +There are a hundred more things to be talked of here: but we must defer +the examination of them till our return; for it wants an hour yet of the +dead low spring-tide; and ere we go home, we will spend a few minutes at +least on the rocks at Livermead, where awaits us a strong-backed +quarryman, with a strong-backed crowbar, as is to be hoped (for he +snapped one right across there yesterday, falling miserably on his back +into a pool thereby), and we will verify Mr. Gosse’s observation, that— + +“When once we have begun to look with curiosity on the strange things +that ordinary people pass over without notice, our wonder is continually +excited by the variety of phase, and often by the uncouthness of form, +under which some of the meaner creatures are presented to us. And this +is very specially the case with the inhabitants of the sea. We can +scarcely poke or pry for an hour among the rocks, at low-water mark, or +walk, with an observant downcast eye, along the beach after a gale, +without finding some oddly-fashioned, suspicious-looking being, unlike +any form of life that we have seen before. The dark concealed interior +of the sea becomes thus invested with a fresh mystery; its vast recesses +appear to be stored with all imaginable forms; and we are tempted to +think there must be multitudes of living creatures whose very figure and +structure have never yet been suspected. + + “‘O sea! old sea! who yet knows half + Of thy wonders or thy pride!’” + + GOSSE’S _Aquarium_, pp. 226, 227. + +These words have more than fulfilled themselves since they were written. +Those Deep-Sea dredgings, of which a detailed account will be found in +Dr. Wyville Thomson’s new and most beautiful book, “The Depths of the +Sea,” have disclosed, of late years, wonders of the deep even more +strange and more multitudinous than the wonders of the shore. The time +is past when we thought ourselves bound to believe, with Professor Edward +Forbes, that only some hundred fathoms down, the inhabitants of the +sea-bottom “become more and more modified, and fewer and fewer, +indicating our approach towards an abyss where life is either +extinguished, or exhibits but a few sparks to mark it’s lingering +presence.” + +Neither now need we indulge in another theory which had a certain +grandeur in it, and was not so absurd as it looks at first sight,—namely, +that, as Dr. Wyville Thomson puts it, picturesquely enough, “in going +down the sea water became, under the pressure, gradually heavier and +heavier, and that all the loose things floated at different levels, +according to their specific weight,—skeletons of men, anchors and shot +and cannon, and last of all the broad gold pieces lost in the wreck of +many a galleon off the Spanish Main; the whole forming a kind of ‘false +bottom’ to the ocean, beneath which there lay all the depth of clear +still water, which was heavier than molten gold.” + +The facts are; first that water, being all but incompressible, is hardly +any heavier, and just as liquid, at the greatest depth, than at the +surface; and that therefore animals can move as freely in it in deep as +in shallow water; and next, that as the fluids inside the body of a sea +animal must be at the same pressure as that of the water outside it, the +two pressures must balance each other; and the body, instead of being +crushed in, may be unconscious that it is living under a weight of two or +three miles of water. But so it is; as we gather our curiosities at +low-tide mark, or haul the dredge a mile or two out at sea, we may allow +our fancy to range freely out to the westward, and down over the +subaqueous cliffs of the hundred-fathom line, which mark the old shore of +the British Isles, or rather of a time when Britain and Ireland were part +of the continent, through water a mile, and two, and three miles deep, +into total darkness, and icy cold, and a pressure which, in the open air, +would crush any known living creature to a jelly; and be certain that we +shall find the ocean-floor teeming everywhere with multitudinous life, +some of it strangely like, some strangely unlike, the creatures which we +see along the shore. + +Some strangely like. You may find, for instance, among the sea-weed, +here and there, a little black sea-spider, a Nymphon, who has this +peculiarity, that possessing no body at all to speak of, he carries his +needful stomach in long branches, packed inside his legs. The specimens +which you will find will probably be half an inch across the legs. An +almost exactly similar Nymphon has been dredged from the depths of the +Arctic and Antarctic oceans, nearly two feet across. + + [Picture: Nymphon Abyssorum, Norman] + +You may find also a quaint little shrimp, _Caprella_, clinging by its +hind claws to sea-weed, and waving its gaunt grotesque body to and fro, +while it makes mesmeric passes with its large fore claws,—one of the most +ridiculous of Nature’s many ridiculous forms. Those which you will find +will be some quarter of an inch in length; but in the cold area of the +North Atlantic, their cousins, it is now found, are nearly three inches +long, and perch in like manner, not on sea-weeds, for there are none so +deep, but on branching sponges. + +These are but two instances out of many of forms which were supposed to +be peculiar to shallow shores repeating themselves at vast depths: thus +forcing on us strange questions about changes in the distribution and +depth of the ancient seas; and forcing us, also, to reconsider the old +rules by which rocks were distinguished as deep-sea or shallow-sea +deposits according to the fossils found in them. + + [Picture: Caprella spinosissima, Norman] + +As for the new forms, and even more important than them, the ancient +forms, supposed to have been long extinct, and only known as fossils, +till they were lately rediscovered alive in the nether darkness,—for them +you must consult Dr. Wyville Thomson’s book, and the notices of the +“Challenger’s” dredgings which appear from time to time in the columns of +“Nature;” for want of space forbids my speaking of them here. + +But if you have no time to read “The Depths of the Sea,” go at least to +the British Museum, or if you be a northern man, to the admirable public +museum at Liverpool; ask to be shown the deep-sea forms; and there feast +your curiosity and your sense of beauty for an hour. Look at the +Crinoids, or stalked star-fishes, the “Lilies of living stone,” which +swarmed in the ancient seas, in vast variety, and in such numbers that +whole beds of limestone are composed of their disjointed fragments; but +which have vanished out of our modern seas, we know not why, till, a few +years since, almost the only known living species was the exquisite and +rare Pentacrinus asteria, from deep water off the Windward Isles of the +West Indies. + + [Picture: Pentacrinus asteria, Linnæus] + +Of this you will see a specimen or two both at Liverpool and in the +British Museum; and near them, probably, specimens of the new-old +Crinoids, discovered of late years by Professor Sars, Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, +Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Wyville Thomson, and the other deep-sea disciples of +the mythic Glaucus, the fisherman, who, enamoured of the wonders of the +sea, plunged into the blue abyss once and for all, and became himself +“the blue old man of the sea.” + +Next look at the corals, and Gorgonias, and all the sea-fern tribe of +branching polypidoms, and last, but not least, at the glass sponges; +first at the Euplectella, or Venus’s flower-basket, which lives embedded +in the mud of the seas of the Philippines, supported by a glass frill +“standing up round it like an Elizabethan ruff.” Twenty years ago there +was but one specimen in Europe: now you may buy one for a pound in any +curiosity shop. I advise you to do so, and to keep—as I have seen +done—under a glass case, as a delight to your eyes, one of the most +exquisite, both for form and texture, of natural objects. + +Then look at the Hyalonemas, or glass-rope ocean floor by a twisted wisp +of strong flexible flint needles, somewhat on the principle of a +screw-pile. So strange and complicated is their structure, that +naturalists for a long while could literally make neither head nor tail +of them, as long as they had only Japanese specimens to study, some of +which the Japanese dealers had, of malice prepense, stuck upside down +into Pholas-borings in stones. Which was top and which bottom; which the +thing itself, and which special parasites growing on it; whether it was a +sponge, or a zoophyte, or something else; at one time even whether it was +natural, or artificial and a make-up,—could not be settled, even till a +year or two since. But the discovery of the same, or a similar, species +in abundance from the Butt of the Lows down to Setubal on the Portuguese +coast, where the deep-water shark fishers call it “sea-whip,” has given +our savants specimens enough to make up their minds—that they really know +little or nothing about it, and probably will never know. + +And do not forget, lastly, to ask, whether at Liverpool or at the British +Museum, for the Holtenias and their congeners,—hollow sponges built up of +glassy spicules, and rooted in the mud by glass hairs, in some cases +between two and three feet long, as flexible and graceful as tresses of +snow-white silk. + +Look at these, and a hundred kindred forms, and then see how nature is +not only “maxima in minimis”—greatest in her least, but often +“pulcherrima in abditis”—fairest in her most hidden works; and how the +Creative Spirit has lavished, as it were, unspeakable artistic skill on +lowly-organized creature, never till now beheld by man, and buried, not +only in foul mud, but in their own unsightly heap of living jelly. + +But so it was from the beginning;—and this planet was not made for man +alone. Countless ages before we appeared on earth the depths of the old +chalk-ocean teemed with forms as beautiful and perfect as those, their +lineal descendants, which the dredge now brings up from the Atlantic +sea-floor; and if there were—as my reason tells me that there must have +been—final moral causes for their existence, the only ones which we have +a right to imagine are these—that all, down to the lowest Rhizopod, might +delight themselves, however dimly, in existing; and that the Lord might +delight Himself in them. + +Thus, much—alas! how little—about the wonders of the deep. We, who are +no deep-sea dredgers, must return humbly to the wonders of the shore. +And first, as after descending the gap in the sea-wall we walk along the +ribbed floor of hard yellow sand, let me ask you to give a sharp look-out +for a round grey disc, about as big as a penny-piece, peeping out on the +surface. No; that is not it, that little lump: open it, and you will +find within one of the common little Venus gallina.—The closet collectors +have given it some new name now, and no thanks to them: they are always +changing the names, instead of studying the live animals where Nature has +put them, in which case they would have no time for word-inventing. Nay, +I verify suspect that the names grow, like other things; at least, they +get longer and longer and more jaw-breaking every year. The little +bivalve, however, finding itself left by the tide, has wisely shut up its +siphons, and, by means of its foot and its edges, buried itself in a +comfortable bath of cool wet sand, till the sea shall come back, and make +it safe to crawl and lounge about on the surface, smoking the sea-water +instead of tobacco. Neither is that depression what we seek. Touch it, +and out poke a pair of astonished and inquiring horns: it is a long-armed +crab, who saw us coming, and wisely shovelled himself into the sand by +means of his nether-end. Corystes Cassivelaunus is his name, which he is +said to have acquired from the marks on his back, which are somewhat like +a human face. “Those long antennæ,” says my friend, Mr. Lloyd {90}—I +have not verified the fact, but believe it, as he knows a great deal +about crabs, and I know next to nothing—“form a tube through which a +current of water passes into the crab’s gills, free from the surrounding +sand.” Moreover, it is only the male who has those strangely long +fore-arms and claws; the female contenting herself with limbs of a more +moderate length. Neither is that, though it might be, the hole down +which what we seek has vanished: but that burrow contains one of the long +white razors which you saw cast on shore at Paignton. The boys close by +are boring for them with iron rods armed with a screw, and taking them in +to sell in Torquay market, as excellent food. But there is one, at +last—a grey disc pouting up through the sand. Touch it, and it is gone +down, quick as light. We must dig it out, and carefully, for it is a +delicate monster. At last, after ten minutes’ careful work, we have +brought up, from a foot depth or more—what? A thick, dirty, slimy worm, +without head or tail, form or colour. A slug has more artistic beauty +about him. Be it so. At home in the aquarium (where, alas! he will live +but for a day or two, under the new irritation of light) he will make a +very different figure. That is one of the rarest of British sea-animals, +Peachia hastata (Pl. XII. Fig. 1), which differs from most other British +Actiniæ in this, that instead of having like them a walking disc, it has +a free open lower end, with which (I know not how) it buries itself +upright in the sand, with its mouth just above the surface. The figure +on the left of the plate represents a curious cluster of papillæ which +project from one side of the mouth, and are the opening of the oviduct. +But his value consists, not merely in his beauty (though that, really, is +not small), but in his belonging to what the long word-makers call an +“interosculant” group,—a party of genera and species which connect +families scientifically far apart, filling up a fresh link in the great +chain, or rather the great network, of zoological classification. For +here we have a simple, and, as it were, crude form; of which, if we dared +to indulge in reveries, we might say that the Creative Mind realized it +before either Actiniæ or Holothurians, and then went on to perfect the +idea contained in it in two different directions; dividing it into two +different families, and making on its model, by adding new organs, and +taking away old ones, in one direction the whole family of Actiniæ +(sea-anemones), and in a quite opposite one the Holothuriæ, those strange +sea-cucumbers, with their mouth-fringe of feathery gills, of which you +shall see some anon. Thus there has been, in the Creative Mind, as it +gave life to new species, a development of the idea on which older +species were created, in order—we may fancy—that every mesh of the great +net might gradually be supplied, and there should be no gaps in the +perfect variety of Nature’s forms. This development is one which we must +believe to be at least possible, if we allow that a Mind presides over +the universe, and not a mere brute necessity, a Law (absurd misnomer) +without a Lawgiver; and to it (strangely enough coinciding here and there +with the Platonic doctrine of Eternal Ideas existing in the Divine Mind) +all fresh inductive discovery seems to point more and more. + + [Picture: 1. Peachia Hastata. 2. Uraster Rubens] + +Let me speak freely a few words on this important matter. Geology has +disproved the old popular belief that the universe was brought into being +as it now exists by a single fiat. We know that the work has been +gradual; that the earth + + “In tracts of fluent heat began, + The seeming prey of cyclic storms, + The home of seeming random forms, + Till, at the last, arose the man.” + +And we know, also, that these forms, “seeming random” as they are, have +appeared according to a law which, as far as we can judge, has been on +the whole one of progress,—lower animals (though we cannot yet say, the +lowest) appearing first, and man, the highest mammal, “the roof and crown +of things,” one of the latest in the series. We have no more right, let +it be observed, to say that man, the highest, appeared last, than that +the lowest appeared first. It was probably so, in both cases; but there +is as yet no positive proof of either; and as we know that species of +animals lower than those which already existed appeared again and again +during the various eras, so it is quite possible that they may be +appearing now, and may appear hereafter: and that for every extinct Dodo +or Moa, a new species may be created, to keep up the equilibrium of the +whole. This is but a surmise: but it may be wise, perhaps, just now, to +confess boldly, even to insist on, its possibility, lest any should +fancy, from our unwillingness to allow it, that there would be ought in +it, if proved, contrary to sound religion. + +I am, I must honestly confess, more and more unable to perceive anything +which an orthodox Christian may not hold, in those physical theories of +“evolution,” which are gaining more and more the assent of our best +zoologists and botanists. All that they ask us to believe is, that +“species” and “families,” and indeed the whole of organic nature, have +gone through, and may still be going through, some such development from +a lowest germ, as we know that every living individual, from the lowest +zoophyte to man himself, does actually go through. They apply to the +whole of the living world, past, present, and future, the law which is +undeniably at work on each individual of it. They may be wrong, or they +may be right: but what is there in such a conception contrary to any +doctrine—at least of the Church of England? To say that this cannot be +true; that species cannot vary, because God, at the beginning, created +each thing “according to its kind,” is really to beg the question; which +is—Does the idea of “kind” include variability or not? and if so, how +much variability? Now, “kind,” or “species,” as we call it, is defined +nowhere in the Bible. What right have we to read our own definition into +the word?—and that against the certain fact, that some “kinds” do vary, +and that widely,—mankind, for instance, and the animals and plants which +he domesticates. Surely that latter fact should be significant, to those +who believe, as I do, that man was created in the likeness of God. For +if man has the power, not only of making plants and animals vary, but of +developing them into forms of higher beauty and usefulness than their +wild ancestors possessed, why should not the God in whose image he is +made possess the same power? If the old theological rule be true—“There +is nothing in man which was not first in God” (sin, of course, +excluded)—then why should not this imperfect creative faculty in man be +the very guarantee that God possesses it in perfection? + +Such at least is the conclusion of one who, studying certain families of +plants, which indulge in the most fantastic varieties of shape and size, +and yet through all their vagaries retain—as do the Palms, the Orchids, +the Euphorbiaceæ—one organ, or form of organs, peculiar and highly +specialized, yet constant throughout the whole of each family, has been +driven to the belief that each of these three families, at least, has +“sported off” from one common ancestor—one archetypal Palm, one +archetypal Orchid, one archetypal Euphorbia, simple, it may be, in +itself, but endowed with infinite possibilities of new and complex +beauty, to be developed, not in it, but in its descendants. He has asked +himself, sitting alone amid the boundless wealth of tropic forests, +whether even then and there the great God might not be creating round +him, slowly but surely, new forms of beauty? If he chose to do it, could +He not do it? That man found himself none the worse Christian for the +thought. He has said—and must be allowed to say again, for he sees no +reason to alter his words—in speaking of the wonderful variety of forms +in the Euphorbiaceæ, from the weedy English Euphorbias, the Dog’s +Mercuries, and the Box, to the prickly-stemmed Scarlet Euphorbia of +Madagascar, the succulent Cactus-like Euphorbias of the Canaries and +elsewhere; the Gale-like Phyllanthus; the many-formed Crotons; the +Hemp-like Maniocs, Physic-nuts, Castor-oils, the scarlet Poinsettia, the +little pink and yellow Dalechampia, the poisonous Manchineel, and the +gigantic Hura, or sandbox tree, of the West Indies,—all so different in +shape and size, yet all alike in their most peculiar and complex +fructification, and in their acrid milky juice,—“What if all these forms +are the descendants of one original form? Would that be one whit the +more wonderful than the theory that they were, each and all, with the +minute, and often imaginary, shades of difference between certain cognate +species among them, created separately and at once? But if it be +so—which I cannot allow—what would the theologian have to say, save that +God’s works are even more wonderful than he always believed them to be? +As for the theory being impossible—that is to be decided by men of +science, on strict experimental grounds. As for us theologians, who are +we, that we should limit, à priori, the power of God? ‘Is anything too +hard for the Lord?’ asked the prophet of old; and we have a right to ask +it as long as the world shall last. If it be said that ‘natural +selection,’ or, as Mr. Herbert Spencer better defines it, the ‘survival +of the fittest,’ is too simple a cause to produce such fantastic +variety—that, again, is a question to be settled exclusively by men of +science, on their own grounds. We, meanwhile, always knew that God works +by very simple, or seemingly simple, means; that the universe, as far as +we could discern it, was one organization of the most simple means. It +was wonderful—or should have been—in our eyes, that a shower of rain +should make the grass grow, and that the grass should become flesh, and +the flesh food for the thinking brain of man. It was—or ought to have +been—more wonderful yet to us that a child should resemble its parents, +or even a butterfly resemble, if not always, still usually, its parents +likewise. Ought God to appear less or more august in our eyes if we +discover that the means are even simpler than we supposed? We held Him +to be Almighty and All-wise. Are we to reverence Him less or more if we +find Him to be so much mightier, so much wiser, than we dreamed, that He +can not only make all things, but—the very perfection of creative +power—_make all things make themselves_? We believed that His care was +over all His works; that His providence worked perpetually over the +universe. We were taught—some of us at least—by Holy Scripture, that +without Him not a sparrow fell to the ground, and that the very hairs of +our head were all numbered; that the whole history of the universe was +made up, in fact, of an infinite network of special providences. If, +then, that should be true which a great naturalist writes, ‘It may be +metaphorically said that natural selection is daily and hourly +scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; +rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; +silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity +offers, at the improvement of each organic being, in relation to its +organic and inorganic conditions of life,’—if this, I say, were proved to +be true, ought God’s care and God’s providence to seem less or more +magnificent in our eyes? Of old it was said by Him without whom nothing +is made—‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.’ Shall we quarrel with +physical science, if she gives us evidence that those words are true?” + +And—understand it well—the grand passage I have just quoted need not be +accused of substituting “natural selection for God.” In any case natural +selection would be only the means or law by which God works, as He does +by other natural laws. We do not substitute gravitation for God, when we +say that the planets are sustained in their orbits by the law of +gravitation. The theory about natural selection may be untrue, or +imperfect, as may the modern theories of the “evolution and progress” of +organic forms: let the man of science decide that. But if true, the +theories seem to me perfectly to agree with, and may be perfectly +explained by, the simple old belief which the Bible sets before us, of a +LIVING GOD: not a mere past will, such as the Koran sets forth, creating +once and for all, and then leaving the universe, to use Goethe’s simile, +“to spin round his finger;” nor again, an “all-pervading spirit,” words +which are mere contradictory jargon, concealing, from those who utter +them, blank Materialism: but One who works in all things which have +obeyed Him to will and to do of His good pleasure, keeping His abysmal +and self-perfect purpose, yet altering the methods by which that purpose +is attained, from æon to æon, ay, from moment to moment, for ever +various, yet for ever the same. This great and yet most blessed paradox +of the Changeless God, who yet can say “It repenteth me,” and “Behold, I +work a new thing on the earth,” is revealed no less by nature than by +Scripture; the changeableness, not of caprice or imperfection, but of an +Infinite Maker and “Poietes,” drawing ever fresh forms out of the +inexhaustible treasury of His primæval Mind; and yet never throwing away +a conception to which He has once given actual birth in time and space, +(but to compare reverently small things and great) lovingly repeating it, +re-applying it; producing the same effects by endlessly different +methods; or so delicately modifying the method that, as by the turn of a +hair, it shall produce endlessly diverse effects; looking back, as it +were, ever and anon over the great work of all the ages, to retouch it, +and fill up each chasm in the scheme, which for some good purpose had +been left open in earlier worlds; or leaving some open (the forms, for +instance, necessary to connect the bimana and the quadrumana) to be +filled up perhaps hereafter when the world needs them; the handiwork, in +short, of a living and loving Mind, perfect in His own eternity, but +stooping to work in time and space, and there rejoicing Himself in the +work of His own hands, and in His eternal Sabbaths ceasing in rest +ineffable, that He may look on that which He hath made, and behold it is +very good. + +I speak, of course, under correction; for this conclusion is emphatically +matter of induction, and must be verified or modified by ever-fresh +facts: but I meet with many a Christian passage in scientific books, +which seems to me to go, not too far, but rather not far enough, in +asserting the God of the Bible, as Saint Paul says, “not to have left +Himself without witness,” in nature itself, that He is the God of grace. +Why speak of the God of nature and the God of grace as two antithetical +terms? The Bible never, in a single instance, makes the distinction; and +surely, if God be (as He is) the Eternal and Unchangeable One, and if (as +we all confess) the universe bears the impress of His signet, we have no +right, in the present infantile state of science, to put arbitrary limits +of our own to the revelation which He may have thought good to make of +Himself in nature. Nay, rather, let us believe that, if our eyes were +opened, we should fulfil the requirement of Genius, to “see the universal +in the particular,” by seeing God’s whole likeness, His whole glory, +reflected as in a mirror even in the meanest flower; and that nothing but +the dulness of our own souls prevents them from seeing day and night in +all things, however small or trivial to human eclecticism, the Lord Jesus +Christ Himself fulfilling His own saying, “My Father worketh hitherto, +and I work.” + +To me it seems (to sum up, in a few words, what I have tried to say) that +such development and progress as have as yet been actually discovered in +nature, bear every trace of having been produced by successive acts of +thought and will in some personal mind; which, however boundlessly rich +and powerful, is still the Archetype of the human mind; and therefore +(for to this I confess I have been all along tending) probably capable, +without violence to its properties, of becoming, like the human mind, +incarnate. + +But to descend from these perhaps too daring speculations, there is +another, and more human, source of interest about the animal who is +writhing feebly in the glass jar of salt water; for he is one of the many +curiosities which have been added to our fauna by that humble hero Mr. +Charles Peach, the self-taught naturalist, of whom, as we walk on toward +the rocks, something should be said, or rather read; for Mr. Chambers, in +an often-quoted passage from his Edinburgh Journal, which I must have the +pleasure of quoting once again, has told the story better than we can +tell it:— + +“But who is that little intelligent-looking man in a faded naval uniform, +who is so invariably to be seen in a particular central seat in this +section? That, gentle reader, is perhaps one of the most interesting men +who attend the British Association. He is only a private in the mounted +guard (preventive service) at an obscure part of the Cornwall coast, with +four shillings a day, and a wife and nine children, most of whose +education he has himself to conduct. He never tastes the luxuries which +are so common in the middle ranks of life, and even amongst a large +portion of the working classes. He has to mend with his own hands every +sort of thing that can break or wear in his house. Yet Mr. Peach is a +votary of Natural History; not a student of the science in books, for he +cannot afford books; but an investigator by sea and shore, a collector of +Zoophytes and Echinodermata—strange creatures, many of which are as yet +hardly known to man. These he collects, preserves, and describes; and +every year does he come up to the British Association with a few +novelties of this kind, accompanied by illustrative papers and drawings: +thus, under circumstances the very opposite of those of such men as Lord +Enniskillen, adding, in like manner, to the general stock of knowledge. +On the present occasion he is unusually elated, for he has made the +discovery of a Holothuria with twenty tentacula, a species of the +Echinodermata which Professor Forbes, in his book on Star-Fishes, has +said was never yet observed in the British seas. It may be of small +moment to you, who, mayhap, know nothing of Holothurias: but it is a +considerable thing to the Fauna of Britain, and a vast matter to a poor +private of the Cornwall mounted guard. And accordingly he will go home +in a few days, full of the glory of his exhibition, and strong anew by +the kind notice taken of him by the masters of the science, to similar +inquiries, difficult as it may be to prosecute them, under such a +complication of duties, professional and domestic. Honest Peach! humble +as is thy home, and simple thy bearing, thou art an honour even to this +assemblage of nobles and doctors: nay, more, when we consider everything, +thou art an honour to human nature itself; for where is the heroism like +that of virtuous, intelligent, independent poverty? And such heroism is +thine!”—_Chambers’ Edin. Journ._, Nov. 23, 1844. + +Mr. Peach has been since rewarded in part for his long labours in the +cause of science, by having been removed to a more lucrative post on the +north coast of Scotland; the earnest, it is to be hoped, of still further +promotion. + +I mentioned just now Synapta; or, as Montagu called it, Chirodota: a much +better name, and, I think, very uselessly changed; for Chirodota +expresses the peculiarity of the beast, which consists in—start not, +reader—twelve hands, like human hands, while Synapta expresses merely its +power of clinging to the fingers, which it possesses in common with many +other animals. It is, at least, a beast worth talking about; as for +finding one, I fear that we have no chance of such good fortune. + + [Picture: Plate 4: Synapta Digitata etc.] + +Colonel Montagu found them here some forty years ago; and after him, Mr. +Alder, in 1845. I found hundreds of them, but only once, in 1854 after a +heavy south-eastern gale, washed up among the great Lutrariæ in a cove +near Goodrington; but all my dredging outside failed to procure a +specimen—Mr. Alder, however, and Mr. Cocks (who find everything, and will +at last certainly catch Midgard, the great sea-serpent, as Thor did, by +baiting for him with a bull’s head), have dredged them in great numbers; +the former, at Helford in Cornwall, the latter on the west coast of +Scotland. It seems, however, to be a southern monster, probably a +remnant, like the great cockle, of the Mediterranean fauna; for Mr. +MacAndrew finds them plentifully in Vigo Bay, and J. Müller in the +Adriatic, off Trieste. + +But what is it like? Conceive a very fat short earth-worm; not ringed, +though, like the earth-worm, but smooth and glossy, dappled with darker +spots, especially on one side, which may be the upper one. Put round its +mouth twelve little arms, on each a hand with four ragged fingers, and on +the back of the hand a stump of a thumb, and you have Synapta Digitata +(Plates IV. and V., from my drawings of the live animal). These hands it +puts down to its mouth, generally in alternate pairs, but how it obtains +its food by them is yet a mystery, for its intestines are filled, like an +earth-worm’s, with the mud in which it lives, and from which it probably +extracts (as does the earth-worm) all organic matters. + +You will find it stick to your fingers by the whole skin, causing, if +your hand be delicate, a tingling sensation; and if you examine the skin +under the microscope, you will find the cause. The whole skin is studded +with minute glass anchors, some hanging freely from the surface, but most +imbedded in the skin. Each of these anchors is jointed at its root into +one end of a curious cribriform plate,—in plain English, one pierced like +a sieve, which lies under the skin, and reminds one of the similar plates +in the skin of the White Cucumaria, which I will show you presently; and +both of these we must regard as the first rudiments of an Echinoderm’s +outside skeleton, such as in the Sea-urchins covers the whole body of the +animal. (See on Echinus Millaris, p. 89.) {111} Somewhat similar +anchor-plates, from a Red Sea species, Synapta Vittata, may be seen in +any collection of microscopic objects. + +The animal, when caught, has a strange habit of self-destruction, +contracting its skin at two or three different points, and writhing till +it snaps itself into “junks,” as the sailors would say, and then dies. +My specimens, on breaking up, threw out from the wounded part long +“ovarian filaments” (whatsoever those may be), similar to those thrown +out by many of the Sagartian anemones, especially S. parasitica. Beyond +this, I can tell you nothing about Synapta, and only ask you to consider +its hands, as an instance of that fantastic play of Nature which repeats, +in families widely different, organs of similar form, though perhaps of +by no means similar use; nay, sometimes (as in those beautiful clear-wing +hawk-moths which you, as they hover round the rhododendrons, mistake for +bumble-bees) repeats the outward form of a whole animal, for no +conceivable reason save her—shall we not say honestly His?—own good +pleasure. + +But here we are at the old bank of boulders, the ruins of an antique pier +which the monks of Tor Abbey built for their convenience, while Torquay +was but a knot of fishing huts within a lonely limestone cove. To get to +it, though, we have passed many a hidden treasure; for every ledge of +these flat New-red-sandstone rocks, if torn up with the crowbar, +discloses in its cracks and crannies nests of strange forms which shun +the light of day; beautiful Actiniæ fill the tiny caverns with living +flowers; great Pholades (Plate X. figs. 3, 4) bore by hundreds in the +softer strata; and wherever a thin layer of muddy sand intervenes between +two slabs, long Annelid worms of quaintest forms and colours have their +horizontal burrows, among those of that curious and rare radiate animal, +the Spoonworm, {113} an eyeless bag about an inch long, half bluish grey, +half pink, with a strange scalloped and wrinkled proboscis of saffron +colour, which serves, in some mysterious way, soft as it is, to collect +food, and clear its dark passage through the rock. + +See, at the extreme low-water mark, where the broad olive fronds of the +Laminariæ, like fan-palms, droop and wave gracefully in the retiring +ripples, a great boulder which will serve our purpose. Its upper side is +a whole forest of sea-weeds, large and small; and that forest, if you +examined it closely, as full of inhabitants as those of the Amazon or the +Gambia. To “beat” that dense cover would be an endless task: but on the +under side, where no sea-weeds grow, we shall find full in view enough to +occupy us till the tide returns. For the slab, see, is such a one as +sea-beasts love to haunt. Its weed-covered surface shows that the surge +has not shifted it for years past. It lies on other boulders clear of +sand and mud, so that there is no fear of dead sea-weed having lodged and +decayed under it, destructive to animal life. We can see dark crannies +and caves beneath; yet too narrow to allow the surge to wash in, and keep +the surface clean. It will be a fine menagerie of Nereus, if we can but +turn it. + +Now the crowbar is well under it; heave, and with a will; and so, after +five minutes’ tugging, propping, slipping, and splashing, the boulder +gradually tips over, and we rush greedily upon the spoil. + +A muddy dripping surface it is, truly, full of cracks and hollows, +uninviting enough at first sight: let us look it round leisurely, to see +if there are not materials enough there for an hour’s lecture. + + [Picture: Plate 9: Cucumaria Hyndmanni etc.] + +The first object which strikes the eye is probably a group of milk-white +slugs, from two to six inches long, cuddling snugly together (Plate IX. +fig. 1). You try to pull them off, and find that they give you some +trouble, such a firm hold have the delicate white sucking arms, which +fringe each of their five edges. You see at the head nothing but a +yellow dimple; for eating and breathing are suspended till the return of +tide; but once settled in a jar of salt-water, each will protrude a large +chocolate-coloured head, tipped with a ring of ten feathery gills, +looking very much like a head of “curled kale,” but of the loveliest +white and primrose; in the centre whereof lies perdu a mouth with sturdy +teeth—if indeed they, as well as the whole inside of the beast, have not +been lately got rid of, and what you see be not a mere bag, without +intestine or other organ: but only for the time being. For hear it, +worn-out epicures, and old Indians who bemoan your livers, this little +Holothuria knows a secret which, if he could tell it, you would be glad +to buy of him for thousands sterling. To him blue pill and muriatic acid +are superfluous, and travels to German Brunnen a waste of time. Happy +Holothuria! who possesses really the secret of everlasting youth, which +ancient fable bestowed on the serpent and the eagle. For when his teeth +ache, or his digestive organs trouble him, all he has to do is just to +cast up forthwith his entire inside, and, faisant maigre for a month or +so, grow a fresh set, and then eat away as merrily as ever. His name, if +you wish to consult so triumphant a hygeist, is Cucumaria Pentactes: but +he has many a stout cousin round the Scotch coast, who knows the +antibilious panacea as well as he, and submits, among the northern +fishermen, to the rather rude and undeserved name of sea-puddings; one of +which grows in Shetland to the enormous length of three feet, rivalling +there his huge congeners, who display their exquisite plumes on every +tropic coral reef. {116} + + [Picture: Plate 5: Balanophyllea Regia etc.] + +Next, what are those bright little buds, like salmon-coloured Banksia +roses half expanded, sitting closely on the stone? Touch them; the soft +part is retracted, and the orange flower of flesh is transformed into a +pale pink flower of stone. That is the Madrepore, Caryophyllia Smithii +(Plate V. fig. 2); one of our south coast rarities: and see, on the lip +of the last one, which we have carefully scooped off with the chisel, two +little pink towers of stone, delicately striated; drop them into this +small bottle of sea-water, and from the top of each tower issues every +half-second—what shall we call it?—a hand or a net of finest hairs, +clutching at something invisible to our grosser sense. That is the +Pyrgoma, parasitic only (as far as we know) on the lip of this same rare +Madrepore; a little “cirrhipod,” the cousin of those tiny barnacles which +roughen every rock (a larger sort whereof I showed you on the +Turritella), and of those larger ones also who burrow in the thick hide +of the whale, and, borne about upon his mighty sides, throw out their +tiny casting nets, as this Pyrgoma does, to catch every passing +animalcule, and sweep them into the jaws concealed within its shell. And +this creature, rooted to one spot through life and death, was in its +infancy a free swimming animal, hovering from place to place upon +delicate ciliæ, till, having sown its wild oats, it settled down in life, +built itself a good stone house, and became a landowner, or rather a +glebæ adscriptus, for ever and a day. Mysterious destiny!—yet not so +mysterious as that of the free medusoid young of every polype and coral, +which ends as a rooted tree of horn or stone, and seems to the eye of +sensuous fancy to have literally degenerated into a vegetable. Of them +you must read for yourself in Mr. Gosse’s book; in the meanwhile he shall +tell you something of the beautiful Madrepores themselves. His +description, {118} by far the best yet published, should be read in full; +we must content ourselves with extracts. + +“Doubtless you are familiar with the stony skeleton of our Madrepore, as +it appears in museums. It consists of a number of thin calcareous plates +standing up edgewise, and arranged in a radiating manner round a low +centre. A little below the margin their individuality is lost in the +deposition of rough calcareous matter. . . . The general form is more or +less cylindrical, commonly wider at top than just above the bottom. . . . +This is but the skeleton; and though it is a very pretty object, those +who are acquainted with it alone, can form but a very poor idea of the +beauty of the living animal. . . . Let it, after being torn from the +rock, recover its equanimity; then you will see a pellucid gelatinous +flesh emerging from between the plates, and little exquisitely formed and +coloured tentacula, with white clubbed tips fringing the sides of the +cup-shaped cavity in the centre, across which stretches the oval disc +marked with a star of some rich and brilliant colour, surrounding the +central mouth, a slit with white crenated lips, like the orifice of one +of those elegant cowry shells which we put upon our mantelpieces. The +mouth is always more or less prominent, and can be protruded and expanded +to an astonishing extent. The space surrounding the lips is commonly +fawn colour, or rich chestnut-brown; the star or vandyked circle rich +red, pale vermilion, and sometimes the most brilliant emerald green, as +brilliant as the gorget of a humming-bird.” + +And what does this exquisitely delicate creature do with its pretty +mouth? Alas for fact! It sips no honey-dew, or fruits from paradise.—“I +put a minute spider, as large as a pin’s head, into the water, pushing it +down to the coral. The instant it touched the tip of a tentacle, it +adhered, and was drawn in with the surrounding tentacles between the +plates. With a lens I saw the small mouth slowly open, and move over to +that side, the lips gaping unsymmetrically; while with a movement as +imperceptible as that of the hour hand of a watch, the tiny prey was +carried along between the plates to the corner of the mouth. The mouth, +however, moved most, and at length reached the edges of the plates, +gradually closed upon the insect, and then returned to its usual place in +the centre.” + +Mr. Gosse next tried the fairy of the walking mouth with a house-fly, who +escaped only by hard fighting; and at last the gentle creature, after +swallowing and disgorging various large pieces of shell-fish, found +viands to its taste in “the lean of cooked meat and portions of +earthworms,” filling up the intervals by a perpetual dessert of +microscopic animalcules, whirled into that lovely avernus, its mouth, by +the currents of the delicate ciliæ which clothe every tentacle. The fact +is, that the Madrepore, like those glorious sea-anemones whose living +flowers stud every pool, is by profession a scavenger and a feeder on +carrion; and being as useful as he is beautiful, really comes under the +rule which he seems at first to break, that handsome is who handsome +does. + +Another species of Madrepore {121} was discovered on our Devon coast by +Mr. Gosse, more gaudy, though not so delicate in hue as our Caryophyllia. +Mr. Gosse’s locality, for this and numberless other curiosities, is +Ilfracombe, on the north coast of Devon. My specimens came from Lundy +Island, in the mouth of the Bristol Channel, or more properly from that +curious “Rat Island” to the south of it, where still lingers the black +long-tailed English rat, exterminated everywhere else by his sturdier +brown cousin of the Hanoverian dynasty. + +Look, now, at these tiny saucers of the thinnest ivory, the largest not +bigger than a silver threepence, which contain in their centres a +milk-white crust of stone, pierced, as you see under the magnifier, into +a thousand cells, each with its living architect within. Here are two +kinds: in one the tubular cells radiate from the centre, giving it the +appearance of a tiny compound flower, daisy or groundsel; in the other +they are crossed with waving grooves, giving the whole a peculiar fretted +look, even more beautiful than that of the former species. They are +Tubulipora patina and Tubulipora hispida;—and stay—break off that tiny +rough red wart, and look at its cells also under the magnifier: it is +Cellepora pumicosa; and now, with the Madrepore, you hold in your hand +the principal, at least the commonest, British types of those famed coral +insects, which in the tropics are the architects of continents, and the +conquerors of the ocean surge. All the world, since the publication of +Darwin’s delightful “Voyage of the Beagle,”‘ and of Williams’ “Missionary +Enterprises,” knows, or ought to know, enough about them: for those who +do not, there are a few pages in the beginning of Dr. Landsborough’s +“British Zoophytes,” well worth perusal. + +There are a few other true cellepore corals round the coast. The largest +of all, Cervicornis, may be dredged a few miles outside on the Exmouth +bank, with a few more Tubulipores: but all tiny things, the lingering +and, as it were, expiring remnants of that great coral-world which, +through the abysmal depths of past ages, formed here in Britain our +limestone hills, storing up for generations yet unborn the materials of +agriculture and architecture. Inexpressibly interesting, even solemn, to +those who will think, is the sight of those puny parasites which, as it +were, connect the ages and the æons: yet not so solemn and full of +meaning as that tiny relic of an older world, the little pear-shaped +Turbinolia (cousin of the Madrepores and Sea-anemones), found fossil in +the Suffolk Crag, and yet still lingering here and there alive in the +deep water of Scilly and the west coast of Ireland, possessor of a +pedigree which dates, perhaps, from ages before the day in which it was +said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” To think that +the whole human race, its joys and its sorrows, its virtues and its sins, +its aspirations and its failures, has been rushing out of eternity and +into eternity again, as Arjoon in the Bhagavad Gita beheld the race of +men issuing from Kreeshna’s flaming mouth, and swallowed up in it again, +“as the crowds of insects swarm into the flame, as the homeless streams +leap down into the ocean bed,” in an everlasting heart-pulse whose blood +is living souls—and all that while, and ages before that mystery began, +that humble coral, unnoticed on the dark sea-floor, has been “continuing +as it was at the beginning,” and fulfilling “the law which cannot be +broken,” while races and dynasties and generations have been + + “Playing such fantastic tricks before high heaven, + As make the angels weep.” + +Yes; it is this vision of the awful permanence and perfection of the +natural world, beside the wild flux and confusion, the mad struggles, the +despairing cries of the world of spirits which man has defiled by sin, +which would at moments crush the naturalist’s heart, and make his brain +swim with terror, were it not that he can see by faith, through all the +abysses and the ages, not merely + + “Hands, + From out the darkness, shaping man;” + +but above them a living loving countenance, human and yet Divine; and can +hear a voice which said at first, “Let us make man in our image;” and +hath said since then, and says for ever and for ever, “Lo, I am with you +alway, even to the end of the world.” + +But now, friend, who listenest, perhaps instructed, and at least +amused—if, as Professor Harvey well says, the simpler animals represent, +as in a glass, the scattered organs of the higher races, which of your +organs is represented by that “sca’d man’s head,” which the Devon +children more gracefully, yet with less adherence to plain likeness, call +“mermaid’s head,” {126a} which we picked up just now on Paignton Sands? +Or which, again, by its more beautiful little congener, {126b} five or +six of which are adhering tightly to the slab before us, a ball covered +with delicate spines of lilac and green, and stuck over (cunning +fellows!) with stripes of dead sea-weed to serve as improvised parasols? +One cannot say that in him we have the first type of the human skull: for +the resemblance, quaint as it is, is only sensuous and accidental, (in +the logical use of that term,) and not homological, _i.e._ a lower +manifestation of the same idea. Yet how is one tempted to say, that this +was Nature’s first and lowest attempt at that use of hollow globes of +mineral for protecting soft fleshy parts, which she afterwards developed +to such perfection in the skulls of vertebrate animals! But even that +conceit, pretty as it sounds, will not hold good; for though Radiates +similar to these were among the earliest tenants of the abyss, yet as +early as their time, perhaps even before them, had been conceived and +actualized, in the sharks, and in Mr. Hugh Miller’s pets the old red +sandstone fishes, that very true vertebrate skull and brain, of which +this is a mere mockery. {127} Here the whole animal, with his +extraordinary feeding mill, (for neither teeth nor jaws is a fit word for +it,) is enclosed within an ever-growing limestone castle, to the +architecture of which the Eddystone and the Crystal Palace are bungling +heaps; without arms or legs, eyes or ears, and yet capable, in spite of +his perpetual imprisonment, of walking, feeding, and breeding, doubt it +not, merrily enough. But this result has been attained at the expense of +a complication of structure, which has baffled all human analysis and +research into final causes. As much concerning this most miraculous of +families as is needful to be known, and ten times more than you are +likely to understand, may be read in Harvey’s “Sea-Side Book,” pp. +142–148,—pages from which you will probably arise with a sense of the +infinity and complexity of Nature, even in what we are pleased to call +her “lower” forms, and the simplest and, as it were, easiest forms of +life. Conceive a Crystal Palace, (for mere difference in size, as both +the naturalist and the metaphysician know, has nothing to do with the +wonder,) whereof each separate joist, girder, and pane grows continually +without altering the shape of the whole; and you have conceived only one +of the miracles embodied in that little sea-egg, which the Creator has, +as it were, to justify to man His own immutability, furnished with a +shell capable of enduring fossil for countless ages, that we may confess +Him to have been as great when first His Spirit brooded on the deep, as +He is now and will be through all worlds to come. + +But we must make haste; for the tide is rising fast, and our stone will +be restored to its eleven hours’ bath, long before we have talked over +half the wonders which it holds. Look though, ere you retreat, at one or +two more. + +What is that little brown thing whom you have just taken off the rock to +which it adhered so stoutly by his sucking-foot? A limpet? Not at all: +he is of quite a different family and structure; but, on the whole, a +limpet-like shell would suit him well enough, so he had one given him: +nevertheless, owing to certain anatomical peculiarities, he needed one +aperture more than a limpet; so one, if you will examine, has been given +him at the top of his shell. {129} This is one instance among a thousand +of the way in which a scientific knowledge of objects must not obey, but +run counter to, the impressions of sense; and of a custom in nature which +makes this caution so necessary, namely, the repetition of the same form, +slightly modified, in totally different animals, sometimes as if to avoid +waste, (for why should not the same conception be used in two different +cases, if it will suit in both?) and sometimes (more marvellous by far) +when an organ, fully developed and useful in one species, appears in a +cognate species but feeble, useless, and, as it were, abortive; and +gradually, in species still farther removed, dies out altogether; placed +there, it would seem, at first sight, merely to keep up the family +likeness. I am half jesting; that cannot be the only reason, perhaps not +the reason at all; but the fact is one of the most curious, and notorious +also, in comparative anatomy. + + [Picture: Plate 10: Serpula Contortuplicata etc.] + +Look, again, at those sea-slugs. One, some three inches long, of a +bright lemon-yellow, clouded with purple; another of a dingy grey; {130a} +another exquisite little creature of a pearly French White, {130b} furred +all over the back with what seem arms, but are really gills, of ringed +white and grey and black. Put that yellow one into water, and from his +head, above the eyes, arise two serrated horns, while from the after-part +of his back springs a circular Prince-of-Wales’s-feather of gills,—they +are almost exactly like those which we saw just now in the white +Cucumaria. Yes; here is another instance of the same custom of +repetition. The Cucumaria is a low radiate animal—the sea-slug a far +higher mollusc; and every organ within him is formed on a different type; +as indeed are those seemingly identical gills, if you come to examine +them under the microscope, having to oxygenate fluids of a very different +and more complicated kind; and, moreover, the Cucumaria’s gills were put +round his mouth, the Doris’s feathers round the other extremity; that +grey Eolis’s, again, are simple clubs, scattered over his whole back, and +in each of his nudibranch congeners these same gills take some new and +fantastic form; in Melibæa those clubs are covered with warts; in +Scyllæa, with tufted bouquets; in the beautiful Antiopa they are +transparent bags; and in many other English species they take every +conceivable form of leaf, tree, flower, and branch, bedecked with every +colour of the rainbow, as you may see them depicted in Messrs. Alder and +Hancock’s unrivalled Monograph on the Nudibranch Mollusca. + +And now, worshipper of final causes and the mere useful in nature, answer +but one question,—Why this prodigal variety? All these Nudibranchs live +in much the same way: why would not the same mould have done for them +all? And why, again, (for we must push the argument a little further,) +why have not all the butterflies, at least all who feed on the same +plant, the same markings? Of all unfathomable triumphs of design, (we +can only express ourselves thus, for honest induction, as Paley so well +teaches, allows us to ascribe such results only to the design of some +personal will and mind,) what surpasses that by which the scales on a +butterfly’s wing are arranged to produce a certain pattern of artistic +beauty beyond all painter’s skill? What a waste of power, on any +utilitarian theory of nature! And once more, why are those strange +microscopic atomies, the Diatomaceæ and Infusoria, which fill every +stagnant pool; which fringe every branch of sea-weed; which form banks +hundreds of miles long on the Arctic sea-floor, and the strata of whole +moorlands; which pervade in millions the mass of every iceberg, and float +aloft in countless swarms amid the clouds of the volcanic dust;—why are +their tiny shells of flint as fantastically various in their quaint +mathematical symmetry, as they are countless beyond the wildest dreams of +the Poet? Mystery inexplicable on the conceited notion which, making man +forsooth the centre of the universe, dares to believe that this variety +of forms has existed for countless ages in abysmal sea-depths and +untrodden forests, only that some few individuals of the Western races +might, in these latter days, at last discover and admire a corner here +and there of the boundless realms of beauty. Inexplicable, truly, if man +be the centre and the object of their existence; explicable enough to him +who believes that God has created all things for Himself, and rejoices in +His own handiwork, and that the material universe is, as the wise man +says, “A platform whereon His Eternal Spirit sports and makes melody.” +Of all the blessings which the study of nature brings to the patient +observer, let none, perhaps, be classed higher than this: that the +further he enters into those fairy gardens of life and birth, which +Spenser saw and described in his great poem, the more he learns the awful +and yet most comfortable truth, that they do not belong to him, but to +One greater, wiser, lovelier than he; and as he stands, silent with awe, +amid the pomp of Nature’s ever-busy rest, hears, as of old, “The Word of +the Lord God walking among the trees of the garden in the cool of the +day.” + +One sight more, and we have done. I had something to say, had time +permitted, on the ludicrous element which appears here and there in +nature. There are animals, like monkeys and crabs, which seem made to be +laughed at; by those at least who possess that most indefinable of +faculties, the sense of the ridiculous. As long as man possesses muscles +especially formed to enable him to laugh, we have no right to suppose +(with some) that laughter is an accident of our fallen nature; or to find +(with others) the primary cause of the ridiculous in the perception of +unfitness or disharmony. And yet we shrink (whether rightly or wrongly, +we can hardly tell) from attributing a sense of the ludicrous to the +Creator of these forms. It may be a weakness on my part; at least I will +hope it is a reverent one: but till we can find something corresponding +to what we conceive of the Divine Mind in any class of phenomena, it is +perhaps better not to talk about them at all, but observe a stoic +“epoche,” waiting for more light, and yet confessing that our own +laughter is uncontrollable, and therefore we hope not unworthy of us, at +many a strange creature and strange doing which we meet, from the highest +ape to the lowest polype. + +But, in the meanwhile, there are animals in which results so strange, +fantastic, even seemingly horrible, are produced, that fallen man may be +pardoned, if he shrinks from them in disgust. That, at least, must be a +consequence of our own wrong state; for everything is beautiful and +perfect in its place. It may be answered, “Yes, in its place; but its +place is not yours. You had no business to look at it, and must pay the +penalty for intermeddling.” I doubt that answer; for surely, if man have +liberty to do anything, he has liberty to search out freely his heavenly +Father’s works; and yet every one seems to have his antipathic animal; +and I know one bred from his childhood to zoology by land and sea, and +bold in asserting, and honest in feeling, that all without exception is +beautiful, who yet cannot, after handling and petting and admiring all +day long every uncouth and venomous beast, avoid a paroxysm of horror at +the sight of the common house-spider. At all events, whether we were +intruding or not, in turning this stone, we must pay a fine for having +done so; for there lies an animal as foul and monstrous to the eye as +“hydra, gorgon, or chimæra dire,” and yet so wondrously fitted to its +work, that we must needs endure for our own instruction to handle and to +look at it. Its name, if you wish for it, is Nemertes; probably N. +Borlasii; {136} a worm of very “low” organization, though well fitted +enough for its own work. You see it? That black, shiny, knotted lump +among the gravel, small enough to be taken up in a dessert spoon. Look +now, as it is raised and its coils drawn out. Three feet—six—nine, at +least: with a capability of seemingly endless expansion; a slimy tape of +living caoutchouc, some eighth of an inch in diameter, a dark +chocolate-black, with paler longitudinal lines. Is it alive? It hangs, +helpless and motionless, a mere velvet string across the hand. Ask the +neighbouring Annelids and the fry of the rock fishes, or put it into a +vase at home, and see. It lies motionless, trailing itself among the +gravel; you cannot tell where it begins or ends; it may be a dead strip +of sea-weed, Himanthalia lorea, perhaps, or Chorda filum; or even a +tarred string. So thinks the little fish who plays over and over it, +till he touches at last what is too surely a head. In an instant a +bell-shaped sucker mouth has fastened to his side. In another instant, +from one lip, a concave double proboscis, just like a tapir’s (another +instance of the repetition of forms), has clasped him like a finger; and +now begins the struggle: but in vain. He is being “played” with such a +fishing-line as the skill of a Wilson or a Stoddart never could invent; a +living line, with elasticity beyond that of the most delicate fly-rod, +which follows every lunge, shortening and lengthening, slipping and +twining round every piece of gravel and stem of sea-weed, with a tiring +drag such as no Highland wrist or step could ever bring to bear on salmon +or on trout. The victim is tired now; and slowly, and yet dexterously, +his blind assailant is feeling and shifting along his side, till he +reaches one end of him; and then the black lips expand, and slowly and +surely the curved finger begins packing him end-foremost down into the +gullet, where he sinks, inch by inch, till the swelling which marks his +place is lost among the coils, and he is probably macerated to a pulp +long before he has reached the opposite extremity of his cave of doom. +Once safe down, the black murderer slowly contracts again into a knotted +heap, and lies, like a boa with a stag inside him, motionless and blest. +{138} + + [Picture: Nemerties Borlasii etc.: Plate 3] + +There; we must come away now, for the tide is over our ankles; but touch, +before you go, one of those little red mouths which peep out of the +stone. A tiny jet of water shoots up almost into your face. The bivalve +{139a} who has burrowed into the limestone knot (the softest part of the +stone to his jaws, though the hardest to your chisel) is scandalized at +having the soft mouths of his siphons so rudely touched, and taking your +finger for some bothering Annelid, who wants to nibble him, is defending +himself; shooting you, as naturalists do humming-birds, with water. Let +him rest in peace; it will cost you ten minutes’ hard work, and much +dirt, to extract him; but if you are fond of shells, secure one or two of +those beautiful pink and straw-coloured scallops (Hinnites pusio, Plate +X. fig. 1), who have gradually incorporated the layers of their lower +valve with the roughnesses of the stone, destroying thereby the beautiful +form which belongs to their race, but not their delicate colour. There +are a few more bivalves too, adhering to the stone, and those rare ones, +and two or three delicate Mangeliæ and Nassæ {139b} are trailing their +graceful spires up and down in search of food. That little bright red +and yellow pea, too, touch it—the brilliant coloured cloak is withdrawn, +and, instead, you have a beautiful ribbed pink cowry, {140a} our only +European representative of that grand tropical family. Cast one +wondering glance, too, at the forest of zoophytes and corals, Lepraliæ +and Flustræ, and those quaint blue stars, set in brown jelly, which are +no zoophytes, but respectable molluscs, each with his well-formed mouth +and intestines, {140b} but combined in a peculiar form of Communism, of +which all one can say is, that one hopes they like it; and that, at all +events, they agree better than the heroes and heroines of Mr. Hawthorne’s +“Blithedale Romance.” + +Now away, and as a specimen of the fertility of the water-world, look at +this rough list of species, {140c} the greater part of which are on this +very stone, and all of which you might obtain in an hour, would the rude +tide wait for zoologists: and remember that the number of individuals of +each species of polype must be counted by tens of thousands; and also, +that, by searching the forest of sea-weeds which covers the upper +surface, we should probably obtain some twenty minute species more. + +A goodly catalogue this, surely, of the inhabitants of three or four +large stones; and yet how small a specimen of the multitudinous nations +of the sea! + +From the bare rocks above high-water mark, down to abysses deeper than +ever plummet sounded, is life, everywhere life; fauna after fauna, and +flora after flora, arranged in zones, according to the amount of light +and warmth which each species requires, and to the amount of pressure +which they are able to endure. The crevices of the highest rocks, only +sprinkled with salt spray in spring-tides and high gales, have their +peculiar little univalves, their crisp lichen-like sea-weed, in myriads; +lower down, the region of the Fuci (bladder-weeds) has its own tribes of +periwinkles and limpets; below again, about the neap-tide mark, the +region of the corallines and Algæ furnishes food for yet other species +who graze on its watery meadows; and beneath all, only uncovered at low +spring-tide, the zone of the Laminariæ (the great tangles and ore-weeds) +is most full of all of every imaginable form of life. So that as we +descend the rocks, we may compare ourselves (likening small things to +great) to those who, descending the Andes, pass in a single day from the +vegetation of the Arctic zone to that of the Tropics. And here and +there, even at half-tide level, deep rock-basins, shaded from the sun and +always full of water, keep up in a higher zone the vegetation of a lower +one, and afford in nature an analogy to those deep “barrancos” which +split the high table-land of Mexico, down whose awful cliffs, swept by +cool sea-breezes, the traveller looks from among the plants and animals +of the temperate zone, and sees far below, dim through their everlasting +vapour-bath of rank hot steam, the mighty forms and gorgeous colours of a +tropic forest. + +“I do not wonder,” says Mr. Gosse, in his charming “Naturalist’s Rambles +on the Devonshire Coast” (p. 187), “that when Southey had an opportunity +of seeing some of those beautiful quiet basins hollowed in the living +rock, and stocked with elegant plants and animals, having all the charm +of novelty to his eye, they should have moved his poetic fancy, and found +more than one place in the gorgeous imagery of his Oriental romances. +Just listen to him + + “It was a garden still beyond all price, + Even yet it was a place of paradise; + * * * * * * + And here were coral bowers, + And grots of madrepores, + And banks of sponge, as soft and fair to eye + As e’er was mossy bed + Whereon the wood-nymphs lie + With languid limbs in summer’s sultry hours. + Here, too, were living flowers, + Which, like a bud compacted, + Their purple cups contracted; + And now in open blossom spread, + Stretch’d, like green anthers, many a seeking head. + And arborets of jointed stone were there, + And plants of fibres fine as silkworm’s thread; + Yea, beautiful as mermaid’s golden hair + Upon the waves dispread. + Others that, like the broad banana growing, + Raised their long wrinkled leaves of purple hue, + Like streamers wide outflowing.’—_Kehama_, xvi. 5. + +“A hundred times you might fancy you saw the type, the very original of +this description, tracing, line by line, and image by image, the details +of the picture; and acknowledging, as you proceed, the minute +truthfulness with which it has been drawn. For such is the loveliness of +nature in these secluded reservoirs, that the accomplished poet, when +depicting the gorgeous scenes of Eastern mythology—scenes the wildest and +most extravagant that imagination could paint—drew not upon the resources +of his prolific fancy for imagery here, but was well content to jot down +the simple lineaments of Nature as he saw her in plain, homely England. + +“It is a beautiful and fascinating sight for those who have never seen it +before, to see the little shrubberies of pink coralline—‘the arborets of +jointed stone’—that fringe those pretty pools. It is a charming sight to +see the crimson banana-like leaves of the Delesseria waving in their +darkest corners; and the purple fibrous tufts of Polysiphonia and +Ceramia, ‘fine as silkworm’s thread.’ But there are many others which +give variety and impart beauty to these tide-pools. The broad leaves of +the Ulva, finer than the finest cambric, and of the brightest +emerald-green, adorn the hollows at the highest level, while, at the +lowest, wave tiny forests of the feathery Ptilota and Dasya, and large +leaves, cut into fringes and furbelows, of rosy Rhodymeniæ. All these +are lovely to behold; but I think I admire as much as any of them, one of +the commonest of our marine plants, Chondrus crispus. It occurs in the +greatest profusion on this coast, in every pool between tide-marks; and +everywhere—except in those of the highest level, where constant exposure +to light dwarfs the plant, and turns it of a dull umber-brown tint—it is +elegant in form and brilliant in colour. The expanding fan-shaped +fronds, cut into segments, cut, and cut again, make fine bushy tufts in a +deep pool, and every segment of every frond reflects a flush of the most +lustrous azure, like that of a tempered sword-blade.”—GOSSE’S _Devonshire +Coast_, pp. 187–189. + +And the sea-bottom, also, has its zones, at different depths, and its +peculiar forms in peculiar spots, affected by the currents and the nature +of the ground, the riches of which have to be seen, alas! rather by the +imagination than the eye; for such spoonfuls of the treasure as the +dredge brings up to us, come too often rolled and battered, torn from +their sites and contracted by fear, mere hints to us of what the populous +reality below is like. Often, standing on the shore at low tide, has one +longed to walk on and in under the waves, as the water-ousel does in the +pools of the mountain burn, and see it all but for a moment; and a solemn +beauty and meaning has invested the old Greek fable of Glaucus the +fisherman: how eating of the herb which gave his fish strength to leap +back into their native element, he was seized on the spot with a strange +longing to follow them under the waves, and became for ever a companion +of the fair semi-human forms with which the Hellenic poets peopled their +sunny bays and firths, feeding “silent flocks” far below on the green +Zostera beds, or basking with them on the sunny ledges in the summer +noon, or wandering in the still bays on sultry nights amid the choir of +Amphitrite and her sea-nymphs:— + + “Joining the bliss of the gods, as they waken the coves with their + laughter,” + +in nightly revels, whereof one has sung,— + + “So they came up in their joy; and before them the roll of the surges + Sank, as the breezes sank dead, into smooth green foam-flecked marble + Awed; and the crags of the cliffs, and the pines of the mountains, + were silent. + So they came up in their joy, and around them the lamps of the + sea-nymphs, + Myriad fiery globes, swam heaving and panting, and rainbows, + Crimson, and azure, and emerald, were broken in star-showers, + lighting, + Far in the wine-dark depths of the crystal, the gardens of Nereus, + Coral, and sea-fan, and tangle, the blooms and the palms of the + ocean. + So they went on in their joy, more white than the foam which they + scattered, + Laughing and singing and tossing and twining; while, eager, the + Tritons + Blinded with kisses their eyes, unreproved, and above them in worship + Fluttered the terns, and the sea-gulls swept past them on silvery + pinions, + Echoing softly their laughter; around them the wantoning dolphins + Sighed as they plunged, full of love; and the great sea-horses which + bore them + Curved up their crests in their pride to the delicate arms of their + riders, + Pawing the spray into gems, till a fiery rainfall, unharming, + Sparkled and gleamed on the limbs of the maids, and the coils of the + mermen. + So they went on in their joy, bathed round with the fiery coolness, + Needing nor sun nor moon, self-lighted, immortal: but others, + Pitiful, floated in silence apart; on their knees lay the sea-boys + Whelmed by the roll of the surge, swept down by the anger of Nereus; + Hapless, whom never again upon quay or strand shall their mothers + Welcome with garlands and vows to the temples; but, wearily pining, + Gaze over island and main for the sails which return not; they, + heedless, + Sleep in soft bosoms for ever, and dream of the surge and the + sea-maids. + So they passed by in their joy, like a dream, on the murmuring + ripple.” + +Such a rhapsody may be somewhat out of order, even in a popular +scientific book; and yet one cannot help at moments envying the old Greek +imagination, which could inform the soulless sea-world with a human life +and beauty. For, after all, star-fishes and sea-anemones are dull +substitutes for Sirens and Tritons; the lamps of the sea-nymphs, those +glorious phosphorescent medusæ whose beauty Mr. Gosse sets forth so well +with pen and pencil, are not as attractive as the sea-nymphs themselves +would be; and who would not, like Menelaus, take the grey old man of the +sea himself asleep upon the rocks, rather than one of his seal-herd, +probably too with the same result as the world-famous combat in the +Antiquary, between Hector and Phoca? And yet—is there no human interest +in these pursuits, more humanity and more divine, than there would be +even in those Triton and Nereid dreams, if realized to sight and sense? +Heaven forbid that those should say so, whose wanderings among rock and +pool have been mixed up with holiest passages of friendship and of love, +and the intercommunion of equal minds and sympathetic hearts, and the +laugh of children drinking in health from every breeze and instruction at +every step, running ever and anon with proud delight to add their little +treasure to their parents’ stock, and of happy friendly evenings spent +over the microscope and the vase, in examining, arranging, preserving, +noting down in the diary the wonders and the labours of the happy, busy +day. No; such short glimpses of the water-world as our present +appliances afford us are full enough of pleasure; and we will not envy +Glaucus: we will not even be over-anxious for the success of his only +modern imitator, the French naturalist who is reported to have fitted +himself with a waterproof dress and breathing apparatus, in order to walk +the bottom of the Mediterranean, and see for himself how the world goes +on at the fifty-fathom line: we will be content with the wonders of the +shore and of the sea-floor, as far as the dredge will discover them to +us. We shall even thus find enough to occupy (if we choose) our +lifetime. For we must recollect that this hasty sketch has hardly +touched on that vegetable water-world, which is as wonderful and as +various as the animal one. A hint or two of the beauty of the sea-weeds +has been given; but space has allowed no more. Yet we might have spent +our time with almost as much interest and profit, had we neglected +utterly the animals which we have found, and devoted our attention +exclusively to the flora of the rocks. Sea-weeds are no mere playthings +for children; and to buy at a shop some thirty pretty kinds, pasted on +paper, with long names (probably mis-spelt) written under each, is not by +any means to possess a collection of them. Putting aside the number and +the obscurity of their species, the questions which arise in studying +their growth, reproduction, and organic chemistry are of the very deepest +and most important in the whole range of science; and it will need but a +little study of such a book as Harvey’s “Algæ,” to show the wise man that +he who has comprehended (which no man yet does) the mystery of a single +spore or tissue-cell, has reached depths in the great “Science of Life” +at which an Owen would still confess himself “blind by excess of light.” +“Knowest thou how the bones grow in the womb?” asks the Jewish sage, +sadly, half self-reprovingly, as he discovers that man is not the measure +of all things, and that in much learning may be vanity and vexation of +spirit, and in much study a weariness of the flesh; and all our deeper +physical science only brings the same question more awfully near. +“Vilior algâ,” more worthless than the very sea-weed, says the old Roman: +and yet no torn scrap of that very sea-weed, which to-morrow may manure +the nearest garden, but says to us, “Proud man! talking of spores and +vesicles, if thou darest for a moment to fancy that to have seen spores +and vesicles is to have seen _me_, or to know what I am, answer this. +Knowest thou how the bones do grow in the womb? Knowest thou even how +one of these tiny black dots, which thou callest spores, grow on my +fronds?” And to that question what answer shall we make? We see tissues +divide, cells develop, processes go on—but How and Why? These are but +phenomena; but what are phenomena save effects? Causes, it may be, of +other effects; but still effects of other causes. And why does the cause +cause that effect? Why should it not cause something else? Why should +it cause anything at all? Because it obeys a law. But why does it obey +the law? and how does it obey the law? And, after all, what is a law? A +mere custom of Nature. We see the same phenomenon happen a great many +times; and we infer from thence that it has a custom of happening; and +therefore we call it a law: but we have not seen the law; all we have +seen is the phenomenon which we suppose to indicate the law. We have +seen things fall: but we never saw a little flying thing pulling them +down, with “gravitation” labelled on its back; and the question, _why_ +things fall, and _how_, is just where it was before Newton was born, and +is likely to remain there. All we can say is, that Nature has her +customs, and that other customs ensue, when those customs appear: but +that as to what connects cause and effect, as to what is the reason, the +final cause, or even the _causa causans_, of any phenomenon, we know not +more but less than ever; for those laws or customs which seem to us +simplest (“endosmose,” for instance, or “gravitation”), are just the most +inexplicable, logically unexpected, seemingly arbitrary, certainly +supernatural—miraculous, if you will; for no natural and physical cause +whatsoever can be assigned for them; while if anyone shall argue against +their being miraculous and supernatural on the ground of their being so +common, I can only answer, that of all absurd and illogical arguments, +this is the most so. For what has the number of times which the miracle +occurs to do with the question, save to increase the wonder? Which is +more strange, that an inexplicable and unfathomable thing should occur +once and for all, or that it should occur a million times every day all +the world over? + +Let those, however, who are too proud to wonder, do as seems good to +them. Their want of wonder will not help them toward the required +explanation: and to them, as to us, as soon as we begin asking, “_How_?” +and “_Why_?” the mighty Mother will only reply with that magnificent +smile of hers, most genial, but most silent, which she has worn since the +foundation of all worlds; that silent smile which has tempted many a man +to suspect her of irony, even of deceit and hatred of the human race; the +silent smile which Solomon felt, and answered in “Ecclesiastes;” which +Goethe felt, and did not answer in his “Faust;” which Pascal felt, and +tried to answer in his “Thoughts,” and fled from into self-torture and +superstition, terrified beyond his powers of endurance, as he found out +the true meaning of St. John’s vision, and felt himself really standing +on that fragile and slippery “sea of glass,” and close beneath him the +bottomless abyss of doubt, and the nether fires of moral retribution. He +fled from Nature’s silent smile, as that poor old King Edward (mis-called +the Confessor) fled from her hymns of praise, in the old legend of +Havering-atte-bower, when he cursed the nightingales because their songs +confused him in his prayers: but the wise man need copy neither, and fear +neither the silence nor the laughter of the mighty mother Earth, if he +will be but wise, and hear her tell him, alike in both—“Why call me +mother? Why ask me for knowledge which I cannot teach, peace which I +cannot give or take away? I am only your foster-mother and your +nurse—and I have not been an unkindly one. But you are God’s children, +and not mine. Ask Him. I can amuse you with my songs; but they are but +a nurse’s lullaby to the weary flesh. I can awe you with my silence; but +my silence is only my just humility, and your gain. How dare I pretend +to tell you secrets which He who made me knows alone? I am but inanimate +matter; why ask of me things which belong to living spirit? In God I +live and move, and have my being; I know not how, any more than you know. +Who will tell you what life is, save He who is the Lord of life? And if +He will not tell you, be sure it is because you need not to know. At +least, why seek God in nature, the living among the dead? He is not +here: He is risen.” + +He is not here: He is risen. Good reader, you will probably agree that +to know that saying, is to know the key-note of the world to come. +Believe me, to know it, and all it means, is to know the keynote of this +world also, from the fall of dynasties and the fate of nations, to the +sea-weed which rots upon the beach. + +It may seem startling, possibly (though I hope not, for my readers’ sake, +irreverent), to go back at once after such thoughts, be they true or +false, to the weeds upon the cliff above our heads. But He who is not +here, but is risen, yet is here, and has appointed them their services in +a wonderful order; and I wish that on some day, or on many days, when a +quiet sea and offshore breezes have prevented any new objects from coming +to land with the rising tide, you would investigate the flowers peculiar +to our sea-rocks and sandhills. Even if you do not find the delicate +lily-like Trichonema of the Channel Islands and Dawlish, or the almost as +beautiful Squill of the Cornish cliffs, or the sea-lavender of North +Devon, or any of those rare Mediterranean species which Mr. Johns has so +charmingly described in his “Week at the Lizard Point,” yet an average +cliff, with its carpeting of pink thrift and of bladder catchfly, and +Lady’s finger, and elegant grasses, most of them peculiar to the sea +marge, is often a very lovely flower-bed. + +Not merely interesting, too, but brilliant in their vegetation are +sandhills; and the seemingly desolate dykes and banks of salt marshes +will yield many a curious plant, which you may neglect if you will: but +lay to your account the having to repent your neglect hereafter, when, +finding out too late what a pleasant study botany is, you search in vain +for curious forms over which you trod every day in crossing flats which +seemed to you utterly ugly and uninteresting, but which the good God was +watching as carefully as He did the pleasant hills inland: perhaps even +more carefully; for the uplands He has completed, and handed over to man, +that he may dress and keep them: but the tide-flats below are still +unfinished, dry land in the process of creation, to which every tide is +adding the elements of fertility, which shall grow food, perhaps in some +future state of our planet, for generations yet unborn. + +But to return to the water-world, and to dredging; which of all sea-side +pursuits is perhaps the most pleasant, combining as it does fine weather +sailing with the discovery of new objects, to which, after all, the waifs +and strays of the beach, whether “flotsom jetsom, or lagand,” as the old +Admiralty laws define them, are few and poor. I say particularly fine +weather sailing; for a swell, which makes the dredge leap along the +bottom, instead of scraping steadily, is as fatal to sport as it is to +some people’s comfort. But dredging, if you use a pleasure boat and the +small naturalist’s dredge, is an amusement in which ladies, if they will, +may share, and which will increase, and not interfere with, the +amusements of a water-party. + +The naturalist’s dredge, of which Mr. Gosse’s “Aquarium” gives a detailed +account, should differ from the common oyster dredge in being smaller; +certainly not more than four feet across the mouth; and instead of having +but one iron scraping-lip like the oyster dredge, it should have two, one +above and one below, so that it will work equally well on whichsoever +side it falls, or how often soever it may be turned over by rough ground. +The bag-net should be of strong spunyarn, or (still better) of hide “such +as those hides of the wild cattle of the Pampas, which the tobacconists +receive from South America,” cut into thongs, and netted close. It +should be loosely laced together with a thong at the tail edge in order +to be opened easily, when brought on board, without canting the net over, +and pouring the contents roughly out through the mouth. The +dragging-rope should be strong, and at least three times as long as the +perpendicular depth of the water in which you are working; if, indeed, +there is much breeze, or any swell at all, still more line should be +veered out. The inboard end should be made fast somewhere in the stern +sheets, the dredge hove to windward, the boat put before the wind; and +you may then amuse yourself as you will for the next quarter of an hour, +provided that you have got ready various wide-mouthed bottles for the +more delicate monsters, and a couple of buckets, to receive the large +lumps of oysters and serpulæ which you will probably bring to the +surface. + +As for a dredging ground, one may be found, I suppose, off every +watering-place. The most fertile spots are in rough ground, in not less +than five fathoms water. The deeper the water, the rarer and more +interesting will the animals generally be: but a greater depth than +fifteen fathoms is not easily reached on this side of Plymouth; and, on +the whole, the beginner will find enough in seven or eight fathoms to +stock an aquarium rivalling any of those in the “Tank-house” at the +Zoological Gardens. + +In general, the south coast of England, to the eastward of Portland, +affords bad dredging ground. The friable cliffs, of comparatively recent +formations, keep the sea shallow, and the bottom smooth and bare, by the +vast deposits of sand and gravel. Yet round the Isle of Wight, +especially at the back of the Needles, there ought to be fertile spots; +and Weymouth, according to Mr. Gosse and other well-known naturalists, is +a very garden of Nereus. Torbay, as may well be supposed, is an +admirable dredging spot; perhaps its two best points are round the +isolated Thatcher and Oare-rock, and from the mouth of Brixham harbour to +Berry Head; along which last line, for perhaps three hundred years, the +decks of all Brixham trawlers have been washed down ere running into +harbour, and the sea-bottom thus stored with treasures scraped up from +deeper water in every direction for miles and miles. + +Hastings is, I fear, but a poor spot for dredging. Its friable cliffs +and strong tides produce a changeable and barren sea-floor. Yet the +immense quantities of Flustra thrown up after a storm indicate dredging +ground at no great distance outside; its rocks, uninteresting as they are +compared with our Devonians, have yielded to the industry and science of +M. Tumanowicz a vast number of sea-weeds and sponges. Those three +curious polypes, Valkeria cuscuta (Plate I. fig. 3), Notamia Bursaria, +and Serialaria Lendigera, abound within tide-marks; and as the place is +so much visited by Londoners, it may be worth while to give a few hints +as to what might be done, by anyone whose curiosity has been excited by +the salt-water tanks of the Zoological Gardens and the Crystal Palace. + + [Picture: Plate 11: Syngnathus Lumbriciformis etc.] + +An hour or two’s dredging round the rocks to the eastward, would probably +yield many delicate and brilliant little fishes; Gobies, brilliant Labri, +blue, yellow, and orange, with tiny rabbit mouths, and powerful +protruding teeth; pipe fishes (Syngnathi) {163} with strange snipe-bills +(which they cannot open) and snake-like bodies; small cuttlefish +(Sepiolæ) of a white jelly mottled with brilliant metallic hues, with a +ring of suckered arms round their tiny parrots’ beaks, who, put into a +jar, will hover and dart in the water, as the skylark does in air, by +rapid winnowings of their glassy side-fins, while they watch you with +bright lizard-eyes; the whole animal being a combination of the +vertebrate and the mollusc, so utterly fantastic and abnormal, that (had +not the family been amongst the commonest, from the earliest geological +epochs) it would have seemed, to man’s deductive intellect, a form almost +as impossible as the mermaid, far more impossible than the sea-serpent. +These, and perhaps a few handsome sea-slugs and bivalve shells, you will +be pretty sure to find: perhaps a great deal more. + +Meanwhile, without dredging, you may find a good deal on the shore. In +the spring Doris bilineata comes to the rocks in thousands, to lay its +strange white furbelows of spawn upon their overhanging edges. Eolides +of extraordinary beauty haunt the same spots. The great Eolis papillosa, +of a delicate French grey; Eolis pellucida (?) (Plate X. fig. 4), in +which each papilla on the back is beautifully coloured with a streak of +pink, and tipped with iron blue; and a most fantastical yellow little +creature, so covered with plumes and tentacles that the body is +invisible, which I believe to be the Idalia aspersa of Alder and Hancock. + +At the bottom of the rock pools, behind St. Leonard’s baths, may be found +hundreds of the snipe’s feather Anemone (Sagartia troglodytes), of every +line; from the common brown and grey snipe’s feather kind, to the +white-horned Hesperus, the orange-horned Aurora, and a rich lilac and +crimson variety, which does not seem to agree with either the Lilacinia +or Rubicunda of Gosse. A more beautiful living bouquet could hardly be +seen, than might be made of the varieties of this single species, from +this one place. + +On the outside sands between the end of the Marina and the Martello +tower, you may find, at very low tides, great numbers of a sand-tube, +about three inches long, standing up out of the sand. I do not mean the +tubes of the Terebella, so common in all sands, which are somewhat +flexible, and have their upper end fringed with a ragged ring of sandy +arms: those I speak of are straight and stiff, and ending in a point +upward. Draw them out of the sand—they will offer some resistance—and +put them into a vase of water; you will see the worm inside expand two +delicate golden combs, just like old-fashioned back-hair combs, of a +metallic lustre, which will astonish you. With these combs the worm +seems to burrow head downward into the sand; but whether he always +remains in that attitude I cannot say. His name is Pectinaria Belgica. +He is an Annelid, or true worm, connected with the Serpulea and Sabellæ +of which I have spoken already, and holds himself in his case like them, +by hooks and bristles set on each ring of his body. In confinement he +will probably come out of his case and die; when you may dissect him at +your leisure, and learn a great deal more about him thereby than (I am +sorry to say) I know. + +But if you have courage to run out fifteen or twenty miles to the +Diamond, you may find really rare and valuable animals. There is a risk, +of course, of being blown over to the coast of France, by a change of +wind; there is a risk also of not being able to land at night on the +inhospitable Hastings beach, and of sleeping, as best you can, on board: +but in the long days and settled fine weather of summer, the trip, in a +stout boat, ought to be a safe and a pleasant one. + +On the Diamond you will find many, or most of those gay creatures which +attract your eye in the central row of tanks at the Zoological Gardens: +great twisted masses of Serpulæ, {167} those white tubes of stone, from +the mouth of which protrude pairs of rose-coloured or orange fans, +flashing in, quick as light, the moment that your finger approaches them +or your shadow crosses the water. + +You will dredge, too, the twelve-rayed sun-star (Solaster papposa), with +his rich scarlet armour; and more strange, and quite as beautiful, the +bird’s foot star (Palmipes membranaceus), which you may see crawling by +its thousand sucking-feet in the Crystal Palace tanks, a pentagonal +webbed bird’s foot, of scarlet and orange shagreen. With him, most +probably, will be a specimen of the great purple heart-urchin (Spatangus +purpureus), clothed in pale lilac horny spines, and other Echinoderms, +for which you must consult Forbes’s “British Star-fishes:” but perhaps +the species among them which will interest you most, will be the common +brittle-star (Ophiocoma rosula), of which a hundred or so, I can promise, +shall come up at a single haul of the dredge, entwining their long +spine-clad arms in a seemingly inextricable confusion of “kaleidoscope” +patterns (thanks to Mr. Gosse for the one right epithet), purple and +azure, fawn, brown, green, grey, white and crimson; as if a whole bed of +China-asters should have first come to life, and then gone mad, and +fallen to fighting. But pick out, one by one, specimens from the tangled +mass, and you will agree that no China-aster is so fair as this living +stone-flower of the deep, with its daisy-like disc, and fine long prickly +arms, which never cease their graceful serpentine motion, and its colours +hardly alike in any two specimens. Handle them not, meanwhile, too +roughly, lest, whether modesty or in anger, they begin a desperate course +of gradual suicide, and, breaking off arm after arm piecemeal, fling them +indignantly at their tormentor. Along with these you will certainly +obtain a few of that fine bivalve, the great Scallop, which you have seen +lying on every fishmonger’s counter in Hastings. Of these you must pick +out those which seem dirtiest and most overgrown with parasites, and +place them carefully in a jar of salt water, where they may not be +rubbed; for they are worth your examination, not merely for the sake of +that ring of gem-like eyes which borders their “cloak,” lying along the +extreme out edge of the shell as the valves are half open, but for the +sake of the parasites outside: corallines of exquisite delicacy, +Plumulariæ and Sertulariæ, dead men’s hands (Alcyonia), lumps of white or +orange jelly, which will protrude a thousand star-like polypes, and the +Tubularia indivisa, twisted tubes of fine straw, which ought already to +have puzzled you; for you may pick them up in considerable masses on the +Hastings beach after a south-west gale, and think long over them before +you determine whether the oat-like stems and spongy roots belong to an +animal, or a vegetable. Animals they are, nevertheless, though even now +you will hardly guess the fact, when you see at the mouth of each tube a +little scarlet flower, connected with the pink pulp which fills the tube. +For a further description of this largest and handsomest of our Hydroid +Polypes, I must refer you to Johnston, or, failing him, to Landsborough; +and go on, to beg you not to despise those pink, or grey, or white lumps +of jelly, which will expand in salt water into exquisite sea-anemones, of +quite different forms from any which we have found along the rocks. One +of them will certainly be the Dianthus, {170} which will open into a +furbelowed flower, furred with innumerable delicate tentacula; and in the +centre a mouth of the most delicate orange, the size of the whole animal +being perhaps eight inches high and five across. Perhaps it will be of a +satiny grey, perhaps pale rose, perhaps pure white; whatever its colour, +it is the very maiden queen of all the beautiful tribe, and one of the +loveliest gems with which it has pleased God to bedeck this lower world. + + [Picture: Plate 7: Echinus Miliaris etc.] + +These and much more you will find on the scallops, or even more +plentifully on any lump of ancient oysters; and if you do not dredge, it +would be well worth your while to make interest with the fish-monger for +a few oyster lumps, put into water the moment they are taken out of the +trawl. Divide them carefully, clear out the oysters with a knife, and +put the shells into your aquarium, and you will find that an oyster at +home is a very different thing from an oyster on a stall. + +You ought, besides, to dredge many handsome species of shells, which you +would never pick up along the beach; and if you are conchologizing in +earnest, you must not forget to bring home a tin box of shell sand, to be +washed and picked over in a dish at your leisure, or forget either to +wash through a fine sieve, over the boat’s side, any sludge and ooze +which the dredge brings up. Many—I may say, hundreds—rare and new shells +are found in this way, and in no other. + +But if you cannot afford the expense of your own dredge and boat, and the +time and trouble necessary to follow the occupation scientifically, yet +every trawler and oyster-boat will afford you a tolerable satisfaction. +Go on board one of these; and while the trawl is down, spend a pleasant +hour or two in talking with the simple, honest, sturdy fellows who work +it, from whom (if you are as fortunate as I have been for many a year +past) you may get many a moving story of danger and sorrow, as well as +many a shrewd practical maxim, and often, too, a living recognition of +God, and the providence of God, which will send you home, perhaps, a +wiser and more genial man. And when the trawl is hauled, wait till the +fish are counted out, and packed away, and then kneel down and inspect +(in a pair of Mackintosh leggings, and your oldest coat) the crawling +heap of shells and zoophytes which remains behind about the decks, and +you will find, if a landsman, enough to occupy you for a week to come. +Nay, even if it be too calm for trawling, condescend to go out in a +dingy, and help to haul some honest fellow’s deep-sea lines and +lobster-pots, and you will find more and stranger things about them than +even fish or lobsters: though they, to him who has eyes to see, are +strange enough. + +I speak from experience; for it was not so very long ago that, in the +north of Devon, I found sermons, not indeed in stones, but in a creature +reputed among the most worthless of sea-vermin. I had been lounging +about all the morning on the little pier, waiting, with the rest of the +village, for a trawling breeze which would not come. Two o’clock was +past, and still the red mainsails of the skiffs hung motionless, and +their images quivered head downwards in the glassy swell, + + “As idle as a painted ship + Upon a painted ocean.” + +It was neap-tide, too, and therefore nothing could be done among the +rocks. So, in despair, finding an old coast-guard friend starting for +his lobster-pots, I determined to save the old man’s arms, by rowing him +up the shore; and then paddled homeward again, under the high green +northern wall, five hundred feet of cliff furred to the water’s edge with +rich oak woods, against whose base the smooth Atlantic swell died +whispering, as if curling itself up to sleep at last within that +sheltered nook, tired with its weary wanderings. The sun sank lower and +lower behind the deer-park point; the white stair of houses up the glen +was wrapped every moment deeper and deeper in hazy smoke and shade, as +the light faded; the evening fires were lighted one by one; the soft +murmur of the waterfall, and the pleasant laugh of children, and the +splash of homeward oars, came clearer and clearer to the ear at every +stroke: and as we rowed on, arose the recollection of many a brave and +wise friend, whose lot was cast in no such western paradise, but rather +in the infernos of this sinful earth, toiling even then amid the +festering alleys of Bermondsey and Bethnal Green, to palliate death and +misery which they had vainly laboured to prevent, watching the strides of +that very cholera which they had been striving for years to ward off, now +re-admitted in spite of all their warnings, by the carelessness, and +laziness, and greed of sinful man. And as I thought over the whole +hapless question of sanitary reform, proved long since a moral duty to +God and man, possible, easy, even pecuniarily profitable, and yet left +undone, there seemed a sublime irony, most humbling to man, in some of +Nature’s processes, and in the silent and unobtrusive perfection with +which she has been taught to anticipate, since the foundation of the +world, some of the loftiest discoveries of modern science, of which we +are too apt to boast as if we had created the method by discovering its +possibility. Created it? Alas for the pride of human genius, and the +autotheism which would make man the measure of all things, and the centre +of the universe! All the invaluable laws and methods of sanitary reform +at best are but clumsy imitations of the unseen wonders which every +animalcule and leaf have been working since the world’s foundation; with +this slight difference between them and us, that they fulfil their +appointed task, and we do not. + +The sickly geranium which spreads its blanched leaves against the cellar +panes, and peers up, as if imploringly, to the narrow slip of sunlight at +the top of the narrow alley, had it a voice, could tell more truly than +ever a doctor in the town, why little Bessy sickened of the scarlatina, +and little Johnny of the hooping-cough, till the toddling wee things who +used to pet and water it were carried off each and all of them one by one +to the churchyard sleep, while the father and mother sat at home, trying +to supply by gin that very vital energy which fresh air and pure water, +and the balmy breath of woods and heaths, were made by God to give; and +how the little geranium did its best, like a heaven-sent angel, to right +the wrong which man’s ignorance had begotten, and drank in, day by day, +the poisoned atmosphere, and formed it into fair green leaves, and +breathed into the children’s faces from every pore, whenever they bent +over it, the life-giving oxygen for which their dulled blood and festered +lungs were craving in vain; fulfilling God’s will itself, though man +would not, too careless or too covetous to see, after thousands of years +of boasted progress, why God had covered the earth with grass, herb, and +tree, a living and life-giving garment of perpetual health and youth. + +It is too sad to think long about, lest we become very Heraclituses. Let +us take the other side of the matter with Democritus, try to laugh man +out of a little of his boastful ignorance and self-satisfied clumsiness, +and tell him, that if the House of Commons would but summon one of the +little Paramecia from any Thames’ sewer-mouth, to give his evidence +before their next Cholera Committee, sanitary blue-books, invaluable as +they are, would be superseded for ever and a day; and sanitary reformers +would no longer have to confess, that they know of no means of stopping +the smells which in past hot summers drove the members out of the House, +and the judges out of Westminster Hall. + +Nay, in the boat at the minute of which I have been speaking, silent and +neglected, sat a fellow-passenger, who was a greater adept at removing +nuisances than the whole Board of Health put together; and who had done +his work, too, with a cheapness unparalleled; for all his good deeds had +not as yet cost the State one penny. True, he lived by his business; so +do other inspectors of nuisances: but Nature, instead of paying Maia +Squinado, Esquire, some five hundred pounds sterling per annum for his +labour, had contrived, with a sublime simplicity of economy which Mr. +Hume might have envied and admired afar off, to make him do his work +gratis, by giving him the nuisances as his perquisites, and teaching him +how to eat them. Certainly (without going the length of the Caribs, who +upheld cannibalism because, they said, it made war cheap, and precluded +entirely the need of a commissariat), this cardinal virtue of cheapness +ought to make Squinado an interesting object in the eyes of the present +generation; especially as he was at that moment a true sanitary martyr, +having, like many of his human fellow-workers, got into a fearful scrape +by meddling with those existing interests, and “vested rights which are +but vested wrongs,” which have proved fatal already to more than one +Board of Health. For last night, as he was sitting quietly under a stone +in four fathoms water, he became aware (whether by sight, smell, or that +mysterious sixth sense, to us unknown, which seems to reside in his +delicate feelers) of a palpable nuisance somewhere in the neighbourhood; +and, like a trusty servant of the public, turned out of his bed instantly +and went in search; till he discovered, hanging among what he judged to +be the stems of ore-weed (Laminaria), three or four large pieces of stale +thornback, of most evil savour, and highly prejudicial to the purity of +the sea, and the health of the neighbouring herrings. Happy Squinado! +He needed not to discover the limits of his authority, to consult any +lengthy Nuisances’ Removal Act, with its clauses, and counter-clauses, +and explanations of interpretations, and interpretations of explanations. +Nature, who can afford to be arbitrary, because she is perfect, and to +give her servants irresponsible powers, because she has trained them to +their work, had bestowed on him and on his forefathers, as general health +inspectors, those very summary powers of entrance and removal in the +watery realms for which common sense, public opinion, and private +philanthropy are still entreating vainly in the terrestrial realms; so +finding a hole, in he went, and began to remove the nuisance, without +“waiting twenty-four hours,” “laying an information,” “serving a notice,” +or any other vain delay. The evil was there,—and there it should not +stay; so having neither cart nor barrow, he just began putting it into +his stomach, and in the meanwhile set his assistants to work likewise. +For suppose not, gentle reader, that Squinado went alone; in his train +were more than a hundred thousand as good as he, each in his office, and +as cheaply paid; who needed no cumbrous baggage train of force-pumps, +hose, chloride of lime packets, whitewash, pails or brushes, but were +every man his own instrument; and, to save expense of transit, just grew +on Squinado’s back. Do you doubt the assertion? Then lift him up +hither, and putting him gently into that shallow jar of salt water, look +at him through the hand-magnifier, and see how Nature is maxima in +minimis. + +There he sits, twiddling his feelers (a substitute, it seems, with +crustacea for biting their nails when they are puzzled), and by no means +lovely to look on in vulgar eyes;—about the bigness of a man’s fist; a +round-bodied, spindle-shanked, crusty, prickly, dirty fellow, with a +villanous squint, too, in those little bony eyes, which never look for a +moment both the same way. Never mind: many a man of genius is ungainly +enough; and Nature, if you will observe, as if to make up to him for his +uncomeliness, has arrayed him as Solomon in all his glory never was +arrayed, and so fulfilled one of the proposals of old Fourier—that +scavengers, chimney-sweeps, and other workers in disgusting employments, +should be rewarded for their self-sacrifice in behalf of the public weal +by some peculiar badge of honour, or laurel crown. Not that his crown, +like those of the old Greek games, is a mere useless badge; on the +contrary, his robe of state is composed of his fellow-servants. His +whole back is covered with a little grey forest of branching hairs, fine +as a spider’s web, each branchlet carrying its little pearly ringed club, +each club its rose-coloured polype, like (to quote Mr. Gosse’s +comparison) the unexpanded birds of the acacia. {181a} + +On that leg grows, amid another copse of the grey polypes, a delicate +straw-coloured Sertularia, branch on branch of tiny double combs, each +tooth of the comb being a tube containing a living flower; on another leg +another Sertularia, coarser, but still beautiful; and round it again has +trained itself, parasitic on the parasite, plant upon plant of glass ivy, +bearing crystal bells, {181b} each of which, too, protrudes its living +flower; on another leg is a fresh species, like a little heather-bush of +whitest ivory, {182} and every needle leaf a polype cell—let us stop +before the imagination grows dizzy with the contemplation of those +myriads of beautiful atomies. And what is their use? Each living +flower, each polype mouth is feeding fast, sweeping into itself, by the +perpetual currents caused by the delicate fringes upon its rays (so +minute these last, that their motion only betrays their presence), each +tiniest atom of decaying matter in the surrounding water, to convert it, +by some wondrous alchemy, into fresh cells and buds, and either build up +a fresh branch in their thousand-tenanted tree, or form an egg-cell, from +whence when ripe may issue, not a fixed zoophyte, but a free swimming +animal. + +And in the meanwhile, among this animal forest grows a vegetable one of +delicatest sea-weeds, green and brown and crimson, whose office is, by +their everlasting breath, to reoxygenate the impure water, and render it +fit once more to be breathed by the higher animals who swim or creep +around. + +Mystery of mysteries! Let us jest no more,—Heaven forgive us if we have +jested too much on so simple a matter as that poor spider-crab, taken out +of the lobster-pots, and left to die at the bottom of the boat, because +his more aristocratic cousins of the blue and purple armour will not +enter the trap while he is within. + +I am not aware whether the surmise, that these tiny zoophytes help to +purify the water by exhaling oxygen gas, has yet been verified. The +infusorial animalcules do so, reversing the functions of animal life, and +instead of evolving carbonic acid gas, as other animals do, evolve pure +oxygen. So, at least, says Liebig, who states that he found a small +piece of matchwood, just extinguished, burst out again into a flame on +being immersed in the bubbles given out by these living atomies. + +I myself should be inclined to doubt that this is the case with +zoophytes, having found water in which they were growing (unless, of +course, sea-weeds were present) to be peculiarly ready to become foul; +but it is difficult to say whether this is owing to their deoxygenating +the water while alive, like other animals, or to the fact that it is very +rare to get a specimen of zoophyte in which a large number of the polypes +have not been killed in the transit home, or at least so far knocked +about, that (in the Anthozoa, which are far the most abundant) the +polype—or rather living mouth, for it is little more—is thrown off to +decay, pending the growth of a fresh one in the same cell. + +But all the sea-weeds, in common with other vegetables, perform this +function continually, and thus maintain the water in which they grow in a +state fit to support animal life. + +This fact—first advanced by Priestley and Ingenhousz, and though doubted +by the great Ellis, satisfactorily ascertained by Professor Daubeny, Mr. +Ward, Dr. Johnston, and Mr. Warrington—gives an answer to the question, +which I hope has ere now arisen in the minds of some of my readers,— + +How is it possible to see these wonders at home? Beautiful and +instructive as they may be, can they be meant for any but dwellers by the +sea-side? Nay more, even to them, must not the glories of the +water-world be always more momentary than those of the rainbow, a mere +Fata Morgana which breaks up and vanishes before the eyes? If there were +but some method of making a miniature sea-world for a few days; much more +of keeping one with us when far inland.— + +This desideratum has at last been filled up; and science has shown, as +usual, that by simply obeying Nature, we may conquer her, even so far as +to have our miniature sea, of artificial salt-water, filled with living +plants and sea-weeds, maintaining each other in perfect health, and each +following, as far as is possible in a confined space, its natural habits. + +To Dr. Johnston is due, as far as is known, the honour of the first +accomplishment of this as of a hundred other zoological triumphs. As +early as 1842, he proved to himself the vegetable nature of the common +pink Coralline, which fringes every rock-pool, by keeping it for eight +weeks in unchanged salt-water, without any putrefaction ensuing. The +ground, of course, on which the proof rested in this case was, that if +the coralline were, as had often been thought, a zoophyte, the water +would become corrupt, and poisonous to the life of the small animals in +the same jar; and that its remaining fresh argued that the coralline had +re-oxygenated it from time to time, and was therefore a vegetable. + +In 1850, Mr. Robert Warrington communicated to the Chemical Society the +results of a year’s experiments, “On the Adjustment of the Relations +between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, by which the Vital Functions +of both are permanently maintained.” The law which his experiments +verified was the same as that on which Mr. Ward, in 1842, founded his +invaluable proposal for increasing the purity of the air in large towns, +by planting trees and cultivating flowers in rooms, _that the animal and +vegetable respirations might counterbalance each other_; the animal’s +blood being purified by the oxygen given off by the plants, the plants +fed by the carbonic acid breathed out by the animals. + +On the same principle, Mr. Warrington first kept, for many months, in a +vase of unchanged water, two small gold fish and a plant of Vallisneria +spiralis; and two years afterwards began a similar experiment with +sea-water, weeds, and anemones, which were, at last, as successful as the +former ones. Mr. Gosse had, in the meanwhile, with tolerable success +begun a similar method, unaware of what Mr. Warrington had done; and now +the beautiful and curious exhibition of fresh and salt water tanks in the +Zoological Gardens in London, bids fair to be copied in every similar +institution, and we hope in many private houses, throughout the kingdom. + +To this subject Mr. Gosse’s book, “The Aquarium,” is principally devoted, +though it contains, besides, sketches of coast scenery, in his usual +charming style, and descriptions of rare sea-animals, with wise and +goodly reflections thereon. One great object of interest in the book is +the last chapter, which treats fully of the making and stocking these +salt-water “Aquaria;” and the various beautifully coloured plates, which +are, as it were, sketches from the interior of tanks, are well fitted to +excite the desire of all readers to possess such gorgeous living +pictures, if as nothing else, still as drawing-room ornaments, +flower-gardens which never wither, fairy lakes of perpetual calm which no +storm blackens,— + + οὐτ’ ἐν θέρει, οὐτ’ ἐν ὁπώρῃ. + +Those who have never seen one of them can never imagine (and neither Mr. +Gosse’s pencil nor my clumsy words can ever describe to them) the +gorgeous colouring and the grace and delicacy of form which these +subaqueous landscapes exhibit. + +As for colouring,—the only bit of colour which I can remember even +faintly resembling them (for though Correggio’s Magdalene may rival them +in greens and blues, yet even he has no such crimsons and purples) is the +Adoration of the Shepherds, by that “prince of colorists”—Palma Vecchio, +which hangs on the left-hand side of Lord Ellesmere’s great gallery. But +as for the forms,—where shall we see their like? Where, amid miniature +forests as fantastic as those of the tropics, animals whose shapes outvie +the wildest dreams of the old German ghost painters which cover the walls +of the galleries of Brussels or Antwerp? And yet the uncouthest has some +quaint beauty of its own, while most—the star-fishes and anemones, for +example—are nothing but beauty. The brilliant plates in Mr. Gosse’s +“Aquarium” give, after all, but a meagre picture of the reality, as it +may be seen in the tank-house at the Zoological Gardens; and as it may be +seen also, by anyone who will follow carefully the directions given at +the end of his book, stock a glass vase with such common things as he may +find in an hour’s search at low tide, and so have an opportunity of +seeing how truly Mr. Gosse says, in his valuable preface, that— + +“The habits” (and he might well have added, the marvellous beauty) “of +animals will never be thoroughly known till they are observed in detail. +Nor is it sufficient to mark them with attention now and then; they must +be closely watched, their various actions carefully noted, their +behaviour under different circumstances, and especially those movements +which seem to us mere vagaries, undirected by any suggestible motive or +cause, well examined. A rich fruit of result, often new and curious and +unexpected, will, I am sure, reward anyone who studies living animals in +this way. The most interesting parts, by far, of published Natural +History are those minute, but graphic particulars, which have been +gathered up by an attentive watching of individual animals.” + +Mr. Gosse’s own books, certainly, give proof enough of this. We need +only direct the reader to his exquisitely humorous account of the ways +and works of a captive soldier-crab, {190} to show them how much there is +to be seen, and how full Nature is also of that ludicrous element of +which we spoke above. And, indeed, it is in this form of Natural +History: not in mere classification, and the finding out of means, and +quarrellings as to the first discovery of that beetle or this +buttercup,—too common, alas! among mere closet-collectors,—“endless +genealogies,” to apply St. Paul’s words by no means irreverently or +fancifully, “which do but gender strife;”—not in these pedantries is that +moral training to be found, for which we have been lauding the study of +Natural History: but in healthful walks and voyages out of doors, and in +careful and patient watching of the living animals and plants at home, +with an observation sharpened by practice, and a temper calmed by the +continual practice of the naturalist’s first virtues—patience and +perseverance. + +Practical directions for forming an “Aquarium” may be found in Mr. +Gosse’s book bearing that name, at pp. 101, 255, _et seq._; and those who +wish to carry out the notion thoroughly, cannot do better than buy his +book, and take their choice of the many different forms of vase, with +rockwork, fountains, and other pretty devices which he describes. + +But the many, even if they have Mr. Gosse’s book, will be rather inclined +to begin with a small attempt; especially as they are probably half +sceptical of the possibility of keeping sea-animals inland without +changing the water. A few simple directions, therefore, will not come +amiss here. They shall be such as anyone can put into practice, who goes +down to stay in a lodging-house at the most cockney of watering-places. + +Buy at any glass-shop a cylindrical glass jar, some six inches in +diameter and ten high, which will cost you from three to four shillings; +wash it clean, and fill it with clean salt-water, dipped out of any pool +among the rocks, only looking first to see that there is no dead fish or +other evil matter in the said pool, and that no stream from the land runs +into it. If you choose to take the trouble to dip up the water over a +boat’s side, so much the better. + +So much for your vase; now to stock it. + +Go down at low spring-tide to the nearest ledge of rocks, and with a +hammer and chisel chip off a few pieces of stone covered with growing +sea-weed. Avoid the common and coarser kinds (fuci) which cover the +surface of the rocks; for they give out under water a slime which will +foul your tank: but choose the more delicate species which fringe the +edges of every pool at low-water mark; the pink coralline, the dark +purple ragged dulse (Rhodymenia), the Carrageen moss (Chondrus), and +above all, the commonest of all, the delicate green Ulva, which you will +see growing everywhere in wrinkled fan-shaped sheets, as thin as the +finest silver-paper. The smallest bits of stone are sufficient, provided +the sea-weeds have hold of them; for they have no real roots, but adhere +by a small disc, deriving no nourishment from the rock, but only from the +water. Take care, meanwhile, that there be as little as possible on the +stone, beside the weed itself. Especially scrape off any small sponges, +and see that no worms have made their twining tubes of sand among the +weed-stems; if they have, drag them out; for they will surely die, and as +surely spoil all by sulphuretted hydrogen, blackness, and evil smells. + +Put your weeds into your tank, and settle them at the bottom; which last, +some say, should be covered with a layer of pebbles: but let the beginner +leave it as bare as possible; for the pebbles only tempt cross-grained +annelids to crawl under them, die, and spoil all by decaying: whereas if +the bottom of the vase is bare, you can see a sickly or dead inhabitant +at once, and take him out (which you must do) instantly. Let your weeds +stand quietly in the vase a day or two before you put in any live +animals; and even then, do not put any in if the water does not appear +perfectly clear: but lift out the weeds, and renew the water ere you +replace them. + +This is Mr. Gosse’s method. But Mr. Lloyd, in his “Handbook to the +Crystal Palace Aquarium,” advises that no weed should be put into the +tank. “It is better,” he says, “to depend only on those which gradually +and naturally appear on the rocks of the aquarium by the action of light, +and which answer every chemical purpose.” I should advise anyone +intending to set up an aquarium, however small, to study what Mr. Lloyd +says on this matter in pp. 17–19, and also in page 30, of his pamphlet; +and also to go to the Crystal Palace Aquarium, and there see for himself +the many beautiful species of sea-weeds which have appeared spontaneously +in the tanks from unsuspected spores floating in the sea-water. On the +other hand, Mr. Lloyd lays much stress on the necessity of aërating the +water, by keeping it in perpetual motion; a process not easy to be +carried out in small aquaria; at least to that perfection which has been +attained at the Crystal Palace, where the water is kept in continual +circulation by steam-power. For a jar-aquarium, it will be enough to +drive fresh air through the water every day, by means of a syringe. + +Now for the live stock. In the crannies of every rock you will find +sea-anemones (Actiniæ); and a dozen of these only will be enough to +convert your little vase into the most brilliant of living +flower-gardens. There they hang upon the under side of the ledges, +apparently mere rounded lumps of jelly: one is of dark purple dotted with +green; another of a rich chocolate; another of a delicate olive; another +sienna-yellow; another all but white. Take them from their rock; you can +do it easily by slipping under them your finger-nail, or the edge of a +pewter spoon. Take care to tear the sucking base as little as possible +(though a small rent they will darn for themselves in a few days, easily +enough), and drop them into a basket of wet sea-weed; when you get home +turn them into a dish full of water and leave them for the night, and go +to look at them to-morrow. What a change! The dull lumps of jelly have +taken root and flowered during the night, and your dish is filled from +side to side with a bouquet of chrysanthemums; each has expanded into a +hundred-petalled flower, crimson, pink, purple, or orange; touch one, and +it shrinks together like a sensitive plant, displaying at the root of the +petals a ring of brilliant turquoise beads. That is the commonest of all +the Actiniæ (Mesembryanthemum); you may have him when and where you will: +but if you will search those rocks somewhat closer, you will find even +more gorgeous species than him. See in that pool some dozen large ones, +in full bloom, and quite six inches across, some of them. If their +cousins whom we found just now were like Chrysanthemums, these are like +quilled Dahlias. Their arms are stouter and shorter in proportion than +those of the last species, but their colour is equally brilliant. One is +a brilliant blood-red; another a delicate sea-blue striped with pink; but +most have the disc and the innumerable arms striped and ringed with +various shades of grey and brown. Shall we get them? By all means if we +can. Touch one. Where is he now? Gone? Vanished into air, or into +stone? Not quite. You see that knot of sand and broken shell lying on +the rock, where your Dahlia was one moment ago. Touch it, and you will +find it leathery and elastic. That is all which remains of the live +Dahlia. Never mind; get your finger into the crack under him, work him +gently but firmly out, and take him home, and he will be as happy and as +gorgeous as ever to-morrow. + +Let your Actiniæ stand for a day or two in the dish, and then, picking +out the liveliest and handsomest, detach them once more from their hold, +drop them into your vase, right them with a bit of stick, so that the +sucking base is downwards, and leave them to themselves thenceforth. + +These two species (Mesembryanthemum and Crassicornis) are quite beautiful +enough to give a beginner amusement: but there are two others which are +not uncommon, and of such exceeding loveliness, that it is worth while to +take a little trouble to get them. The one is Dianthus, which I have +already mentioned; the other Bellis, the sea-daisy, of which there is an +excellent description and plates in Mr. Gosse’s “Rambles in Devon,” pp. +24 to 32. + +It is common at Ilfracombe, and at Torquay; and indeed everywhere where +there are cracks and small holes in limestone or slate rock. In these +holes it fixes its base, and expands its delicate brown-grey star-like +flowers on the surface: but it must be chipped out with hammer and +chisel, at the expense of much dirt and patience; for the moment it is +touched it contracts deep into the rock, and all that is left of the +daisy flower, some two or three inches across, is a blue knot of half the +size of a marble. But it will expand again, after a day or two of +captivity, and will repay all the trouble which it has cost. Troglodytes +may be found, as I have said already, in hundreds at Hastings, in similar +situations to that of Bellis; its only token, when the tide is down, +being a round dimple in the muddy sand which firs the lower cracks of +rocks. + +But you will want more than these anemones, both for your own amusement, +and for the health of your tank. Microscopic animals will breed, and +will also die; and you need for them some such scavenger as our poor +friend Squinado, to whom you were introduced a few pages back. Turn, +then, a few stones which lie piled on each other at extreme low-water +mark, and five minutes’ search will give you the very animal you want,—a +little crab, of a dingy russet above, and on the under side like smooth +porcelain. His back is quite flat, and so are his large angular fringed +claws, which, when he folds them up, lie in the same plane with his +shell, and fit neatly into its edges. Compact little rogue that he is, +made especially for sidling in and out of cracks and crannies, he carries +with him such an apparatus of combs and brushes as Isidor or Floris never +dreamed of; with which he sweeps out of the sea-water at every moment +shoals of minute animalcules, and sucks them into his tiny mouth. Mr. +Gosse will tell you more of this marvel, in his “Aquarium,” p. 48. + +Next, your sea-weeds, if they thrive as they ought to do, will sow their +minute spores in millions around them; and these, as they vegetate, will +form a green film on the inside of the glass, spoiling your prospect: you +may rub it off for yourself, if you will, with a rag fastened to a stick; +but if you wish at once to save yourself trouble, and to see how all +emergencies in nature are provided for, you will set three or four live +shells to do it for you, and to keep your sub-aqueous lawn close mown. + +That last word is no figure of speech. Look among the beds of sea-weed +for a few of the bright yellow or green sea-snails (Nerita), or Conical +Tops (Trochus), especially that beautiful pink one spotted with brown +(Ziziphinus), which you are sure to find about shaded rock-ledges at dead +low tide, and put them into your aquarium. For the present, they will +only nibble the green ulvæ; but when the film of young weed begins to +form, you will see it mown off every morning as fast as it grows, in +little semicircular sweeps, just as if a fairy’s scythe had been at work +during the night. + + [Picture: Plate 8: Littorina Littorea etc.] + +And a scythe has been at work; none other than the tongue of the little +shell-fish; a description of its extraordinary mechanism (too long to +quote here, but which is well worth reading) may be found in Gosse’s +“Aquarium.” {201} + +A prawn or two, and a few minute star-fish, will make your aquarium +complete; though you may add to it endlessly, as one glance at the +salt-water tanks of the Zoological Gardens, and the strange and beautiful +forms which they contain, will prove to you sufficiently. + +You have two more enemies to guard against, dust, and heat. If the +surface of the water becomes clogged with dust, the communication between +it and the life-giving oxygen of the air is cut off; and then your +animals are liable to die, for the very same reason that fish die in a +pond which is long frozen over, unless a hole be broken in the ice to +admit the air. You must guard against this by occasional stirring of the +surface, or, as I have already said, by syringing and by keeping on a +cover. A piece of muslin tied over will do; but a better defence is a +plate of glass, raised on wire some half-inch above the edge, so as to +admit the air. I am not sure that a sheet of brown paper laid over the +vase is not the best of all, because that, by its shade, also guards +against the next evil, which is heat. Against that you must guard by +putting a curtain of muslin or oiled paper between the vase and the sun, +if it be very fierce, or simply (for simple expedients are best) by +laying a handkerchief over it till the heat is past. But if you leave +your vase in a sunny window long enough to let the water get tepid, all +is over with your pets. Half an hour’s boiling may frustrate the care of +weeks. And yet, on the other hand, light you must have, and you can +hardly have too much. Some animals certainly prefer shade, and hide in +the darkest crannies; and for them, if your aquarium is large enough, you +must provide shade, by arranging the bits of stone into piles and +caverns. But without light, your sea-weeds will neither thrive nor keep +the water sweet. With plenty of light you will see, to quote Mr. Gosse +once more, {203} “thousands of tiny globules forming on every plant, and +even all over the stones, where the infant vegetation is beginning to +grow; and these globules presently rise in rapid succession to the +surface all over the vessel, and this process goes on uninterruptedly as +long as the rays of the sun are uninterrupted. + +“Now these globules consist of _pure oxygen_, given out by the plants +under the stimulus of light; and to this oxygen the animals in the tank +owe their life. The difference between the profusion of oxygen-bubbles +produced on a sunny day, and the paucity of those seen on a dark cloudy +day, or in a northern aspect, is very marked.” Choose, therefore, a +south or east window, but draw down the blind, or throw a handkerchief +over all if the heat become fierce. The water should always feel cold to +your hand, let the temperature outside be what it may. + +Next, you must make up for evaporation by _fresh_ water (a very little +will suffice), as often as in summer you find the water in your vase sink +below its original level, and prevent the water from getting too salt. +For the salts, remember, do not evaporate with the water; and if you left +the vase in the sun for a few weeks, it would become a mere brine-pan. + +But how will you move your treasures up to town? + +The simplest plan which I have found successful is an earthen jar. You +may buy them with a cover which screws on with two iron clasps. If you +do not find such, a piece of oilskin tied over the mouth is enough. But +do not fill the jar full of water; leave about a quarter of the contents +in empty air, which the water may absorb, and so keep itself fresh. And +any pieces of stone, or oysters, which you send up, hang by a string from +the mouth, that they may not hurt tender animals by rolling about the +bottom. With these simple precautions, anything which you are likely to +find will well endure forty-eight hours of travel. + +What if the water fails, after all? + +Then Mr. Gosse’s artificial sea-water will form a perfect substitute. +You may buy the requisite salts (for there are more salts than “salt” in +sea-water) from any chemist to whom Mr. Gosse has entrusted his +discovery, and, according to his directions, make sea-water for yourself. + +One more hint before we part. If, after all, you are not going down to +the sea-side this year, and have no opportunities of testing “the wonders +of the shore,” you may still study Natural History in your own +drawing-room, by looking a little into “the wonders of the pond.” + +I am not jesting; a fresh-water aquarium, though by no means as beautiful +as a salt-water one, is even more easily established. A glass jar, +floored with two or three inches of pond-mud (which should be covered +with fine gravel to prevent the mud washing up); a specimen of each of +two water-plants which you may buy now at any good shop in Covent Garden, +Vallisneria spiralis (which is said to give to the Canvas-backed duck of +America its peculiar richness of flavour), and Anacharis alsinastrum, +that magical weed which, lately introduced from Canada among timber, has +multiplied, self-sown, to so prodigious an extent, that it bid fair, a +few years since, to choke the navigation not only of our canals and +fen-rivers, but of the Thames itself: {206} or, in default of these, some +of the more delicate pond-weeds; such as Callitriche, Potamogeton +pusillum, and, best of all, perhaps, the beautiful Water-Milfoil +(Myriophyllium), whose comb-like leaves are the haunts of numberless rare +and curious animalcules:—these (in themselves, from the transparency of +their circulation, interesting microscopic objects) for oxygen-breeding +vegetables; and for animals, the pickings of any pond; a minnow or two, +an eft; a few of the delicate pond-snails (unless they devour your plants +too rapidly): water-beetles, of activity inconceivable, and that wondrous +bug the Notonecta, who lies on his back all day, rowing about his +boat-shaped body, with one long pair of oars, in search of animalcules, +and the moment the lights are out, turns head over heels, rights himself, +and opening a pair of handsome wings, starts to fly about the dark room +in company with his friend the water-beetle, and (I suspect) catch flies; +and then slips back demurely into the water with the first streak of +dawn. But perhaps the most interesting of all the tribes of the +Naiads,—(in default, of course, of those semi-human nymphs with which our +Teutonic forefathers, like the Greeks, peopled each “sacred +fountain,”)—are the little “water-crickets,” which may be found running +under the pebbles, or burrowing in little galleries in the banks: and +those “caddises,” which crawl on the bottom in the stiller waters, +enclosed, all save the head and legs, in a tube of sand or pebbles, +shells or sticks, green or dead weeds, often arranged with quaint +symmetry, or of very graceful shape. Their aspect in this state may be +somewhat uninviting, but they compensate for their youthful ugliness by +the strangeness of their transformations, and often by the delicate +beauty of the perfect insects, as the “caddises,” rising to the surface, +become flying Phryganeæ (caperers and sand-flies), generally of various +shades of fawn-colour; and the water-crickets (though an unscientific eye +may be able to discern but little difference in them in the “larva,” or +imperfect state) change into flies of the most various shapes;—one, +perhaps, into the great sluggish olive “Stone-fly” (Perla bicaudata); +another into the delicate lemon-coloured “Yellow Sally” (Chrysoperla +viridis); another into the dark chocolate “Alder” (Sialis lutaria): and +the majority into duns and drakes (Ephemeræ); whose grace of form, and +delicacy of colour, give them a right to rank among the most exquisite of +God’s creations, from the tiny “Spinners” (Baëtis or Chloron) of +incandescent glass, with gorgeous rainbow-coloured eyes, to the great +Green Drake (Ephemera vulgata), known to all fishermen as the prince of +trout-flies. These animals, their habits, their miraculous +transformations, might give many an hour’s quiet amusement to an invalid, +laid on a sofa, or imprisoned in a sick-room, and debarred from reading, +unless by some such means, any page of that great green book outside, +whose pen is the finger of God, whose covers are the fire kingdoms and +the star kingdoms, and its leaves the heather-bells, and the polypes of +the sea, and the gnats above the summer stream. + +I said just now, that happy was the sportsman who was also a naturalist. +And, having once mentioned these curious water-flies, I cannot help going +a little farther, and saying, that lucky is the fisherman who is also a +naturalist. A fair scientific knowledge of the flies which he imitates, +and of their habits, would often ensure him sport, while other men are +going home with empty creels. One would have fancied this a self-evident +fact; yet I have never found any sound knowledge of the natural +water-flies which haunt a given stream, except among cunning old +fishermen of the lower class, who get their living by the gentle art, and +bring to indoors baskets of trout killed on flies, which look as if they +had been tied with a pair of tongs, so rough and ungainly are they; but +which, nevertheless, kill, simply because they are (in _colour_, which is +all that fish really care for) exact likenesses of some obscure local +species, which happen to be on the water at the time. Among +gentlemen-fishermen, on the other hand, so deep is the ignorance of the +natural fly, that I have known good sportsmen still under the delusion +that the great green May-fly comes out of a caddis-bait; the gentlemen +having never seen, much less fished with, that most deadly bait the +“Water-cricket,” or free creeping larva of the May-fly, which may be +found in May under the river-banks. The consequence of this ignorance is +that they depend for good patterns of flies on mere chance and +experiment; and that the shop patterns, originally excellent, deteriorate +continually, till little or no likeness to their living prototype +remains, being tied by town girls, who have no more understanding of what +the feathers and mohair in their hands represent than they have of what +the National Debt represents. Hence follows many a failure at the +stream-side; because the “Caperer,” or “Dun,” or “Yellow Sally,” which is +produced from the fly-book, though, possibly, like the brood which came +out three years since on some stream a hundred miles away, is quite +unlike the brood which is out to-day on one’s own river. For not only do +most of these flies vary in colour in different soils and climates, but +many of them change their hue during life; the Ephemeræ, especially, have +a habit of throwing off the whole of their skins (even, marvellously +enough, to the skin of the eyes and wings, and the delicate “whisks” at +their tail), and appearing in an utterly new garb after ten minutes’ +rest, to the discomfiture of the astonished angler. + +The natural history of these flies, I understand from Mr. Stainton (one +of our most distinguished entomologists), has not yet been worked out, at +least for England. The only attempt, I believe, in that direction is one +made by a charming book, “The Fly-fisher’s Entomology,” which should be +in every good angler’s library; but why should not a few fishermen +combine to work out the subject for themselves, and study for the +interests both of science and their own sport, “The Wonders of the Bank?” +The work, petty as it may seem, is much too great for one man, so +prodigal is Nature of her forms, in the stream as in the ocean; but what +if a correspondence were opened between a few fishermen—of whom one +should live, say, by the Hampshire or Berkshire chalk streams; another on +the slates and granites of Devon; another on the limestones of Yorkshire +or Derbyshire; another among the yet earlier slates of Snowdonia, or some +mountain part of Wales; and more than one among the hills of the Border +and the lakes of the Highlands? Each would find (I suspect), on +comparing his insects with those of the others, that he was exploring a +little peculiar world of his own, and that with the exception of a +certain number of typical forms, the flies of his county were unknown a +hundred miles away, or, at least, appeared there under great differences +of size and colour; and each, if he would take the trouble to collect the +caddises and water-crickets, and breed them into the perfect fly in an +aquarium, would see marvels in their transformations, their instincts, +their anatomy, quite as great (though not, perhaps, as showy and +startling) as I have been trying to point out on the sea-shore. +Moreover, each and every one of the party, I will warrant, will find his +fellow-correspondents (perhaps previously unknown to him) men worth +knowing; not, it may be, of the meditative and half-saintly type of dear +old Izaak Walton (who, after all, was no fly-fisher, but a sedentary +“popjoy” guilty of float and worm), but rather, like his fly-fishing +disciple Cotton, good fellows and men of the world, and, perhaps, +something better over and above. + +The suggestion has been made. Will it ever be taken up, and a “Naiad +Club” formed, for the combination of sport and science? + +And, now, how can this desultory little treatise end more usefully than +in recommending a few books on Natural History, fit for the use of young +people; and fit to serve as introductions to such deeper and larger works +as Yarrell’s “Birds and Fishes,” Bell’s “Quadrupeds” and “Crustacea,” +Forbes and Hanley’s “Mollusca,” Owen’s “Fossil Mammals and Birds,” and a +host of other admirable works? Not that this list will contain all the +best; but simply the best of which the writer knows; let, therefore, none +feel aggrieved, if, as it may chance, opening these pages, they find +their books omitted. + +First and foremost, certainly, come Mr. Gosse’s books. There is a +playful and genial spirit in them, a brilliant power of word-painting +combined with deep and earnest religious feeling, which makes them as +morally valuable as they are intellectually interesting. Since White’s +“History of Selborne,” few or no writers on Natural History, save Mr. +Gosse, Mr. G. H. Lewes, and poor Mr. E. Forbes, have had the power of +bringing out the human side of science, and giving to seemingly dry +disquisitions and animals of the lowest type, by little touches of pathos +and humour, that living and personal interest, to bestow which is +generally the special function of the poet: not that Waterton and Jesse +are not excellent in this respect, and authors who should be in every +boy’s library: but they are rather anecdotists than systematic or +scientific inquirers; while Mr. Gosse, in his “Naturalist on the Shores +of Devon,” his “Tour in Jamaica,” his “Tenby,” and his “Canadian +Naturalist,” has done for those three places what White did for Selborne, +with all the improved appliances of a science which has widened and +deepened tenfold since White’s time. Mr. Gosse’s “Manual of the Marine +Zoology of the British Isles” is, for classification, by far the +completest handbook extant. He has contrived in it to compress more +sound knowledge of vast classes of the animal kingdom than I ever saw +before in so small a space. {215} + +Miss Anne Pratt’s “Things of the Sea-coast” is excellent; and still +better is Professor Harvey’s “Sea-side Book,” of which it is impossible +to speak too highly; and most pleasant it is to see a man of genius and +learning thus gathering the bloom of his varied knowledge, to put it into +a form equally suited to a child and a _savant_. Seldom, perhaps, has +there been a little book in which so vast a quantity of facts have been +told so gracefully, simply, without a taint of pedantry or +cumbrousness—an excellence which is the sure and only mark of a perfect +mastery of the subject. Mr. G. H. Lewes’s “Sea-shore Studies” are also +very valuable; hardly perhaps a book for beginners, but from his +admirable power of description, whether of animals or of scenes, is +interesting for all classes of readers. + +Two little “Popular” Histories—one of British Zoophytes, the other of +British Sea-weeds, by Dr. Landsborough (since dead of cholera, at +Saltcoats, the scene of his energetic and pious ministry)—are very +excellent; and are furnished, too, with well-drawn and coloured plates, +for the comfort of those to whom a scientific nomenclature (as liable as +any other human thing to be faulty and obscure) conveys but a vague +conception of the objects. These may serve well for the beginner, as +introductions to Professor Harvey’s large work on British Algæ, and to +the new edition of Professor Johnston’s invaluable “British Zoophytes,” +Miss Gifford’s “Marine Botanist,” third edition, and Dr. Cocks’s +“Sea-weed Collector’s Guide,” have also been recommended by a high +authority. + +For general Zoology the best books for beginners are, perhaps, as a +general introduction, the Rev. J. A. L. Wood’s “Popular Zoology,” full of +excellent plates; and for systematic Zoology, Mr. Gosse’s four little +books, on Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes, published with many +plates, by the Christian Knowledge Society, at a marvellously cheap rate. +For miscroscopic animalcules, Miss Agnes Catlow’s “Drops of Water” will +teach the young more than they will ever remember, and serve as a good +introduction to those teeming abysses of the unseen world, which must be +afterwards traversed under the guidance of Hassall and Ehrenberg. + +For Ornithology, there is no book, after all, like dear old Bewick, +_passé_ though he may be in a scientific point of view. There is a good +little British ornithology, too, published in Sir W. Jardine’s +“Naturalist’s Library,” and another by Mr. Gosse. And Mr. Knox’s +“Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,” with Mr. St. John’s “Highland +Sports,” and “Tour in Sutherlandshire,” are the monographs of +naturalists, gentlemen, and sportsmen, which remind one at every page +(and what higher praise can one give?) of White’s “History of Selborne.” +These last, with Mr. Gosse’s “Canadian Naturalist,” and his little book +“The Ocean,” not forgetting Darwin’s delightful “Voyage of the Beagle and +Adventure,” ought to be in the hands of every lad who is likely to travel +to our colonies. + +For general Geology, Professor Ansted’s Introduction is excellent; while, +as a specimen of the way in which a single district may be thoroughly +worked out, and the universal method of induction learnt from a narrow +field of objects, what book can, or perhaps ever will, compare with Mr. +Hugh Miller’s “Old Red Sandstone”? + +For this last reason, I especially recommend to the young the Rev. C. A. +Johns’s “Week at the Lizard,” as teaching a young person how much there +is to be seen and known within a few square miles of these British Isles. +But, indeed, all Mr. Johns’s books are good (as they are bound to be, +considering his most accurate and varied knowledge), especially his +“Flowers of the Field,” the best cheap introduction to systematic botany +which has yet appeared. Trained, and all but self-trained, like Mr. Hugh +Miller, in a remote and narrow field of observation, Mr. Johns has +developed himself into one of our most acute and persevering botanists, +and has added many a new treasure to the Flora of these isles; and one +person, at least, owes him a deep debt of gratitude for first lessons in +scientific accuracy and patience,—lessons taught, not dully and dryly at +the book and desk, but livingly and genially, in adventurous rambles over +the bleak cliffs and ferny woods of the wild Atlantic shore,— + + “Where the old fable of the guarded mount + Looks toward Namancos and Bayona’s hold.” + +Mr. Henfrey’s “Rudiments of Botany” might accompany Mr. Johns’s books. +Mr. Babington’s “Manual of British Botany” is also most compact and +highly finished, and seems the best work which I know of from which a +student somewhat advanced in English botany can verify species; while for +ferns, Moore’s “Handbook” is probably the best for beginners. + +For Entomology, which, after all, is the study most fit for boys (as +Botany is for girls) who have no opportunity for visiting the sea-shore, +Catlow’s “Popular British Entomology,” having coloured plates (a delight +to young people), and saying something of all the orders, is, probably, +still a good work for beginners. + +Mr. Stainton’s “Entomologist’s Annual for 1855” contains valuable hints +of that gentleman’s on taking and arranging moths and butterflies; as +well as of Mr. Wollaston’s on performing the same kind office for that +far more numerous, and not less beautiful class, the beetles. There is +also an admirable “Manual of British Butterflies and Moths,” by Mr. +Stainton, in course of publication; but, perhaps, the most interesting of +all entomological books which I have seen (and for introducing me to +which I must express my hearty thanks to Mr. Stainton), is “Practical +Hints respecting Moths and Butterflies, forming a Calendar of +Entomological Operations,” {220} by Richard Shield, a simple London +working-man. + +I would gladly devote more space than I can here spare to a review of +this little book, so perfectly does it corroborate every word which I +have said already as to the moral and intellectual value of such studies. +Richard Shield, making himself a first-rate “lepidopterist,” while +working with his hands for a pound a week, is the antitype of Mr. Peach, +the coast-guardsman, among his Cornish tide-rocks. But more than this, +there is about Shield’s book a tone as of Izaak Walton himself, which is +very delightful; tender, poetical, and religious, yet full of quiet +quaintness and humour; showing in every page how the love for Natural +History is in him only one expression of a love for all things beautiful, +and pure, and right. If any readers of these pages fancy that I +over-praise the book, let them buy it, and judge for themselves. They +will thus help the good man toward pursuing his studies with larger and +better appliances, and will be (as I expect) surprised to find how much +there is to be seen and done, even by a working-man, within a day’s walk +of smoky Babylon itself; and how easily a man might, if he would, wash +his soul clean for a while from all the turmoil and intrigue, the vanity +and vexation of spirit of that “too-populous wilderness,” by going out to +be alone a while with God in heaven, and with that earth which He has +given to the children of men, not merely for the material wants of their +bodies, but as a witness and a sacrament that in Him they live and move, +and have their being, “not by bread alone, but by _every_ word that +proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” + + * * * * * + +Thus I wrote some twenty years ago, when the study of Natural History was +confined mainly to several scientific men, or mere collectors of shells, +insects, and dried plants. + +Since then, I am glad to say, it has become a popular and common pursuit, +owing, I doubt not, to the impulse given to it by the many authors whose +works I then recommended. I recommend them still; though a swarm of +other manuals and popular works have appeared since, excellent in their +way, and almost beyond counting. But all honour to those, and above all +to Mr. Gosse and Mr. Johns, who first opened people’s eyes to the wonders +around them all day long. Now, we have, in addition to amusing books on +special subjects, serials on Natural History more or less profound, and +suited to every kind of student and every grade of knowledge. I mention +the names of none. For first, they happily need no advertisement from +me; and next, I fear to be unjust to any one of them by inadvertently +omitting its name. Let me add, that in the advertising columns of those +serials, will be found notices of all the new manuals, and of all +apparatus, and other matters, needed by amateur naturalists, and of many +who are more than amateurs. Microscopy, meanwhile, and the whole study +of “The Wonders of the Little,” have made vast strides in the last twenty +years; and I was equally surprised and pleased, to find, three years ago, +in each of two towns of a few thousand inhabitants, perhaps a dozen good +microscopes, all but hidden away from the public, worked by men who knew +how to handle them, and who knew what they were looking at; but who +modestly refrained from telling anybody what they were doing so well. +And it was this very discovery of unsuspected microscopists which made me +more desirous than ever to see—as I see now in many places—scientific +societies, by means of which the few, who otherwise would work apart, may +communicate their knowledge to each other, and to the many. These +“Microscopic,” “Naturalist,” “Geological,” or other societies, and the +“Field Clubs” for excursions into the country, which are usually +connected with them, form a most pleasant and hopeful new feature in +English Society; bringing together, as they do, almost all ranks, all +shades of opinion; and it has given me deep pleasure to see, in the case +at least of the Country Clubs with which I am acquainted, the clergy of +the Church of England taking an active, and often a leading, interest in +their practical work. The town clergy are, for the most part, too +utterly overworked to follow the example of their country brethren. But +I have reason to know that they regard such societies, and Natural +History in general, with no unfriendly eyes; and that there is less fear +than ever that the clergy of the Church of England should have to +relinquish their ancient boast—that since the formation of the Royal +Society in the seventeenth century, they have done more for sound +physical science than any other priesthood or ministry in the world. Let +me advise anyone who may do me the honour of reading these pages, to +discover whether such a Club or Society exists in his neighbourhood, and +to join it forthwith, certain that—if his experience be at all like +mine—he will gain most pleasant information and most pleasant +acquaintances, and pass most pleasant days and evenings, among people +whom he will be glad to know, and whom he never would have known save for +the new—and now, I hope, rapidly spreading—freemasonry of Natural +History. + +Meanwhile, I hope—though I dare not say I trust—to see the day when the +boys of each of our large schools shall join—like those of Marlborough +and Clifton—the same freemasonry; and have their own Naturalists’ Clubs; +nay more; when our public schools and universities shall awake to the +real needs of the age, and—even to the curtailing of the time usually +spent in not learning Latin and Greek—teach boys the rudiments at least +of botany, zoology, geology, and so forth; and when the public opinion, +at least of the refined and educated, shall consider it as ludicrous—to +use no stronger word—to be ignorant of the commonest facts and laws of +this living planet, as to be ignorant of the rudiments of two dead +languages. All honour to the said two languages. Ignorance of them is a +serious weakness; for it implies ignorance of many things else; and +indeed, without some knowledge of them, the nomenclature of the physical +sciences cannot be mastered. But I have got to discover that a boy’s +time is more usefully spent, and his intellect more methodically trained, +by getting up Ovid’s Fasti with an ulterior hope of being able to write a +few Latin verses, than in getting up Professor Rolleston’s “Forms of +Animal Life,” or any other of the excellent Scientific Manuals for +beginners, which are now, as I said, happily so numerous. + +May that day soon come; and an old dream of mine, and of my scientific +friends, be fulfilled at last. + +And so I end this little book, hoping, even praying, that it may +encourage a few more labourers to go forth into a vineyard, which those +who have toiled in it know to be full of ever-fresh health, and wonder +and simple joy, and the presence and the glory of Him whose name is LOVE. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +PLATE I. +ZOOPHYTA. POLYZOA. + + +THE forms of animal life which are now united in an independent class, +under the name Polyzoa, so nearly resemble the Hydroid Zoophytes in +general form and appearance that a casual observer may suppose them to be +nearly identical. In all but the more recent works, they are treated as +distinct indeed, but still included under the general term “ZOOPHYTES.” +The animals of both groups are minute, polypiform creatures, mostly +living in transparent cells, springing from the sides of a stem which +unites a number of individuals in one common life, and grows in a +shrub-like form upon any submarine body, such as a shell, a rock, a weed, +or even another polypidom to which it is parasitically attached. Each +polype, in both classes, protrudes from and retreats within its cell by +an independent action, and when protruded puts forth a circle of +tentacles whose motion round the mouth is the means of securing +nourishment. There are, however, peculiarities in the structure of the +Polyzoa which seem to remove them from Zoophytology to a place in the +system of nature more nearly connected with Molluscan types. Some of +them come so near to the compound ascidians that they have been termed, +as an order, “Zoophyta ascidioida.” + +The simplest form of polype is that of a fleshy bag open at one end, +surmounted by a circle of contractile threads or fingers called +tentacles. The plate shows, on a very minute scale, at figs. 1, 3, and +6, several of these little polypiform bodies protruding from their cells. +But the Hydra or Fresh-water Polype has no cell, and is quite unconnected +with any root thread, or with other individuals of the same species. It +is perfectly free, and so simple in its structure, that when the sac +which forms its body is turned inside out it will continue to perform the +functions of life as before. The greater part, however, of these +Hydraform Polypes, although equally simple as individuals, are connected +in a compound life by means of their variously formed _polypidom_, as the +branched system of cells is termed. The Hydroid Zoophytes are +represented in the first plate by the following examples. + + + +HYDROIDA. + + +SERTULARIA ROSEA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 6. + + +A species which has the cells in pairs on opposite sides of the central +tube, with the openings turned outwards. In the more enlarged figure is +seen a septum across the inner part of each cell which forms the base +upon which the polype rests. Fig. 6 _b_ indicates the natural size of +the piece of branch represented; but it must be remembered that this is +only a small portion of the bushy shrub. + + +Campanularia syringa. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 8. + + +This Zoophyte twines itself parasitically upon a species of Sertularia. +The cells in this species are thrown out at irregular intervals upon +flexible stems which are wrinkled in rings. They consist of lengthened, +cylindrical, transparent vases. + + + +CAMPANULARIA VOLUBILIS. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 9. + + +A still more beautiful species, with lengthened foot-stalks ringed at +each end. The polype is remarkable for the protrusion and contractile +power of its lips. It has about twenty knobbed tentacula. + + + +POLYZOA. + + +Among Polyzoa the animal’s body is coated with a membraneous covering, +like that of the Tunicated Mollusca, but which is a continuation of the +edge of the cell, which doubles back upon the body in such a manner that +when the animal protrudes from its cell it pushes out the flexible +membrane just as one would turn inside out the finger of a glove. This +oneness of cell and polype is a distinctive character of the group. +Another is the higher organization of the internal parts. The mouth, +surrounded by tentacles, leads by gullet and gizzard through a channel +into a digesting stomach, from which the rejectable matter passes upwards +through an intestinal canal till it is discharged near the mouth. The +tentacles also differ much from those of true Polypes. Instead of being +fleshy and contractile, they are rather stiff, resembling spun glass, set +on the sides with vibrating cilia, which by their motion up one side and +down the other of each tentacle, produce a current which impels their +living food into the mouth. When these tentacles are withdrawn, they are +gathered up in a bundle, like the stays of an umbrella. Our Plate I. +contains the following examples of Polyzoa. + + +VALKERIA CUSCUTA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 3. + + +From a group in one of Mr. Lloyd’s vases. Fig. 3 A is the natural size +of the central group of cells, in a specimen coiled round a thread-like +weed. Underneath this is the same portion enlarged. When magnified to +this apparent size, the cells could be seen in different states, some +closed, and others with their bodies protruded. When magnified to 3 D, +we could pleasantly watch the gradual eversion of the membrane, then the +points of the tentacles slowly appearing, and then, when fully protruded, +suddenly expanding into a bell-shaped circle. This was their usual +appearance, but sometimes they could be noticed bending inwards, as in +fig. 3 C, as if to imprison some living atom of importance. Fig. B +represents two tentacles, showing the direction in which the cilia +vibrate. + + +CRISIA DENTICULATA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 4. + + +I have only drawn the cells from a prepared specimen. The polypes are +like those described above. + + +GEMELLARIA LORICATA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 5. + + +Here the cells are placed in pairs, back to back. 5 A is a very small +portion on the natural scale. + + +CELLULARIA CILIATA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 7 + + +The cells are alternate on the stem, and are curiously armed with long +whip-like cilia or spines. On the back of some of the cells is a very +strange appendage, the use of which is not with certainty ascertained. +It is a minute body, slightly resembling a vulture’s head, with a movable +lower beak. The whole head keeps up a nodding motion, and the movable +beak occasionally opens widely, and then suddenly snaps to with a jerk. +It has been seen to hold an animalcule between its jaws till the latter +has died, but it has no power to communicate the prey to the polype in +its cell or to swallow and digest it on its own account. It is certainly +not an independent parasite, as has been supposed, and yet its purpose in +the animal economy is a mystery. Mr. Gosse conjectures that its use may +be, by holding animalcules till they die and decay, to attract by their +putrescence crowds of other animalcules, which may thus be drawn within +the influence of the polype’s ciliated tentacles. Fig. 7 B shows the +form of one of these “birds’ heads,” and fig. 7 C, its position on the +cell. + + +FLUSTRA LINEATA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 1. + + +In Flustræ, the cells are placed side by side on an expanded membrane. +Fig. 1 represents the general appearance of a species which at least +resembles F. lineata as figured in Johnston’s work. It is spread upon a +Fucus. Fig. A is an enlarged view of the cells. + + +FLUSTRA FOLIACEA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 2. + + +We figure a frond or two of the common species, which has cells on both +sides. It is rarely that the polypes can be seen in a state of +expansion. + + +SERIALARIA LENDIGERA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 10. +NOTAMIA BURSARIA. _Pl._ I. _fig._ 11. + + +The “tobacco-pipe”“ appendages, fig. 11 B, are of unknown use: they are +probably analogous to the birds’ heads in the Cellularæ. + + + +PLATE V. +CORALS AND SEA ANEMONES. + + +CARYOPHYLLÆA SMITHII. _Pl._ V. _fig._ 2. _Pl._ VI. _fig._ 3. + + +THE connection between Brainstones, Mushroom Corals, and other Madrepores +abounding on Polynesian reefs, and the “Sea Anemones,” which have lately +become so familiar to us all, can be seen by comparing our comparatively +insignificant C. Smithii with our commonest species of Actinia and +Sagartia. The former is a beautiful object when the fleshy part and +tentacles are wholly or partially expanded. Like Actinia, it has a +membranous covering, a simple sac-like stomach, a central mouth, a disk +surrounded by contractile and adhesive tentacles. Unlike Actinia, it is +fixed to submarine bodies, to which it is glued in very early life, and +cannot change its place. Unlike Actinia, its body is supported by a +stony skeleton of calcareous plates arranged edgewise so as to radiate +from the centre. But as we find some Molluscs furnished with a shell, +and others even of the same character and habits without one, so we find +that in spite of this seemingly important difference, the animals are +very similar in their nature. Since the introduction of glass tanks we +have opportunities of seeing anemones crawling up the sides, so as to +exhibit their entire basal disk, and then we may observe lightly coloured +lines of a less transparent substance than the interstices, radiating +from the margin to the centre, some short, others reaching the entire +distance, and arranged in exactly the same manner as the plates of +Caryophyllæa. These are doubtless flexible walls of compartments +dividing the fleshy parts of the softer animals, and corresponding with +the septa of the coral. Fig. 2 _a_ represents a section of the latter, +to be compared with the basal disk of Sagartia. + + +SAGARTIA ANGUICOMA. _Pl._ V. _fig._ 3, _a_, _b_. + + +This genus has been separated from Actinia on account of its habit of +throwing out threads when irritated. Although my specimens often assumed +the form represented in fig. 3, Mr. Lloyd informs me that it must have +arisen from unhealthiness of condition, its usual habit being to contract +into a more flattened form. When fully expanded, its transparent and +lengthened tentacles present a beautiful appearance. Fig. 3 _a_, showing +a basal disk, is given for the purpose already described. + + +BALANOPHYLLÆA REGIA. _Pl._ V. _fig._ 1. + + +Another species of British madrepore, found by Mr. Gosse at Ilfracombe, +and by Mr. Kingsley at Lundy Island. It is smaller than O. Smithii, of a +very bright colour, and always covers the upper part of its bony +skeleton, in which the plates are differently arranged from those of the +smaller species. Fig. 1 shows the tentacles expanded in an unusual +degree; 1 _a_, animal contracted; 1 _b_, the coral; 1 _c_, a tentacle +enlarged. + + + +PLATE VI. +CORALS AND SEA ANEMONES. + + +ACTINIA MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. _Pl._ VI. _fig._ 1 _a_. + + +THIS common species is more frequently met with than many others, because +it prefers shallow water, and often lives high up among rocks which are +only covered by the sea at very high tide; so that the creature can, if +it will, spend but a short portion of its time immersed. When uncovered +by the tide, it gathers up its leathery tunic, and presents the +appearance of fig. 1 _a_. When under water it may often be seen +expanding its flower-like disk and moving its feelers in search of food. +These feelers have a certain power of adhesion, and any not too vigorous +animals which they touch are easily drawn towards the centre and +swallowed. Around the margin of the tunic are seen peeping out between +the tentacles certain bright blue globules looking very like eyes, but +whose purpose is not exactly ascertained. Fig. 1 represents the disk +only partially expanded. + + +BUNODES CRASSICORNIS. _Pl._ VI. _fig._ 2. + + +This genus of Actinioid zoophytes is distinguished from Actinia proper by +the tubercles or warts which stud the outer covering of the animal. In +B. gemmacea these warts are arranged symmetrically, so as to give a +peculiarly jewelled appearance to the body. Being of a large size, the +tentacles of B. crassicornis exhibit in great perfection the adhesive +powers produced by the nettling threads which proceed from them. + + +CARYOPHYLLÆA SMITHII. _Pl._ VI. _fig._ 3. + + +This figure is to show a whiter variety, with the flesh and tentacles +fully expanded. + + + +PLATE VIII. +MOLLUSCA. + + +NASSA RETICULATA. _Pl._ VIII. fig. 2, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_ + + +A VERY active Mollusc, given here chiefly on account of the opportunity +afforded by the birth of young fry in Mr. Lloyd’s tanks. The _Nassa_ +feeds on small animalcules, for which, in aquaria, it may be seen routing +among the sand and stones, sometimes burying itself among them so as only +to show its caudal tube moving along between them. A pair of Nassæ in +Mr. Lloyd’s collection, deposited, on the 5th of April, about fifty +capsules or bags of eggs upon the stems of weeds (fig. 2 _b_); each +capsule contained about a hundred eggs. The capsules opened on the 16th +of May, permitting the escape of rotiferous fry (fig. 2, _c_, _d_, _e_), +not in the slightest degree resembling the parent, but presenting minute +nautilus-shaped transparent shells. These shells rather hang on than +cover the bodies, which have a pair of lobes, around which vibrate minute +cilia in such a manner as to give them an appearance of rotatory motion. +Under a lens they may be seen moving about very actively in various +positions, but always with the look of being moved by rapidly turning +wheels. We should have been glad to witness the next step towards +assuming their ultimate form, but were disappointed, as the embryos died. +Fig. 2 _f_ is the tongue of a Nassa, from a photograph by Dr. Kingsley. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{37} _Sertularia operculata_ and _Gemellaria lociculata_; or any of the +small _Sertulariæ_, compared with _Crisiæ_ and _Cellulariæ_, are very +good examples. For a fuller description of these, see Appendix +explaining Plate I. + +{67} If any inland reader wishes to see the action of this foot, in the +bivalve Molluscs, let him look at the Common Pond-Mussel (Anodon +Cygneus), which he will find in most stagnant waters, and see how he +burrows with it in the mud, and how, when the water is drawn off, he +walks solemnly into deeper water, leaving a furrow behind him. + +{70} These shells are so common that I have not cared to figure them. + +{72} Plate IX. Fig. 3, represents both parasites on the dead Turritella. + +{74} A few words on him, and on sea-anemones in general, may be found in +Appendix II. But full details, accompanied with beautiful plates, may be +found in Mr. Gosse’s work on British sea-anemones and madrepores, which +ought to be in every seaside library. + +{90} Handbook to the Marine Aquarium of the Crystal Palace. + +{111} An admirable paper on this extraordinary family may be found in +the Zoological Society’s Proceedings for July 1858, by Messrs. S. P. +Woodward and the late lamented Lucas Barrett. See also Quatrefages, I. +82, or Synapta Duvernæi. + +{113} Thalassema Neptuni (Forbes’ British Star-Fishes, p. 259), + +{116} The Londoner may see specimens of them at the Zoological Gardens +and at the Crystal Palace; as also of the rare and beautiful Sabella, +figured in the same plate; and of the Balanophyllia, or a closely-allied +species, from the Mediterranean, mentioned in p. 109. + +{118} A Naturalist’s Rambles on the Devonshire Coast, p. 110. + +{121} Balanophyllia regia, Plate V. fig. 1. + +{126a} Amphidotus cordatus. + +{126b} Echinus miliaris, Plate VII. + +{127} See Professor Sedgwick’s last edition of the “Discourses on the +Studies of Cambridge.” + +{129} Fissurella græca, Plate X. fig. 5. + +{130a} Doris tuberculata and bilineata. + +{130b} Eolis papi losa. A Doris and an Eolis, though not of these +species, are figured in Plate X. + +{136} Plate III. + +{138} Certain Parisian zoologists have done me the honour to hint that +this description was a play of fancy. I can only answer, that I saw it +with my own eyes in my own aquarium. I am not, I hope, in the habit of +drawing on my fancy in the presence of infinitely more marvellous Nature. +Truth is quite strange enough to be interesting without lies. + +{139a} Saxicava rugosa, Plate XI. fig. 2. + +{139b} Plate VIII. represents the common Nassa, with the still more +common Littorina littorea, their teeth-studded palates, and the free +swimming young of the Nassa. (_Vide_ Appendix.) + +{140a} Cypræa Europæa. + +{140b} Botrylli. + +{140c} + + _Molluscs_. +Doris tuberculata. Sigaretus. + +— bilineata. Fissurella. + +Eolis papillosa. Arca lactea. + +Pleurobranchus plumila. Pecten pusio. + +Neritina. Tapes pullastra. + +Cypræa. Kellia suborbicularis. + +Trochus,—2 species. Shænia Binghami. + +Mangelia. Saxicava rugosa. + +Triton. Gastrochoena pholadia. + +Trophon. Pholas parva. + +Nassa,—2 species. Anomiæ,—2 or 3 species + +Cerithium. Cynthia,—2 species. + + Botryllus, do. + _Annelids_. +Phyllodoce, and other Nereid Polynoe squamata. +worms. + _Crustacea_. +4 or 5 species. + _Echinoderms_. +Echinus miliaris. Ophiocoma neglecla. + +Asterias gibbosa. Cucumaria Hyndmanni. + + — communis. + _Polypes_. +Sertularia pumila. Tubulipora patina. + +— rugosa. — hispida. + +— fallax. — serpens. + +— filicula. Crisia eburnea. + +Plumularia falcata. Cellepora pumicosa. + +— setacea. Lepraliæ,—many species. + +Laomedea geniculata. Membranipora pilosa. + +Campanularia volubilis. Cellularia ciliata. + +Actinia mesembryanthemum. — scruposa. + +Actinia clavata. — reptans. + +— anguicoma. Flustra membranacea, &c. + +— crassicornis. + +{163} Plate XI. fig. 1. + +{167} Plate X. fig. 1. + +{170} There are very fine specimens in the Crystal Palace. + +{181a} Coryne ramosa. + +{181b} Campanularia integra. + +{182} Crisidia Eburnea. + +{190} Aquarium, p. 163. + +{201} P. 34. Figures of it are given in Plate VIII. + +{203} P. 259. + +{206} But if any young lady, her aquarium having failed, shall (as +dozens do) cast out the same Anacharis into the nearest ditch, she shall +be followed to her grave by the maledictions of all millers and +trout-fishers. Seriously, this is a wanton act of injury to the +neighbouring streams, which must be carefully guarded against. As well +turn loose queen-wasps to build in your neighbour’s banks. + +{215} Very highly also, in interest, ranks M. Quatrefages’ “Rambles of a +Naturalist” (about the Mediterranean and the French Coast), translated by +M. Otté. + +{220} Van Voorst & Co. price 3s. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLAUCUS*** + + +******* This file should be named 695-0.txt or 695-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/9/695 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/695-0.zip b/695-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c57da1 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-0.zip diff --git a/695-h.zip b/695-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc03183 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h.zip diff --git a/695-h/695-h.htm b/695-h/695-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a222d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/695-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5620 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Glaucus, by Charles Kingsley</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Glaucus, by Charles Kingsley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Glaucus + The Wonders of the Shore + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: November 14, 2014 [eBook #695] +[This file was first posted on October 22, 1996] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLAUCUS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/coverb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Book cover" +title= +"Book cover" + src="images/covers.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image135" href="images/p135b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 1: Actinia Mesembryanthemum" +title= +"Plate 1: Actinia Mesembryanthemum" + src="images/p135s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>GLAUCUS<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OR</span><br /> +THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE</h1> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +CHARLES KINGSLEY</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall"><i>WITH +COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS</i></span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">London<br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND NEW YORK</span><br /> +1890</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>The Right of Translation and +Reproduction is Reserved</i></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Richard Clay +and Sons, Limited</span>,<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">LONDON AND BUNGAY.</span></p> +<p><i>First Edition</i> (Fcap. 8vo), May 1855. <i>Second +Edition</i>, August 1855. <i>Third Edition</i>, 1856. +<i>Fourth Edition</i> (with Coloured Illustrations), 1859. +<i>Fifth Edition</i> (Crown 8vo), 1873. <i>Reprinted</i> +1878, 1879, 1881, 1884, 1887, 1890.</p> +<h2>Dedication.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Miss Grenfell</span>,</p> +<p>I <span class="smcap">cannot</span> forego the pleasure of +dedicating this little book to you; excepting of course the +opening exhortation (needless enough in your case) to those who +have not yet discovered the value of Natural History. +Accept it as a memorial of pleasant hours spent by us already, +and as an earnest, I trust, of pleasant hours to be spent +hereafter (perhaps, too, beyond this life in the nobler world to +come), in examining together the works of our Father in +heaven.</p> +<p>Your grateful and faithful brother-in-law,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">C. KINGSLEY.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Bideford</span>,<br /> + <i>April</i> 24, 1855.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>The basis of this little book +was an Article which appeared in the</i><br /> +<i>North British Review for November</i> 1854.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Beyond</span> the shadow of +the ship,<br /> +I watch’d the water snakes:<br /> +They moved in tracks of shining white,<br /> +And when they rear’d, the elfish light<br /> +Fell off in hoary flakes.</p> +<p>* * * *</p> +<p>O happy living things! no tongue<br /> +Their beauty might declare:<br /> +A spring of love gush’d from my heart,<br /> +And I bless’d them unware.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Coleridge’s</span> <i>Ancient +Mariner</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p style="text-align: center">WOOD +ENGRAVINGS.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">FIG.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Nymphon Abyssorum, <span class="smcap">Norman</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image81">81</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>2.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Caprella spinosissima, <span +class="smcap">Norman</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image83">83</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>3.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Pentacrinus asteria, <span +class="smcap">Linnæus</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image85">85</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p style="text-align: center">COLOURED +PLATES.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">PLATE</span></p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>1.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Flustra Lineata</span>; (<i>a</i>) +enlarged with polypes protruding. 2. <span +class="smcap">Flustra Foliacea</span>. 3. <span +class="smcap">Valkeria Cuscuta</span>; (<i>a</i>) natural size; +(<i>b</i>) two tentacles; (<i>c</i>) tentacles bent inwards; +(<i>d</i>) enlarged, showing the gradual eversion of the +animal. 4. <span class="smcap">Crisia Denticulata</span>; +(<i>a</i>) natural size. 5. <span class="smcap">Gemellaria +Lorioata</span>; (<i>a</i>) natural size. 6. <span +class="smcap">Sertularia Rosea</span>; (<i>a</i>) natural +size. 7. <span class="smcap">Cellularia Ciliata</span>; +(<i>a</i>) natural size; (<i>b</i>) one of the bird’s +heads; (<i>c</i>) cell and bird’s head, much +enlarged. 8. <span class="smcap">Campanularia +Syringa</span>; (<i>a</i>) natural size. 9. <span +class="smcap">Campanularia Volubilis</span>, enlarged. 10. +<span class="smcap">Serialaria Lendigera</span>. 11. <span +class="smcap">Notamia Bursaria</span>; (<i>a</i>) natural size; +(<i>b</i>) two pairs of polype cells with the tobacco pipe +appendages</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image73">73</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>2.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Cardium Rusticum</span>, (<span +class="smcap">tuberculatum</span>). 2. <span +class="smcap">Pagurus Bernhardi</span>, in a Periwinkle Shell</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image65">65</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>3.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Nemerties Borlasii</span>. 2. +<span class="smcap">Sabella</span>? 3. Sand-tube of <span +class="smcap">Terebella Conchilega</span> (<i>See Plate</i> +8)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image136">136</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>4.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Synapta Digitata</span>; (<i>a</i>) +Ditto separating and throwing out capsuliferous threads. 2. +<span class="smcap">Thalassima Neptuni</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image109">109</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>5.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Balanophyllea Regia</span>, +expanded; (<i>a</i>) Ditto, contracted; (<i>b</i>) Ditto coral; +(<i>c</i>) Ditto, tentacle enlarged; 2. <span +class="smcap">Caryophyllea Smithii</span> partly expanded; +(<i>a</i>) Ditto, section of bony plates; (<i>b</i>) Ditto, +tentacle. 3. <span class="smcap">Sagartia Anguicoma</span> +closed; (<i>a</i>) Ditto, basal disc showing radiating +septa. 4. <span class="smcap">Synapta Digitata</span> +(<i>See Plate</i> 4); (<i>a</i>, <i>b</i>) Ditto, fingered +tentacles enlarged; (<i>c</i>) Ditto, Spiculæ; (<i>d</i>) +Ditto, anchor lying on its transparent anchor-plate. 5. S. +<span class="smcap">Vittata</span>? perforated anchor-plate; +(<i>a</i>) Spicula</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image117">117</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>6.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Actinia Mesembryanthemum</span>, +partially expanded; (<i>a</i>) Ditto, closed. 2. <span +class="smcap">Bunodes Crassicornis</span>. 3. <span +class="smcap">Caryophyllea Smithii</span> <i>Front</i></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image135">135</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>7.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Echinus Miliaris</span>, creeping +over Modiola barbata. 2. Ditto, creeping up the +glass. 3. Hiding under stones</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image168">168</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>8.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Littorina Littorea</span> (<i>See +Plate</i> 9); (<i>a</i>) operculum; (<i>b</i>) pallet; (<i>c</i>) +part of pallet, magnified. 2. <span class="smcap">Nassa +Reticulata</span> (<i>See Plate</i> 11); (<i>a</i>) egg capsules; +(<i>b</i>, <i>c</i>) fry; (<i>d</i>) shell of fry; (<i>e</i>) +pallet, magnified. 3. <span class="smcap">Patella +Vulgaris</span>; (<i>a</i>) palate, natural size; (<i>b</i>, +<i>c</i>) Ditto, enlarged. 4. <span class="smcap">Echinus +Miliaris</span> (<i>See Plate</i> 7); (<i>a</i>) teeth and +digesting mill; (<i>b</i>) suckers, enlarged; (<i>c</i>) spine +and socket; (<i>d</i>) shell denuded; (<i>e</i>) +Pedicellaria. 5. <span class="smcap">Nemertes +Borlasii</span> (<i>See Plate</i> 3); (<i>a</i>) head, enlarged; +(<i>b</i>) head expanded swallowing a Terebella</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image201">201</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>9.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Cucumaria Hyndmanni</span>. +2. <span class="smcap">Littorina Littorea</span>. 3. <span +class="smcap">Siphunculus Bernhardus</span> in shell of <span +class="smcap">Turritella</span>, with living <span +class="smcap">Balani</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image114">114</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>10.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Serpula +Contortuplicata</span>. 2. <span class="smcap">Hinnites +Pusio</span>. 3. <span class="smcap">Doris +Repanda</span>. 4. <span class="smcap">Eolis +Pellucida</span>. 5. <span class="smcap">Pholadidæa +Papyracea</span>. 6. <span class="smcap">Pholas +Parva</span>. 7. <span class="smcap">Fissurella +Græca</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image129">129</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>11.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Syngnathus +Lumbriciformis</span>. 2. <span class="smcap">Saxicava +Rugosa</span>; (<i>a</i>) Shell of <span class="smcap">Saxicava +Rugosa</span>. 3. <span class="smcap">Nassa +Reticulata</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image163">163</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>12.</p> +</td> +<td><p>1. <span class="smcap">Peachia Hastata</span>. 2. +<span class="smcap">Uraster Rubens</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="imageref"><a +href="#image92">92</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2>GLAUCUS;<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OR,</span><br /> +THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">You</span> are going down, perhaps, by +railway, to pass your usual six weeks at some watering-place +along the coast, and as you roll along think more than once, and +that not over-cheerfully, of what you shall do when you get +there. You are half-tired, half-ashamed, of making one more +in the ignoble army of idlers, who saunter about the cliffs, and +sands, and quays; to whom every wharf is but a “wharf of +Lethe,” by which they rot “dull as the oozy +weed.” You foreknow your doom by sad +experience. A great deal of dressing, a lounge in the +club-room, a stare out of the window with the telescope, an +attempt to take a bad sketch, a walk up one parade and down +another, interminable reading of the silliest of novels, over +which you fall asleep on a bench in the sun, and probably have +your umbrella stolen; a purposeless fine-weather sail in a yacht, +accompanied by many ineffectual attempts to catch a mackerel, and +the consumption of many cigars; while your boys deafen your ears, +and endanger your personal safety, by blazing away at innocent +gulls and willocks, who go off to die slowly; a sport which you +feel to be wanton, and cowardly, and cruel, and yet cannot find +in your heart to stop, because “the lads have nothing else +to do, and at all events it keeps them out of the +billiard-room;” and after all, and worst of all, at night a +soulless <i>réchauffé</i> of third-rate London +frivolity: this is the life-in-death in which thousands spend the +golden weeks of summer, and in which you confess with a sigh that +you are going to spend them.</p> +<p>Now I will not be so rude as to apply to you the old +hymn-distich about one who</p> +<blockquote><p>“—finds some mischief still<br /> +For idle hands to do:”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>but does it not seem to you, that there must surely be many a +thing worth looking at earnestly, and thinking over earnestly, in +a world like this, about the making of the least part whereof God +has employed ages and ages, further back than wisdom can guess or +imagination picture, and upholds that least part every moment by +laws and forces so complex and so wonderful, that science, when +it tries to fathom them, can only learn how little it can +learn? And does it not seem to you that six weeks’ +rest, free from the cares of town business and the whirlwind of +town pleasure, could not be better spent than in examining those +wonders a little, instead of wandering up and down like the many, +still wrapt up each in his little world of vanity and +self-interest, unconscious of what and where they really are, as +they gaze lazily around at earth and sea and sky, and have</p> +<blockquote><p> “No speculation in those +eyes<br /> +Which they do glare withal”?</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Why not, then, try to discover a few of the Wonders of the +Shore? For wonders there are there around you at every step, +stranger than ever opium-eater dreamed, and yet to be seen at no +greater expense than a very little time and trouble.</p> +<p>Perhaps you smile, in answer, at the notion of becoming a +“Naturalist:” and yet you cannot deny that there must +be a fascination in the study of Natural History, though what it +is is as yet unknown to you. Your daughters, perhaps, have +been seized with the prevailing “Pteridomania,” and +are collecting and buying ferns, with Ward’s cases wherein +to keep them (for which you have to pay), and wrangling over +unpronounceable names of species (which seem to be different in +each new Fern-book that they buy), till the Pteridomania seems to +you somewhat of a bore: and yet you cannot deny that they find an +enjoyment in it, and are more active, more cheerful, more +self-forgetful over it, than they would have been over novels and +gossip, crochet and Berlin-wool. At least you will confess +that the abomination of “Fancy-work”—that +standing cloak for dreamy idleness (not to mention the injury +which it does to poor starving needlewomen)—has all but +vanished from your drawing-room since the +“Lady-ferns” and “Venus’s hair” +appeared; and that you could not help yourself looking now and +then at the said “Venus’s hair,” and agreeing +that Nature’s real beauties were somewhat superior to the +ghastly woollen caricatures which they had superseded.</p> +<p>You cannot deny, I say, that there is a fascination in this +same Natural History. For do not you, the London merchant, +recollect how but last summer your douce and portly head-clerk +was seized by two keepers in the act of wandering in Epping +Forest at dead of night, with a dark lantern, a jar of strange +sweet compound, and innumerable pocketfuls of pill-boxes; and +found it very difficult to make either his captors or you believe +that he was neither going to burn wheat-ricks, nor poison +pheasants, but was simply “sugaring the trees for +moths,” as a blameless entomologist? And when, in +self-justification, he took you to his house in Islington, and +showed you the glazed and corked drawers full of delicate +insects, which had evidently cost him in the collecting the spare +hours of many busy years, and many a pound, too, out of his small +salary, were you not a little puzzled to make out what spell +there could be in those “useless” moths, to draw out +of his warm bed, twenty miles down the Eastern Counties Railway, +and into the damp forest like a deer-stealer, a sober +white-headed Tim Linkinwater like him, your very best man of +business, given to the reading of Scotch political economy, and +gifted with peculiarly clear notions on the currency +question?</p> +<p>It is puzzling, truly. I shall be very glad if these +pages help you somewhat toward solving the puzzle.</p> +<p>We shall agree at least that the study of Natural History has +become now-a-days an honourable one. A Cromarty stonemason +was till lately—God rest his noble soul!—the most +important man in the City of Edinburgh, by dint of a work on +fossil fishes; and the successful investigator of the minutest +animals takes place unquestioned among men of genius, and, like +the philosopher of old Greece, is considered, by virtue of his +science, fit company for dukes and princes. Nay, the study +is now more than honourable; it is (what to many readers will be +a far higher recommendation) even fashionable. Every +well-educated person is eager to know something at least of the +wonderful organic forms which surround him in every sunbeam and +every pebble; and books of Natural History are finding their way +more and more into drawing-rooms and school-rooms, and exciting +greater thirst for a knowledge which, even twenty years ago, was +considered superfluous for all but the professional student.</p> +<p>What a change from the temper of two generations since, when +the naturalist was looked on as a harmless enthusiast, who went +“bug-hunting,” simply because he had not spirit to +follow a fox! There are those alive who can recollect an +amiable man being literally bullied out of the New Forest, +because he dared to make a collection (at this moment, we +believe, in some unknown abyss of that great Avernus, the British +Museum) of fossil shells from those very Hordwell Cliffs, for +exploring which there is now established a society of subscribers +and correspondents. They can remember, too, when, on the +first appearance of Bewick’s “British Birds,” +the excellent sportsman who brought it down to the Forest was +asked, Why on earth he had bought a book about “cock +sparrows”? and had to justify himself again and again, +simply by lending the book to his brother sportsmen, to convince +them that there were rather more than a dozen sorts of birds (as +they then held) indigenous to Hampshire. But the book, +perhaps, which turned the tide in favour of Natural History, +among the higher classes at least, in the south of England, was +White’s “History of Selborne.” A +Hampshire gentleman and sportsman, whom everybody knew, had taken +the trouble to write a book about the birds and the weeds in his +own parish, and the every-day things which went on under his +eyes, and everyone else’s. And all gentlemen, from +the Weald of Kent to the Vale of Blackmore, shrugged their +shoulders mysteriously, and said, “Poor fellow!” till +they opened the book itself, and discovered to their surprise +that it read like any novel. And then came a burst of +confused, but honest admiration; from the young squire’s +“Bless me! who would have thought that there were so many +wonderful things to be seen in one’s own park!” to +the old squire’s more morally valuable “Bless me! +why, I have seen that and that a hundred times, and never thought +till now how wonderful they were!”</p> +<p>There were great excuses, though, of old, for the contempt in +which the naturalist was held; great excuses for the pitying tone +of banter with which the Spectator talks of “the +ingenious” Don Saltero (as no doubt the Neapolitan +gentleman talked of Ferrante Imperato the apothecary, and his +museum); great excuses for Voltaire, when he classes the +collection of butterflies among the other “bizarreries de +l’esprit humain.” For, in the last generation, +the needs of the world were different. It had no time for +butterflies and fossils. While Buonaparte was hovering on +the Boulogne coast, the pursuits and the education which were +needed were such as would raise up men to fight him; so the +coarse, fierce, hard-handed training of our grandfathers came +when it was wanted, and did the work which was required of it, +else we had not been here now. Let us be thankful that we +have had leisure for science; and show now in war that our +science has at least not unmanned us.</p> +<p>Moreover, Natural History, if not fifty years ago, certainly a +hundred years ago, was hardly worthy of men of practical common +sense. After, indeed, Linné, by his invention of +generic and specific names, had made classification possible, and +by his own enormous labours had shown how much could be done when +once a method was established, the science has grown rapidly +enough. But before him little or nothing had been put into +form definite enough to allure those who (as the many always +will) prefer to profit by others’ discoveries, than to +discover for themselves; and Natural History was attractive only +to a few earnest seekers, who found too much trouble in +disencumbering their own minds of the dreams of bygone +generations (whether facts, like cockatrices, basilisks, and +krakens, the breeding of bees out of a dead ox, and of geese from +barnacles; or theories, like those of elements, the <i>vis +plastrix</i> in Nature, animal spirits, and the other musty +heirlooms of Aristotleism and Neo-platonism), to try to make a +science popular, which as yet was not even a science at +all. Honour to them, nevertheless. Honour to Ray and +his illustrious contemporaries in Holland and France. +Honour to Seba and Aldrovandus; to Pomet, with his +“Historie of Drugges;” even to the ingenious Don +Saltero, and his tavern-museum in Cheyne Walk. Where all +was chaos, every man was useful who could contribute a single +spot of organized standing ground in the shape of a fact or a +specimen. But it is a question whether Natural History +would have ever attained its present honours, had not Geology +arisen, to connect every other branch of Natural History with +problems as vast and awful as they are captivating to the +imagination. Nay, the very opposition with which Geology +met was of as great benefit to the sister sciences as to +itself. For, when questions belonging to the most sacred +hereditary beliefs of Christendom were supposed to be affected by +the verification of a fossil shell, or the proving that the +Maestricht “homo diluvii testis” was, after all, a +monstrous eft, it became necessary to work upon Conchology, +Botany, and Comparative Anatomy, with a care and a reverence, a +caution and a severe induction, which had been never before +applied to them; and thus gradually, in the last half-century, +the whole choir of cosmical sciences have acquired a soundness, +severity, and fulness, which render them, as mere intellectual +exercises, as valuable to a manly mind as Mathematics and +Metaphysics.</p> +<p>But how very lately have they attained that firm and +honourable standing ground! It is a question whether, even +twenty years ago, Geology, as it then stood, was worth troubling +one’s head about, so little had been really proved. +And heavy and uphill was the work, even within the last fifteen +years, of those who stedfastly set themselves to the task of +proving and of asserting at all risks, that the Maker of the coal +seam and the diluvial cave could not be a “Deus quidam +deceptor,” and that the facts which the rock and the silt +revealed were sacred, not to be warped or trifled with for the +sake of any cowardly and hasty notion that they contradicted His +other messages. When a few more years are past, Buckland +and Sedgwick, Murchison and Lyell, Delabêche and Phillips, +Forbes and Jamieson, and the group of brave men who accompanied +and followed them, will be looked back to as moral benefactors of +their race; and almost as martyrs, also, when it is remembered +how much misunderstanding, obloquy, and plausible folly they had +to endure from well-meaning fanatics like Fairholme or Granville +Penn, and the respectable mob at their heels who tried (as is the +fashion in such cases) to make a hollow compromise between fact +and the Bible, by twisting facts just enough to make them fit the +fancied meaning of the Bible, and the Bible just enough to make +it fit the fancied meaning of the facts. But there were a +few who would have no compromise; who laboured on with a noble +recklessness, determined to speak the thing which they had seen, +and neither more nor less, sure that God could take better care +than they of His own everlasting truth. And now they have +conquered: the facts which were twenty years ago denounced as +contrary to Revelation, are at last accepted not merely as +consonant with, but as corroborative thereof; and sound practical +geologists—like Hugh Miller, in his “Footprints of +the Creator,” and Professor Sedgwick, in the invaluable +notes to his “Discourse on the Studies of +Cambridge”—have wielded in defence of Christianity +the very science which was faithlessly and cowardly expected to +subvert it.</p> +<p>But if you seek, reader, rather for pleasure than for wisdom, +you can find it in such studies, pure and undefiled.</p> +<p>Happy, truly, is the naturalist. He has no time for +melancholy dreams. The earth becomes to him transparent; +everywhere he sees significancies, harmonies, laws, chains of +cause and effect endlessly interlinked, which draw him out of the +narrow sphere of self-interest and self-pleasing, into a pure and +wholesome region of solemn joy and wonder. He goes up some +Snowdon valley; to him it is a solemn spot (though unnoticed by +his companions), where the stag’s-horn clubmoss ceases to +straggle across the turf, and the tufted alpine clubmoss takes +its place: for he is now in a new world; a region whose climate +is eternally influenced by some fresh law (after which he vainly +guesses with a sigh at his own ignorance), which renders life +impossible to one species, possible to another. And it is a +still more solemn thought to him, that it was not always so; that +æons and ages back, that rock which he passed a thousand +feet below was fringed, not as now with fern and blue bugle, and +white bramble-flowers, but perhaps with the alp-rose and the +“gemsen-kraut” of Mont Blanc, at least with Alpine +Saxifrages which have now retreated a thousand feet up the +mountain side, and with the blue Snow-Gentian, and the Canadian +Sedum, which have all but vanished out of the British +Isles. And what is it which tells him that strange +story? Yon smooth and rounded surface of rock, polished, +remark, across the strata and against the grain; and furrowed +here and there, as if by iron talons, with long parallel +scratches. It was the crawling of a glacier which polished +that rock-face; the stones fallen from Snowdon peak into the +half-liquid lake of ice above, which ploughed those +furrows. Æons and æons ago, before the time +when Adam first</p> +<blockquote><p>“Embraced his Eve in happy hour,<br /> +And every bird in Eden burst<br /> +In carol, every bud in flower,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>those marks were there; the records of the “Age of +ice;” slight, truly; to be effaced by the next farmer who +needs to build a wall; but unmistakeable, boundless in +significance, like Crusoe’s one savage footprint on the +sea-shore; and the naturalist acknowledges the finger-mark of +God, and wonders, and worships.</p> +<p>Happy, especially, is the sportsman who is also a naturalist: +for as he roves in pursuit of his game, over hills or up the beds +of streams where no one but a sportsman ever thinks of going, he +will be certain to see things noteworthy, which the mere +naturalist would never find, simply because he could never guess +that they were there to be found. I do not speak merely of +the rare birds which may be shot, the curious facts as to the +habits of fish which may be observed, great as these pleasures +are. I speak of the scenery, the weather, the geological +formation of the country, its vegetation, and the living habits +of its denizens. A sportsman, out in all weathers, and +often dependent for success on his knowledge of “what the +sky is going to do,” has opportunities for becoming a +meteorologist which no one beside but a sailor possesses; and one +has often longed for a scientific gamekeeper or huntsman, who, by +discovering a law for the mysterious and seemingly capricious +phenomena of “scent,” might perhaps throw light on a +hundred dark passages of hygrometry. The fisherman, +too,—what an inexhaustible treasury of wonder lies at his +feet, in the subaqueous world of the commonest mountain +burn! All the laws which mould a world are there busy, if +he but knew it, fattening his trout for him, and making them rise +to the fly, by strange electric influences, at one hour rather +than at another. Many a good geognostic lesson, too, both +as to the nature of a country’s rocks, and as to the laws +by which strata are deposited, may an observing man learn as he +wades up the bed of a trout-stream; not to mention the strange +forms and habits of the tribes of water-insects. Moreover, +no good fisherman but knows, to his sorrow, that there are plenty +of minutes, ay, hours, in each day’s fishing in which he +would be right glad of any employment better than trying to</p> +<blockquote><p>“Call spirits from the vasty +deep,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>who will not</p> +<blockquote><p>“Come when you do call for them.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>What to do, then? You are sitting, perhaps, in your +coracle, upon some mountain tarn, waiting for a wind, and waiting +in vain.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Keine luft an keine seite,<br /> +Todes-stille fürchterlich;”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>as Göthe has it—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Und der schiffer sieht bekümmert<br /> +Glatte fläche rings umher.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>You paddle to the shore on the side whence the wind ought to +come, if it had any spirit in it; tie the coracle to a stone, +light your cigar, lie down on your back upon the grass, grumble, +and finally fall asleep. In the meanwhile, probably, the +breeze has come on, and there has been half-an-hour’s +lively fishing curl; and you wake just in time to see the last +ripple of it sneaking off at the other side of the lake, leaving +all as dead-calm as before.</p> +<p>Now how much better, instead of falling asleep, to have walked +quietly round the lake side, and asked of your own brains and of +Nature the question, “How did this lake come here? +What does it mean?”</p> +<p>It is a hole in the earth. True, but how was the hole +made? There must have been huge forces at work to form such +a chasm. Probably the mountain was actually opened from +within by an earthquake; and when the strata fell together again, +the portion at either end of the chasm, being perhaps crushed +together with greater force, remained higher than the centre, and +so the water lodged between them. Perhaps it was formed +thus. You will at least agree that its formation must have +been a grand sight enough, and one during which a spectator would +have had some difficulty in keeping his footing.</p> +<p>And when you learn that this convulsion probably took plus at +the bottom of an ocean hundreds of thousands of years ago, you +have at least a few thoughts over which to ruminate, which will +make you at once too busy to grumble, and ashamed to grumble.</p> +<p>Yet, after all, I hardly think the lake was formed in this +way, and suspect that it may have been dry for ages after it +emerged from the primeval waves, and Snowdonia was a palm-fringed +island in a tropic sea. Let us look the place over more +fully.</p> +<p>You see the lake is nearly circular; on the side where we +stand the pebbly beach is not six feet above the water, and +slopes away steeply into the valley behind us, while before us it +shelves gradually into the lake; forty yards out, as you know, +there is not ten feet water; and then a steep bank, the edge +whereof we and the big trout know well, sinks suddenly to unknown +depths. On the opposite side, that flat-topped wall of rock +towers up shoreless into the sky, seven hundred feet +perpendicular; the deepest water of all we know is at its very +foot. Right and left, two shoulders of down slope into the +lake. Now turn round and look down the gorge. Remark +that this pebble bank on which we stand reaches some fifty yards +downward: you see the loose stones peeping out everywhere. +We may fairly suppose that we stand on a dam of loose stones, a +hundred feet deep.</p> +<p>But why loose stones?—and if so, what matter? and what +wonder? There are rocks cropping out everywhere down the +hill-side.</p> +<p>Because if you will take up one of these stones and crack it +across, you will see that it is not of the same stuff as those +said rocks. Step into the next field and see. That +rock is the common Snowdon slate, which we see everywhere. +The two shoulders of down, right and left, are slate, too; you +can see that at a glance. But the stones of the pebble bank +are a close-grained, yellow-spotted rock. They are Syenite; +and (you may believe me or not, as you will) they were once upon +a time in the condition of a hasty pudding heated to some 800 +degrees of Fahrenheit, and in that condition shoved their way up +somewhere or other through these slates. But where? whence +on earth did these Syenite pebbles come? Let us walk round to the +cliff on the opposite side and see. It is worth while; for +even if my guess be wrong, there is good spinning with a brass +minnow round the angles of the rocks.</p> +<p>Now see. Between the cliff-foot and the sloping down is +a crack, ending in a gully; the nearer side is of slate, and the +further side, the cliff itself, is—why, the whole cliff is +composed of the very same stone as the pebble ridge.</p> +<p>Now, my good friend, how did these pebbles get three hundred +yards across the lake? Hundreds of tons, some of them three +feet long: who carried them across? The old Cymry were not +likely to amuse themselves by making such a breakwater up here in +No-man’s-land, two thousand feet above the sea: but +somebody or something must have carried them; for stones do not +fly, nor swim either.</p> +<p>Shot out of a volcano? As you seem determined to have a +prodigy, it may as well be a sufficiently huge one.</p> +<p>Well—these stones lie altogether; and a volcano would +have hardly made so compact a shot, not being in the habit of +using Eley’s wire cartridges. Our next hope of a +solution lies in John Jones, who carried up the coracle. +Hail him, and ask him what is on the top of that cliff . . . So, +“Plainshe and pogshe, and another Llyn.” Very +good. Now, does it not strike you that this whole cliff has +a remarkably smooth and plastered look, like a hare’s run +up an earthbank? And do you not see that it is polished +thus only over the lake? that as soon as the cliff abuts on the +downs right and left, it forms pinnacles, caves, broken angular +boulders? Syenite usually does so in our damp climate, from +the “weathering” effect of frost and rain: why has it +not done so over the lake? On that part something (giants +perhaps) has been scrambling up or down on a very large scale, +and so rubbed off every corner which was inclined to come away, +till the solid core of the rock was bared. And may not +those mysterious giants have had a hand in carrying the stones +across the lake? . . . Really, I am not altogether jesting. +Think a while what agent could possibly have produced either one +or both of these effects?</p> +<p>There is but one; and that, if you have been an Alpine +traveller—much more if you have been a Chamois +hunter—you have seen many a time (whether you knew it or +not) at the very same work.</p> +<p>Ice? Yes; ice; Hrymir the frost-giant, and no one +else. And if you will look at the facts, you will see how +ice may have done it. Our friend John Jones’s report +of plains and bogs and a lake above makes it quite possible that +in the “Ice age” (Glacial Epoch, as the +big-word-mongers call it) there was above that cliff a great +neve, or snowfield, such as you have seen often in the Alps at +the head of each glacier. Over the face of this cliff a +glacier has crawled down from that neve, polishing the face of +the rock in its descent: but the snow, having no large and deep +outlet, has not slid down in a sufficient stream to reach the +vale below, and form a glacier of the first order; and has +therefore stopped short on the other side of the lake, as a +glacier of the second order, which ends in an ice-cliff hanging +high up on the mountain side, and kept from further progress by +daily melting. If you have ever gone up the Mer de Glace to +the Tacul, you saw a magnificent specimen of this sort on your +right hand, just opposite the Tacul, in the Glacier de +Trelaporte, which comes down from the Aiguille de Charmoz.</p> +<p>This explains our pebble-ridge. The stones which the +glacier rubbed off the cliff beneath it it carried forward, +slowly but surely, till they saw the light again in the face of +the ice-cliff, and dropped out of it under the melting of the +summer sun, to form a huge dam across the ravine; till, the +“Ice age” past, a more genial climate succeeded, and +neve and glacier melted away: but the “moraine” of +stones did not, and remains to this day, as the dam which keeps +up the waters of the lake.</p> +<p>There is my explanation. If you can find a better, do: +but remember always that it must include an answer +to—“How did the stones get across the +lake?”</p> +<p>Now, reader, we have had no abstruse science here, no long +words, not even a microscope or a book: and yet we, as two plain +sportsmen, have gone back, or been led back by fact and common +sense, into the most awful and sublime depths, into an epos of +the destruction and re-creation of a former world.</p> +<p>This is but a single instance; I might give hundreds. +This one, nevertheless, may have some effect in awakening you to +the boundless world of wonders which is all around you, and make +you ask yourself seriously, “What branch of Natural History +shall I begin to investigate, if it be but for a few weeks, this +summer?”</p> +<p>To which I answer, Try “the Wonders of the +Shore.” There are along every sea-beach more strange +things to be seen, and those to be seen easily, than in any other +field of observation which you will find in these islands. +And on the shore only will you have the enjoyment of finding new +species, of adding your mite to the treasures of science.</p> +<p>For not only the English ferns, but the natural history of all +our land species, are now well-nigh exhausted. Our home +botanists and ornithologists are spending their time now, +perforce, in verifying a few obscure species, and bemoaning +themselves, like Alexander, that there are no more worlds left to +conquer. For the geologist, indeed, and the entomologist, +especially in the remoter districts, much remains to be done, but +only at a heavy outlay of time, labour, and study; and the +dilettante (and it is for dilettanti, like myself, that I +principally write) must be content to tread in the tracks of +greater men who have preceded him, and accept at second or third +hand their foregone conclusions.</p> +<p>But this is most unsatisfactory; for in giving up discovery, +one gives up one of the highest enjoyments of Natural +History. There is a mysterious delight in the discovery of +a new species, akin to that of seeing for the first time, in +their native haunts, plants or animals of which one has till then +only read. Some, surely, who read these pages have +experienced that latter delight; and, though they might find it +hard to define whence the pleasure arose, know well that it was a +solid pleasure, the memory of which they would not give up for +hard cash. Some, surely, can recollect, at their first +sight of the Alpine Soldanella, the Rhododendron, or the black +Orchis, growing upon the edge of the eternal snow, a thrill of +emotion not unmixed with awe; a sense that they were, as it were, +brought face to face with the creatures of another world; that +Nature was independent of them, not merely they of her; that +trees were not merely made to build their houses, or herbs to +feed their cattle, as they looked on those wild gardens amid the +wreaths of the untrodden snow, which had lifted their gay flowers +to the sun year after year since the foundation of the world, +taking no heed of man, and all the coil which he keeps in the +valleys far below.</p> +<p>And even, to take a simpler instance, there are those who will +excuse, or even approve of, a writer for saying that, among the +memories of a month’s eventful tour, those which stand out +as beacon-points, those round which all the others group +themselves, are the first wolf-track by the road-side in the +Kyllwald; the first sight of the blue and green Roller-birds, +walking behind the plough like rooks in the tobacco-fields of +Wittlich; the first ball of Olivine scraped out of the volcanic +slag-heaps of the Dreisser-Weiher; the first pair of the Lesser +Bustard flushed upon the downs of the Mosel-kopf; the first sight +of the cloud of white Ephemeræ, fluttering in the dusk like +a summer snowstorm between us and the black cliffs of the +Rheinstein, while the broad Rhine beneath flashed blood-red in +the blaze of the lightning and the fires of the +Mausenthurm—a lurid Acheron above which seemed to hover ten +thousand unburied ghosts; and last, but not least, on the lip of +the vast Mosel-kopf crater—just above the point where the +weight of the fiery lake has burst the side of the great +slag-cup, and rushed forth between two cliffs of clink-stone +across the downs, in a clanging stream of fire, damming up +rivulets, and blasting its path through forests, far away toward +the valley of the Moselle—the sight of an object for which +was forgotten for the moment that battle-field of the Titans at +our feet, and the glorious panorama, Hundsruck and Taunus, +Siebengebirge and Ardennes, and all the crater peaks around; and +which was—smile not, reader—our first yellow +foxglove.</p> +<p>But what is even this to the delight of finding a new +species?—of rescuing (as it seems to you) one more thought +of the Divine mind from Hela, and the realms of the unknown, +unclassified, uncomprehended? As it seems to you: though in +reality it only seems so, in a world wherein not a sparrow falls +to the ground unnoticed by our Father who is in heaven.</p> +<p>The truth is, the pleasure of finding new species is too +great; it is morally dangerous; for it brings with it the +temptation to look on the thing found as your own possession, all +but your own creation; to pride yourself on it, as if God had not +known it for ages since; even to squabble jealously for the right +of having it named after you, and of being recorded in the +Transactions of I-know-not-what Society as its first +discoverer:—as if all the angels in heaven had not been +admiring it, long before you were born or thought of.</p> +<p>But to be forewarned is to be forearmed; and I seriously +counsel you to try if you cannot find something new this summer +along the coast to which you are going. There is no reason +why you should not be so successful as a friend of mine who, with +a very slight smattering of science, and very desultory research, +obtained in one winter from the Torbay shores three entirely new +species, beside several rare animals which had escaped all +naturalists since the lynx-eye of Colonel Montagu discerned them +forty years ago.</p> +<p>And do not despise the creatures because they are +minute. No doubt we should most of us prefer discovering +monstrous apes in the tropical forests of Borneo, or stumbling +upon herds of gigantic Ammon sheep amid the rhododendron thickets +of the Himalaya: but it cannot be; and “he is a +fool,” says old Hesiod, “who knows not how much +better half is than the whole.” Let us be content +with what is within our reach. And doubt not that in these +tiny creatures are mysteries more than we shall ever fathom.</p> +<p>The zoophytes and microscopic animalcules which people every +shore and every drop of water, have been now raised to a rank in +the human mind more important, perhaps, than even those gigantic +monsters whose models fill the lake at the Crystal Palace. +The research which has been bestowed, for the last century, upon +these once unnoticed atomies has well repaid itself; for from no +branch of physical science has more been learnt of the +<i>scientia scientiarum</i>, the priceless art of learning; no +branch of science has more utterly confounded a wisdom of the +wise, shattered to pieces systems and theories, and the idolatry +of arbitrary names, and taught man to be silent while his Maker +speaks, than this apparent pedantry of zoophytology, in which our +old distinctions of “animal,” +“vegetable,” and “mineral” are trembling +in the balance, seemingly ready to vanish like their +fellows—“the four elements” of fire, earth, +air, and water. No branch of science has helped so much to +sweep away that sensuous idolatry of mere size, which tempts man +to admire and respect objects in proportion to the number of feet +or inches which they occupy in space. No branch of science, +moreover, has been more humbling to the boasted rapidity and +omnipotence of the human reason, or has more taught those who +have eyes to see, and hearts to understand, how weak and wayward, +staggering and slow, are the steps of our fallen race (rapid and +triumphant enough in that broad road of theories which leads to +intellectual destruction) whensoever they tread the narrow path +of true science, which leads (if I may be allowed to transfer our +Lord’s great parable from moral to intellectual matters) to +Life; to the living and permanent knowledge of living things and +of the laws of their existence. Humbling, truly, to one who +looks back to the summer of 1754, when good Mr. Ellis, the wise +and benevolent West Indian merchant, read before the Royal +Society his paper proving the animal nature of corals, and +followed it up the year after by that “Essay toward a +Natural History of the Corallines, and other like Marine +Productions of the British Coasts,” which forms the +groundwork of all our knowledge on the subject to this day. +The chapter in Dr. G. Johnston’s “British +Zoophytes,” p. 407, or the excellent little +<i>résumé</i> thereof in Dr. Landsborough’s +book on the same subject, is really a saddening one, as one sees +how loth were, not merely dreamers like, Marsigli or Bonnet, but +sound-headed men like Pallas and Linné, to give up the old +sense-bound fancy, that these corals were vegetables, and their +polypes some sort of living flowers. Yet, after all, there +are excuses for them. Without our improved microscopes, and +while the sciences of comparative anatomy and chemistry were yet +infantile, it was difficult to believe what was the truth; and +for this simple reason: that, as usual, the truth, when +discovered, turned out far more startling and prodigious than the +dreams which men had hastily substituted for it; more strange +than Ovid’s old story that the coral was soft under the +sea, and hardened by exposure to air; than Marsigli’s +notion, that the coral-polypes were its flowers; than Dr. +Parsons’ contemptuous denial, that these complicated forms +could be “the operations of little, poor, helpless, +jelly-like animals, and not the work of more sure +vegetation;” than Baker the microscopist’s detailed +theory of their being produced by the crystallization of the +mineral salts in the sea-water, just as he had seen “the +particles of mercury and copper in aquafortis assume tree-like +forms, or curious delineations of mosses and minute shrubs on +slates and stones, owing to the shooting of salts intermixed with +mineral particles:”—one smiles at it now: yet these +men were no less sensible than we; and if we know better, it is +only because other men, and those few and far between, have +laboured amid disbelief, ridicule, and error; needing again and +again to retrace their steps, and to unlearn more than they +learnt, seeming to go backwards when they were really progressing +most: and now we have entered into their labours, and find them, +as I have just said, more wondrous than all the poetic dreams of +a Bonnet or a Darwin. For who, after all, to take a few +broad instances (not to enlarge on the great root-wonder of a +number of distinct individuals connected by a common life, and +forming a seeming plant invariable in each species), would have +dreamed of the “bizarreries” which these very +zoophytes present in their classification?</p> +<p>You go down to any shore after a gale of wind, and pick up a +few delicate little sea-ferns. You have two in your hand, +which probably look to you, even under a good pocket magnifier, +identical or nearly so. <a name="citation37"></a><a +href="#footnote37" class="citation">[37]</a> But you are +told to your surprise, that however like the dead horny +polypidoms which you hold may be, the two species of animal which +have formed them are at least as far apart in the scale of +creation as a quadruped is from a fish. You see in some +Musselburgh dredger’s boat the phosphorescent sea-pen +(unknown in England), a living feather, of the look and +consistency of a cock’s comb; or the still stranger +sea-rush (<i>Virgularia mirabilis</i>), a spine a foot long, with +hundreds of rosy flowerets arranged in half-rings round it from +end to end; and you are told that these are the congeners of the +great stony Venus’s fan which hangs in seamen’s +cottages, brought home from the West Indies. And ere you +have done wondering, you hear that all three are congeners of the +ugly, shapeless, white “dead man’s hand,” which +you may pick up after a storm on any shore. You have a +beautiful madrepore or brain-stone on your mantel-piece, brought +home from some Pacific coral-reef. You are to believe that +its first cousins are the soft, slimy sea-anemones which you see +expanding their living flowers in every rock-pool—bags of +sea-water, without a trace of bone or stone. You must +believe it; for in science, as in higher matters, he who will +walk surely, must “walk by faith and not by +sight.”</p> +<p>These are but a few of the wonders which the classification of +marine animals affords; and only drawn from one class of them, +though almost as common among every other family of that +submarine world whereof Spenser sang—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Oh, what an endless work have I in hand,<br +/> + To count the sea’s abundant progeny!<br /> +Whose fruitful seed far passeth those in land,<br /> + And also those which won in th’ azure sky,<br +/> + For much more earth to tell the stars on high,<br /> +Albe they endless seem in estimation,<br /> + Than to recount the sea’s posterity;<br /> +So fertile be the flouds in generation,<br /> +So huge their numbers, and so numberless their nation.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But these few examples will be sufficient to account both for +the slow pace at which the knowledge of sea-animals has +progressed, and for the allurement which men of the highest +attainments have found, and still find, in it. And when to +this we add the marvels which meet us at every step in the +anatomy and the reproduction of these creatures, and in the +chemical and mechanical functions which they fulfil in the great +economy of our planet, we cannot wonder at finding that books +which treat of them carry with them a certain charm of romance, +and feed the play of fancy, and that love of the marvellous which +is inherent in man, at the same time that they lead the reader to +more solemn and lofty trains of thought, which can find their +full satisfaction only in self-forgetful worship, and that hymn +of praise which goes up ever from land and sea, as well as from +saints and martyrs and the heavenly host, “O all ye works +of the Lord, and ye, too, spirits and souls of the righteous, +praise Him, and magnify Him for ever!”</p> +<p>I have said, that there were excuses for the old contempt of +the study of Natural History. I have said, too, it may be +hoped, enough to show that contempt to be now ill-founded. +But still, there are those who regard it as a mere amusement, and +that as a somewhat effeminate one; and think that it can at best +help to while away a leisure hour harmlessly, and perhaps +usefully, as a substitute for coarser sports, or for the reading +of novels. Those, however, who have followed it out, +especially on the sea-shore, know better. They can tell +from experience, that over and above its accessory charms of pure +sea-breezes, and wild rambles by cliff and loch, the study itself +has had a weighty moral effect upon their hearts and +spirits. There are those who can well understand how the +good and wise John Ellis, amid all his philanthropic labours for +the good of the West Indies, while he was spending his intellect +and fortune in introducing into our tropic settlements the +bread-fruit, the mangosteen, and every plant and seed which he +hoped might be useful for medicine, agriculture, and commerce, +could yet feel himself justified in devoting large portions of +his ever well-spent time to the fighting the battle of the +corallines against Parsons and the rest, and even in measuring +pens with Linné, the prince of naturalists.</p> +<p>There are those who can sympathise with the gallant old Scotch +officer mentioned by some writer on sea-weeds, who, desperately +wounded in the breach at Badajos, and a sharer in all the toils +and triumphs of the Peninsular war, could in his old age show a +rare sea-weed with as much triumph as his well-earned medals, and +talk over a tiny spore-capsule with as much zest as the records +of sieges and battles. Why not? That temper which +made him a good soldier may very well have made him a good +naturalist also. The late illustrious geologist, Sir +Roderick Murchison, was also an old Peninsular officer. I +doubt not that with him, too, the experiences of war may have +helped to fit him for the studies of peace. Certainly, the +best naturalist, as far as logical acumen, as well as earnest +research, is concerned, whom England has ever seen, was the +Devonshire squire, Colonel George Montagu, of whom the late E. +Forbes well says, that “had he been educated a +physiologist” (and not, as he was, a soldier and a +sportsman), “and made the study of Nature his aim and not +his amusement, his would have been one of the greatest names in +the whole range of British science.” I question, +nevertheless, whether he would not have lost more than he would +have gained by a different training. It might have made him +a more learned systematizer; but would it have quickened in him +that “seeing” eye of the true soldier and sportsman, +which makes Montagu’s descriptions indelible word-pictures, +instinct with life and truth? “There is no +question,” says E. Forbes, after bewailing the vagueness of +most naturalists, “about the identity of any animal Montagu +described. . . . He was a forward-looking philosopher; he spoke +of every creature as if one exceeding like it, yet different from +it, would be washed up by the waves next tide. Consequently +his descriptions are permanent.” Scientific men will +recognize in this the highest praise which can be bestowed, +because it attributes to him the highest faculty—The Art of +Seeing; but the study and the book would not have given +that. It is God’s gift wheresoever educated: but its +true school-room is the camp and the ocean, the prairie and the +forest; active, self-helping life, which can grapple with Nature +herself: not merely with printed-books about her. Let no +one think that this same Natural History is a pursuit fitted only +for effeminate or pedantic men. I should say, rather, that +the qualifications required for a perfect naturalist are as many +and as lofty as were required, by old chivalrous writers, for the +perfect knight-errant of the Middle Ages: for (to sketch an +ideal, of which I am happy to say our race now affords many a +fair realization) our perfect naturalist should be strong in +body; able to haul a dredge, climb a rock, turn a boulder, walk +all day, uncertain where he shall eat or rest; ready to face sun +and rain, wind and frost, and to eat or drink thankfully +anything, however coarse or meagre; he should know how to swim +for his life, to pull an oar, sail a boat, and ride the first +horse which comes to hand; and, finally, he should be a +thoroughly good shot, and a skilful fisherman; and, if he go far +abroad, be able on occasion to fight for his life.</p> +<p>For his moral character, he must, like a knight of old, be +first of all gentle and courteous, ready and able to ingratiate +himself with the poor, the ignorant, and the savage; not only +because foreign travel will be often otherwise impossible, but +because he knows how much invaluable local information can be +only obtained from fishermen, miners, hunters, and tillers of the +soil. Next, he should be brave and enterprising, and withal +patient and undaunted; not merely in travel, but in +investigation; knowing (as Lord Bacon might have put it) that the +kingdom of Nature, like the kingdom of heaven, must be taken by +violence, and that only to those who knock long and earnestly +does the great mother open the doors of her sanctuary. He +must be of a reverent turn of mind also; not rashly discrediting +any reports, however vague and fragmentary; giving man credit +always for some germ of truth, and giving Nature credit for an +inexhaustible fertility and variety, which will keep him his life +long always reverent, yet never superstitious; wondering at the +commonest, but not surprised by the most strange; free from the +idols of size and sensuous loveliness; able to see grandeur in +the minutest objects, beauty, in the most ungainly; estimating +each thing not carnally, as the vulgar do, by its size or its +pleasantness to the senses, but spiritually, by the amount of +Divine thought revealed to Man therein; holding every phenomenon +worth the noting down; believing that every pebble holds a +treasure, every bud a revelation; making it a point of conscience +to pass over nothing through laziness or hastiness, lest the +vision once offered and despised should be withdrawn; and looking +at every object as if he were never to behold it again.</p> +<p>Moreover, he must keep himself free from all those +perturbations of mind which not only weaken energy, but darken +and confuse the inductive faculty; from haste and laziness, from +melancholy, testiness, pride, and all the passions which make men +see only what they wish to see. Of solemn and scrupulous +reverence for truth; of the habit of mind which regards each fact +and discovery, not as our own possession, but as the possession +of its Creator, independent of us, our tastes, our needs, or our +vain-glory, I hardly need to speak; for it is the very essence of +a nature’s faculty—the very tenure of his existence: +and without truthfulness science would be as impossible now as +chivalry would have been of old.</p> +<p>And last, but not least, the perfect naturalist should have in +him the very essence of true chivalry, namely, self-devotion; the +desire to advance, not himself and his own fame or wealth, but +knowledge and mankind. He should have this great virtue; +and in spite of many shortcomings (for what man is there who +liveth and sinneth not?), naturalists as a class have it to a +degree which makes them stand out most honourably in the midst of +a self-seeking and mammonite generation, inclined to value +everything by its money price, its private utility. The +spirit which gives freely, because it knows that it has received +freely; which communicates knowledge without hope of reward, +without jealousy and rivalry, to fellow-students and to the +world; which is content to delve and toil comparatively unknown, +that from its obscure and seemingly worthless results others may +derive pleasure, and even build up great fortunes, and change the +very face of cities and lands, by the practical use of some stray +talisman which the poor student has invented in his +laboratory;—this is the spirit which is abroad among our +scientific men, to a greater degree than it ever has been among +any body of men for many a century past; and might well be copied +by those who profess deeper purposes and a more exalted calling, +than the discovery of a new zoophyte, or the classification of a +moorland crag.</p> +<p>And it is these qualities, however imperfectly they may be +realized in any individual instance, which make our scientific +men, as a class, the wholesomest and pleasantest of companions +abroad, and at home the most blameless, simple, and cheerful, in +all domestic relations; men for the most part of manful heads, +and yet of childlike hearts, who have turned to quiet study, in +these late piping times of peace, an intellectual health and +courage which might have made them, in more fierce and troublous +times, capable of doing good service with very different +instruments than the scalpel and the microscope.</p> +<p>I have been sketching an ideal: but one which I seriously +recommend to the consideration of all parents; for, though it be +impossible and absurd to wish that every young man should grow up +a naturalist by profession, yet this age offers no more wholesome +training, both moral and intellectual, than that which is given +by instilling into the young an early taste for outdoor physical +science. The education of our children is now more than +ever a puzzling problem, if by education we mean the development +of the whole humanity, not merely of some arbitrarily chosen part +of it. How to feed the imagination with wholesome food, and +teach it to despise French novels, and that sugared slough of +sentimental poetry, in comparison with which the old fairy-tales +and ballads were manful and rational; how to counteract the +tendency to shallowed and conceited sciolism, engendered by +hearing popular lectures on all manner of subjects, which can +only be really learnt by stern methodic study; how to give habits +of enterprise, patience, accurate observation, which the +counting-house or the library will never bestow; above all, how +to develop the physical powers, without engendering brutality and +coarseness—are questions becoming daily more and more +puzzling, while they need daily more and more to be solved, in an +age of enterprise, travel, and emigration, like the +present. For the truth must be told, that the great +majority of men who are now distinguished by commercial success, +have had a training the directly opposite to that which they are +giving to their sons. They are for the most part men who +have migrated from the country to the town, and had in their +youth all the advantages of a sturdy and manful hill-side or +sea-side training; men whose bodies were developed, and their +lungs fed on pure breezes, long before they brought to work in +the city the bodily and mental strength which they had gained by +loch and moor. But it is not so with their sons. +Their business habits are learnt in the counting-house; a good +school, doubtless, as far as it goes: but one which will expand +none but the lowest intellectual faculties; which will make them +accurate accountants, shrewd computers and competitors, but never +the originators of daring schemes, men able and willing to go +forth to replenish the earth and subdue it. And in the +hours of relaxation, how much of their time is thrown away, for +want of anything better, on frivolity, not to say on secret +profligacy, parents know too well; and often shut their eyes in +very despair to evils which they know not how to cure. A +frightful majority of our middle-class young men are growing up +effeminate, empty of all knowledge but what tends directly to the +making of a fortune; or rather, to speak correctly, to the +keeping up the fortunes which their fathers have made for them; +while of the minority, who are indeed thinkers and readers, how +many women as well as men have we seen wearying their souls with +study undirected, often misdirected; craving to learn, yet not +knowing how or what to learn; cultivating, with unwholesome +energy, the head at the expense of the body and the heart; +catching up with the most capricious self-will one mania after +another, and tossing it away again for some new phantom; gorging +the memory with facts which no one has taught them to arrange, +and the reason with problems which they have no method for +solving; till they fret themselves in a chronic fever of the +brain, which too often urge them on to plunge, as it were, to +cool the inward fire, into the ever-restless seas of doubt or of +superstition. It is a sad picture. There are many who +may read these pages whose hearts will tell them that it is a +true one. What is wanted in these cases is a methodic and +scientific habit of mind; and a class of objects on which to +exercise that habit, which will fever neither the speculative +intellect nor the moral sense; and those physical science will +give, as nothing else can give it.</p> +<p>Moreover, to revert to another point which we touched just +now, man has a body as well as a mind; and with the vast majority +there will be no <i>mens sana</i> unless there be a <i>corpus +sanum</i> for it to inhabit. And what outdoor training to +give our youths is, as we have already said, more than ever +puzzling. This difficulty is felt, perhaps, less in +Scotland than in England. The Scotch climate compels +hardiness; the Scotch bodily strength makes it easy; and +Scotland, with her mountain-tours in summer, and her frozen lochs +in winter, her labyrinth of sea-shore, and, above all, that +priceless boon which Providence has bestowed on her, in the +contiguity of her great cities to the loveliest scenery, and the +hills where every breeze is health, affords facilities for +healthy physical life unknown to the Englishman, who has no +Arthur’s Seat towering above his London, no Western Islands +sporting the ocean firths beside his Manchester. Field +sports, with the invaluable training which they give, if not</p> +<blockquote><p>“The reason firm,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>yet still</p> +<blockquote><p> “The +temperate will,<br /> +Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>have become impossible for the greater number: and athletic +exercises are now, in England at least, becoming more and more +artificialized and expensive; and are confined more and +more—with the honourable exception of the football games in +Battersea Park—to our Public Schools and the two elder +Universities. All honour, meanwhile, to the Volunteer +movement, and its moral as well as its physical effects. +But it is only a comparatively few of the very sturdiest who are +likely to become effective Volunteers, and so really gain the +benefits of learning to be soldiers. And yet the young man +who has had no substitute for such occupations will cut but a +sorry figure in Australia, Canada, or India; and if he stays at +home, will spend many a pound in doctors’ bills, which +could have been better employed elsewhere. “Taking a +walk”—as one would take a pill or a +draught—seems likely soon to become the only form of +outdoor existence possible for too many inhabitants of the +British Isles. But a walk without an object, unless in the +most lovely and novel of scenery, is a poor exercise; and as a +recreation, utterly nil. I never knew two young lads go out +for a “constitutional,” who did not, if they were +commonplace youths, gossip the whole way about things better left +unspoken; or, if they were clever ones, fall on arguing and +brainsbeating on politics or metaphysics from the moment they +left the door, and return with their wits even more heated and +tired than they were when they set out. I cannot help +fancying that Milton made a mistake in a certain celebrated +passage; and that it was not “sitting on a hill +apart,” but tramping four miles out and four miles in along +a turnpike-road, that his hapless spirits discoursed</p> +<blockquote><p>“Of fate, free-will, foreknowledge +absolute,<br /> +And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Seriously, if we wish rural walks to do our children any good, +we must give them a love for rural sights, an object in every +walk; we must teach them—and we can teach them—to +find wonder in every insect, sublimity in every hedgerow, the +records of past worlds in every pebble, and boundless fertility +upon the barren shore; and so, by teaching them to make full use +of that limited sphere in which they now are, make them faithful +in a few things, that they may be fit hereafter to be rulers over +much.</p> +<p>I may seem to exaggerate the advantages of such studies; but +the question after all is one of experience: and I have had +experience enough and to spare that what I say is true. I +have seen the young man of fierce passions, and uncontrollable +daring, expend healthily that energy which threatened daily to +plunge him into recklessness, if not into sin, upon hunting out +and collecting, through rock and bog, snow and tempest, every +bird and egg of the neighbouring forest. I have seen the +cultivated man, craving for travel and for success in life, pent +up in the drudgery of London work, and yet keeping his spirit +calm, and perhaps his morals all the more righteous, by spending +over his microscope evenings which would too probably have +gradually been wasted at the theatre. I have seen the young +London beauty, amid all the excitement and temptation of luxury +and flattery, with her heart pure and her mind occupied in a +boudoir full of shells and fossils, flowers and sea-weeds; +keeping herself unspotted from the world, by considering the +lilies of the field, how they grow. And therefore it is +that I hail with thankfulness every fresh book of Natural +History, as a fresh boon to the young, a fresh help to those who +have to educate them.</p> +<p>The greatest difficulty in the way of beginners is (as in most +things) how “to learn the art of learning.” +They go out, search, find less than they expected, and give the +subject up in disappointment. It is good to begin, +therefore, if possible, by playing the part of +“jackal” to some practised naturalist, who will show +the tyro where to look, what to look for, and, moreover, what it +is that he has found; often no easy matter to discover. +Forty years ago, during an autumn’s work of +dead-leaf-searching in the Devon woods for poor old Dr. Turton, +while he was writing his book on British land-shells, the present +writer learnt more of the art of observing than he would have +learnt in three years’ desultory hunting on his own +account; and he has often regretted that no naturalist has +established shore-lectures at some watering-place, like those up +hill and down dale field-lectures which, in pleasant bygone +Cambridge days, Professor Sedgwick used to give to young +geologists, and Professor Henslow to young botanists.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile, to show you something of what may be seen by +those who care to see, let me take you, in imagination, to a +shore where I was once at home, and for whose richness I can +vouch, and choose our season and our day to start forth, on some +glorious September or October morning, to see what last +night’s equinoctial gale has swept from the populous +shallows of Torbay, and cast up, high and dry, on Paignton +sands.</p> +<p>Torbay is a place which should be as much endeared to the +naturalist as to the patriot and to the artist. We cannot +gaze on its blue ring of water, and the great limestone bluffs +which bound it to the north and south, without a glow passing +through our hearts, as we remember the terrible and glorious +pageant which passed by in the glorious July days of 1588, when +the Spanish Armada ventured slowly past Berry Head, with +Elizabeth’s gallant pack of Devon captains (for the London +fleet had not yet joined) following fast in its wake, and dashing +into the midst of the vast line, undismayed by size and numbers, +while their kin and friends stood watching and praying on the +cliffs, spectators of Britain’s Salamis. The white +line of houses, too, on the other side of the bay, is Brixham, +famed as the landing-place of William of Orange; the stone on the +pier-head, which marks his first footsteps on British ground, is +sacred in the eyes of all true English Whigs; and close by stands +the castle of the settler of Newfoundland, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, +Raleigh’s half-brother, most learned of all +Elizabeth’s admirals in life, most pious and heroic in +death. And as for scenery, though it can boast of neither +mountain peak nor dark fiord, and would seem tame enough in the +eyes of a western Scot or Irishman, yet Torbay surely has a soft +beauty of its own. The rounded hills slope gently to the +sea, spotted with squares of emerald grass, and rich red fallow +fields, and parks full of stately timber trees. Long lines +of tall elms run down to the very water’s edge, their +boughs unwarped by any blast; here and there apple orchards are +bending under their loads of fruit, and narrow strips of +water-meadow line the glens, where the red cattle are already +lounging in richest pastures, within ten yards of the rocky +pebble beach. The shore is silent now, the tide far out: +but six hours hence it will be hurling columns of rosy foam high +into the sunlight, and sprinkling passengers, and cattle, and +trim gardens which hardly know what frost and snow may be, but +see the flowers of autumn meet the flowers of spring, and the old +year linger smilingly to twine a garland for the new.</p> +<p>No wonder that such a spot as Torquay, with its delicious +Italian climate, and endless variety of rich woodland, flowery +lawn, fantastic rock-cavern, and broad bright tide-sand, +sheltered from every wind of heaven except the soft south-east, +should have become a favourite haunt, not only for invalids, but +for naturalists. Indeed, it may well claim the honour of +being the original home of marine zoology and botany in England, +as the Firth of Forth, under the auspices of Sir J. G. Dalyell, +has been for Scotland. For here worked Montagu, Turton, and +Mrs. Griffith, to whose extraordinary powers of research English +marine botany almost owes its existence, and who survived to an +age long beyond the natural term of man, to see, in her cheerful +and honoured old age, that knowledge become popular and general +which she pursued for many a year unassisted and alone. +Here, too, the scientific succession is still maintained by Mr. +Pengelly and Mr. Gosse, the latter of whom by his delightful and, +happily, well-known books has done more for the study of marine +zoology than any other living man. Torbay, moreover, from +the variety of its rocks, aspects, and sea-floors, where +limestones alternate with traps, and traps with slates, while at +the valley-mouth the soft sandstones and hard conglomerates of +the new red series slope down into the tepid and shallow waves, +affords an abundance and variety of animal and vegetable life, +unequalled, perhaps, in any other part of Great Britain. It +cannot boast, certainly, of those strange deep-sea forms which +Messrs. Alder, Goodsir, and Laskey dredge among the lochs of the +western Highlands, and the sub-marine mountain glens of the +Zetland sea; but it has its own varieties, its own ever-fresh +novelties: and in spite of all the research which has been +lavished on its shores, a naturalist cannot, I suspect, work +there for a winter without discovering forms new to science, or +meeting with curiosities which have escaped all observers, since +the lynx eye of Montagu espied them full fifty years ago.</p> +<p>Follow us, then, reader, in imagination, out of the gay +watering-place, with its London shops and London equipages, along +the broad road beneath the sunny limestone cliff, tufted with +golden furze; past the huge oaks and green slopes of Tor Abbey; +and past the fantastic rocks of Livermead, scooped by the waves +into a labyrinth of double and triple caves, like Hindoo temples, +upborne on pillars banded with yellow and white and red, a +week’s study, in form and colour and chiaro-oscuro, for any +artist; and a mile or so further along a pleasant road, with +land-locked glimpses of the bay, to the broad sheet of sand which +lies between the village of Paignton and the sea—sands +trodden a hundred times by Montagu and Turton, perhaps, by +Dillwyn and Gaertner, and many another pioneer of science. +And once there, before we look at anything else, come down +straight to the sea marge; for yonder lies, just left by the +retiring tide, a mass of life such as you will seldom see +again. It is somewhat ugly, perhaps, at first sight; for +ankle-deep are spread, for some ten yards long by five broad, +huge dirty bivalve shells, as large as the hand, each with its +loathly grey and black siphons hanging out, a confused mass of +slimy death. Let us walk on to some cleaner heap, and leave +these, the great Lutraria Elliptica, which have been lying buried +by thousands in the sandy mud, each with the point of its long +siphon above the surface, sucking in and driving out again the +salt water on which it feeds, till last night’s +ground-swell shifted the sea-bottom, and drove them up hither to +perish helpless, but not useless, on the beach.</p> +<p>See, close by is another shell bed, quite as large, but comely +enough to please any eye. What a variety of forms and +colours are there, amid the purple and olive wreaths of wrack, +and bladder-weed, and tangle (ore-weed, as they call it in the +south), and the delicate green ribbons of the Zostera (the only +English flowering plant which grows beneath the sea). What +are they all? What are the long white razors? What +are the delicate green-grey scimitars? What are the tapering +brown spires? What the tufts of delicate yellow plants like +squirrels’ tails, and lobsters’ horns, and tamarisks, +and fir-trees, and all other finely cut animal and vegetable +forms? What are the groups of grey bladders, with something +like a little bud at the tip? What are the hundreds of +little pink-striped pears? What those tiny babies’ +heads, covered with grey prickles instead of hair? The +great red star-fish, which Ulster children call “the bad +man’s hands;” and the great whelks, which the youth +of Musselburgh know as roaring buckies, these we have seen +before; but what, oh what, are the red capsicums?—</p> +<p>Yes, what are the red capsicums? and why are they poking, +snapping, starting, crawling, tumbling wildly over each other, +rattling about the huge mahogany cockles, as big as a +child’s two fists, out of which they are protruded? +Mark them well, for you will perhaps never see them again. +They are a Mediterranean species, or rather three species, left +behind upon these extreme south-western coasts, probably at the +vanishing of that warmer ancient epoch, which clothed the Lizard +Point with the Cornish heath, and the Killarney mountains with +Spanish saxifrages, and other relics of a flora whose home is now +the Iberian peninsula and the sunny cliffs of the Riviera. +Rare on every other shore, even in the west, it abounds in Torbay +at certain, or rather uncertain, times, to so prodigious an +amount, that the dredge, after five minutes’ scrape, will +sometimes come up choked full of this great cockle only. +You will see hundreds of them in every cove for miles this day; a +seeming waste of life, which would be awful, in our eyes, were +not the Divine Ruler, as His custom is, making this destruction +the means of fresh creation, by burying them in the sands, as +soon as washed on shore, to fertilize the strata of some future +world. It is but a shell-fish truly; but the great Cuvier +thought it remarkable enough to devote to its anatomy elaborate +descriptions and drawings, which have done more perhaps than any +others to illustrate the curious economy of the whole class of +bivalve, or double-shelled, mollusca. (Plate II. Fig. +3.)</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image65" href="images/p65b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 2: 1. Cardium Rusticum, (tuberculatum). 2. Pagurus +Bernhardi, in a Periwinkle Shell" +title= +"Plate 2: 1. Cardium Rusticum, (tuberculatum). 2. Pagurus +Bernhardi, in a Periwinkle Shell" + src="images/p65s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>That red capsicum is the foot of the animal contained in the +cockleshell. By its aid it crawls, leaps, and burrows in +the sand, where it lies drinking in the salt water through one of +its siphons, and discharging it again through the other. +Put the shell into a rock pool, or a basin of water, and you will +see the siphons clearly. The valves gape apart some +three-quarters of an inch. The semi-pellucid orange +“mantle” fills the intermediate space. Through +that mantle, at the end from which the foot curves, the siphons +protrude; two thick short tubes joined side by side, their lips +fringed with pearly cirri, or fringes; and very beautiful they +are. The larger is always open, taking in the water, which +is at once the animal’s food and air, and which, flowing +over the delicate inner surface of the mantle, at once oxygenates +its blood, and fills its stomach with minute particles of decayed +organized matter. The smaller is shut. Wait a minute, +and it will open suddenly and discharge a jet of clear water, +which has been robbed, I suppose, of its oxygen and its organic +matter. But, I suppose, your eyes will be rather attracted +by that same scarlet and orange foot, which is being drawn in and +thrust out to a length of nearly four inches, striking with its +point against any opposing object, and sending the whole shell +backwards with a jerk. The point, you see, is sharp and +tongue-like; only flattened, not horizontally, like a tongue, but +perpendicularly, so as to form, as it was intended, a perfect +sand-plough, by which the animal can move at will, either above +or below the surface of the sand. <a name="citation67"></a><a +href="#footnote67" class="citation">[67]</a></p> +<p>But for colour and shape, to what shall we compare it? +To polished cornelian, says Mr. Gosse. I say, to one of the +great red capsicums which hang drying in every Covent-garden +seedsman’s window. Yet is either simile better than +the guess of a certain lady, who, entering a room wherein a +couple of Cardium tuberculatum were waltzing about a plate, +exclaimed, “Oh dear! I always heard that my pretty +red coral came out of a fish, and here it is all +alive!”</p> +<p>“C. tuberculatum,” says Mr. Gosse (who described +it from specimens which I sent him in 1854), “is far the +finest species. The valves are more globose and of a warmer +colour; those that I have seen are even more +spinous.” Such may have been the case in those I +sent: but it has occurred to me now and then to dredge specimens +of C. aculeatum, which had escaped that rolling on the sand fatal +in old age to its delicate spines, and which equalled in colour, +size, and perfectness the noble one figured in poor dear old Dr. +Turton’s “British Bivalves.” Besides, +aculeatum is a far thinner and more delicate shell. And a +third species, C. echinatum, with curves more graceful and +continuous, is to be found now and then with the two +former. In it, each point, instead of degenerating into a +knot, as in tuberculatum, or developing from delicate flat +briar-prickles into long straight thorns, as in aculeatum, is +close-set to its fellow, and curved at the point transversely to +the shell, the whole being thus horrid with hundreds of strong +tenterhooks, making his castle impregnable to the raveners of the +deep. For we can hardly doubt that these prickles are meant +as weapons of defence, without which so savoury a morsel as the +mollusc within (cooked and eaten largely on some parts of our +south coast) would be a staple article of food for sea-beasts of +prey. And it is noteworthy, first, that the defensive +thorns which are permanent on the two thinner species, aculeatum +and echinatum, disappear altogether on the thicker one, +tuberculatum, as old age gives him a solid and heavy globose +shell; and next, that he too, while young and tender, and liable +therefore to be bored through by whelks and such murderous +univalves, does actually possess the same briar-prickles, which +his thinner cousins keep throughout life. Nevertheless, +prickles, in all three species, are, as far as we can see, +useless in Torbay, where no wolf-fish (Anarrhichas lupus) or +other owner of shell-crushing jaws wanders, terrible to lobster +and to cockle. Originally intended, as we suppose, to face +the strong-toothed monsters of the Mediterranean, these +foreigners have wandered northward to shores where their armour +is not now needed; and yet centuries of idleness and security +have not been able to persuade them to lay it by. +This—if my explanation is the right one—is but one +more case among hundreds in which peculiarities, useful doubtless +to their original possessors, remain, though now useless, in +their descendants. Just so does the tame ram inherit the +now superfluous horns of his primeval wild ancestors, though he +fights now—if he fights at all—not with his horns, +but with his forehead.</p> +<p>Enough of Cardium tuberculatum. Now for the other +animals of the heap; and first, for those long white +razors. They, as well as the grey scimitars, are Solens, +Razor-fish (Solen siliqua and S. ensis), burrowers in the sand by +that foot which protrudes from one end, nimble in escaping from +the Torquay boys, whom you will see boring for them with a long +iron screw, on the sands at low tide. They are very good to +eat, these razor-fish; at least, for those who so think them; and +abound in millions upon all our sandy shores. <a +name="citation70"></a><a href="#footnote70" +class="citation">[70]</a></p> +<p>Now for the tapering brown spires. They are +Turritellæ, snail-like animals (though the form of the +shell is different), who crawl and browse by thousands on the +beds of Zostera, or grass wrack, which you see thrown about on +the beach, and which grows naturally in two or three fathoms +water. Stay: here is one which is “more than +itself.” On its back is mounted a cluster of +barnacles (Balanus Porcatus), of the same family as those which +stud the tide-rocks in millions, scratching the legs of hapless +bathers. Of them, I will speak presently; for I may have a +still more curious member of the family to show you. But +meanwhile, look at the mouth of the shell; a long grey worm +protrudes from it, which is not the rightful inhabitant. He +is dead long since, and his place has been occupied by one +Sipunculus Bernhardi; a wight of low degree, who connects +“radiate” with annulate forms—in plain English, +sea-cucumbers (of which we shall see some soon) with +sea-worms. But however low in the scale of comparative +anatomy, he has wit enough to take care of himself; mean ugly +little worm as he seems. For finding the mouth of the +Turritella too big for him, he has plastered it up with sand and +mud (Heaven alone knows how), just as a wry-neck plasters up a +hole in an apple-tree when she intends to build therein, and has +left only a round hole, out of which he can poke his +proboscis. A curious thing is this proboscis, when seen +through the magnifier. You perceive a ring of tentacles +round the mouth, for picking up I know not what; and you will +perceive, too, if you watch it, that when he draws it in, he +turns mouth, tentacles and all, inwards, and so down into his +stomach, just as if you were to turn the finger of a glove inward +from the tip till it passed into the hand; and so performs, every +time he eats, the clown’s as yet ideal feat, of jumping +down his own throat. <a name="citation72"></a><a +href="#footnote72" class="citation">[72]</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image73" href="images/p73b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 1: Flustra Lineata etc." +title= +"Plate 1: Flustra Lineata etc." + src="images/p73s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>So much have we seen on one little shell. But there is +more to see close to it. Those yellow plants which I +likened to squirrels’ tails and lobsters’ horns, and +what not, are zoophytes of different kinds. Here is +Sertularia argentea (true squirrel’s tail); here, S. +filicula, as delicate as tangled threads of glass; here, +abietina; here, rosacea. The lobsters’ horns are +Antennaria antennina; and mingled with them are Plumulariæ, +always to be distinguished from Sertulariæ by polypes +growing on one side of the branch, and not on both. Here is +falcata, with its roots twisted round a sea-weed. Here is +cristata, on the same weed; and here is a piece of the beautiful +myriophyllum, which has been battered in its long journey out of +the deep water about the ore rock. For all these you must +consult Johnson’s “Zoophytes,” and for a dozen +smaller species, which you would probably find tangled among +them, or parasitic on the sea-weed. Here are Flustræ, +or sea-mats. This, which smells very like Verbena, is +Flustra coriacea (Pl. I. Fig. 2). That scurf on the frond +of ore-weed is F. lineata (Pl. Fig. 1). The glass bells +twined about this Sertularia are Campanularia syringa (Pl. I. +Fig. 9); and here is a tiny plant of Cellularia ciliata (Pl. I. +Fig. 8). Look at it through the field-glass; for it is +truly wonderful. Each polype cell is edged with whip-like +spines, and on the back of some of them is—what is it, but +a live vulture’s head, snapping and snapping—what +for?</p> +<p>Nay, reader, I am here to show you what can be seen: but as +for telling you what can be known, much more what cannot, I +decline; and refer you to Johnson’s +“Zoophytes,” wherein you will find that several +species of polypes carry these same birds’ heads: but +whether they be parts of the polype, and of what use they are, no +man living knoweth.</p> +<p>Next, what are the striped pears? They are sea-anemones, +and of a species only lately well known, Sagartia viduata, the +snake-locked anemone (Pl. V. Fig. 3 <a name="citation74"></a><a +href="#footnote74" class="citation">[74]</a>). They have +been washed off the loose stones to which they usually adhere by +the pitiless roll of the ground-swell; however, they are not so +far gone, but that if you take one of them home, and put it in a +jar of water, it will expand into a delicate compound flower, +which can neither be described nor painted, of long pellucid +tentacles, hanging like a thin bluish cloud over a disk of +mottled brown and grey.</p> +<p>Here, adhering to this large whelk, is another, but far larger +and coarser. It is Sagartia parasitica, one of our largest +British species; and most singular in this, that it is almost +always (in Torbay, at least,) found adhering to a whelk: but +never to a live one; and for this reason. The live whelk +(as you may see for yourself when the tide is out) burrows in the +sand in chase of hapless bivalve shells, whom he bores through +with his sharp tongue (always, cunning fellow, close to the +hinge, where the fish is), and then sucks out their life. +Now, if the anemone stuck to him, it would be carried under the +sand daily, to its own disgust. It prefers, therefore, the +dead whelk, inhabited by a soldier crab, Pagurus Bernhardi (Pl. +II. Fig. 2), of which you may find a dozen anywhere as the +tide goes out; and travels about at the crab’s expense, +sharing with him the offal which is his food. Note, +moreover, that the soldier crab is the most hasty and blundering +of marine animals, as active as a monkey, and as subject to +panics as a horse; wherefore the poor anemone on his back must +have a hard life of it; being knocked about against rocks and +shells, without warning, from morn to night and night to +morn. Against which danger, kind Nature, ever <i>maxima in +minimis</i>, has provided by fitting him with a stout leather +coat, which she has given, I believe, to no other of his +family.</p> +<p>Next, for the babies’ heads, covered with prickles, +instead of hair. They are sea-urchins, Amphidotus cordatus, +which burrow by thousands in the sand. These are of that +Spatangoid form, which you will often find fossil in the chalk, +and which shepherd boys call snakes’ heads. We shall +soon find another sort, an Echinus, and have time to talk over +these most strange (in my eyes) of all living animals.</p> +<p>There are a hundred more things to be talked of here: but we +must defer the examination of them till our return; for it wants +an hour yet of the dead low spring-tide; and ere we go home, we +will spend a few minutes at least on the rocks at Livermead, +where awaits us a strong-backed quarryman, with a strong-backed +crowbar, as is to be hoped (for he snapped one right across there +yesterday, falling miserably on his back into a pool thereby), +and we will verify Mr. Gosse’s observation, that—</p> +<p>“When once we have begun to look with curiosity on the +strange things that ordinary people pass over without notice, our +wonder is continually excited by the variety of phase, and often +by the uncouthness of form, under which some of the meaner +creatures are presented to us. And this is very specially +the case with the inhabitants of the sea. We can scarcely +poke or pry for an hour among the rocks, at low-water mark, or +walk, with an observant downcast eye, along the beach after a +gale, without finding some oddly-fashioned, suspicious-looking +being, unlike any form of life that we have seen before. +The dark concealed interior of the sea becomes thus invested with +a fresh mystery; its vast recesses appear to be stored with all +imaginable forms; and we are tempted to think there must be +multitudes of living creatures whose very figure and structure +have never yet been suspected.</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘O sea! old sea! who yet knows +half<br /> +Of thy wonders or thy pride!’”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Gosse’s</span> <i>Aquarium</i>, pp. 226, +227.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>These words have more than fulfilled themselves since they +were written. Those Deep-Sea dredgings, of which a detailed +account will be found in Dr. Wyville Thomson’s new and most +beautiful book, “The Depths of the Sea,” have +disclosed, of late years, wonders of the deep even more strange +and more multitudinous than the wonders of the shore. The +time is past when we thought ourselves bound to believe, with +Professor Edward Forbes, that only some hundred fathoms down, the +inhabitants of the sea-bottom “become more and more +modified, and fewer and fewer, indicating our approach towards an +abyss where life is either extinguished, or exhibits but a few +sparks to mark it’s lingering presence.”</p> +<p>Neither now need we indulge in another theory which had a +certain grandeur in it, and was not so absurd as it looks at +first sight,—namely, that, as Dr. Wyville Thomson puts it, +picturesquely enough, “in going down the sea water became, +under the pressure, gradually heavier and heavier, and that all +the loose things floated at different levels, according to their +specific weight,—skeletons of men, anchors and shot and +cannon, and last of all the broad gold pieces lost in the wreck +of many a galleon off the Spanish Main; the whole forming a kind +of ‘false bottom’ to the ocean, beneath which there +lay all the depth of clear still water, which was heavier than +molten gold.”</p> +<p>The facts are; first that water, being all but incompressible, +is hardly any heavier, and just as liquid, at the greatest depth, +than at the surface; and that therefore animals can move as +freely in it in deep as in shallow water; and next, that as the +fluids inside the body of a sea animal must be at the same +pressure as that of the water outside it, the two pressures must +balance each other; and the body, instead of being crushed in, +may be unconscious that it is living under a weight of two or +three miles of water. But so it is; as we gather our +curiosities at low-tide mark, or haul the dredge a mile or two +out at sea, we may allow our fancy to range freely out to the +westward, and down over the subaqueous cliffs of the +hundred-fathom line, which mark the old shore of the British +Isles, or rather of a time when Britain and Ireland were part of +the continent, through water a mile, and two, and three miles +deep, into total darkness, and icy cold, and a pressure which, in +the open air, would crush any known living creature to a jelly; +and be certain that we shall find the ocean-floor teeming +everywhere with multitudinous life, some of it strangely like, +some strangely unlike, the creatures which we see along the +shore.</p> +<p>Some strangely like. You may find, for instance, among +the sea-weed, here and there, a little black sea-spider, a +Nymphon, who has this peculiarity, that possessing no body at all +to speak of, he carries his needful stomach in long branches, +packed inside his legs. The specimens which you will find +will probably be half an inch across the legs. An almost +exactly similar Nymphon has been dredged from the depths of the +Arctic and Antarctic oceans, nearly two feet across.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image81" href="images/p81b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Nymphon Abyssorum, Norman" +title= +"Nymphon Abyssorum, Norman" + src="images/p81s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>You may find also a quaint little shrimp, <i>Caprella</i>, +clinging by its hind claws to sea-weed, and waving its gaunt +grotesque body to and fro, while it makes mesmeric passes with +its large fore claws,—one of the most ridiculous of +Nature’s many ridiculous forms. Those which you will +find will be some quarter of an inch in length; but in the cold +area of the North Atlantic, their cousins, it is now found, are +nearly three inches long, and perch in like manner, not on +sea-weeds, for there are none so deep, but on branching +sponges.</p> +<p>These are but two instances out of many of forms which were +supposed to be peculiar to shallow shores repeating themselves at +vast depths: thus forcing on us strange questions about changes +in the distribution and depth of the ancient seas; and forcing +us, also, to reconsider the old rules by which rocks were +distinguished as deep-sea or shallow-sea deposits according to +the fossils found in them.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image83" href="images/p83b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Caprella spinosissima, Norman" +title= +"Caprella spinosissima, Norman" + src="images/p83s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>As for the new forms, and even more important than them, the +ancient forms, supposed to have been long extinct, and only known +as fossils, till they were lately rediscovered alive in the +nether darkness,—for them you must consult Dr. Wyville +Thomson’s book, and the notices of the +“Challenger’s” dredgings which appear from time +to time in the columns of “Nature;” for want of space +forbids my speaking of them here.</p> +<p>But if you have no time to read “The Depths of the +Sea,” go at least to the British Museum, or if you be a +northern man, to the admirable public museum at Liverpool; ask to +be shown the deep-sea forms; and there feast your curiosity and +your sense of beauty for an hour. Look at the Crinoids, or +stalked star-fishes, the “Lilies of living stone,” +which swarmed in the ancient seas, in vast variety, and in such +numbers that whole beds of limestone are composed of their +disjointed fragments; but which have vanished out of our modern +seas, we know not why, till, a few years since, almost the only +known living species was the exquisite and rare Pentacrinus +asteria, from deep water off the Windward Isles of the West +Indies.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image85" href="images/p85b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Pentacrinus asteria, Linnæus" +title= +"Pentacrinus asteria, Linnæus" + src="images/p85s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Of this you will see a specimen or two both at Liverpool and +in the British Museum; and near them, probably, specimens of the +new-old Crinoids, discovered of late years by Professor Sars, Mr. +Gwyn Jeffreys, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Wyville Thomson, and the other +deep-sea disciples of the mythic Glaucus, the fisherman, who, +enamoured of the wonders of the sea, plunged into the blue abyss +once and for all, and became himself “the blue old man of +the sea.”</p> +<p>Next look at the corals, and Gorgonias, and all the sea-fern +tribe of branching polypidoms, and last, but not least, at the +glass sponges; first at the Euplectella, or Venus’s +flower-basket, which lives embedded in the mud of the seas of the +Philippines, supported by a glass frill “standing up round +it like an Elizabethan ruff.” Twenty years ago there +was but one specimen in Europe: now you may buy one for a pound +in any curiosity shop. I advise you to do so, and to +keep—as I have seen done—under a glass case, as a +delight to your eyes, one of the most exquisite, both for form +and texture, of natural objects.</p> +<p>Then look at the Hyalonemas, or glass-rope ocean floor by a +twisted wisp of strong flexible flint needles, somewhat on the +principle of a screw-pile. So strange and complicated is +their structure, that naturalists for a long while could +literally make neither head nor tail of them, as long as they had +only Japanese specimens to study, some of which the Japanese +dealers had, of malice prepense, stuck upside down into +Pholas-borings in stones. Which was top and which bottom; +which the thing itself, and which special parasites growing on +it; whether it was a sponge, or a zoophyte, or something else; at +one time even whether it was natural, or artificial and a +make-up,—could not be settled, even till a year or two +since. But the discovery of the same, or a similar, species +in abundance from the Butt of the Lows down to Setubal on the +Portuguese coast, where the deep-water shark fishers call it +“sea-whip,” has given our savants specimens enough to +make up their minds—that they really know little or nothing +about it, and probably will never know.</p> +<p>And do not forget, lastly, to ask, whether at Liverpool or at +the British Museum, for the Holtenias and their +congeners,—hollow sponges built up of glassy spicules, and +rooted in the mud by glass hairs, in some cases between two and +three feet long, as flexible and graceful as tresses of +snow-white silk.</p> +<p>Look at these, and a hundred kindred forms, and then see how +nature is not only “maxima in minimis”—greatest +in her least, but often “pulcherrima in +abditis”—fairest in her most hidden works; and how +the Creative Spirit has lavished, as it were, unspeakable +artistic skill on lowly-organized creature, never till now beheld +by man, and buried, not only in foul mud, but in their own +unsightly heap of living jelly.</p> +<p>But so it was from the beginning;—and this planet was +not made for man alone. Countless ages before we appeared +on earth the depths of the old chalk-ocean teemed with forms as +beautiful and perfect as those, their lineal descendants, which +the dredge now brings up from the Atlantic sea-floor; and if +there were—as my reason tells me that there must have +been—final moral causes for their existence, the only ones +which we have a right to imagine are these—that all, down +to the lowest Rhizopod, might delight themselves, however dimly, +in existing; and that the Lord might delight Himself in them.</p> +<p>Thus, much—alas! how little—about the wonders of +the deep. We, who are no deep-sea dredgers, must return +humbly to the wonders of the shore. And first, as after +descending the gap in the sea-wall we walk along the ribbed floor +of hard yellow sand, let me ask you to give a sharp look-out for +a round grey disc, about as big as a penny-piece, peeping out on +the surface. No; that is not it, that little lump: open it, +and you will find within one of the common little Venus +gallina.—The closet collectors have given it some new name +now, and no thanks to them: they are always changing the names, +instead of studying the live animals where Nature has put them, +in which case they would have no time for word-inventing. +Nay, I verify suspect that the names grow, like other things; at +least, they get longer and longer and more jaw-breaking every +year. The little bivalve, however, finding itself left by +the tide, has wisely shut up its siphons, and, by means of its +foot and its edges, buried itself in a comfortable bath of cool +wet sand, till the sea shall come back, and make it safe to crawl +and lounge about on the surface, smoking the sea-water instead of +tobacco. Neither is that depression what we seek. +Touch it, and out poke a pair of astonished and inquiring horns: +it is a long-armed crab, who saw us coming, and wisely shovelled +himself into the sand by means of his nether-end. Corystes +Cassivelaunus is his name, which he is said to have acquired from +the marks on his back, which are somewhat like a human +face. “Those long antennæ,” says my +friend, Mr. Lloyd <a name="citation90"></a><a href="#footnote90" +class="citation">[90]</a>—I have not verified the fact, but +believe it, as he knows a great deal about crabs, and I know next +to nothing—“form a tube through which a current of +water passes into the crab’s gills, free from the +surrounding sand.” Moreover, it is only the male who +has those strangely long fore-arms and claws; the female +contenting herself with limbs of a more moderate length. +Neither is that, though it might be, the hole down which what we +seek has vanished: but that burrow contains one of the long white +razors which you saw cast on shore at Paignton. The boys +close by are boring for them with iron rods armed with a screw, +and taking them in to sell in Torquay market, as excellent +food. But there is one, at last—a grey disc pouting +up through the sand. Touch it, and it is gone down, quick +as light. We must dig it out, and carefully, for it is a +delicate monster. At last, after ten minutes’ careful +work, we have brought up, from a foot depth or +more—what? A thick, dirty, slimy worm, without head +or tail, form or colour. A slug has more artistic beauty +about him. Be it so. At home in the aquarium (where, +alas! he will live but for a day or two, under the new irritation +of light) he will make a very different figure. That is one +of the rarest of British sea-animals, Peachia hastata (Pl. XII. +Fig. 1), which differs from most other British Actiniæ in +this, that instead of having like them a walking disc, it has a +free open lower end, with which (I know not how) it buries itself +upright in the sand, with its mouth just above the surface. +The figure on the left of the plate represents a curious cluster +of papillæ which project from one side of the mouth, and +are the opening of the oviduct. But his value consists, not +merely in his beauty (though that, really, is not small), but in +his belonging to what the long word-makers call an +“interosculant” group,—a party of genera and +species which connect families scientifically far apart, filling +up a fresh link in the great chain, or rather the great network, +of zoological classification. For here we have a simple, +and, as it were, crude form; of which, if we dared to indulge in +reveries, we might say that the Creative Mind realized it before +either Actiniæ or Holothurians, and then went on to perfect +the idea contained in it in two different directions; dividing it +into two different families, and making on its model, by adding +new organs, and taking away old ones, in one direction the whole +family of Actiniæ (sea-anemones), and in a quite opposite +one the Holothuriæ, those strange sea-cucumbers, with their +mouth-fringe of feathery gills, of which you shall see some +anon. Thus there has been, in the Creative Mind, as it gave +life to new species, a development of the idea on which older +species were created, in order—we may fancy—that +every mesh of the great net might gradually be supplied, and +there should be no gaps in the perfect variety of Nature’s +forms. This development is one which we must believe to be +at least possible, if we allow that a Mind presides over the +universe, and not a mere brute necessity, a Law (absurd misnomer) +without a Lawgiver; and to it (strangely enough coinciding here +and there with the Platonic doctrine of Eternal Ideas existing in +the Divine Mind) all fresh inductive discovery seems to point +more and more.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image92" href="images/p92b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"1. Peachia Hastata. 2. Uraster Rubens" +title= +"1. Peachia Hastata. 2. Uraster Rubens" + src="images/p92s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Let me speak freely a few words on this important +matter. Geology has disproved the old popular belief that +the universe was brought into being as it now exists by a single +fiat. We know that the work has been gradual; that the +earth</p> +<blockquote><p>“In tracts of fluent heat began,<br /> +The seeming prey of cyclic storms,<br /> +The home of seeming random forms,<br /> +Till, at the last, arose the man.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And we know, also, that these forms, “seeming +random” as they are, have appeared according to a law +which, as far as we can judge, has been on the whole one of +progress,—lower animals (though we cannot yet say, the +lowest) appearing first, and man, the highest mammal, “the +roof and crown of things,” one of the latest in the +series. We have no more right, let it be observed, to say +that man, the highest, appeared last, than that the lowest +appeared first. It was probably so, in both cases; but +there is as yet no positive proof of either; and as we know that +species of animals lower than those which already existed +appeared again and again during the various eras, so it is quite +possible that they may be appearing now, and may appear +hereafter: and that for every extinct Dodo or Moa, a new species +may be created, to keep up the equilibrium of the whole. +This is but a surmise: but it may be wise, perhaps, just now, to +confess boldly, even to insist on, its possibility, lest any +should fancy, from our unwillingness to allow it, that there +would be ought in it, if proved, contrary to sound religion.</p> +<p>I am, I must honestly confess, more and more unable to +perceive anything which an orthodox Christian may not hold, in +those physical theories of “evolution,” which are +gaining more and more the assent of our best zoologists and +botanists. All that they ask us to believe is, that +“species” and “families,” and indeed the +whole of organic nature, have gone through, and may still be +going through, some such development from a lowest germ, as we +know that every living individual, from the lowest zoophyte to +man himself, does actually go through. They apply to the +whole of the living world, past, present, and future, the law +which is undeniably at work on each individual of it. They +may be wrong, or they may be right: but what is there in such a +conception contrary to any doctrine—at least of the Church +of England? To say that this cannot be true; that species +cannot vary, because God, at the beginning, created each thing +“according to its kind,” is really to beg the +question; which is—Does the idea of “kind” +include variability or not? and if so, how much +variability? Now, “kind,” or +“species,” as we call it, is defined nowhere in the +Bible. What right have we to read our own definition into +the word?—and that against the certain fact, that some +“kinds” do vary, and that widely,—mankind, for +instance, and the animals and plants which he domesticates. +Surely that latter fact should be significant, to those who +believe, as I do, that man was created in the likeness of +God. For if man has the power, not only of making plants +and animals vary, but of developing them into forms of higher +beauty and usefulness than their wild ancestors possessed, why +should not the God in whose image he is made possess the same +power? If the old theological rule be +true—“There is nothing in man which was not first in +God” (sin, of course, excluded)—then why should not +this imperfect creative faculty in man be the very guarantee that +God possesses it in perfection?</p> +<p>Such at least is the conclusion of one who, studying certain +families of plants, which indulge in the most fantastic varieties +of shape and size, and yet through all their vagaries +retain—as do the Palms, the Orchids, the +Euphorbiaceæ—one organ, or form of organs, peculiar +and highly specialized, yet constant throughout the whole of each +family, has been driven to the belief that each of these three +families, at least, has “sported off” from one common +ancestor—one archetypal Palm, one archetypal Orchid, one +archetypal Euphorbia, simple, it may be, in itself, but endowed +with infinite possibilities of new and complex beauty, to be +developed, not in it, but in its descendants. He has asked +himself, sitting alone amid the boundless wealth of tropic +forests, whether even then and there the great God might not be +creating round him, slowly but surely, new forms of beauty? +If he chose to do it, could He not do it? That man found +himself none the worse Christian for the thought. He has +said—and must be allowed to say again, for he sees no +reason to alter his words—in speaking of the wonderful +variety of forms in the Euphorbiaceæ, from the weedy +English Euphorbias, the Dog’s Mercuries, and the Box, to +the prickly-stemmed Scarlet Euphorbia of Madagascar, the +succulent Cactus-like Euphorbias of the Canaries and elsewhere; +the Gale-like Phyllanthus; the many-formed Crotons; the Hemp-like +Maniocs, Physic-nuts, Castor-oils, the scarlet Poinsettia, the +little pink and yellow Dalechampia, the poisonous Manchineel, and +the gigantic Hura, or sandbox tree, of the West Indies,—all +so different in shape and size, yet all alike in their most +peculiar and complex fructification, and in their acrid milky +juice,—“What if all these forms are the descendants +of one original form? Would that be one whit the more +wonderful than the theory that they were, each and all, with the +minute, and often imaginary, shades of difference between certain +cognate species among them, created separately and at once? +But if it be so—which I cannot allow—what would the +theologian have to say, save that God’s works are even more +wonderful than he always believed them to be? As for the +theory being impossible—that is to be decided by men of +science, on strict experimental grounds. As for us +theologians, who are we, that we should limit, à priori, +the power of God? ‘Is anything too hard for the +Lord?’ asked the prophet of old; and we have a right to ask +it as long as the world shall last. If it be said that +‘natural selection,’ or, as Mr. Herbert Spencer +better defines it, the ‘survival of the fittest,’ is +too simple a cause to produce such fantastic variety—that, +again, is a question to be settled exclusively by men of science, +on their own grounds. We, meanwhile, always knew that God +works by very simple, or seemingly simple, means; that the +universe, as far as we could discern it, was one organization of +the most simple means. It was wonderful—or should +have been—in our eyes, that a shower of rain should make +the grass grow, and that the grass should become flesh, and the +flesh food for the thinking brain of man. It was—or +ought to have been—more wonderful yet to us that a child +should resemble its parents, or even a butterfly resemble, if not +always, still usually, its parents likewise. Ought God to +appear less or more august in our eyes if we discover that the +means are even simpler than we supposed? We held Him to be +Almighty and All-wise. Are we to reverence Him less or more +if we find Him to be so much mightier, so much wiser, than we +dreamed, that He can not only make all things, but—the very +perfection of creative power—<i>make all things make +themselves</i>? We believed that His care was over all His +works; that His providence worked perpetually over the +universe. We were taught—some of us at least—by +Holy Scripture, that without Him not a sparrow fell to the +ground, and that the very hairs of our head were all numbered; +that the whole history of the universe was made up, in fact, of +an infinite network of special providences. If, then, that +should be true which a great naturalist writes, ‘It may be +metaphorically said that natural selection is daily and hourly +scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the +slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up +all that is good; silently and insensibly working, whenever and +wherever opportunity offers, at the improvement of each organic +being, in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of +life,’—if this, I say, were proved to be true, ought +God’s care and God’s providence to seem less or more +magnificent in our eyes? Of old it was said by Him without +whom nothing is made—‘My Father worketh hitherto, and +I work.’ Shall we quarrel with physical science, if +she gives us evidence that those words are true?”</p> +<p>And—understand it well—the grand passage I have +just quoted need not be accused of substituting “natural +selection for God.” In any case natural selection +would be only the means or law by which God works, as He does by +other natural laws. We do not substitute gravitation for +God, when we say that the planets are sustained in their orbits +by the law of gravitation. The theory about natural +selection may be untrue, or imperfect, as may the modern theories +of the “evolution and progress” of organic forms: let +the man of science decide that. But if true, the theories +seem to me perfectly to agree with, and may be perfectly +explained by, the simple old belief which the Bible sets before +us, of a <span class="smcap">Living God</span>: not a mere past +will, such as the Koran sets forth, creating once and for all, +and then leaving the universe, to use Goethe’s simile, +“to spin round his finger;” nor again, an +“all-pervading spirit,” words which are mere +contradictory jargon, concealing, from those who utter them, +blank Materialism: but One who works in all things which have +obeyed Him to will and to do of His good pleasure, keeping His +abysmal and self-perfect purpose, yet altering the methods by +which that purpose is attained, from æon to æon, ay, +from moment to moment, for ever various, yet for ever the +same. This great and yet most blessed paradox of the +Changeless God, who yet can say “It repenteth me,” +and “Behold, I work a new thing on the earth,” is +revealed no less by nature than by Scripture; the changeableness, +not of caprice or imperfection, but of an Infinite Maker and +“Poietes,” drawing ever fresh forms out of the +inexhaustible treasury of His primæval Mind; and yet never +throwing away a conception to which He has once given actual +birth in time and space, (but to compare reverently small things +and great) lovingly repeating it, re-applying it; producing the +same effects by endlessly different methods; or so delicately +modifying the method that, as by the turn of a hair, it shall +produce endlessly diverse effects; looking back, as it were, ever +and anon over the great work of all the ages, to retouch it, and +fill up each chasm in the scheme, which for some good purpose had +been left open in earlier worlds; or leaving some open (the +forms, for instance, necessary to connect the bimana and the +quadrumana) to be filled up perhaps hereafter when the world +needs them; the handiwork, in short, of a living and loving Mind, +perfect in His own eternity, but stooping to work in time and +space, and there rejoicing Himself in the work of His own hands, +and in His eternal Sabbaths ceasing in rest ineffable, that He +may look on that which He hath made, and behold it is very +good.</p> +<p>I speak, of course, under correction; for this conclusion is +emphatically matter of induction, and must be verified or +modified by ever-fresh facts: but I meet with many a Christian +passage in scientific books, which seems to me to go, not too +far, but rather not far enough, in asserting the God of the +Bible, as Saint Paul says, “not to have left Himself +without witness,” in nature itself, that He is the God of +grace. Why speak of the God of nature and the God of grace +as two antithetical terms? The Bible never, in a single instance, +makes the distinction; and surely, if God be (as He is) the +Eternal and Unchangeable One, and if (as we all confess) the +universe bears the impress of His signet, we have no right, in +the present infantile state of science, to put arbitrary limits +of our own to the revelation which He may have thought good to +make of Himself in nature. Nay, rather, let us believe +that, if our eyes were opened, we should fulfil the requirement +of Genius, to “see the universal in the particular,” +by seeing God’s whole likeness, His whole glory, reflected +as in a mirror even in the meanest flower; and that nothing but +the dulness of our own souls prevents them from seeing day and +night in all things, however small or trivial to human +eclecticism, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself fulfilling His own +saying, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”</p> +<p>To me it seems (to sum up, in a few words, what I have tried +to say) that such development and progress as have as yet been +actually discovered in nature, bear every trace of having been +produced by successive acts of thought and will in some personal +mind; which, however boundlessly rich and powerful, is still the +Archetype of the human mind; and therefore (for to this I confess +I have been all along tending) probably capable, without violence +to its properties, of becoming, like the human mind, +incarnate.</p> +<p>But to descend from these perhaps too daring speculations, +there is another, and more human, source of interest about the +animal who is writhing feebly in the glass jar of salt water; for +he is one of the many curiosities which have been added to our +fauna by that humble hero Mr. Charles Peach, the self-taught +naturalist, of whom, as we walk on toward the rocks, something +should be said, or rather read; for Mr. Chambers, in an +often-quoted passage from his Edinburgh Journal, which I must +have the pleasure of quoting once again, has told the story +better than we can tell it:—</p> +<p>“But who is that little intelligent-looking man in a +faded naval uniform, who is so invariably to be seen in a +particular central seat in this section? That, gentle +reader, is perhaps one of the most interesting men who attend the +British Association. He is only a private in the mounted +guard (preventive service) at an obscure part of the Cornwall +coast, with four shillings a day, and a wife and nine children, +most of whose education he has himself to conduct. He never +tastes the luxuries which are so common in the middle ranks of +life, and even amongst a large portion of the working +classes. He has to mend with his own hands every sort of +thing that can break or wear in his house. Yet Mr. Peach is +a votary of Natural History; not a student of the science in +books, for he cannot afford books; but an investigator by sea and +shore, a collector of Zoophytes and Echinodermata—strange +creatures, many of which are as yet hardly known to man. +These he collects, preserves, and describes; and every year does +he come up to the British Association with a few novelties of +this kind, accompanied by illustrative papers and drawings: thus, +under circumstances the very opposite of those of such men as +Lord Enniskillen, adding, in like manner, to the general stock of +knowledge. On the present occasion he is unusually elated, +for he has made the discovery of a Holothuria with twenty +tentacula, a species of the Echinodermata which Professor Forbes, +in his book on Star-Fishes, has said was never yet observed in +the British seas. It may be of small moment to you, who, +mayhap, know nothing of Holothurias: but it is a considerable +thing to the Fauna of Britain, and a vast matter to a poor +private of the Cornwall mounted guard. And accordingly he +will go home in a few days, full of the glory of his exhibition, +and strong anew by the kind notice taken of him by the masters of +the science, to similar inquiries, difficult as it may be to +prosecute them, under such a complication of duties, professional +and domestic. Honest Peach! humble as is thy home, and +simple thy bearing, thou art an honour even to this assemblage of +nobles and doctors: nay, more, when we consider everything, thou +art an honour to human nature itself; for where is the heroism +like that of virtuous, intelligent, independent poverty? +And such heroism is thine!”—<i>Chambers’ Edin. +Journ.</i>, Nov. 23, 1844.</p> +<p>Mr. Peach has been since rewarded in part for his long labours +in the cause of science, by having been removed to a more +lucrative post on the north coast of Scotland; the earnest, it is +to be hoped, of still further promotion.</p> +<p>I mentioned just now Synapta; or, as Montagu called it, +Chirodota: a much better name, and, I think, very uselessly +changed; for Chirodota expresses the peculiarity of the beast, +which consists in—start not, reader—twelve hands, +like human hands, while Synapta expresses merely its power of +clinging to the fingers, which it possesses in common with many +other animals. It is, at least, a beast worth talking +about; as for finding one, I fear that we have no chance of such +good fortune.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image109" href="images/p109b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 4: Synapta Digitata etc." +title= +"Plate 4: Synapta Digitata etc." + src="images/p109s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Colonel Montagu found them here some forty years ago; and +after him, Mr. Alder, in 1845. I found hundreds of them, +but only once, in 1854 after a heavy south-eastern gale, washed +up among the great Lutrariæ in a cove near Goodrington; but +all my dredging outside failed to procure a specimen—Mr. +Alder, however, and Mr. Cocks (who find everything, and will at +last certainly catch Midgard, the great sea-serpent, as Thor did, +by baiting for him with a bull’s head), have dredged them +in great numbers; the former, at Helford in Cornwall, the latter +on the west coast of Scotland. It seems, however, to be a +southern monster, probably a remnant, like the great cockle, of +the Mediterranean fauna; for Mr. MacAndrew finds them plentifully +in Vigo Bay, and J. Müller in the Adriatic, off Trieste.</p> +<p>But what is it like? Conceive a very fat short +earth-worm; not ringed, though, like the earth-worm, but smooth +and glossy, dappled with darker spots, especially on one side, +which may be the upper one. Put round its mouth twelve +little arms, on each a hand with four ragged fingers, and on the +back of the hand a stump of a thumb, and you have Synapta +Digitata (Plates IV. and V., from my drawings of the live +animal). These hands it puts down to its mouth, generally +in alternate pairs, but how it obtains its food by them is yet a +mystery, for its intestines are filled, like an +earth-worm’s, with the mud in which it lives, and from +which it probably extracts (as does the earth-worm) all organic +matters.</p> +<p>You will find it stick to your fingers by the whole skin, +causing, if your hand be delicate, a tingling sensation; and if +you examine the skin under the microscope, you will find the +cause. The whole skin is studded with minute glass anchors, +some hanging freely from the surface, but most imbedded in the +skin. Each of these anchors is jointed at its root into one +end of a curious cribriform plate,—in plain English, one +pierced like a sieve, which lies under the skin, and reminds one +of the similar plates in the skin of the White Cucumaria, which I +will show you presently; and both of these we must regard as the +first rudiments of an Echinoderm’s outside skeleton, such +as in the Sea-urchins covers the whole body of the animal. +(See on Echinus Millaris, p. 89.) <a +name="citation111"></a><a href="#footnote111" +class="citation">[111]</a> Somewhat similar anchor-plates, +from a Red Sea species, Synapta Vittata, may be seen in any +collection of microscopic objects.</p> +<p>The animal, when caught, has a strange habit of +self-destruction, contracting its skin at two or three different +points, and writhing till it snaps itself into +“junks,” as the sailors would say, and then +dies. My specimens, on breaking up, threw out from the +wounded part long “ovarian filaments” (whatsoever +those may be), similar to those thrown out by many of the +Sagartian anemones, especially S. parasitica. Beyond this, +I can tell you nothing about Synapta, and only ask you to +consider its hands, as an instance of that fantastic play of +Nature which repeats, in families widely different, organs of +similar form, though perhaps of by no means similar use; nay, +sometimes (as in those beautiful clear-wing hawk-moths which you, +as they hover round the rhododendrons, mistake for bumble-bees) +repeats the outward form of a whole animal, for no conceivable +reason save her—shall we not say honestly His?—own +good pleasure.</p> +<p>But here we are at the old bank of boulders, the ruins of an +antique pier which the monks of Tor Abbey built for their +convenience, while Torquay was but a knot of fishing huts within +a lonely limestone cove. To get to it, though, we have +passed many a hidden treasure; for every ledge of these flat +New-red-sandstone rocks, if torn up with the crowbar, discloses +in its cracks and crannies nests of strange forms which shun the +light of day; beautiful Actiniæ fill the tiny caverns with +living flowers; great Pholades (Plate X. figs. 3, 4) bore by +hundreds in the softer strata; and wherever a thin layer of muddy +sand intervenes between two slabs, long Annelid worms of +quaintest forms and colours have their horizontal burrows, among +those of that curious and rare radiate animal, the Spoonworm, <a +name="citation113"></a><a href="#footnote113" +class="citation">[113]</a> an eyeless bag about an inch long, +half bluish grey, half pink, with a strange scalloped and +wrinkled proboscis of saffron colour, which serves, in some +mysterious way, soft as it is, to collect food, and clear its +dark passage through the rock.</p> +<p>See, at the extreme low-water mark, where the broad olive +fronds of the Laminariæ, like fan-palms, droop and wave +gracefully in the retiring ripples, a great boulder which will +serve our purpose. Its upper side is a whole forest of +sea-weeds, large and small; and that forest, if you examined it +closely, as full of inhabitants as those of the Amazon or the +Gambia. To “beat” that dense cover would be an +endless task: but on the under side, where no sea-weeds grow, we +shall find full in view enough to occupy us till the tide +returns. For the slab, see, is such a one as sea-beasts +love to haunt. Its weed-covered surface shows that the +surge has not shifted it for years past. It lies on other +boulders clear of sand and mud, so that there is no fear of dead +sea-weed having lodged and decayed under it, destructive to +animal life. We can see dark crannies and caves beneath; +yet too narrow to allow the surge to wash in, and keep the +surface clean. It will be a fine menagerie of Nereus, if we +can but turn it.</p> +<p>Now the crowbar is well under it; heave, and with a will; and +so, after five minutes’ tugging, propping, slipping, and +splashing, the boulder gradually tips over, and we rush greedily +upon the spoil.</p> +<p>A muddy dripping surface it is, truly, full of cracks and +hollows, uninviting enough at first sight: let us look it round +leisurely, to see if there are not materials enough there for an +hour’s lecture.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image114" href="images/p114b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 9: Cucumaria Hyndmanni etc." +title= +"Plate 9: Cucumaria Hyndmanni etc." + src="images/p114s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>The first object which strikes the eye is probably a group of +milk-white slugs, from two to six inches long, cuddling snugly +together (Plate IX. fig. 1). You try to pull them off, and +find that they give you some trouble, such a firm hold have the +delicate white sucking arms, which fringe each of their five +edges. You see at the head nothing but a yellow dimple; for +eating and breathing are suspended till the return of tide; but +once settled in a jar of salt-water, each will protrude a large +chocolate-coloured head, tipped with a ring of ten feathery +gills, looking very much like a head of “curled +kale,” but of the loveliest white and primrose; in the +centre whereof lies perdu a mouth with sturdy teeth—if +indeed they, as well as the whole inside of the beast, have not +been lately got rid of, and what you see be not a mere bag, +without intestine or other organ: but only for the time +being. For hear it, worn-out epicures, and old Indians who +bemoan your livers, this little Holothuria knows a secret which, +if he could tell it, you would be glad to buy of him for +thousands sterling. To him blue pill and muriatic acid are +superfluous, and travels to German Brunnen a waste of time. +Happy Holothuria! who possesses really the secret of everlasting +youth, which ancient fable bestowed on the serpent and the +eagle. For when his teeth ache, or his digestive organs +trouble him, all he has to do is just to cast up forthwith his +entire inside, and, faisant maigre for a month or so, grow a +fresh set, and then eat away as merrily as ever. His name, +if you wish to consult so triumphant a hygeist, is Cucumaria +Pentactes: but he has many a stout cousin round the Scotch coast, +who knows the antibilious panacea as well as he, and submits, +among the northern fishermen, to the rather rude and undeserved +name of sea-puddings; one of which grows in Shetland to the +enormous length of three feet, rivalling there his huge +congeners, who display their exquisite plumes on every tropic +coral reef. <a name="citation116"></a><a href="#footnote116" +class="citation">[116]</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image117" href="images/p117b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 5: Balanophyllea Regia etc." +title= +"Plate 5: Balanophyllea Regia etc." + src="images/p117s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Next, what are those bright little buds, like salmon-coloured +Banksia roses half expanded, sitting closely on the stone? +Touch them; the soft part is retracted, and the orange flower of +flesh is transformed into a pale pink flower of stone. That +is the Madrepore, Caryophyllia Smithii (Plate V. fig. 2); one of +our south coast rarities: and see, on the lip of the last one, +which we have carefully scooped off with the chisel, two little +pink towers of stone, delicately striated; drop them into this +small bottle of sea-water, and from the top of each tower issues +every half-second—what shall we call it?—a hand or a +net of finest hairs, clutching at something invisible to our +grosser sense. That is the Pyrgoma, parasitic only (as far +as we know) on the lip of this same rare Madrepore; a little +“cirrhipod,” the cousin of those tiny barnacles which +roughen every rock (a larger sort whereof I showed you on the +Turritella), and of those larger ones also who burrow in the +thick hide of the whale, and, borne about upon his mighty sides, +throw out their tiny casting nets, as this Pyrgoma does, to catch +every passing animalcule, and sweep them into the jaws concealed +within its shell. And this creature, rooted to one spot +through life and death, was in its infancy a free swimming +animal, hovering from place to place upon delicate ciliæ, +till, having sown its wild oats, it settled down in life, built +itself a good stone house, and became a landowner, or rather a +glebæ adscriptus, for ever and a day. Mysterious +destiny!—yet not so mysterious as that of the free medusoid +young of every polype and coral, which ends as a rooted tree of +horn or stone, and seems to the eye of sensuous fancy to have +literally degenerated into a vegetable. Of them you must +read for yourself in Mr. Gosse’s book; in the meanwhile he +shall tell you something of the beautiful Madrepores +themselves. His description, <a name="citation118"></a><a +href="#footnote118" class="citation">[118]</a> by far the best +yet published, should be read in full; we must content ourselves +with extracts.</p> +<p>“Doubtless you are familiar with the stony skeleton of +our Madrepore, as it appears in museums. It consists of a +number of thin calcareous plates standing up edgewise, and +arranged in a radiating manner round a low centre. A little +below the margin their individuality is lost in the deposition of +rough calcareous matter. . . . The general form is more or less +cylindrical, commonly wider at top than just above the bottom. . +. . This is but the skeleton; and though it is a very pretty +object, those who are acquainted with it alone, can form but a +very poor idea of the beauty of the living animal. . . . Let it, +after being torn from the rock, recover its equanimity; then you +will see a pellucid gelatinous flesh emerging from between the +plates, and little exquisitely formed and coloured tentacula, +with white clubbed tips fringing the sides of the cup-shaped +cavity in the centre, across which stretches the oval disc marked +with a star of some rich and brilliant colour, surrounding the +central mouth, a slit with white crenated lips, like the orifice +of one of those elegant cowry shells which we put upon our +mantelpieces. The mouth is always more or less prominent, +and can be protruded and expanded to an astonishing extent. +The space surrounding the lips is commonly fawn colour, or rich +chestnut-brown; the star or vandyked circle rich red, pale +vermilion, and sometimes the most brilliant emerald green, as +brilliant as the gorget of a humming-bird.”</p> +<p>And what does this exquisitely delicate creature do with its +pretty mouth? Alas for fact! It sips no honey-dew, or +fruits from paradise.—“I put a minute spider, as +large as a pin’s head, into the water, pushing it down to +the coral. The instant it touched the tip of a tentacle, it +adhered, and was drawn in with the surrounding tentacles between +the plates. With a lens I saw the small mouth slowly open, +and move over to that side, the lips gaping unsymmetrically; +while with a movement as imperceptible as that of the hour hand +of a watch, the tiny prey was carried along between the plates to +the corner of the mouth. The mouth, however, moved most, +and at length reached the edges of the plates, gradually closed +upon the insect, and then returned to its usual place in the +centre.”</p> +<p>Mr. Gosse next tried the fairy of the walking mouth with a +house-fly, who escaped only by hard fighting; and at last the +gentle creature, after swallowing and disgorging various large +pieces of shell-fish, found viands to its taste in “the +lean of cooked meat and portions of earthworms,” filling up +the intervals by a perpetual dessert of microscopic animalcules, +whirled into that lovely avernus, its mouth, by the currents of +the delicate ciliæ which clothe every tentacle. The +fact is, that the Madrepore, like those glorious sea-anemones +whose living flowers stud every pool, is by profession a +scavenger and a feeder on carrion; and being as useful as he is +beautiful, really comes under the rule which he seems at first to +break, that handsome is who handsome does.</p> +<p>Another species of Madrepore <a name="citation121"></a><a +href="#footnote121" class="citation">[121]</a> was discovered on +our Devon coast by Mr. Gosse, more gaudy, though not so delicate +in hue as our Caryophyllia. Mr. Gosse’s locality, for +this and numberless other curiosities, is Ilfracombe, on the +north coast of Devon. My specimens came from Lundy Island, +in the mouth of the Bristol Channel, or more properly from that +curious “Rat Island” to the south of it, where still +lingers the black long-tailed English rat, exterminated +everywhere else by his sturdier brown cousin of the Hanoverian +dynasty.</p> +<p>Look, now, at these tiny saucers of the thinnest ivory, the +largest not bigger than a silver threepence, which contain in +their centres a milk-white crust of stone, pierced, as you see +under the magnifier, into a thousand cells, each with its living +architect within. Here are two kinds: in one the tubular +cells radiate from the centre, giving it the appearance of a tiny +compound flower, daisy or groundsel; in the other they are +crossed with waving grooves, giving the whole a peculiar fretted +look, even more beautiful than that of the former species. +They are Tubulipora patina and Tubulipora hispida;—and +stay—break off that tiny rough red wart, and look at its +cells also under the magnifier: it is Cellepora pumicosa; and +now, with the Madrepore, you hold in your hand the principal, at +least the commonest, British types of those famed coral insects, +which in the tropics are the architects of continents, and the +conquerors of the ocean surge. All the world, since the +publication of Darwin’s delightful “Voyage of the +Beagle,”‘ and of Williams’ “Missionary +Enterprises,” knows, or ought to know, enough about them: +for those who do not, there are a few pages in the beginning of +Dr. Landsborough’s “British Zoophytes,” well +worth perusal.</p> +<p>There are a few other true cellepore corals round the +coast. The largest of all, Cervicornis, may be dredged a +few miles outside on the Exmouth bank, with a few more +Tubulipores: but all tiny things, the lingering and, as it were, +expiring remnants of that great coral-world which, through the +abysmal depths of past ages, formed here in Britain our limestone +hills, storing up for generations yet unborn the materials of +agriculture and architecture. Inexpressibly interesting, +even solemn, to those who will think, is the sight of those puny +parasites which, as it were, connect the ages and the æons: +yet not so solemn and full of meaning as that tiny relic of an +older world, the little pear-shaped Turbinolia (cousin of the +Madrepores and Sea-anemones), found fossil in the Suffolk Crag, +and yet still lingering here and there alive in the deep water of +Scilly and the west coast of Ireland, possessor of a pedigree +which dates, perhaps, from ages before the day in which it was +said, “Let us make man in our image, after our +likeness.” To think that the whole human race, its +joys and its sorrows, its virtues and its sins, its aspirations +and its failures, has been rushing out of eternity and into +eternity again, as Arjoon in the Bhagavad Gita beheld the race of +men issuing from Kreeshna’s flaming mouth, and swallowed up +in it again, “as the crowds of insects swarm into the +flame, as the homeless streams leap down into the ocean +bed,” in an everlasting heart-pulse whose blood is living +souls—and all that while, and ages before that mystery +began, that humble coral, unnoticed on the dark sea-floor, has +been “continuing as it was at the beginning,” and +fulfilling “the law which cannot be broken,” while +races and dynasties and generations have been</p> +<blockquote><p>“Playing such fantastic tricks before high +heaven,<br /> +As make the angels weep.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Yes; it is this vision of the awful permanence and perfection +of the natural world, beside the wild flux and confusion, the mad +struggles, the despairing cries of the world of spirits which man +has defiled by sin, which would at moments crush the +naturalist’s heart, and make his brain swim with terror, +were it not that he can see by faith, through all the abysses and +the ages, not merely</p> + +<blockquote><p> “Hands,<br +/> +From out the darkness, shaping man;”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>but above them a living loving countenance, human and yet +Divine; and can hear a voice which said at first, “Let us +make man in our image;” and hath said since then, and says +for ever and for ever, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to +the end of the world.”</p> +<p>But now, friend, who listenest, perhaps instructed, and at +least amused—if, as Professor Harvey well says, the simpler +animals represent, as in a glass, the scattered organs of the +higher races, which of your organs is represented by that +“sca’d man’s head,” which the Devon +children more gracefully, yet with less adherence to plain +likeness, call “mermaid’s head,” <a +name="citation126a"></a><a href="#footnote126a" +class="citation">[126a]</a> which we picked up just now on +Paignton Sands? Or which, again, by its more beautiful +little congener, <a name="citation126b"></a><a +href="#footnote126b" class="citation">[126b]</a> five or six of +which are adhering tightly to the slab before us, a ball covered +with delicate spines of lilac and green, and stuck over (cunning +fellows!) with stripes of dead sea-weed to serve as improvised +parasols? One cannot say that in him we have the first type +of the human skull: for the resemblance, quaint as it is, is only +sensuous and accidental, (in the logical use of that term,) and +not homological, <i>i.e.</i> a lower manifestation of the same +idea. Yet how is one tempted to say, that this was +Nature’s first and lowest attempt at that use of hollow +globes of mineral for protecting soft fleshy parts, which she +afterwards developed to such perfection in the skulls of +vertebrate animals! But even that conceit, pretty as it +sounds, will not hold good; for though Radiates similar to these +were among the earliest tenants of the abyss, yet as early as +their time, perhaps even before them, had been conceived and +actualized, in the sharks, and in Mr. Hugh Miller’s pets +the old red sandstone fishes, that very true vertebrate skull and +brain, of which this is a mere mockery. <a +name="citation127"></a><a href="#footnote127" +class="citation">[127]</a> Here the whole animal, with his +extraordinary feeding mill, (for neither teeth nor jaws is a fit +word for it,) is enclosed within an ever-growing limestone +castle, to the architecture of which the Eddystone and the +Crystal Palace are bungling heaps; without arms or legs, eyes or +ears, and yet capable, in spite of his perpetual imprisonment, of +walking, feeding, and breeding, doubt it not, merrily +enough. But this result has been attained at the expense of +a complication of structure, which has baffled all human analysis +and research into final causes. As much concerning this +most miraculous of families as is needful to be known, and ten +times more than you are likely to understand, may be read in +Harvey’s “Sea-Side Book,” pp. +142–148,—pages from which you will probably arise +with a sense of the infinity and complexity of Nature, even in +what we are pleased to call her “lower” forms, and +the simplest and, as it were, easiest forms of life. +Conceive a Crystal Palace, (for mere difference in size, as both +the naturalist and the metaphysician know, has nothing to do with +the wonder,) whereof each separate joist, girder, and pane grows +continually without altering the shape of the whole; and you have +conceived only one of the miracles embodied in that little +sea-egg, which the Creator has, as it were, to justify to man His +own immutability, furnished with a shell capable of enduring +fossil for countless ages, that we may confess Him to have been +as great when first His Spirit brooded on the deep, as He is now +and will be through all worlds to come.</p> +<p>But we must make haste; for the tide is rising fast, and our +stone will be restored to its eleven hours’ bath, long +before we have talked over half the wonders which it holds. +Look though, ere you retreat, at one or two more.</p> +<p>What is that little brown thing whom you have just taken off +the rock to which it adhered so stoutly by his +sucking-foot? A limpet? Not at all: he is of quite a +different family and structure; but, on the whole, a limpet-like +shell would suit him well enough, so he had one given him: +nevertheless, owing to certain anatomical peculiarities, he +needed one aperture more than a limpet; so one, if you will +examine, has been given him at the top of his shell. <a +name="citation129"></a><a href="#footnote129" +class="citation">[129]</a> This is one instance among a +thousand of the way in which a scientific knowledge of objects +must not obey, but run counter to, the impressions of sense; and +of a custom in nature which makes this caution so necessary, +namely, the repetition of the same form, slightly modified, in +totally different animals, sometimes as if to avoid waste, (for +why should not the same conception be used in two different +cases, if it will suit in both?) and sometimes (more marvellous +by far) when an organ, fully developed and useful in one species, +appears in a cognate species but feeble, useless, and, as it +were, abortive; and gradually, in species still farther removed, +dies out altogether; placed there, it would seem, at first sight, +merely to keep up the family likeness. I am half jesting; +that cannot be the only reason, perhaps not the reason at all; +but the fact is one of the most curious, and notorious also, in +comparative anatomy.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image129" href="images/p129b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 10: Serpula Contortuplicata etc." +title= +"Plate 10: Serpula Contortuplicata etc." + src="images/p129s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Look, again, at those sea-slugs. One, some three inches +long, of a bright lemon-yellow, clouded with purple; another of a +dingy grey; <a name="citation130a"></a><a href="#footnote130a" +class="citation">[130a]</a> another exquisite little creature of +a pearly French White, <a name="citation130b"></a><a +href="#footnote130b" class="citation">[130b]</a> furred all over +the back with what seem arms, but are really gills, of ringed +white and grey and black. Put that yellow one into water, +and from his head, above the eyes, arise two serrated horns, +while from the after-part of his back springs a circular +Prince-of-Wales’s-feather of gills,—they are almost +exactly like those which we saw just now in the white +Cucumaria. Yes; here is another instance of the same custom +of repetition. The Cucumaria is a low radiate +animal—the sea-slug a far higher mollusc; and every organ +within him is formed on a different type; as indeed are those +seemingly identical gills, if you come to examine them under the +microscope, having to oxygenate fluids of a very different and +more complicated kind; and, moreover, the Cucumaria’s gills +were put round his mouth, the Doris’s feathers round the +other extremity; that grey Eolis’s, again, are simple +clubs, scattered over his whole back, and in each of his +nudibranch congeners these same gills take some new and fantastic +form; in Melibæa those clubs are covered with warts; in +Scyllæa, with tufted bouquets; in the beautiful Antiopa +they are transparent bags; and in many other English species they +take every conceivable form of leaf, tree, flower, and branch, +bedecked with every colour of the rainbow, as you may see them +depicted in Messrs. Alder and Hancock’s unrivalled +Monograph on the Nudibranch Mollusca.</p> +<p>And now, worshipper of final causes and the mere useful in +nature, answer but one question,—Why this prodigal +variety? All these Nudibranchs live in much the same way: +why would not the same mould have done for them all? And +why, again, (for we must push the argument a little further,) why +have not all the butterflies, at least all who feed on the same +plant, the same markings? Of all unfathomable triumphs of +design, (we can only express ourselves thus, for honest +induction, as Paley so well teaches, allows us to ascribe such +results only to the design of some personal will and mind,) what +surpasses that by which the scales on a butterfly’s wing +are arranged to produce a certain pattern of artistic beauty +beyond all painter’s skill? What a waste of power, on +any utilitarian theory of nature! And once more, why are +those strange microscopic atomies, the Diatomaceæ and +Infusoria, which fill every stagnant pool; which fringe every +branch of sea-weed; which form banks hundreds of miles long on +the Arctic sea-floor, and the strata of whole moorlands; which +pervade in millions the mass of every iceberg, and float aloft in +countless swarms amid the clouds of the volcanic dust;—why +are their tiny shells of flint as fantastically various in their +quaint mathematical symmetry, as they are countless beyond the +wildest dreams of the Poet? Mystery inexplicable on the +conceited notion which, making man forsooth the centre of the +universe, dares to believe that this variety of forms has existed +for countless ages in abysmal sea-depths and untrodden forests, +only that some few individuals of the Western races might, in +these latter days, at last discover and admire a corner here and +there of the boundless realms of beauty. Inexplicable, +truly, if man be the centre and the object of their existence; +explicable enough to him who believes that God has created all +things for Himself, and rejoices in His own handiwork, and that +the material universe is, as the wise man says, “A platform +whereon His Eternal Spirit sports and makes melody.” +Of all the blessings which the study of nature brings to the +patient observer, let none, perhaps, be classed higher than this: +that the further he enters into those fairy gardens of life and +birth, which Spenser saw and described in his great poem, the +more he learns the awful and yet most comfortable truth, that +they do not belong to him, but to One greater, wiser, lovelier +than he; and as he stands, silent with awe, amid the pomp of +Nature’s ever-busy rest, hears, as of old, “The Word +of the Lord God walking among the trees of the garden in the cool +of the day.”</p> +<p>One sight more, and we have done. I had something to +say, had time permitted, on the ludicrous element which appears +here and there in nature. There are animals, like monkeys +and crabs, which seem made to be laughed at; by those at least +who possess that most indefinable of faculties, the sense of the +ridiculous. As long as man possesses muscles especially +formed to enable him to laugh, we have no right to suppose (with +some) that laughter is an accident of our fallen nature; or to +find (with others) the primary cause of the ridiculous in the +perception of unfitness or disharmony. And yet we shrink +(whether rightly or wrongly, we can hardly tell) from attributing +a sense of the ludicrous to the Creator of these forms. It +may be a weakness on my part; at least I will hope it is a +reverent one: but till we can find something corresponding to +what we conceive of the Divine Mind in any class of phenomena, it +is perhaps better not to talk about them at all, but observe a +stoic “epoche,” waiting for more light, and yet +confessing that our own laughter is uncontrollable, and therefore +we hope not unworthy of us, at many a strange creature and +strange doing which we meet, from the highest ape to the lowest +polype.</p> +<p>But, in the meanwhile, there are animals in which results so +strange, fantastic, even seemingly horrible, are produced, that +fallen man may be pardoned, if he shrinks from them in +disgust. That, at least, must be a consequence of our own +wrong state; for everything is beautiful and perfect in its +place. It may be answered, “Yes, in its place; but +its place is not yours. You had no business to look at it, +and must pay the penalty for intermeddling.” I doubt +that answer; for surely, if man have liberty to do anything, he +has liberty to search out freely his heavenly Father’s +works; and yet every one seems to have his antipathic animal; and +I know one bred from his childhood to zoology by land and sea, +and bold in asserting, and honest in feeling, that all without +exception is beautiful, who yet cannot, after handling and +petting and admiring all day long every uncouth and venomous +beast, avoid a paroxysm of horror at the sight of the common +house-spider. At all events, whether we were intruding or +not, in turning this stone, we must pay a fine for having done +so; for there lies an animal as foul and monstrous to the eye as +“hydra, gorgon, or chimæra dire,” and yet so +wondrously fitted to its work, that we must needs endure for our +own instruction to handle and to look at it. Its name, if +you wish for it, is Nemertes; probably N. Borlasii; <a +name="citation136"></a><a href="#footnote136" +class="citation">[136]</a> a worm of very “low” +organization, though well fitted enough for its own work. +You see it? That black, shiny, knotted lump among the +gravel, small enough to be taken up in a dessert spoon. +Look now, as it is raised and its coils drawn out. Three +feet—six—nine, at least: with a capability of +seemingly endless expansion; a slimy tape of living caoutchouc, +some eighth of an inch in diameter, a dark chocolate-black, with +paler longitudinal lines. Is it alive? It hangs, +helpless and motionless, a mere velvet string across the +hand. Ask the neighbouring Annelids and the fry of the rock +fishes, or put it into a vase at home, and see. It lies +motionless, trailing itself among the gravel; you cannot tell +where it begins or ends; it may be a dead strip of sea-weed, +Himanthalia lorea, perhaps, or Chorda filum; or even a tarred +string. So thinks the little fish who plays over and over +it, till he touches at last what is too surely a head. In +an instant a bell-shaped sucker mouth has fastened to his +side. In another instant, from one lip, a concave double +proboscis, just like a tapir’s (another instance of the +repetition of forms), has clasped him like a finger; and now +begins the struggle: but in vain. He is being +“played” with such a fishing-line as the skill of a +Wilson or a Stoddart never could invent; a living line, with +elasticity beyond that of the most delicate fly-rod, which +follows every lunge, shortening and lengthening, slipping and +twining round every piece of gravel and stem of sea-weed, with a +tiring drag such as no Highland wrist or step could ever bring to +bear on salmon or on trout. The victim is tired now; and +slowly, and yet dexterously, his blind assailant is feeling and +shifting along his side, till he reaches one end of him; and then +the black lips expand, and slowly and surely the curved finger +begins packing him end-foremost down into the gullet, where he +sinks, inch by inch, till the swelling which marks his place is +lost among the coils, and he is probably macerated to a pulp long +before he has reached the opposite extremity of his cave of +doom. Once safe down, the black murderer slowly contracts +again into a knotted heap, and lies, like a boa with a stag +inside him, motionless and blest. <a name="citation138"></a><a +href="#footnote138" class="citation">[138]</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image136" href="images/p136b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Nemerties Borlasii etc.: Plate 3" +title= +"Nemerties Borlasii etc.: Plate 3" + src="images/p136s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>There; we must come away now, for the tide is over our ankles; +but touch, before you go, one of those little red mouths which +peep out of the stone. A tiny jet of water shoots up almost +into your face. The bivalve <a name="citation139a"></a><a +href="#footnote139a" class="citation">[139a]</a> who has burrowed +into the limestone knot (the softest part of the stone to his +jaws, though the hardest to your chisel) is scandalized at having +the soft mouths of his siphons so rudely touched, and taking your +finger for some bothering Annelid, who wants to nibble him, is +defending himself; shooting you, as naturalists do humming-birds, +with water. Let him rest in peace; it will cost you ten +minutes’ hard work, and much dirt, to extract him; but if +you are fond of shells, secure one or two of those beautiful pink +and straw-coloured scallops (Hinnites pusio, Plate X. fig. 1), +who have gradually incorporated the layers of their lower valve +with the roughnesses of the stone, destroying thereby the +beautiful form which belongs to their race, but not their +delicate colour. There are a few more bivalves too, +adhering to the stone, and those rare ones, and two or three +delicate Mangeliæ and Nassæ <a +name="citation139b"></a><a href="#footnote139b" +class="citation">[139b]</a> are trailing their graceful spires up +and down in search of food. That little bright red and +yellow pea, too, touch it—the brilliant coloured cloak is +withdrawn, and, instead, you have a beautiful ribbed pink cowry, +<a name="citation140a"></a><a href="#footnote140a" +class="citation">[140a]</a> our only European representative of +that grand tropical family. Cast one wondering glance, too, +at the forest of zoophytes and corals, Lepraliæ and +Flustræ, and those quaint blue stars, set in brown jelly, +which are no zoophytes, but respectable molluscs, each with his +well-formed mouth and intestines, <a name="citation140b"></a><a +href="#footnote140b" class="citation">[140b]</a> but combined in +a peculiar form of Communism, of which all one can say is, that +one hopes they like it; and that, at all events, they agree +better than the heroes and heroines of Mr. Hawthorne’s +“Blithedale Romance.”</p> +<p>Now away, and as a specimen of the fertility of the +water-world, look at this rough list of species, <a +name="citation140c"></a><a href="#footnote140c" +class="citation">[140c]</a> the greater part of which are on this +very stone, and all of which you might obtain in an hour, would +the rude tide wait for zoologists: and remember that the number +of individuals of each species of polype must be counted by tens +of thousands; and also, that, by searching the forest of +sea-weeds which covers the upper surface, we should probably +obtain some twenty minute species more.</p> +<p>A goodly catalogue this, surely, of the inhabitants of three +or four large stones; and yet how small a specimen of the +multitudinous nations of the sea!</p> +<p>From the bare rocks above high-water mark, down to abysses +deeper than ever plummet sounded, is life, everywhere life; fauna +after fauna, and flora after flora, arranged in zones, according +to the amount of light and warmth which each species requires, +and to the amount of pressure which they are able to +endure. The crevices of the highest rocks, only sprinkled +with salt spray in spring-tides and high gales, have their +peculiar little univalves, their crisp lichen-like sea-weed, in +myriads; lower down, the region of the Fuci (bladder-weeds) has +its own tribes of periwinkles and limpets; below again, about the +neap-tide mark, the region of the corallines and Algæ +furnishes food for yet other species who graze on its watery +meadows; and beneath all, only uncovered at low spring-tide, the +zone of the Laminariæ (the great tangles and ore-weeds) is +most full of all of every imaginable form of life. So that +as we descend the rocks, we may compare ourselves (likening small +things to great) to those who, descending the Andes, pass in a +single day from the vegetation of the Arctic zone to that of the +Tropics. And here and there, even at half-tide level, deep +rock-basins, shaded from the sun and always full of water, keep +up in a higher zone the vegetation of a lower one, and afford in +nature an analogy to those deep “barrancos” which +split the high table-land of Mexico, down whose awful cliffs, +swept by cool sea-breezes, the traveller looks from among the +plants and animals of the temperate zone, and sees far below, dim +through their everlasting vapour-bath of rank hot steam, the +mighty forms and gorgeous colours of a tropic forest.</p> +<p>“I do not wonder,” says Mr. Gosse, in his charming +“Naturalist’s Rambles on the Devonshire Coast” +(p. 187), “that when Southey had an opportunity of seeing +some of those beautiful quiet basins hollowed in the living rock, +and stocked with elegant plants and animals, having all the charm +of novelty to his eye, they should have moved his poetic fancy, +and found more than one place in the gorgeous imagery of his +Oriental romances. Just listen to him</p> +<blockquote><p>“It was a garden still beyond all price,<br +/> +Even yet it was a place of paradise;<br /> +* * * * * *<br /> + And here were coral bowers,<br /> + And grots of madrepores,<br /> +And banks of sponge, as soft and fair to eye<br /> + As e’er +was mossy bed<br /> + Whereon the wood-nymphs lie<br /> +With languid limbs in summer’s sultry hours.<br /> + Here, too, were living flowers,<br +/> + Which, like a bud compacted,<br /> + Their purple cups contracted;<br +/> + And now in open blossom spread,<br +/> +Stretch’d, like green anthers, many a seeking head.<br /> + And arborets of jointed stone were +there,<br /> +And plants of fibres fine as silkworm’s thread;<br /> + Yea, beautiful as mermaid’s +golden hair<br /> + Upon the waves +dispread.<br /> +Others that, like the broad banana growing,<br /> +Raised their long wrinkled leaves of purple hue,<br /> + Like streamers wide +outflowing.’—<i>Kehama</i>, xvi. 5.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“A hundred times you might fancy you saw the type, the +very original of this description, tracing, line by line, and +image by image, the details of the picture; and acknowledging, as +you proceed, the minute truthfulness with which it has been +drawn. For such is the loveliness of nature in these +secluded reservoirs, that the accomplished poet, when depicting +the gorgeous scenes of Eastern mythology—scenes the wildest +and most extravagant that imagination could paint—drew not +upon the resources of his prolific fancy for imagery here, but +was well content to jot down the simple lineaments of Nature as +he saw her in plain, homely England.</p> +<p>“It is a beautiful and fascinating sight for those who +have never seen it before, to see the little shrubberies of pink +coralline—‘the arborets of jointed +stone’—that fringe those pretty pools. It is a +charming sight to see the crimson banana-like leaves of the +Delesseria waving in their darkest corners; and the purple +fibrous tufts of Polysiphonia and Ceramia, ‘fine as +silkworm’s thread.’ But there are many others +which give variety and impart beauty to these tide-pools. +The broad leaves of the Ulva, finer than the finest cambric, and +of the brightest emerald-green, adorn the hollows at the highest +level, while, at the lowest, wave tiny forests of the feathery +Ptilota and Dasya, and large leaves, cut into fringes and +furbelows, of rosy Rhodymeniæ. All these are lovely +to behold; but I think I admire as much as any of them, one of +the commonest of our marine plants, Chondrus crispus. It +occurs in the greatest profusion on this coast, in every pool +between tide-marks; and everywhere—except in those of the +highest level, where constant exposure to light dwarfs the plant, +and turns it of a dull umber-brown tint—it is elegant in +form and brilliant in colour. The expanding fan-shaped +fronds, cut into segments, cut, and cut again, make fine bushy +tufts in a deep pool, and every segment of every frond reflects a +flush of the most lustrous azure, like that of a tempered +sword-blade.”—<span +class="smcap">Gosse’s</span> <i>Devonshire Coast</i>, pp. +187–189.</p> +<p>And the sea-bottom, also, has its zones, at different depths, +and its peculiar forms in peculiar spots, affected by the +currents and the nature of the ground, the riches of which have +to be seen, alas! rather by the imagination than the eye; for +such spoonfuls of the treasure as the dredge brings up to us, +come too often rolled and battered, torn from their sites and +contracted by fear, mere hints to us of what the populous reality +below is like. Often, standing on the shore at low tide, +has one longed to walk on and in under the waves, as the +water-ousel does in the pools of the mountain burn, and see it +all but for a moment; and a solemn beauty and meaning has +invested the old Greek fable of Glaucus the fisherman: how eating +of the herb which gave his fish strength to leap back into their +native element, he was seized on the spot with a strange longing +to follow them under the waves, and became for ever a companion +of the fair semi-human forms with which the Hellenic poets +peopled their sunny bays and firths, feeding “silent +flocks” far below on the green Zostera beds, or basking +with them on the sunny ledges in the summer noon, or wandering in +the still bays on sultry nights amid the choir of Amphitrite and +her sea-nymphs:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Joining the bliss of the gods, as they +waken the coves with their laughter,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>in nightly revels, whereof one has sung,—</p> +<blockquote><p>“So they came up in their joy; and before +them the roll of the surges<br /> +Sank, as the breezes sank dead, into smooth green foam-flecked +marble<br /> +Awed; and the crags of the cliffs, and the pines of the +mountains, were silent.<br /> +So they came up in their joy, and around them the lamps of the +sea-nymphs,<br /> +Myriad fiery globes, swam heaving and panting, and rainbows,<br +/> +Crimson, and azure, and emerald, were broken in star-showers, +lighting,<br /> +Far in the wine-dark depths of the crystal, the gardens of +Nereus,<br /> +Coral, and sea-fan, and tangle, the blooms and the palms of the +ocean.<br /> +So they went on in their joy, more white than the foam which they +scattered,<br /> +Laughing and singing and tossing and twining; while, eager, the +Tritons<br /> +Blinded with kisses their eyes, unreproved, and above them in +worship<br /> +Fluttered the terns, and the sea-gulls swept past them on silvery +pinions,<br /> +Echoing softly their laughter; around them the wantoning +dolphins<br /> +Sighed as they plunged, full of love; and the great sea-horses +which bore them<br /> +Curved up their crests in their pride to the delicate arms of +their riders,<br /> +Pawing the spray into gems, till a fiery rainfall, unharming,<br +/> +Sparkled and gleamed on the limbs of the maids, and the coils of +the mermen.<br /> +So they went on in their joy, bathed round with the fiery +coolness,<br /> +Needing nor sun nor moon, self-lighted, immortal: but others,<br +/> +Pitiful, floated in silence apart; on their knees lay the +sea-boys<br /> +Whelmed by the roll of the surge, swept down by the anger of +Nereus;<br /> +Hapless, whom never again upon quay or strand shall their +mothers<br /> +Welcome with garlands and vows to the temples; but, wearily +pining,<br /> +Gaze over island and main for the sails which return not; they, +heedless,<br /> +Sleep in soft bosoms for ever, and dream of the surge and the +sea-maids.<br /> +So they passed by in their joy, like a dream, on the murmuring +ripple.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Such a rhapsody may be somewhat out of order, even in a +popular scientific book; and yet one cannot help at moments +envying the old Greek imagination, which could inform the +soulless sea-world with a human life and beauty. For, after +all, star-fishes and sea-anemones are dull substitutes for Sirens +and Tritons; the lamps of the sea-nymphs, those glorious +phosphorescent medusæ whose beauty Mr. Gosse sets forth so +well with pen and pencil, are not as attractive as the sea-nymphs +themselves would be; and who would not, like Menelaus, take the +grey old man of the sea himself asleep upon the rocks, rather +than one of his seal-herd, probably too with the same result as +the world-famous combat in the Antiquary, between Hector and +Phoca? And yet—is there no human interest in these +pursuits, more humanity and more divine, than there would be even +in those Triton and Nereid dreams, if realized to sight and +sense? Heaven forbid that those should say so, whose +wanderings among rock and pool have been mixed up with holiest +passages of friendship and of love, and the intercommunion of +equal minds and sympathetic hearts, and the laugh of children +drinking in health from every breeze and instruction at every +step, running ever and anon with proud delight to add their +little treasure to their parents’ stock, and of happy +friendly evenings spent over the microscope and the vase, in +examining, arranging, preserving, noting down in the diary the +wonders and the labours of the happy, busy day. No; such +short glimpses of the water-world as our present appliances +afford us are full enough of pleasure; and we will not envy +Glaucus: we will not even be over-anxious for the success of his +only modern imitator, the French naturalist who is reported to +have fitted himself with a waterproof dress and breathing +apparatus, in order to walk the bottom of the Mediterranean, and +see for himself how the world goes on at the fifty-fathom line: +we will be content with the wonders of the shore and of the +sea-floor, as far as the dredge will discover them to us. +We shall even thus find enough to occupy (if we choose) our +lifetime. For we must recollect that this hasty sketch has +hardly touched on that vegetable water-world, which is as +wonderful and as various as the animal one. A hint or two +of the beauty of the sea-weeds has been given; but space has +allowed no more. Yet we might have spent our time with +almost as much interest and profit, had we neglected utterly the +animals which we have found, and devoted our attention +exclusively to the flora of the rocks. Sea-weeds are no +mere playthings for children; and to buy at a shop some thirty +pretty kinds, pasted on paper, with long names (probably +mis-spelt) written under each, is not by any means to possess a +collection of them. Putting aside the number and the +obscurity of their species, the questions which arise in studying +their growth, reproduction, and organic chemistry are of the very +deepest and most important in the whole range of science; and it +will need but a little study of such a book as Harvey’s +“Algæ,” to show the wise man that he who has +comprehended (which no man yet does) the mystery of a single +spore or tissue-cell, has reached depths in the great +“Science of Life” at which an Owen would still +confess himself “blind by excess of light.” +“Knowest thou how the bones grow in the womb?” asks +the Jewish sage, sadly, half self-reprovingly, as he discovers +that man is not the measure of all things, and that in much +learning may be vanity and vexation of spirit, and in much study +a weariness of the flesh; and all our deeper physical science +only brings the same question more awfully near. +“Vilior algâ,” more worthless than the very +sea-weed, says the old Roman: and yet no torn scrap of that very +sea-weed, which to-morrow may manure the nearest garden, but says +to us, “Proud man! talking of spores and vesicles, if thou +darest for a moment to fancy that to have seen spores and +vesicles is to have seen <i>me</i>, or to know what I am, answer +this. Knowest thou how the bones do grow in the womb? +Knowest thou even how one of these tiny black dots, which thou +callest spores, grow on my fronds?” And to that +question what answer shall we make? We see tissues divide, +cells develop, processes go on—but How and Why? These are +but phenomena; but what are phenomena save effects? Causes, it +may be, of other effects; but still effects of other +causes. And why does the cause cause that effect? Why +should it not cause something else? Why should it cause +anything at all? Because it obeys a law. But why does it +obey the law? and how does it obey the law? And, after all, +what is a law? A mere custom of Nature. We see the +same phenomenon happen a great many times; and we infer from +thence that it has a custom of happening; and therefore we call +it a law: but we have not seen the law; all we have seen is the +phenomenon which we suppose to indicate the law. We have +seen things fall: but we never saw a little flying thing pulling +them down, with “gravitation” labelled on its back; +and the question, <i>why</i> things fall, and <i>how</i>, is just +where it was before Newton was born, and is likely to remain +there. All we can say is, that Nature has her customs, and +that other customs ensue, when those customs appear: but that as +to what connects cause and effect, as to what is the reason, the +final cause, or even the <i>causa causans</i>, of any phenomenon, +we know not more but less than ever; for those laws or customs +which seem to us simplest (“endosmose,” for instance, +or “gravitation”), are just the most inexplicable, +logically unexpected, seemingly arbitrary, certainly +supernatural—miraculous, if you will; for no natural and +physical cause whatsoever can be assigned for them; while if +anyone shall argue against their being miraculous and +supernatural on the ground of their being so common, I can only +answer, that of all absurd and illogical arguments, this is the +most so. For what has the number of times which the miracle +occurs to do with the question, save to increase the +wonder? Which is more strange, that an inexplicable and +unfathomable thing should occur once and for all, or that it +should occur a million times every day all the world over?</p> +<p>Let those, however, who are too proud to wonder, do as seems +good to them. Their want of wonder will not help them +toward the required explanation: and to them, as to us, as soon +as we begin asking, “<i>How</i>?” and +“<i>Why</i>?” the mighty Mother will only reply with +that magnificent smile of hers, most genial, but most silent, +which she has worn since the foundation of all worlds; that +silent smile which has tempted many a man to suspect her of +irony, even of deceit and hatred of the human race; the silent +smile which Solomon felt, and answered in +“Ecclesiastes;” which Goethe felt, and did not answer +in his “Faust;” which Pascal felt, and tried to +answer in his “Thoughts,” and fled from into +self-torture and superstition, terrified beyond his powers of +endurance, as he found out the true meaning of St. John’s +vision, and felt himself really standing on that fragile and +slippery “sea of glass,” and close beneath him the +bottomless abyss of doubt, and the nether fires of moral +retribution. He fled from Nature’s silent smile, as +that poor old King Edward (mis-called the Confessor) fled from +her hymns of praise, in the old legend of Havering-atte-bower, +when he cursed the nightingales because their songs confused him +in his prayers: but the wise man need copy neither, and fear +neither the silence nor the laughter of the mighty mother Earth, +if he will be but wise, and hear her tell him, alike in +both—“Why call me mother? Why ask me for knowledge +which I cannot teach, peace which I cannot give or take +away? I am only your foster-mother and your nurse—and +I have not been an unkindly one. But you are God’s +children, and not mine. Ask Him. I can amuse you with +my songs; but they are but a nurse’s lullaby to the weary +flesh. I can awe you with my silence; but my silence is +only my just humility, and your gain. How dare I pretend to +tell you secrets which He who made me knows alone? I am but +inanimate matter; why ask of me things which belong to living +spirit? In God I live and move, and have my being; I know +not how, any more than you know. Who will tell you what +life is, save He who is the Lord of life? And if He will +not tell you, be sure it is because you need not to know. +At least, why seek God in nature, the living among the +dead? He is not here: He is risen.”</p> +<p>He is not here: He is risen. Good reader, you will +probably agree that to know that saying, is to know the key-note +of the world to come. Believe me, to know it, and all it +means, is to know the keynote of this world also, from the fall +of dynasties and the fate of nations, to the sea-weed which rots +upon the beach.</p> +<p>It may seem startling, possibly (though I hope not, for my +readers’ sake, irreverent), to go back at once after such +thoughts, be they true or false, to the weeds upon the cliff +above our heads. But He who is not here, but is risen, yet +is here, and has appointed them their services in a wonderful +order; and I wish that on some day, or on many days, when a quiet +sea and offshore breezes have prevented any new objects from +coming to land with the rising tide, you would investigate the +flowers peculiar to our sea-rocks and sandhills. Even if +you do not find the delicate lily-like Trichonema of the Channel +Islands and Dawlish, or the almost as beautiful Squill of the +Cornish cliffs, or the sea-lavender of North Devon, or any of +those rare Mediterranean species which Mr. Johns has so +charmingly described in his “Week at the Lizard +Point,” yet an average cliff, with its carpeting of pink +thrift and of bladder catchfly, and Lady’s finger, and +elegant grasses, most of them peculiar to the sea marge, is often +a very lovely flower-bed.</p> +<p>Not merely interesting, too, but brilliant in their vegetation +are sandhills; and the seemingly desolate dykes and banks of salt +marshes will yield many a curious plant, which you may neglect if +you will: but lay to your account the having to repent your +neglect hereafter, when, finding out too late what a pleasant +study botany is, you search in vain for curious forms over which +you trod every day in crossing flats which seemed to you utterly +ugly and uninteresting, but which the good God was watching as +carefully as He did the pleasant hills inland: perhaps even more +carefully; for the uplands He has completed, and handed over to +man, that he may dress and keep them: but the tide-flats below +are still unfinished, dry land in the process of creation, to +which every tide is adding the elements of fertility, which shall +grow food, perhaps in some future state of our planet, for +generations yet unborn.</p> +<p>But to return to the water-world, and to dredging; which of +all sea-side pursuits is perhaps the most pleasant, combining as +it does fine weather sailing with the discovery of new objects, +to which, after all, the waifs and strays of the beach, whether +“flotsom jetsom, or lagand,” as the old Admiralty +laws define them, are few and poor. I say particularly fine +weather sailing; for a swell, which makes the dredge leap along +the bottom, instead of scraping steadily, is as fatal to sport as +it is to some people’s comfort. But dredging, if you +use a pleasure boat and the small naturalist’s dredge, is +an amusement in which ladies, if they will, may share, and which +will increase, and not interfere with, the amusements of a +water-party.</p> +<p>The naturalist’s dredge, of which Mr. Gosse’s +“Aquarium” gives a detailed account, should differ +from the common oyster dredge in being smaller; certainly not +more than four feet across the mouth; and instead of having but +one iron scraping-lip like the oyster dredge, it should have two, +one above and one below, so that it will work equally well on +whichsoever side it falls, or how often soever it may be turned +over by rough ground. The bag-net should be of strong +spunyarn, or (still better) of hide “such as those hides of +the wild cattle of the Pampas, which the tobacconists receive +from South America,” cut into thongs, and netted +close. It should be loosely laced together with a thong at +the tail edge in order to be opened easily, when brought on +board, without canting the net over, and pouring the contents +roughly out through the mouth. The dragging-rope should be +strong, and at least three times as long as the perpendicular +depth of the water in which you are working; if, indeed, there is +much breeze, or any swell at all, still more line should be +veered out. The inboard end should be made fast somewhere +in the stern sheets, the dredge hove to windward, the boat put +before the wind; and you may then amuse yourself as you will for +the next quarter of an hour, provided that you have got ready +various wide-mouthed bottles for the more delicate monsters, and +a couple of buckets, to receive the large lumps of oysters and +serpulæ which you will probably bring to the surface.</p> +<p>As for a dredging ground, one may be found, I suppose, off +every watering-place. The most fertile spots are in rough +ground, in not less than five fathoms water. The deeper the +water, the rarer and more interesting will the animals generally +be: but a greater depth than fifteen fathoms is not easily +reached on this side of Plymouth; and, on the whole, the beginner +will find enough in seven or eight fathoms to stock an aquarium +rivalling any of those in the “Tank-house” at the +Zoological Gardens.</p> +<p>In general, the south coast of England, to the eastward of +Portland, affords bad dredging ground. The friable cliffs, +of comparatively recent formations, keep the sea shallow, and the +bottom smooth and bare, by the vast deposits of sand and +gravel. Yet round the Isle of Wight, especially at the back +of the Needles, there ought to be fertile spots; and Weymouth, +according to Mr. Gosse and other well-known naturalists, is a +very garden of Nereus. Torbay, as may well be supposed, is +an admirable dredging spot; perhaps its two best points are round +the isolated Thatcher and Oare-rock, and from the mouth of +Brixham harbour to Berry Head; along which last line, for perhaps +three hundred years, the decks of all Brixham trawlers have been +washed down ere running into harbour, and the sea-bottom thus +stored with treasures scraped up from deeper water in every +direction for miles and miles.</p> +<p>Hastings is, I fear, but a poor spot for dredging. Its +friable cliffs and strong tides produce a changeable and barren +sea-floor. Yet the immense quantities of Flustra thrown up +after a storm indicate dredging ground at no great distance +outside; its rocks, uninteresting as they are compared with our +Devonians, have yielded to the industry and science of M. +Tumanowicz a vast number of sea-weeds and sponges. Those +three curious polypes, Valkeria cuscuta (Plate I. fig. 3), +Notamia Bursaria, and Serialaria Lendigera, abound within +tide-marks; and as the place is so much visited by Londoners, it +may be worth while to give a few hints as to what might be done, +by anyone whose curiosity has been excited by the salt-water +tanks of the Zoological Gardens and the Crystal Palace.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image163" href="images/p163b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 11: Syngnathus Lumbriciformis etc." +title= +"Plate 11: Syngnathus Lumbriciformis etc." + src="images/p163s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>An hour or two’s dredging round the rocks to the +eastward, would probably yield many delicate and brilliant little +fishes; Gobies, brilliant Labri, blue, yellow, and orange, with +tiny rabbit mouths, and powerful protruding teeth; pipe fishes +(Syngnathi) <a name="citation163"></a><a href="#footnote163" +class="citation">[163]</a> with strange snipe-bills (which they +cannot open) and snake-like bodies; small cuttlefish +(Sepiolæ) of a white jelly mottled with brilliant metallic +hues, with a ring of suckered arms round their tiny +parrots’ beaks, who, put into a jar, will hover and dart in +the water, as the skylark does in air, by rapid winnowings of +their glassy side-fins, while they watch you with bright +lizard-eyes; the whole animal being a combination of the +vertebrate and the mollusc, so utterly fantastic and abnormal, +that (had not the family been amongst the commonest, from the +earliest geological epochs) it would have seemed, to man’s +deductive intellect, a form almost as impossible as the mermaid, +far more impossible than the sea-serpent. These, and +perhaps a few handsome sea-slugs and bivalve shells, you will be +pretty sure to find: perhaps a great deal more.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, without dredging, you may find a good deal on the +shore. In the spring Doris bilineata comes to the rocks in +thousands, to lay its strange white furbelows of spawn upon their +overhanging edges. Eolides of extraordinary beauty haunt +the same spots. The great Eolis papillosa, of a delicate +French grey; Eolis pellucida (?) (Plate X. fig. 4), in which each +papilla on the back is beautifully coloured with a streak of +pink, and tipped with iron blue; and a most fantastical yellow +little creature, so covered with plumes and tentacles that the +body is invisible, which I believe to be the Idalia aspersa of +Alder and Hancock.</p> +<p>At the bottom of the rock pools, behind St. Leonard’s +baths, may be found hundreds of the snipe’s feather Anemone +(Sagartia troglodytes), of every line; from the common brown and +grey snipe’s feather kind, to the white-horned Hesperus, +the orange-horned Aurora, and a rich lilac and crimson variety, +which does not seem to agree with either the Lilacinia or +Rubicunda of Gosse. A more beautiful living bouquet could +hardly be seen, than might be made of the varieties of this +single species, from this one place.</p> +<p>On the outside sands between the end of the Marina and the +Martello tower, you may find, at very low tides, great numbers of +a sand-tube, about three inches long, standing up out of the +sand. I do not mean the tubes of the Terebella, so common +in all sands, which are somewhat flexible, and have their upper +end fringed with a ragged ring of sandy arms: those I speak of +are straight and stiff, and ending in a point upward. Draw +them out of the sand—they will offer some +resistance—and put them into a vase of water; you will see +the worm inside expand two delicate golden combs, just like +old-fashioned back-hair combs, of a metallic lustre, which will +astonish you. With these combs the worm seems to burrow +head downward into the sand; but whether he always remains in +that attitude I cannot say. His name is Pectinaria +Belgica. He is an Annelid, or true worm, connected with the +Serpulea and Sabellæ of which I have spoken already, and +holds himself in his case like them, by hooks and bristles set on +each ring of his body. In confinement he will probably come +out of his case and die; when you may dissect him at your +leisure, and learn a great deal more about him thereby than (I am +sorry to say) I know.</p> +<p>But if you have courage to run out fifteen or twenty miles to +the Diamond, you may find really rare and valuable animals. +There is a risk, of course, of being blown over to the coast of +France, by a change of wind; there is a risk also of not being +able to land at night on the inhospitable Hastings beach, and of +sleeping, as best you can, on board: but in the long days and +settled fine weather of summer, the trip, in a stout boat, ought +to be a safe and a pleasant one.</p> +<p>On the Diamond you will find many, or most of those gay +creatures which attract your eye in the central row of tanks at +the Zoological Gardens: great twisted masses of Serpulæ, <a +name="citation167"></a><a href="#footnote167" +class="citation">[167]</a> those white tubes of stone, from the +mouth of which protrude pairs of rose-coloured or orange fans, +flashing in, quick as light, the moment that your finger +approaches them or your shadow crosses the water.</p> +<p>You will dredge, too, the twelve-rayed sun-star (Solaster +papposa), with his rich scarlet armour; and more strange, and +quite as beautiful, the bird’s foot star (Palmipes +membranaceus), which you may see crawling by its thousand +sucking-feet in the Crystal Palace tanks, a pentagonal webbed +bird’s foot, of scarlet and orange shagreen. With +him, most probably, will be a specimen of the great purple +heart-urchin (Spatangus purpureus), clothed in pale lilac horny +spines, and other Echinoderms, for which you must consult +Forbes’s “British Star-fishes:” but perhaps the +species among them which will interest you most, will be the +common brittle-star (Ophiocoma rosula), of which a hundred or so, +I can promise, shall come up at a single haul of the dredge, +entwining their long spine-clad arms in a seemingly inextricable +confusion of “kaleidoscope” patterns (thanks to Mr. +Gosse for the one right epithet), purple and azure, fawn, brown, +green, grey, white and crimson; as if a whole bed of China-asters +should have first come to life, and then gone mad, and fallen to +fighting. But pick out, one by one, specimens from the +tangled mass, and you will agree that no China-aster is so fair +as this living stone-flower of the deep, with its daisy-like +disc, and fine long prickly arms, which never cease their +graceful serpentine motion, and its colours hardly alike in any +two specimens. Handle them not, meanwhile, too roughly, +lest, whether modesty or in anger, they begin a desperate course +of gradual suicide, and, breaking off arm after arm piecemeal, +fling them indignantly at their tormentor. Along with these +you will certainly obtain a few of that fine bivalve, the great +Scallop, which you have seen lying on every fishmonger’s +counter in Hastings. Of these you must pick out those which +seem dirtiest and most overgrown with parasites, and place them +carefully in a jar of salt water, where they may not be rubbed; +for they are worth your examination, not merely for the sake of +that ring of gem-like eyes which borders their +“cloak,” lying along the extreme out edge of the +shell as the valves are half open, but for the sake of the +parasites outside: corallines of exquisite delicacy, +Plumulariæ and Sertulariæ, dead men’s hands +(Alcyonia), lumps of white or orange jelly, which will protrude a +thousand star-like polypes, and the Tubularia indivisa, twisted +tubes of fine straw, which ought already to have puzzled you; for +you may pick them up in considerable masses on the Hastings beach +after a south-west gale, and think long over them before you +determine whether the oat-like stems and spongy roots belong to +an animal, or a vegetable. Animals they are, nevertheless, +though even now you will hardly guess the fact, when you see at +the mouth of each tube a little scarlet flower, connected with +the pink pulp which fills the tube. For a further +description of this largest and handsomest of our Hydroid +Polypes, I must refer you to Johnston, or, failing him, to +Landsborough; and go on, to beg you not to despise those pink, or +grey, or white lumps of jelly, which will expand in salt water +into exquisite sea-anemones, of quite different forms from any +which we have found along the rocks. One of them will +certainly be the Dianthus, <a name="citation170"></a><a +href="#footnote170" class="citation">[170]</a> which will open +into a furbelowed flower, furred with innumerable delicate +tentacula; and in the centre a mouth of the most delicate orange, +the size of the whole animal being perhaps eight inches high and +five across. Perhaps it will be of a satiny grey, perhaps +pale rose, perhaps pure white; whatever its colour, it is the +very maiden queen of all the beautiful tribe, and one of the +loveliest gems with which it has pleased God to bedeck this lower +world.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image168" href="images/p168b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 7: Echinus Miliaris etc." +title= +"Plate 7: Echinus Miliaris etc." + src="images/p168s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>These and much more you will find on the scallops, or even +more plentifully on any lump of ancient oysters; and if you do +not dredge, it would be well worth your while to make interest +with the fish-monger for a few oyster lumps, put into water the +moment they are taken out of the trawl. Divide them +carefully, clear out the oysters with a knife, and put the shells +into your aquarium, and you will find that an oyster at home is a +very different thing from an oyster on a stall.</p> +<p>You ought, besides, to dredge many handsome species of shells, +which you would never pick up along the beach; and if you are +conchologizing in earnest, you must not forget to bring home a +tin box of shell sand, to be washed and picked over in a dish at +your leisure, or forget either to wash through a fine sieve, over +the boat’s side, any sludge and ooze which the dredge +brings up. Many—I may say, hundreds—rare and +new shells are found in this way, and in no other.</p> +<p>But if you cannot afford the expense of your own dredge and +boat, and the time and trouble necessary to follow the occupation +scientifically, yet every trawler and oyster-boat will afford you +a tolerable satisfaction. Go on board one of these; and +while the trawl is down, spend a pleasant hour or two in talking +with the simple, honest, sturdy fellows who work it, from whom +(if you are as fortunate as I have been for many a year past) you +may get many a moving story of danger and sorrow, as well as many +a shrewd practical maxim, and often, too, a living recognition of +God, and the providence of God, which will send you home, +perhaps, a wiser and more genial man. And when the trawl is +hauled, wait till the fish are counted out, and packed away, and +then kneel down and inspect (in a pair of Mackintosh leggings, +and your oldest coat) the crawling heap of shells and zoophytes +which remains behind about the decks, and you will find, if a +landsman, enough to occupy you for a week to come. Nay, +even if it be too calm for trawling, condescend to go out in a +dingy, and help to haul some honest fellow’s deep-sea lines +and lobster-pots, and you will find more and stranger things +about them than even fish or lobsters: though they, to him who +has eyes to see, are strange enough.</p> +<p>I speak from experience; for it was not so very long ago that, +in the north of Devon, I found sermons, not indeed in stones, but +in a creature reputed among the most worthless of +sea-vermin. I had been lounging about all the morning on +the little pier, waiting, with the rest of the village, for a +trawling breeze which would not come. Two o’clock was +past, and still the red mainsails of the skiffs hung motionless, +and their images quivered head downwards in the glassy swell,</p> +<blockquote><p>“As idle as a painted ship<br /> +Upon a painted ocean.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It was neap-tide, too, and therefore nothing could be done +among the rocks. So, in despair, finding an old coast-guard +friend starting for his lobster-pots, I determined to save the +old man’s arms, by rowing him up the shore; and then +paddled homeward again, under the high green northern wall, five +hundred feet of cliff furred to the water’s edge with rich +oak woods, against whose base the smooth Atlantic swell died +whispering, as if curling itself up to sleep at last within that +sheltered nook, tired with its weary wanderings. The sun +sank lower and lower behind the deer-park point; the white stair +of houses up the glen was wrapped every moment deeper and deeper +in hazy smoke and shade, as the light faded; the evening fires +were lighted one by one; the soft murmur of the waterfall, and +the pleasant laugh of children, and the splash of homeward oars, +came clearer and clearer to the ear at every stroke: and as we +rowed on, arose the recollection of many a brave and wise friend, +whose lot was cast in no such western paradise, but rather in the +infernos of this sinful earth, toiling even then amid the +festering alleys of Bermondsey and Bethnal Green, to palliate +death and misery which they had vainly laboured to prevent, +watching the strides of that very cholera which they had been +striving for years to ward off, now re-admitted in spite of all +their warnings, by the carelessness, and laziness, and greed of +sinful man. And as I thought over the whole hapless +question of sanitary reform, proved long since a moral duty to +God and man, possible, easy, even pecuniarily profitable, and yet +left undone, there seemed a sublime irony, most humbling to man, +in some of Nature’s processes, and in the silent and +unobtrusive perfection with which she has been taught to +anticipate, since the foundation of the world, some of the +loftiest discoveries of modern science, of which we are too apt +to boast as if we had created the method by discovering its +possibility. Created it? Alas for the pride of human +genius, and the autotheism which would make man the measure of +all things, and the centre of the universe! All the +invaluable laws and methods of sanitary reform at best are but +clumsy imitations of the unseen wonders which every animalcule +and leaf have been working since the world’s foundation; +with this slight difference between them and us, that they fulfil +their appointed task, and we do not.</p> +<p>The sickly geranium which spreads its blanched leaves against +the cellar panes, and peers up, as if imploringly, to the narrow +slip of sunlight at the top of the narrow alley, had it a voice, +could tell more truly than ever a doctor in the town, why little +Bessy sickened of the scarlatina, and little Johnny of the +hooping-cough, till the toddling wee things who used to pet and +water it were carried off each and all of them one by one to the +churchyard sleep, while the father and mother sat at home, trying +to supply by gin that very vital energy which fresh air and pure +water, and the balmy breath of woods and heaths, were made by God +to give; and how the little geranium did its best, like a +heaven-sent angel, to right the wrong which man’s ignorance +had begotten, and drank in, day by day, the poisoned atmosphere, +and formed it into fair green leaves, and breathed into the +children’s faces from every pore, whenever they bent over +it, the life-giving oxygen for which their dulled blood and +festered lungs were craving in vain; fulfilling God’s will +itself, though man would not, too careless or too covetous to +see, after thousands of years of boasted progress, why God had +covered the earth with grass, herb, and tree, a living and +life-giving garment of perpetual health and youth.</p> +<p>It is too sad to think long about, lest we become very +Heraclituses. Let us take the other side of the matter with +Democritus, try to laugh man out of a little of his boastful +ignorance and self-satisfied clumsiness, and tell him, that if +the House of Commons would but summon one of the little Paramecia +from any Thames’ sewer-mouth, to give his evidence before +their next Cholera Committee, sanitary blue-books, invaluable as +they are, would be superseded for ever and a day; and sanitary +reformers would no longer have to confess, that they know of no +means of stopping the smells which in past hot summers drove the +members out of the House, and the judges out of Westminster +Hall.</p> +<p>Nay, in the boat at the minute of which I have been speaking, +silent and neglected, sat a fellow-passenger, who was a greater +adept at removing nuisances than the whole Board of Health put +together; and who had done his work, too, with a cheapness +unparalleled; for all his good deeds had not as yet cost the +State one penny. True, he lived by his business; so do +other inspectors of nuisances: but Nature, instead of paying Maia +Squinado, Esquire, some five hundred pounds sterling per annum +for his labour, had contrived, with a sublime simplicity of +economy which Mr. Hume might have envied and admired afar off, to +make him do his work gratis, by giving him the nuisances as his +perquisites, and teaching him how to eat them. Certainly +(without going the length of the Caribs, who upheld cannibalism +because, they said, it made war cheap, and precluded entirely the +need of a commissariat), this cardinal virtue of cheapness ought +to make Squinado an interesting object in the eyes of the present +generation; especially as he was at that moment a true sanitary +martyr, having, like many of his human fellow-workers, got into a +fearful scrape by meddling with those existing interests, and +“vested rights which are but vested wrongs,” which +have proved fatal already to more than one Board of Health. +For last night, as he was sitting quietly under a stone in four +fathoms water, he became aware (whether by sight, smell, or that +mysterious sixth sense, to us unknown, which seems to reside in +his delicate feelers) of a palpable nuisance somewhere in the +neighbourhood; and, like a trusty servant of the public, turned +out of his bed instantly and went in search; till he discovered, +hanging among what he judged to be the stems of ore-weed +(Laminaria), three or four large pieces of stale thornback, of +most evil savour, and highly prejudicial to the purity of the +sea, and the health of the neighbouring herrings. Happy +Squinado! He needed not to discover the limits of his +authority, to consult any lengthy Nuisances’ Removal Act, +with its clauses, and counter-clauses, and explanations of +interpretations, and interpretations of explanations. +Nature, who can afford to be arbitrary, because she is perfect, +and to give her servants irresponsible powers, because she has +trained them to their work, had bestowed on him and on his +forefathers, as general health inspectors, those very summary +powers of entrance and removal in the watery realms for which +common sense, public opinion, and private philanthropy are still +entreating vainly in the terrestrial realms; so finding a hole, +in he went, and began to remove the nuisance, without +“waiting twenty-four hours,” “laying an +information,” “serving a notice,” or any other +vain delay. The evil was there,—and there it should +not stay; so having neither cart nor barrow, he just began +putting it into his stomach, and in the meanwhile set his +assistants to work likewise. For suppose not, gentle +reader, that Squinado went alone; in his train were more than a +hundred thousand as good as he, each in his office, and as +cheaply paid; who needed no cumbrous baggage train of +force-pumps, hose, chloride of lime packets, whitewash, pails or +brushes, but were every man his own instrument; and, to save +expense of transit, just grew on Squinado’s back. Do +you doubt the assertion? Then lift him up hither, and +putting him gently into that shallow jar of salt water, look at +him through the hand-magnifier, and see how Nature is maxima in +minimis.</p> +<p>There he sits, twiddling his feelers (a substitute, it seems, +with crustacea for biting their nails when they are puzzled), and +by no means lovely to look on in vulgar eyes;—about the +bigness of a man’s fist; a round-bodied, spindle-shanked, +crusty, prickly, dirty fellow, with a villanous squint, too, in +those little bony eyes, which never look for a moment both the +same way. Never mind: many a man of genius is ungainly +enough; and Nature, if you will observe, as if to make up to him +for his uncomeliness, has arrayed him as Solomon in all his glory +never was arrayed, and so fulfilled one of the proposals of old +Fourier—that scavengers, chimney-sweeps, and other workers +in disgusting employments, should be rewarded for their +self-sacrifice in behalf of the public weal by some peculiar +badge of honour, or laurel crown. Not that his crown, like +those of the old Greek games, is a mere useless badge; on the +contrary, his robe of state is composed of his +fellow-servants. His whole back is covered with a little +grey forest of branching hairs, fine as a spider’s web, +each branchlet carrying its little pearly ringed club, each club +its rose-coloured polype, like (to quote Mr. Gosse’s +comparison) the unexpanded birds of the acacia. <a +name="citation181a"></a><a href="#footnote181a" +class="citation">[181a]</a></p> +<p>On that leg grows, amid another copse of the grey polypes, a +delicate straw-coloured Sertularia, branch on branch of tiny +double combs, each tooth of the comb being a tube containing a +living flower; on another leg another Sertularia, coarser, but +still beautiful; and round it again has trained itself, parasitic +on the parasite, plant upon plant of glass ivy, bearing crystal +bells, <a name="citation181b"></a><a href="#footnote181b" +class="citation">[181b]</a> each of which, too, protrudes its +living flower; on another leg is a fresh species, like a little +heather-bush of whitest ivory, <a name="citation182"></a><a +href="#footnote182" class="citation">[182]</a> and every needle +leaf a polype cell—let us stop before the imagination grows +dizzy with the contemplation of those myriads of beautiful +atomies. And what is their use? Each living flower, +each polype mouth is feeding fast, sweeping into itself, by the +perpetual currents caused by the delicate fringes upon its rays +(so minute these last, that their motion only betrays their +presence), each tiniest atom of decaying matter in the +surrounding water, to convert it, by some wondrous alchemy, into +fresh cells and buds, and either build up a fresh branch in their +thousand-tenanted tree, or form an egg-cell, from whence when +ripe may issue, not a fixed zoophyte, but a free swimming +animal.</p> +<p>And in the meanwhile, among this animal forest grows a +vegetable one of delicatest sea-weeds, green and brown and +crimson, whose office is, by their everlasting breath, to +reoxygenate the impure water, and render it fit once more to be +breathed by the higher animals who swim or creep around.</p> +<p>Mystery of mysteries! Let us jest no more,—Heaven +forgive us if we have jested too much on so simple a matter as +that poor spider-crab, taken out of the lobster-pots, and left to +die at the bottom of the boat, because his more aristocratic +cousins of the blue and purple armour will not enter the trap +while he is within.</p> +<p>I am not aware whether the surmise, that these tiny zoophytes +help to purify the water by exhaling oxygen gas, has yet been +verified. The infusorial animalcules do so, reversing the +functions of animal life, and instead of evolving carbonic acid +gas, as other animals do, evolve pure oxygen. So, at least, +says Liebig, who states that he found a small piece of matchwood, +just extinguished, burst out again into a flame on being immersed +in the bubbles given out by these living atomies.</p> +<p>I myself should be inclined to doubt that this is the case +with zoophytes, having found water in which they were growing +(unless, of course, sea-weeds were present) to be peculiarly +ready to become foul; but it is difficult to say whether this is +owing to their deoxygenating the water while alive, like other +animals, or to the fact that it is very rare to get a specimen of +zoophyte in which a large number of the polypes have not been +killed in the transit home, or at least so far knocked about, +that (in the Anthozoa, which are far the most abundant) the +polype—or rather living mouth, for it is little +more—is thrown off to decay, pending the growth of a fresh +one in the same cell.</p> +<p>But all the sea-weeds, in common with other vegetables, +perform this function continually, and thus maintain the water in +which they grow in a state fit to support animal life.</p> +<p>This fact—first advanced by Priestley and Ingenhousz, +and though doubted by the great Ellis, satisfactorily ascertained +by Professor Daubeny, Mr. Ward, Dr. Johnston, and Mr. +Warrington—gives an answer to the question, which I hope +has ere now arisen in the minds of some of my readers,—</p> +<p>How is it possible to see these wonders at home? +Beautiful and instructive as they may be, can they be meant for +any but dwellers by the sea-side? Nay more, even to them, +must not the glories of the water-world be always more momentary +than those of the rainbow, a mere Fata Morgana which breaks up +and vanishes before the eyes? If there were but some method of +making a miniature sea-world for a few days; much more of keeping +one with us when far inland.—</p> +<p>This desideratum has at last been filled up; and science has +shown, as usual, that by simply obeying Nature, we may conquer +her, even so far as to have our miniature sea, of artificial +salt-water, filled with living plants and sea-weeds, maintaining +each other in perfect health, and each following, as far as is +possible in a confined space, its natural habits.</p> +<p>To Dr. Johnston is due, as far as is known, the honour of the +first accomplishment of this as of a hundred other zoological +triumphs. As early as 1842, he proved to himself the +vegetable nature of the common pink Coralline, which fringes +every rock-pool, by keeping it for eight weeks in unchanged +salt-water, without any putrefaction ensuing. The ground, +of course, on which the proof rested in this case was, that if +the coralline were, as had often been thought, a zoophyte, the +water would become corrupt, and poisonous to the life of the +small animals in the same jar; and that its remaining fresh +argued that the coralline had re-oxygenated it from time to time, +and was therefore a vegetable.</p> +<p>In 1850, Mr. Robert Warrington communicated to the Chemical +Society the results of a year’s experiments, “On the +Adjustment of the Relations between the Animal and Vegetable +Kingdoms, by which the Vital Functions of both are permanently +maintained.” The law which his experiments verified +was the same as that on which Mr. Ward, in 1842, founded his +invaluable proposal for increasing the purity of the air in large +towns, by planting trees and cultivating flowers in rooms, +<i>that the animal and vegetable respirations might +counterbalance each other</i>; the animal’s blood being +purified by the oxygen given off by the plants, the plants fed by +the carbonic acid breathed out by the animals.</p> +<p>On the same principle, Mr. Warrington first kept, for many +months, in a vase of unchanged water, two small gold fish and a +plant of Vallisneria spiralis; and two years afterwards began a +similar experiment with sea-water, weeds, and anemones, which +were, at last, as successful as the former ones. Mr. Gosse +had, in the meanwhile, with tolerable success begun a similar +method, unaware of what Mr. Warrington had done; and now the +beautiful and curious exhibition of fresh and salt water tanks in +the Zoological Gardens in London, bids fair to be copied in every +similar institution, and we hope in many private houses, +throughout the kingdom.</p> +<p>To this subject Mr. Gosse’s book, “The +Aquarium,” is principally devoted, though it contains, +besides, sketches of coast scenery, in his usual charming style, +and descriptions of rare sea-animals, with wise and goodly +reflections thereon. One great object of interest in the +book is the last chapter, which treats fully of the making and +stocking these salt-water “Aquaria;” and the various +beautifully coloured plates, which are, as it were, sketches from +the interior of tanks, are well fitted to excite the desire of +all readers to possess such gorgeous living pictures, if as +nothing else, still as drawing-room ornaments, flower-gardens +which never wither, fairy lakes of perpetual calm which no storm +blackens,—</p> +<blockquote><p>οὐτ’ ἐν +θέρει, οὐτ’ +ἐν ὁπώρῃ.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Those who have never seen one of them can never imagine (and +neither Mr. Gosse’s pencil nor my clumsy words can ever +describe to them) the gorgeous colouring and the grace and +delicacy of form which these subaqueous landscapes exhibit.</p> +<p>As for colouring,—the only bit of colour which I can +remember even faintly resembling them (for though +Correggio’s Magdalene may rival them in greens and blues, +yet even he has no such crimsons and purples) is the Adoration of +the Shepherds, by that “prince of +colorists”—Palma Vecchio, which hangs on the +left-hand side of Lord Ellesmere’s great gallery. But +as for the forms,—where shall we see their like? +Where, amid miniature forests as fantastic as those of the +tropics, animals whose shapes outvie the wildest dreams of the +old German ghost painters which cover the walls of the galleries +of Brussels or Antwerp? And yet the uncouthest has some +quaint beauty of its own, while most—the star-fishes and +anemones, for example—are nothing but beauty. The +brilliant plates in Mr. Gosse’s “Aquarium” +give, after all, but a meagre picture of the reality, as it may +be seen in the tank-house at the Zoological Gardens; and as it +may be seen also, by anyone who will follow carefully the +directions given at the end of his book, stock a glass vase with +such common things as he may find in an hour’s search at +low tide, and so have an opportunity of seeing how truly Mr. +Gosse says, in his valuable preface, that—</p> +<p>“The habits” (and he might well have added, the +marvellous beauty) “of animals will never be thoroughly +known till they are observed in detail. Nor is it +sufficient to mark them with attention now and then; they must be +closely watched, their various actions carefully noted, their +behaviour under different circumstances, and especially those +movements which seem to us mere vagaries, undirected by any +suggestible motive or cause, well examined. A rich fruit of +result, often new and curious and unexpected, will, I am sure, +reward anyone who studies living animals in this way. The +most interesting parts, by far, of published Natural History are +those minute, but graphic particulars, which have been gathered +up by an attentive watching of individual animals.”</p> +<p>Mr. Gosse’s own books, certainly, give proof enough of +this. We need only direct the reader to his exquisitely +humorous account of the ways and works of a captive soldier-crab, +<a name="citation190"></a><a href="#footnote190" +class="citation">[190]</a> to show them how much there is to be +seen, and how full Nature is also of that ludicrous element of +which we spoke above. And, indeed, it is in this form of +Natural History: not in mere classification, and the finding out +of means, and quarrellings as to the first discovery of that +beetle or this buttercup,—too common, alas! among mere +closet-collectors,—“endless genealogies,” to +apply St. Paul’s words by no means irreverently or +fancifully, “which do but gender strife;”—not +in these pedantries is that moral training to be found, for which +we have been lauding the study of Natural History: but in +healthful walks and voyages out of doors, and in careful and +patient watching of the living animals and plants at home, with +an observation sharpened by practice, and a temper calmed by the +continual practice of the naturalist’s first +virtues—patience and perseverance.</p> +<p>Practical directions for forming an “Aquarium” may +be found in Mr. Gosse’s book bearing that name, at pp. 101, +255, <i>et seq.</i>; and those who wish to carry out the notion +thoroughly, cannot do better than buy his book, and take their +choice of the many different forms of vase, with rockwork, +fountains, and other pretty devices which he describes.</p> +<p>But the many, even if they have Mr. Gosse’s book, will +be rather inclined to begin with a small attempt; especially as +they are probably half sceptical of the possibility of keeping +sea-animals inland without changing the water. A few simple +directions, therefore, will not come amiss here. They shall +be such as anyone can put into practice, who goes down to stay in +a lodging-house at the most cockney of watering-places.</p> +<p>Buy at any glass-shop a cylindrical glass jar, some six inches +in diameter and ten high, which will cost you from three to four +shillings; wash it clean, and fill it with clean salt-water, +dipped out of any pool among the rocks, only looking first to see +that there is no dead fish or other evil matter in the said pool, +and that no stream from the land runs into it. If you +choose to take the trouble to dip up the water over a +boat’s side, so much the better.</p> +<p>So much for your vase; now to stock it.</p> +<p>Go down at low spring-tide to the nearest ledge of rocks, and +with a hammer and chisel chip off a few pieces of stone covered +with growing sea-weed. Avoid the common and coarser kinds +(fuci) which cover the surface of the rocks; for they give out +under water a slime which will foul your tank: but choose the +more delicate species which fringe the edges of every pool at +low-water mark; the pink coralline, the dark purple ragged dulse +(Rhodymenia), the Carrageen moss (Chondrus), and above all, the +commonest of all, the delicate green Ulva, which you will see +growing everywhere in wrinkled fan-shaped sheets, as thin as the +finest silver-paper. The smallest bits of stone are +sufficient, provided the sea-weeds have hold of them; for they +have no real roots, but adhere by a small disc, deriving no +nourishment from the rock, but only from the water. Take +care, meanwhile, that there be as little as possible on the +stone, beside the weed itself. Especially scrape off any +small sponges, and see that no worms have made their twining +tubes of sand among the weed-stems; if they have, drag them out; +for they will surely die, and as surely spoil all by sulphuretted +hydrogen, blackness, and evil smells.</p> +<p>Put your weeds into your tank, and settle them at the bottom; +which last, some say, should be covered with a layer of pebbles: +but let the beginner leave it as bare as possible; for the +pebbles only tempt cross-grained annelids to crawl under them, +die, and spoil all by decaying: whereas if the bottom of the vase +is bare, you can see a sickly or dead inhabitant at once, and +take him out (which you must do) instantly. Let your weeds +stand quietly in the vase a day or two before you put in any live +animals; and even then, do not put any in if the water does not +appear perfectly clear: but lift out the weeds, and renew the +water ere you replace them.</p> +<p>This is Mr. Gosse’s method. But Mr. Lloyd, in his +“Handbook to the Crystal Palace Aquarium,” advises +that no weed should be put into the tank. “It is +better,” he says, “to depend only on those which +gradually and naturally appear on the rocks of the aquarium by +the action of light, and which answer every chemical +purpose.” I should advise anyone intending to set up +an aquarium, however small, to study what Mr. Lloyd says on this +matter in pp. 17–19, and also in page 30, of his pamphlet; +and also to go to the Crystal Palace Aquarium, and there see for +himself the many beautiful species of sea-weeds which have +appeared spontaneously in the tanks from unsuspected spores +floating in the sea-water. On the other hand, Mr. Lloyd +lays much stress on the necessity of aërating the water, by +keeping it in perpetual motion; a process not easy to be carried +out in small aquaria; at least to that perfection which has been +attained at the Crystal Palace, where the water is kept in +continual circulation by steam-power. For a jar-aquarium, +it will be enough to drive fresh air through the water every day, +by means of a syringe.</p> +<p>Now for the live stock. In the crannies of every rock +you will find sea-anemones (Actiniæ); and a dozen of these +only will be enough to convert your little vase into the most +brilliant of living flower-gardens. There they hang upon +the under side of the ledges, apparently mere rounded lumps of +jelly: one is of dark purple dotted with green; another of a rich +chocolate; another of a delicate olive; another sienna-yellow; +another all but white. Take them from their rock; you can +do it easily by slipping under them your finger-nail, or the edge +of a pewter spoon. Take care to tear the sucking base as +little as possible (though a small rent they will darn for +themselves in a few days, easily enough), and drop them into a +basket of wet sea-weed; when you get home turn them into a dish +full of water and leave them for the night, and go to look at +them to-morrow. What a change! The dull lumps of +jelly have taken root and flowered during the night, and your +dish is filled from side to side with a bouquet of +chrysanthemums; each has expanded into a hundred-petalled flower, +crimson, pink, purple, or orange; touch one, and it shrinks +together like a sensitive plant, displaying at the root of the +petals a ring of brilliant turquoise beads. That is the +commonest of all the Actiniæ (Mesembryanthemum); you may +have him when and where you will: but if you will search those +rocks somewhat closer, you will find even more gorgeous species +than him. See in that pool some dozen large ones, in full +bloom, and quite six inches across, some of them. If their +cousins whom we found just now were like Chrysanthemums, these +are like quilled Dahlias. Their arms are stouter and +shorter in proportion than those of the last species, but their +colour is equally brilliant. One is a brilliant blood-red; +another a delicate sea-blue striped with pink; but most have the +disc and the innumerable arms striped and ringed with various +shades of grey and brown. Shall we get them? By all +means if we can. Touch one. Where is he now? +Gone? Vanished into air, or into stone? Not +quite. You see that knot of sand and broken shell lying on +the rock, where your Dahlia was one moment ago. Touch it, +and you will find it leathery and elastic. That is all +which remains of the live Dahlia. Never mind; get your +finger into the crack under him, work him gently but firmly out, +and take him home, and he will be as happy and as gorgeous as +ever to-morrow.</p> +<p>Let your Actiniæ stand for a day or two in the dish, and +then, picking out the liveliest and handsomest, detach them once +more from their hold, drop them into your vase, right them with a +bit of stick, so that the sucking base is downwards, and leave +them to themselves thenceforth.</p> +<p>These two species (Mesembryanthemum and Crassicornis) are +quite beautiful enough to give a beginner amusement: but there +are two others which are not uncommon, and of such exceeding +loveliness, that it is worth while to take a little trouble to +get them. The one is Dianthus, which I have already +mentioned; the other Bellis, the sea-daisy, of which there is an +excellent description and plates in Mr. Gosse’s +“Rambles in Devon,” pp. 24 to 32.</p> +<p>It is common at Ilfracombe, and at Torquay; and indeed +everywhere where there are cracks and small holes in limestone or +slate rock. In these holes it fixes its base, and expands +its delicate brown-grey star-like flowers on the surface: but it +must be chipped out with hammer and chisel, at the expense of +much dirt and patience; for the moment it is touched it contracts +deep into the rock, and all that is left of the daisy flower, +some two or three inches across, is a blue knot of half the size +of a marble. But it will expand again, after a day or two +of captivity, and will repay all the trouble which it has +cost. Troglodytes may be found, as I have said already, in +hundreds at Hastings, in similar situations to that of Bellis; +its only token, when the tide is down, being a round dimple in +the muddy sand which firs the lower cracks of rocks.</p> +<p>But you will want more than these anemones, both for your own +amusement, and for the health of your tank. Microscopic +animals will breed, and will also die; and you need for them some +such scavenger as our poor friend Squinado, to whom you were +introduced a few pages back. Turn, then, a few stones which +lie piled on each other at extreme low-water mark, and five +minutes’ search will give you the very animal you +want,—a little crab, of a dingy russet above, and on the +under side like smooth porcelain. His back is quite flat, +and so are his large angular fringed claws, which, when he folds +them up, lie in the same plane with his shell, and fit neatly +into its edges. Compact little rogue that he is, made +especially for sidling in and out of cracks and crannies, he +carries with him such an apparatus of combs and brushes as Isidor +or Floris never dreamed of; with which he sweeps out of the +sea-water at every moment shoals of minute animalcules, and sucks +them into his tiny mouth. Mr. Gosse will tell you more of +this marvel, in his “Aquarium,” p. 48.</p> +<p>Next, your sea-weeds, if they thrive as they ought to do, will +sow their minute spores in millions around them; and these, as +they vegetate, will form a green film on the inside of the glass, +spoiling your prospect: you may rub it off for yourself, if you +will, with a rag fastened to a stick; but if you wish at once to +save yourself trouble, and to see how all emergencies in nature +are provided for, you will set three or four live shells to do it +for you, and to keep your sub-aqueous lawn close mown.</p> +<p>That last word is no figure of speech. Look among the +beds of sea-weed for a few of the bright yellow or green +sea-snails (Nerita), or Conical Tops (Trochus), especially that +beautiful pink one spotted with brown (Ziziphinus), which you are +sure to find about shaded rock-ledges at dead low tide, and put +them into your aquarium. For the present, they will only +nibble the green ulvæ; but when the film of young weed +begins to form, you will see it mown off every morning as fast as +it grows, in little semicircular sweeps, just as if a +fairy’s scythe had been at work during the night.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a name="image201" href="images/p201b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Plate 8: Littorina Littorea etc." +title= +"Plate 8: Littorina Littorea etc." + src="images/p201s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>And a scythe has been at work; none other than the tongue of +the little shell-fish; a description of its extraordinary +mechanism (too long to quote here, but which is well worth +reading) may be found in Gosse’s “Aquarium.” <a +name="citation201"></a><a href="#footnote201" +class="citation">[201]</a></p> +<p>A prawn or two, and a few minute star-fish, will make your +aquarium complete; though you may add to it endlessly, as one +glance at the salt-water tanks of the Zoological Gardens, and the +strange and beautiful forms which they contain, will prove to you +sufficiently.</p> +<p>You have two more enemies to guard against, dust, and +heat. If the surface of the water becomes clogged with +dust, the communication between it and the life-giving oxygen of +the air is cut off; and then your animals are liable to die, for +the very same reason that fish die in a pond which is long frozen +over, unless a hole be broken in the ice to admit the air. +You must guard against this by occasional stirring of the +surface, or, as I have already said, by syringing and by keeping +on a cover. A piece of muslin tied over will do; but a +better defence is a plate of glass, raised on wire some half-inch +above the edge, so as to admit the air. I am not sure that +a sheet of brown paper laid over the vase is not the best of all, +because that, by its shade, also guards against the next evil, +which is heat. Against that you must guard by putting a +curtain of muslin or oiled paper between the vase and the sun, if +it be very fierce, or simply (for simple expedients are best) by +laying a handkerchief over it till the heat is past. But if +you leave your vase in a sunny window long enough to let the +water get tepid, all is over with your pets. Half an +hour’s boiling may frustrate the care of weeks. And +yet, on the other hand, light you must have, and you can hardly +have too much. Some animals certainly prefer shade, and +hide in the darkest crannies; and for them, if your aquarium is +large enough, you must provide shade, by arranging the bits of +stone into piles and caverns. But without light, your +sea-weeds will neither thrive nor keep the water sweet. +With plenty of light you will see, to quote Mr. Gosse once more, +<a name="citation203"></a><a href="#footnote203" +class="citation">[203]</a> “thousands of tiny globules +forming on every plant, and even all over the stones, where the +infant vegetation is beginning to grow; and these globules +presently rise in rapid succession to the surface all over the +vessel, and this process goes on uninterruptedly as long as the +rays of the sun are uninterrupted.</p> +<p>“Now these globules consist of <i>pure oxygen</i>, given +out by the plants under the stimulus of light; and to this oxygen +the animals in the tank owe their life. The difference +between the profusion of oxygen-bubbles produced on a sunny day, +and the paucity of those seen on a dark cloudy day, or in a +northern aspect, is very marked.” Choose, therefore, +a south or east window, but draw down the blind, or throw a +handkerchief over all if the heat become fierce. The water +should always feel cold to your hand, let the temperature outside +be what it may.</p> +<p>Next, you must make up for evaporation by <i>fresh</i> water +(a very little will suffice), as often as in summer you find the +water in your vase sink below its original level, and prevent the +water from getting too salt. For the salts, remember, do +not evaporate with the water; and if you left the vase in the sun +for a few weeks, it would become a mere brine-pan.</p> +<p>But how will you move your treasures up to town?</p> +<p>The simplest plan which I have found successful is an earthen +jar. You may buy them with a cover which screws on with two +iron clasps. If you do not find such, a piece of oilskin +tied over the mouth is enough. But do not fill the jar full +of water; leave about a quarter of the contents in empty air, +which the water may absorb, and so keep itself fresh. And +any pieces of stone, or oysters, which you send up, hang by a +string from the mouth, that they may not hurt tender animals by +rolling about the bottom. With these simple precautions, +anything which you are likely to find will well endure +forty-eight hours of travel.</p> +<p>What if the water fails, after all?</p> +<p>Then Mr. Gosse’s artificial sea-water will form a +perfect substitute. You may buy the requisite salts (for +there are more salts than “salt” in sea-water) from +any chemist to whom Mr. Gosse has entrusted his discovery, and, +according to his directions, make sea-water for yourself.</p> +<p>One more hint before we part. If, after all, you are not +going down to the sea-side this year, and have no opportunities +of testing “the wonders of the shore,” you may still +study Natural History in your own drawing-room, by looking a +little into “the wonders of the pond.”</p> +<p>I am not jesting; a fresh-water aquarium, though by no means +as beautiful as a salt-water one, is even more easily +established. A glass jar, floored with two or three inches +of pond-mud (which should be covered with fine gravel to prevent +the mud washing up); a specimen of each of two water-plants which +you may buy now at any good shop in Covent Garden, Vallisneria +spiralis (which is said to give to the Canvas-backed duck of +America its peculiar richness of flavour), and Anacharis +alsinastrum, that magical weed which, lately introduced from +Canada among timber, has multiplied, self-sown, to so prodigious +an extent, that it bid fair, a few years since, to choke the +navigation not only of our canals and fen-rivers, but of the +Thames itself: <a name="citation206"></a><a href="#footnote206" +class="citation">[206]</a> or, in default of these, some of the +more delicate pond-weeds; such as Callitriche, Potamogeton +pusillum, and, best of all, perhaps, the beautiful Water-Milfoil +(Myriophyllium), whose comb-like leaves are the haunts of +numberless rare and curious animalcules:—these (in +themselves, from the transparency of their circulation, +interesting microscopic objects) for oxygen-breeding vegetables; +and for animals, the pickings of any pond; a minnow or two, an +eft; a few of the delicate pond-snails (unless they devour your +plants too rapidly): water-beetles, of activity inconceivable, +and that wondrous bug the Notonecta, who lies on his back all +day, rowing about his boat-shaped body, with one long pair of +oars, in search of animalcules, and the moment the lights are +out, turns head over heels, rights himself, and opening a pair of +handsome wings, starts to fly about the dark room in company with +his friend the water-beetle, and (I suspect) catch flies; and +then slips back demurely into the water with the first streak of +dawn. But perhaps the most interesting of all the tribes of +the Naiads,—(in default, of course, of those semi-human +nymphs with which our Teutonic forefathers, like the Greeks, +peopled each “sacred fountain,”)—are the little +“water-crickets,” which may be found running under +the pebbles, or burrowing in little galleries in the banks: and +those “caddises,” which crawl on the bottom in the +stiller waters, enclosed, all save the head and legs, in a tube +of sand or pebbles, shells or sticks, green or dead weeds, often +arranged with quaint symmetry, or of very graceful shape. +Their aspect in this state may be somewhat uninviting, but they +compensate for their youthful ugliness by the strangeness of +their transformations, and often by the delicate beauty of the +perfect insects, as the “caddises,” rising to the +surface, become flying Phryganeæ (caperers and sand-flies), +generally of various shades of fawn-colour; and the +water-crickets (though an unscientific eye may be able to discern +but little difference in them in the “larva,” or +imperfect state) change into flies of the most various +shapes;—one, perhaps, into the great sluggish olive +“Stone-fly” (Perla bicaudata); another into the +delicate lemon-coloured “Yellow Sally” (Chrysoperla +viridis); another into the dark chocolate “Alder” +(Sialis lutaria): and the majority into duns and drakes +(Ephemeræ); whose grace of form, and delicacy of colour, +give them a right to rank among the most exquisite of God’s +creations, from the tiny “Spinners” (Baëtis or +Chloron) of incandescent glass, with gorgeous rainbow-coloured +eyes, to the great Green Drake (Ephemera vulgata), known to all +fishermen as the prince of trout-flies. These animals, +their habits, their miraculous transformations, might give many +an hour’s quiet amusement to an invalid, laid on a sofa, or +imprisoned in a sick-room, and debarred from reading, unless by +some such means, any page of that great green book outside, whose +pen is the finger of God, whose covers are the fire kingdoms and +the star kingdoms, and its leaves the heather-bells, and the +polypes of the sea, and the gnats above the summer stream.</p> +<p>I said just now, that happy was the sportsman who was also a +naturalist. And, having once mentioned these curious +water-flies, I cannot help going a little farther, and saying, +that lucky is the fisherman who is also a naturalist. A +fair scientific knowledge of the flies which he imitates, and of +their habits, would often ensure him sport, while other men are +going home with empty creels. One would have fancied this a +self-evident fact; yet I have never found any sound knowledge of +the natural water-flies which haunt a given stream, except among +cunning old fishermen of the lower class, who get their living by +the gentle art, and bring to indoors baskets of trout killed on +flies, which look as if they had been tied with a pair of tongs, +so rough and ungainly are they; but which, nevertheless, kill, +simply because they are (in <i>colour</i>, which is all that fish +really care for) exact likenesses of some obscure local species, +which happen to be on the water at the time. Among +gentlemen-fishermen, on the other hand, so deep is the ignorance +of the natural fly, that I have known good sportsmen still under +the delusion that the great green May-fly comes out of a +caddis-bait; the gentlemen having never seen, much less fished +with, that most deadly bait the “Water-cricket,” or +free creeping larva of the May-fly, which may be found in May +under the river-banks. The consequence of this ignorance is +that they depend for good patterns of flies on mere chance and +experiment; and that the shop patterns, originally excellent, +deteriorate continually, till little or no likeness to their +living prototype remains, being tied by town girls, who have no +more understanding of what the feathers and mohair in their hands +represent than they have of what the National Debt +represents. Hence follows many a failure at the +stream-side; because the “Caperer,” or +“Dun,” or “Yellow Sally,” which is +produced from the fly-book, though, possibly, like the brood +which came out three years since on some stream a hundred miles +away, is quite unlike the brood which is out to-day on +one’s own river. For not only do most of these flies +vary in colour in different soils and climates, but many of them +change their hue during life; the Ephemeræ, especially, +have a habit of throwing off the whole of their skins (even, +marvellously enough, to the skin of the eyes and wings, and the +delicate “whisks” at their tail), and appearing in an +utterly new garb after ten minutes’ rest, to the +discomfiture of the astonished angler.</p> +<p>The natural history of these flies, I understand from Mr. +Stainton (one of our most distinguished entomologists), has not +yet been worked out, at least for England. The only +attempt, I believe, in that direction is one made by a charming +book, “The Fly-fisher’s Entomology,” which +should be in every good angler’s library; but why should +not a few fishermen combine to work out the subject for +themselves, and study for the interests both of science and their +own sport, “The Wonders of the Bank?” The work, +petty as it may seem, is much too great for one man, so prodigal +is Nature of her forms, in the stream as in the ocean; but what +if a correspondence were opened between a few fishermen—of +whom one should live, say, by the Hampshire or Berkshire chalk +streams; another on the slates and granites of Devon; another on +the limestones of Yorkshire or Derbyshire; another among the yet +earlier slates of Snowdonia, or some mountain part of Wales; and +more than one among the hills of the Border and the lakes of the +Highlands? Each would find (I suspect), on comparing his +insects with those of the others, that he was exploring a little +peculiar world of his own, and that with the exception of a +certain number of typical forms, the flies of his county were +unknown a hundred miles away, or, at least, appeared there under +great differences of size and colour; and each, if he would take +the trouble to collect the caddises and water-crickets, and breed +them into the perfect fly in an aquarium, would see marvels in +their transformations, their instincts, their anatomy, quite as +great (though not, perhaps, as showy and startling) as I have +been trying to point out on the sea-shore. Moreover, each +and every one of the party, I will warrant, will find his +fellow-correspondents (perhaps previously unknown to him) men +worth knowing; not, it may be, of the meditative and half-saintly +type of dear old Izaak Walton (who, after all, was no fly-fisher, +but a sedentary “popjoy” guilty of float and worm), +but rather, like his fly-fishing disciple Cotton, good fellows +and men of the world, and, perhaps, something better over and +above.</p> +<p>The suggestion has been made. Will it ever be taken up, +and a “Naiad Club” formed, for the combination of +sport and science?</p> +<p>And, now, how can this desultory little treatise end more +usefully than in recommending a few books on Natural History, fit +for the use of young people; and fit to serve as introductions to +such deeper and larger works as Yarrell’s “Birds and +Fishes,” Bell’s “Quadrupeds” and +“Crustacea,” Forbes and Hanley’s +“Mollusca,” Owen’s “Fossil Mammals and +Birds,” and a host of other admirable works? Not that +this list will contain all the best; but simply the best of which +the writer knows; let, therefore, none feel aggrieved, if, as it +may chance, opening these pages, they find their books +omitted.</p> +<p>First and foremost, certainly, come Mr. Gosse’s +books. There is a playful and genial spirit in them, a +brilliant power of word-painting combined with deep and earnest +religious feeling, which makes them as morally valuable as they +are intellectually interesting. Since White’s +“History of Selborne,” few or no writers on Natural +History, save Mr. Gosse, Mr. G. H. Lewes, and poor Mr. E. Forbes, +have had the power of bringing out the human side of science, and +giving to seemingly dry disquisitions and animals of the lowest +type, by little touches of pathos and humour, that living and +personal interest, to bestow which is generally the special +function of the poet: not that Waterton and Jesse are not +excellent in this respect, and authors who should be in every +boy’s library: but they are rather anecdotists than +systematic or scientific inquirers; while Mr. Gosse, in his +“Naturalist on the Shores of Devon,” his “Tour +in Jamaica,” his “Tenby,” and his +“Canadian Naturalist,” has done for those three +places what White did for Selborne, with all the improved +appliances of a science which has widened and deepened tenfold +since White’s time. Mr. Gosse’s “Manual +of the Marine Zoology of the British Isles” is, for +classification, by far the completest handbook extant. He +has contrived in it to compress more sound knowledge of vast +classes of the animal kingdom than I ever saw before in so small +a space. <a name="citation215"></a><a href="#footnote215" +class="citation">[215]</a></p> +<p>Miss Anne Pratt’s “Things of the Sea-coast” +is excellent; and still better is Professor Harvey’s +“Sea-side Book,” of which it is impossible to speak +too highly; and most pleasant it is to see a man of genius and +learning thus gathering the bloom of his varied knowledge, to put +it into a form equally suited to a child and a +<i>savant</i>. Seldom, perhaps, has there been a little +book in which so vast a quantity of facts have been told so +gracefully, simply, without a taint of pedantry or +cumbrousness—an excellence which is the sure and only mark +of a perfect mastery of the subject. Mr. G. H. +Lewes’s “Sea-shore Studies” are also very +valuable; hardly perhaps a book for beginners, but from his +admirable power of description, whether of animals or of scenes, +is interesting for all classes of readers.</p> +<p>Two little “Popular” Histories—one of +British Zoophytes, the other of British Sea-weeds, by Dr. +Landsborough (since dead of cholera, at Saltcoats, the scene of +his energetic and pious ministry)—are very excellent; and +are furnished, too, with well-drawn and coloured plates, for the +comfort of those to whom a scientific nomenclature (as liable as +any other human thing to be faulty and obscure) conveys but a +vague conception of the objects. These may serve well for +the beginner, as introductions to Professor Harvey’s large +work on British Algæ, and to the new edition of Professor +Johnston’s invaluable “British Zoophytes,” Miss +Gifford’s “Marine Botanist,” third edition, and +Dr. Cocks’s “Sea-weed Collector’s Guide,” +have also been recommended by a high authority.</p> +<p>For general Zoology the best books for beginners are, perhaps, +as a general introduction, the Rev. J. A. L. Wood’s +“Popular Zoology,” full of excellent plates; and for +systematic Zoology, Mr. Gosse’s four little books, on +Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes, published with many plates, +by the Christian Knowledge Society, at a marvellously cheap +rate. For miscroscopic animalcules, Miss Agnes +Catlow’s “Drops of Water” will teach the young +more than they will ever remember, and serve as a good +introduction to those teeming abysses of the unseen world, which +must be afterwards traversed under the guidance of Hassall and +Ehrenberg.</p> +<p>For Ornithology, there is no book, after all, like dear old +Bewick, <i>passé</i> though he may be in a scientific +point of view. There is a good little British ornithology, +too, published in Sir W. Jardine’s +“Naturalist’s Library,” and another by Mr. +Gosse. And Mr. Knox’s “Ornithological Rambles +in Sussex,” with Mr. St. John’s “Highland +Sports,” and “Tour in Sutherlandshire,” are the +monographs of naturalists, gentlemen, and sportsmen, which remind +one at every page (and what higher praise can one give?) of +White’s “History of Selborne.” These +last, with Mr. Gosse’s “Canadian Naturalist,” +and his little book “The Ocean,” not forgetting +Darwin’s delightful “Voyage of the Beagle and +Adventure,” ought to be in the hands of every lad who is +likely to travel to our colonies.</p> +<p>For general Geology, Professor Ansted’s Introduction is +excellent; while, as a specimen of the way in which a single +district may be thoroughly worked out, and the universal method +of induction learnt from a narrow field of objects, what book +can, or perhaps ever will, compare with Mr. Hugh Miller’s +“Old Red Sandstone”?</p> +<p>For this last reason, I especially recommend to the young the +Rev. C. A. Johns’s “Week at the Lizard,” as +teaching a young person how much there is to be seen and known +within a few square miles of these British Isles. But, +indeed, all Mr. Johns’s books are good (as they are bound +to be, considering his most accurate and varied knowledge), +especially his “Flowers of the Field,” the best cheap +introduction to systematic botany which has yet appeared. +Trained, and all but self-trained, like Mr. Hugh Miller, in a +remote and narrow field of observation, Mr. Johns has developed +himself into one of our most acute and persevering botanists, and +has added many a new treasure to the Flora of these isles; and +one person, at least, owes him a deep debt of gratitude for first +lessons in scientific accuracy and patience,—lessons +taught, not dully and dryly at the book and desk, but livingly +and genially, in adventurous rambles over the bleak cliffs and +ferny woods of the wild Atlantic shore,—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Where the old fable of the guarded mount<br +/> +Looks toward Namancos and Bayona’s hold.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Mr. Henfrey’s “Rudiments of Botany” might +accompany Mr. Johns’s books. Mr. Babington’s +“Manual of British Botany” is also most compact and +highly finished, and seems the best work which I know of from +which a student somewhat advanced in English botany can verify +species; while for ferns, Moore’s “Handbook” is +probably the best for beginners.</p> +<p>For Entomology, which, after all, is the study most fit for +boys (as Botany is for girls) who have no opportunity for +visiting the sea-shore, Catlow’s “Popular British +Entomology,” having coloured plates (a delight to young +people), and saying something of all the orders, is, probably, +still a good work for beginners.</p> +<p>Mr. Stainton’s “Entomologist’s Annual for +1855” contains valuable hints of that gentleman’s on +taking and arranging moths and butterflies; as well as of Mr. +Wollaston’s on performing the same kind office for that far +more numerous, and not less beautiful class, the beetles. +There is also an admirable “Manual of British Butterflies +and Moths,” by Mr. Stainton, in course of publication; but, +perhaps, the most interesting of all entomological books which I +have seen (and for introducing me to which I must express my +hearty thanks to Mr. Stainton), is “Practical Hints +respecting Moths and Butterflies, forming a Calendar of +Entomological Operations,” <a name="citation220"></a><a +href="#footnote220" class="citation">[220]</a> by Richard Shield, +a simple London working-man.</p> +<p>I would gladly devote more space than I can here spare to a +review of this little book, so perfectly does it corroborate +every word which I have said already as to the moral and +intellectual value of such studies. Richard Shield, making +himself a first-rate “lepidopterist,” while working +with his hands for a pound a week, is the antitype of Mr. Peach, +the coast-guardsman, among his Cornish tide-rocks. But more +than this, there is about Shield’s book a tone as of Izaak +Walton himself, which is very delightful; tender, poetical, and +religious, yet full of quiet quaintness and humour; showing in +every page how the love for Natural History is in him only one +expression of a love for all things beautiful, and pure, and +right. If any readers of these pages fancy that I +over-praise the book, let them buy it, and judge for +themselves. They will thus help the good man toward +pursuing his studies with larger and better appliances, and will +be (as I expect) surprised to find how much there is to be seen +and done, even by a working-man, within a day’s walk of +smoky Babylon itself; and how easily a man might, if he would, +wash his soul clean for a while from all the turmoil and +intrigue, the vanity and vexation of spirit of that +“too-populous wilderness,” by going out to be alone a +while with God in heaven, and with that earth which He has given +to the children of men, not merely for the material wants of +their bodies, but as a witness and a sacrament that in Him they +live and move, and have their being, “not by bread alone, +but by <i>every</i> word that proceedeth out of the mouth of +God.”</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Thus I wrote some twenty years ago, when the study of Natural +History was confined mainly to several scientific men, or mere +collectors of shells, insects, and dried plants.</p> +<p>Since then, I am glad to say, it has become a popular and +common pursuit, owing, I doubt not, to the impulse given to it by +the many authors whose works I then recommended. I +recommend them still; though a swarm of other manuals and popular +works have appeared since, excellent in their way, and almost +beyond counting. But all honour to those, and above all to +Mr. Gosse and Mr. Johns, who first opened people’s eyes to +the wonders around them all day long. Now, we have, in +addition to amusing books on special subjects, serials on Natural +History more or less profound, and suited to every kind of +student and every grade of knowledge. I mention the names +of none. For first, they happily need no advertisement from +me; and next, I fear to be unjust to any one of them by +inadvertently omitting its name. Let me add, that in the +advertising columns of those serials, will be found notices of +all the new manuals, and of all apparatus, and other matters, +needed by amateur naturalists, and of many who are more than +amateurs. Microscopy, meanwhile, and the whole study of +“The Wonders of the Little,” have made vast strides +in the last twenty years; and I was equally surprised and +pleased, to find, three years ago, in each of two towns of a few +thousand inhabitants, perhaps a dozen good microscopes, all but +hidden away from the public, worked by men who knew how to handle +them, and who knew what they were looking at; but who modestly +refrained from telling anybody what they were doing so +well. And it was this very discovery of unsuspected +microscopists which made me more desirous than ever to +see—as I see now in many places—scientific societies, +by means of which the few, who otherwise would work apart, may +communicate their knowledge to each other, and to the many. +These “Microscopic,” “Naturalist,” +“Geological,” or other societies, and the +“Field Clubs” for excursions into the country, which +are usually connected with them, form a most pleasant and hopeful +new feature in English Society; bringing together, as they do, +almost all ranks, all shades of opinion; and it has given me deep +pleasure to see, in the case at least of the Country Clubs with +which I am acquainted, the clergy of the Church of England taking +an active, and often a leading, interest in their practical +work. The town clergy are, for the most part, too utterly +overworked to follow the example of their country brethren. +But I have reason to know that they regard such societies, and +Natural History in general, with no unfriendly eyes; and that +there is less fear than ever that the clergy of the Church of +England should have to relinquish their ancient boast—that +since the formation of the Royal Society in the seventeenth +century, they have done more for sound physical science than any +other priesthood or ministry in the world. Let me advise +anyone who may do me the honour of reading these pages, to +discover whether such a Club or Society exists in his +neighbourhood, and to join it forthwith, certain that—if +his experience be at all like mine—he will gain most +pleasant information and most pleasant acquaintances, and pass +most pleasant days and evenings, among people whom he will be +glad to know, and whom he never would have known save for the +new—and now, I hope, rapidly spreading—freemasonry of +Natural History.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, I hope—though I dare not say I trust—to +see the day when the boys of each of our large schools shall +join—like those of Marlborough and Clifton—the same +freemasonry; and have their own Naturalists’ Clubs; nay +more; when our public schools and universities shall awake to the +real needs of the age, and—even to the curtailing of the +time usually spent in not learning Latin and Greek—teach +boys the rudiments at least of botany, zoology, geology, and so +forth; and when the public opinion, at least of the refined and +educated, shall consider it as ludicrous—to use no stronger +word—to be ignorant of the commonest facts and laws of this +living planet, as to be ignorant of the rudiments of two dead +languages. All honour to the said two languages. +Ignorance of them is a serious weakness; for it implies ignorance +of many things else; and indeed, without some knowledge of them, +the nomenclature of the physical sciences cannot be +mastered. But I have got to discover that a boy’s +time is more usefully spent, and his intellect more methodically +trained, by getting up Ovid’s Fasti with an ulterior hope +of being able to write a few Latin verses, than in getting up +Professor Rolleston’s “Forms of Animal Life,” +or any other of the excellent Scientific Manuals for beginners, +which are now, as I said, happily so numerous.</p> +<p>May that day soon come; and an old dream of mine, and of my +scientific friends, be fulfilled at last.</p> +<p>And so I end this little book, hoping, even praying, that it +may encourage a few more labourers to go forth into a vineyard, +which those who have toiled in it know to be full of ever-fresh +health, and wonder and simple joy, and the presence and the glory +of Him whose name is <span class="smcap">Love</span>.</p> +<h2>APPENDIX.</h2> +<h3>PLATE I.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Zoophyta</span>. <span +class="smcap">Polyzoa</span>.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> forms of animal life which are +now united in an independent class, under the name Polyzoa, so +nearly resemble the Hydroid Zoophytes in general form and +appearance that a casual observer may suppose them to be nearly +identical. In all but the more recent works, they are +treated as distinct indeed, but still included under the general +term “<span class="smcap">Zoophytes</span>.” +The animals of both groups are minute, polypiform creatures, +mostly living in transparent cells, springing from the sides of a +stem which unites a number of individuals in one common life, and +grows in a shrub-like form upon any submarine body, such as a +shell, a rock, a weed, or even another polypidom to which it is +parasitically attached. Each polype, in both classes, +protrudes from and retreats within its cell by an independent +action, and when protruded puts forth a circle of tentacles whose +motion round the mouth is the means of securing +nourishment. There are, however, peculiarities in the +structure of the Polyzoa which seem to remove them from +Zoophytology to a place in the system of nature more nearly +connected with Molluscan types. Some of them come so near +to the compound ascidians that they have been termed, as an +order, “Zoophyta ascidioida.”</p> +<p>The simplest form of polype is that of a fleshy bag open at +one end, surmounted by a circle of contractile threads or fingers +called tentacles. The plate shows, on a very minute scale, +at figs. 1, 3, and 6, several of these little polypiform bodies +protruding from their cells. But the Hydra or Fresh-water +Polype has no cell, and is quite unconnected with any root +thread, or with other individuals of the same species. It +is perfectly free, and so simple in its structure, that when the +sac which forms its body is turned inside out it will continue to +perform the functions of life as before. The greater part, +however, of these Hydraform Polypes, although equally simple as +individuals, are connected in a compound life by means of their +variously formed <i>polypidom</i>, as the branched system of +cells is termed. The Hydroid Zoophytes are represented in +the first plate by the following examples.</p> +<h3>HYDROIDA.</h3> +<h4><span class="smcap">Sertularia Rosea</span>. <i>Pl.</i> +I. <i>fig.</i> 6.</h4> +<p>A species which has the cells in pairs on opposite sides of +the central tube, with the openings turned outwards. In the +more enlarged figure is seen a septum across the inner part of +each cell which forms the base upon which the polype rests. +Fig. 6 <i>b</i> indicates the natural size of the piece of branch +represented; but it must be remembered that this is only a small +portion of the bushy shrub.</p> +<h4>Campanularia syringa. <i>Pl.</i> I. <i>fig.</i> 8.</h4> +<p>This Zoophyte twines itself parasitically upon a species of +Sertularia. The cells in this species are thrown out at +irregular intervals upon flexible stems which are wrinkled in +rings. They consist of lengthened, cylindrical, transparent +vases.</p> +<h3><span class="smcap">Campanularia Volubilis</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> I. <i>fig.</i> 9.</h3> +<p>A still more beautiful species, with lengthened foot-stalks +ringed at each end. The polype is remarkable for the +protrusion and contractile power of its lips. It has about +twenty knobbed tentacula.</p> +<h3><span class="smcap">Polyzoa</span>.</h3> +<p>Among Polyzoa the animal’s body is coated with a +membraneous covering, like that of the Tunicated Mollusca, but +which is a continuation of the edge of the cell, which doubles +back upon the body in such a manner that when the animal +protrudes from its cell it pushes out the flexible membrane just +as one would turn inside out the finger of a glove. This +oneness of cell and polype is a distinctive character of the +group. Another is the higher organization of the internal +parts. The mouth, surrounded by tentacles, leads by gullet +and gizzard through a channel into a digesting stomach, from +which the rejectable matter passes upwards through an intestinal +canal till it is discharged near the mouth. The tentacles +also differ much from those of true Polypes. Instead of +being fleshy and contractile, they are rather stiff, resembling +spun glass, set on the sides with vibrating cilia, which by their +motion up one side and down the other of each tentacle, produce a +current which impels their living food into the mouth. When +these tentacles are withdrawn, they are gathered up in a bundle, +like the stays of an umbrella. Our Plate I. contains the +following examples of Polyzoa.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Valkeria cuscuta</span>. <i>Pl.</i> +I. <i>fig.</i> 3.</h4> +<p>From a group in one of Mr. Lloyd’s vases. Fig. 3 A +is the natural size of the central group of cells, in a specimen +coiled round a thread-like weed. Underneath this is the +same portion enlarged. When magnified to this apparent +size, the cells could be seen in different states, some closed, +and others with their bodies protruded. When magnified to 3 +D, we could pleasantly watch the gradual eversion of the +membrane, then the points of the tentacles slowly appearing, and +then, when fully protruded, suddenly expanding into a bell-shaped +circle. This was their usual appearance, but sometimes they +could be noticed bending inwards, as in fig. 3 C, as if to +imprison some living atom of importance. Fig. B represents +two tentacles, showing the direction in which the cilia +vibrate.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Crisia Denticulata</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> I. <i>fig.</i> 4.</h4> +<p>I have only drawn the cells from a prepared specimen. +The polypes are like those described above.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Gemellaria Loricata</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> I. <i>fig.</i> 5.</h4> +<p>Here the cells are placed in pairs, back to back. 5 A is +a very small portion on the natural scale.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Cellularia Ciliata</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> I. <i>fig.</i> 7</h4> +<p>The cells are alternate on the stem, and are curiously armed +with long whip-like cilia or spines. On the back of some of +the cells is a very strange appendage, the use of which is not +with certainty ascertained. It is a minute body, slightly +resembling a vulture’s head, with a movable lower +beak. The whole head keeps up a nodding motion, and the +movable beak occasionally opens widely, and then suddenly snaps +to with a jerk. It has been seen to hold an animalcule +between its jaws till the latter has died, but it has no power to +communicate the prey to the polype in its cell or to swallow and +digest it on its own account. It is certainly not an +independent parasite, as has been supposed, and yet its purpose +in the animal economy is a mystery. Mr. Gosse conjectures +that its use may be, by holding animalcules till they die and +decay, to attract by their putrescence crowds of other +animalcules, which may thus be drawn within the influence of the +polype’s ciliated tentacles. Fig. 7 B shows the form +of one of these “birds’ heads,” and fig. 7 C, +its position on the cell.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Flustra Lineata</span>. <i>Pl.</i> +I. <i>fig.</i> 1.</h4> +<p>In Flustræ, the cells are placed side by side on an +expanded membrane. Fig. 1 represents the general appearance +of a species which at least resembles F. lineata as figured in +Johnston’s work. It is spread upon a Fucus. +Fig. A is an enlarged view of the cells.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Flustra Foliacea</span>. <i>Pl.</i> +I. <i>fig.</i> 2.</h4> +<p>We figure a frond or two of the common species, which has +cells on both sides. It is rarely that the polypes can be +seen in a state of expansion.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Serialaria Lendigera</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> I. <i>fig.</i> 10.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Notamia Bursaria</span>. <i>Pl.</i> I. +<i>fig.</i> 11.</h4> +<p>The “tobacco-pipe”“ appendages, fig. 11 B, +are of unknown use: they are probably analogous to the +birds’ heads in the Cellularæ.</p> +<h3>PLATE V.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Corals and Sea Anemones</span>.</h3> +<h4><span class="smcap">Caryophyllæa Smithii</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> V. <i>fig.</i> 2. <i>Pl.</i> VI. <i>fig.</i> +3.</h4> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> connection between Brainstones, +Mushroom Corals, and other Madrepores abounding on Polynesian +reefs, and the “Sea Anemones,” which have lately +become so familiar to us all, can be seen by comparing our +comparatively insignificant C. Smithii with our commonest species +of Actinia and Sagartia. The former is a beautiful object +when the fleshy part and tentacles are wholly or partially +expanded. Like Actinia, it has a membranous covering, a +simple sac-like stomach, a central mouth, a disk surrounded by +contractile and adhesive tentacles. Unlike Actinia, it is +fixed to submarine bodies, to which it is glued in very early +life, and cannot change its place. Unlike Actinia, its body +is supported by a stony skeleton of calcareous plates arranged +edgewise so as to radiate from the centre. But as we find +some Molluscs furnished with a shell, and others even of the same +character and habits without one, so we find that in spite of +this seemingly important difference, the animals are very similar +in their nature. Since the introduction of glass tanks we +have opportunities of seeing anemones crawling up the sides, so +as to exhibit their entire basal disk, and then we may observe +lightly coloured lines of a less transparent substance than the +interstices, radiating from the margin to the centre, some short, +others reaching the entire distance, and arranged in exactly the +same manner as the plates of Caryophyllæa. These are +doubtless flexible walls of compartments dividing the fleshy +parts of the softer animals, and corresponding with the septa of +the coral. Fig. 2 <i>a</i> represents a section of the +latter, to be compared with the basal disk of Sagartia.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Sagartia Anguicoma</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> V. <i>fig.</i> 3, <i>a</i>, <i>b</i>.</h4> +<p>This genus has been separated from Actinia on account of its +habit of throwing out threads when irritated. Although my +specimens often assumed the form represented in fig. 3, Mr. Lloyd +informs me that it must have arisen from unhealthiness of +condition, its usual habit being to contract into a more +flattened form. When fully expanded, its transparent and +lengthened tentacles present a beautiful appearance. Fig. 3 +<i>a</i>, showing a basal disk, is given for the purpose already +described.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Balanophyllæa Regia</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> V. <i>fig.</i> 1.</h4> +<p>Another species of British madrepore, found by Mr. Gosse at +Ilfracombe, and by Mr. Kingsley at Lundy Island. It is +smaller than O. Smithii, of a very bright colour, and always +covers the upper part of its bony skeleton, in which the plates +are differently arranged from those of the smaller species. +Fig. 1 shows the tentacles expanded in an unusual degree; 1 +<i>a</i>, animal contracted; 1 <i>b</i>, the coral; 1 <i>c</i>, a +tentacle enlarged.</p> +<h3>PLATE VI.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Corals and Sea Anemones</span>.</h3> +<h4><span class="smcap">Actinia Mesembryanthemum</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> VI. <i>fig.</i> 1 <i>a</i>.</h4> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> common species is more +frequently met with than many others, because it prefers shallow +water, and often lives high up among rocks which are only covered +by the sea at very high tide; so that the creature can, if it +will, spend but a short portion of its time immersed. When +uncovered by the tide, it gathers up its leathery tunic, and +presents the appearance of fig. 1 <i>a</i>. When under +water it may often be seen expanding its flower-like disk and +moving its feelers in search of food. These feelers have a +certain power of adhesion, and any not too vigorous animals which +they touch are easily drawn towards the centre and +swallowed. Around the margin of the tunic are seen peeping +out between the tentacles certain bright blue globules looking +very like eyes, but whose purpose is not exactly +ascertained. Fig. 1 represents the disk only partially +expanded.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Bunodes Crassicornis</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> VI. <i>fig.</i> 2.</h4> +<p>This genus of Actinioid zoophytes is distinguished from +Actinia proper by the tubercles or warts which stud the outer +covering of the animal. In B. gemmacea these warts are +arranged symmetrically, so as to give a peculiarly jewelled +appearance to the body. Being of a large size, the +tentacles of B. crassicornis exhibit in great perfection the +adhesive powers produced by the nettling threads which proceed +from them.</p> +<h4><span class="smcap">Caryophyllæa Smithii</span>. +<i>Pl.</i> VI. <i>fig.</i> 3.</h4> +<p>This figure is to show a whiter variety, with the flesh and +tentacles fully expanded.</p> +<h3>PLATE VIII.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mollusca</span>.</h3> +<h4><span class="smcap">Nassa Reticulata</span>. <i>Pl.</i> +VIII. fig. 2, <i>a</i>, <i>b</i>, <i>c</i>, <i>d</i>, <i>e</i>, +<i>f</i></h4> +<p>A <span class="smcap">very</span> active Mollusc, given here +chiefly on account of the opportunity afforded by the birth of +young fry in Mr. Lloyd’s tanks. The <i>Nassa</i> +feeds on small animalcules, for which, in aquaria, it may be seen +routing among the sand and stones, sometimes burying itself among +them so as only to show its caudal tube moving along between +them. A pair of Nassæ in Mr. Lloyd’s +collection, deposited, on the 5th of April, about fifty capsules +or bags of eggs upon the stems of weeds (fig. 2 <i>b</i>); each +capsule contained about a hundred eggs. The capsules opened +on the 16th of May, permitting the escape of rotiferous fry (fig. +2, <i>c</i>, <i>d</i>, <i>e</i>), not in the slightest degree +resembling the parent, but presenting minute nautilus-shaped +transparent shells. These shells rather hang on than cover +the bodies, which have a pair of lobes, around which vibrate +minute cilia in such a manner as to give them an appearance of +rotatory motion. Under a lens they may be seen moving about +very actively in various positions, but always with the look of +being moved by rapidly turning wheels. We should have been +glad to witness the next step towards assuming their ultimate +form, but were disappointed, as the embryos died. Fig. 2 +<i>f</i> is the tongue of a Nassa, from a photograph by Dr. +Kingsley.</p> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> +<p><a name="footnote37"></a><a href="#citation37" +class="footnote">[37]</a> <i>Sertularia operculata</i> and +<i>Gemellaria lociculata</i>; or any of the small +<i>Sertulariæ</i>, compared with <i>Crisiæ</i> and +<i>Cellulariæ</i>, are very good examples. For a +fuller description of these, see Appendix explaining Plate I.</p> +<p><a name="footnote67"></a><a href="#citation67" +class="footnote">[67]</a> If any inland reader wishes to +see the action of this foot, in the bivalve Molluscs, let him +look at the Common Pond-Mussel (Anodon Cygneus), which he will +find in most stagnant waters, and see how he burrows with it in +the mud, and how, when the water is drawn off, he walks solemnly +into deeper water, leaving a furrow behind him.</p> +<p><a name="footnote70"></a><a href="#citation70" +class="footnote">[70]</a> These shells are so common that I +have not cared to figure them.</p> +<p><a name="footnote72"></a><a href="#citation72" +class="footnote">[72]</a> Plate IX. Fig. 3, represents both +parasites on the dead Turritella.</p> +<p><a name="footnote74"></a><a href="#citation74" +class="footnote">[74]</a> A few words on him, and on +sea-anemones in general, may be found in Appendix II. But +full details, accompanied with beautiful plates, may be found in +Mr. Gosse’s work on British sea-anemones and madrepores, +which ought to be in every seaside library.</p> +<p><a name="footnote90"></a><a href="#citation90" +class="footnote">[90]</a> Handbook to the Marine Aquarium +of the Crystal Palace.</p> +<p><a name="footnote111"></a><a href="#citation111" +class="footnote">[111]</a> An admirable paper on this +extraordinary family may be found in the Zoological +Society’s Proceedings for July 1858, by Messrs. S. P. +Woodward and the late lamented Lucas Barrett. See also +Quatrefages, I. 82, or Synapta Duvernæi.</p> +<p><a name="footnote113"></a><a href="#citation113" +class="footnote">[113]</a> Thalassema Neptuni +(Forbes’ British Star-Fishes, p. 259),</p> +<p><a name="footnote116"></a><a href="#citation116" +class="footnote">[116]</a> The Londoner may see specimens +of them at the Zoological Gardens and at the Crystal Palace; as +also of the rare and beautiful Sabella, figured in the same +plate; and of the Balanophyllia, or a closely-allied species, +from the Mediterranean, mentioned in p. 109.</p> +<p><a name="footnote118"></a><a href="#citation118" +class="footnote">[118]</a> A Naturalist’s Rambles on +the Devonshire Coast, p. 110.</p> +<p><a name="footnote121"></a><a href="#citation121" +class="footnote">[121]</a> Balanophyllia regia, Plate V. +fig. 1.</p> +<p><a name="footnote126a"></a><a href="#citation126a" +class="footnote">[126a]</a> Amphidotus cordatus.</p> +<p><a name="footnote126b"></a><a href="#citation126b" +class="footnote">[126b]</a> Echinus miliaris, Plate +VII.</p> +<p><a name="footnote127"></a><a href="#citation127" +class="footnote">[127]</a> See Professor Sedgwick’s +last edition of the “Discourses on the Studies of +Cambridge.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote129"></a><a href="#citation129" +class="footnote">[129]</a> Fissurella græca, Plate X. +fig. 5.</p> +<p><a name="footnote130a"></a><a href="#citation130a" +class="footnote">[130a]</a> Doris tuberculata and +bilineata.</p> +<p><a name="footnote130b"></a><a href="#citation130b" +class="footnote">[130b]</a> Eolis papi losa. A Doris +and an Eolis, though not of these species, are figured in Plate +X.</p> +<p><a name="footnote136"></a><a href="#citation136" +class="footnote">[136]</a> Plate III.</p> +<p><a name="footnote138"></a><a href="#citation138" +class="footnote">[138]</a> Certain Parisian zoologists have +done me the honour to hint that this description was a play of +fancy. I can only answer, that I saw it with my own eyes in +my own aquarium. I am not, I hope, in the habit of drawing +on my fancy in the presence of infinitely more marvellous +Nature. Truth is quite strange enough to be interesting +without lies.</p> +<p><a name="footnote139a"></a><a href="#citation139a" +class="footnote">[139a]</a> Saxicava rugosa, Plate XI. fig. +2.</p> +<p><a name="footnote139b"></a><a href="#citation139b" +class="footnote">[139b]</a> Plate VIII. represents the +common Nassa, with the still more common Littorina littorea, +their teeth-studded palates, and the free swimming young of the +Nassa. (<i>Vide</i> Appendix.)</p> +<p><a name="footnote140a"></a><a href="#citation140a" +class="footnote">[140a]</a> Cypræa Europæa.</p> +<p><a name="footnote140b"></a><a href="#citation140b" +class="footnote">[140b]</a> Botrylli.</p> +<p><a name="footnote140c"></a><a href="#citation140c" +class="footnote">[140c]</a></p> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: +center"><i>Molluscs</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Doris tuberculata.</p> +<p>— bilineata.</p> +<p>Eolis papillosa.</p> +<p>Pleurobranchus plumila.</p> +<p>Neritina.</p> +<p>Cypræa.</p> +<p>Trochus,—2 species.</p> +<p>Mangelia.</p> +<p>Triton.</p> +<p>Trophon.</p> +<p>Nassa,—2 species.</p> +<p>Cerithium.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Sigaretus.</p> +<p>Fissurella.</p> +<p>Arca lactea.</p> +<p>Pecten pusio.</p> +<p>Tapes pullastra.</p> +<p>Kellia suborbicularis.</p> +<p>Shænia Binghami.</p> +<p>Saxicava rugosa.</p> +<p>Gastrochoena pholadia.</p> +<p>Pholas parva.</p> +<p>Anomiæ,—2 or 3 species</p> +<p>Cynthia,—2 species.</p> +<p>Botryllus, do.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: +center"><i>Annelids</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Phyllodoce, and other Nereid worms.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Polynoe squamata.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: +center"><i>Crustacea</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p>4 or 5 species.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: +center"><i>Echinoderms</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Echinus miliaris.</p> +<p>Asterias gibbosa.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Ophiocoma neglecla.</p> +<p>Cucumaria Hyndmanni.</p> +<p>— communis.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><i>Polypes</i>.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Sertularia pumila.</p> +<p>— rugosa.</p> +<p>— fallax.</p> +<p>— filicula.</p> +<p>Plumularia falcata.</p> +<p>— setacea.</p> +<p>Laomedea geniculata.</p> +<p>Campanularia volubilis.</p> +<p>Actinia mesembryanthemum.</p> +<p>Actinia clavata.</p> +<p>— anguicoma.</p> +<p>— crassicornis.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Tubulipora patina.</p> +<p>— hispida.</p> +<p>— serpens.</p> +<p>Crisia eburnea.</p> +<p>Cellepora pumicosa.</p> +<p>Lepraliæ,—many species.</p> +<p>Membranipora pilosa.</p> +<p>Cellularia ciliata.</p> +<p>— scruposa.</p> +<p>— reptans.</p> +<p>Flustra membranacea, &c.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p><a name="footnote163"></a><a href="#citation163" +class="footnote">[163]</a> Plate XI. fig. 1.</p> +<p><a name="footnote167"></a><a href="#citation167" +class="footnote">[167]</a> Plate X. fig. 1.</p> +<p><a name="footnote170"></a><a href="#citation170" +class="footnote">[170]</a> There are very fine specimens in +the Crystal Palace.</p> +<p><a name="footnote181a"></a><a href="#citation181a" +class="footnote">[181a]</a> Coryne ramosa.</p> +<p><a name="footnote181b"></a><a href="#citation181b" +class="footnote">[181b]</a> Campanularia integra.</p> +<p><a name="footnote182"></a><a href="#citation182" +class="footnote">[182]</a> Crisidia Eburnea.</p> +<p><a name="footnote190"></a><a href="#citation190" +class="footnote">[190]</a> Aquarium, p. 163.</p> +<p><a name="footnote201"></a><a href="#citation201" +class="footnote">[201]</a> P. 34. Figures of it are +given in Plate VIII.</p> +<p><a name="footnote203"></a><a href="#citation203" +class="footnote">[203]</a> P. 259.</p> +<p><a name="footnote206"></a><a href="#citation206" +class="footnote">[206]</a> But if any young lady, her +aquarium having failed, shall (as dozens do) cast out the same +Anacharis into the nearest ditch, she shall be followed to her +grave by the maledictions of all millers and trout-fishers. +Seriously, this is a wanton act of injury to the neighbouring +streams, which must be carefully guarded against. As well +turn loose queen-wasps to build in your neighbour’s +banks.</p> +<p><a name="footnote215"></a><a href="#citation215" +class="footnote">[215]</a> Very highly also, in interest, +ranks M. Quatrefages’ “Rambles of a Naturalist” +(about the Mediterranean and the French Coast), translated by M. +Otté.</p> +<p><a name="footnote220"></a><a href="#citation220" +class="footnote">[220]</a> Van Voorst & Co. price +3s.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLAUCUS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 695-h.htm or 695-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/9/695 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/695-h/images/coverb.jpg b/695-h/images/coverb.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8934aee --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/coverb.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/covers.jpg b/695-h/images/covers.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddf66b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/covers.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p109b.jpg b/695-h/images/p109b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2114293 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p109b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p109s.jpg b/695-h/images/p109s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..439f2d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p109s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p114b.jpg b/695-h/images/p114b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..724015d --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p114b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p114s.jpg b/695-h/images/p114s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..805d68c --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p114s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p117b.jpg b/695-h/images/p117b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c652478 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p117b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p117s.jpg b/695-h/images/p117s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2f58e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p117s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p129b.jpg b/695-h/images/p129b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f35c37 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p129b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p129s.jpg b/695-h/images/p129s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..618521e --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p129s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p135b.jpg b/695-h/images/p135b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1452a97 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p135b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p135s.jpg b/695-h/images/p135s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b9afe6 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p135s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p136b.jpg b/695-h/images/p136b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..41417af --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p136b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p136s.jpg b/695-h/images/p136s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..486985e --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p136s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p163b.jpg b/695-h/images/p163b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2f73cd --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p163b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p163s.jpg b/695-h/images/p163s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e86edb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p163s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p168b.jpg b/695-h/images/p168b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca3ec03 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p168b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p168s.jpg b/695-h/images/p168s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..efb448f --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p168s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p201b.jpg b/695-h/images/p201b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff462d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p201b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p201s.jpg b/695-h/images/p201s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b6bb61 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p201s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p65b.jpg b/695-h/images/p65b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7256c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p65b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p65s.jpg b/695-h/images/p65s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..53f7dc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p65s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p73b.jpg b/695-h/images/p73b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d7a8c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p73b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p73s.jpg b/695-h/images/p73s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..72b9832 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p73s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p81b.jpg b/695-h/images/p81b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f570f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p81b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p81s.jpg b/695-h/images/p81s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6193856 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p81s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p83b.jpg b/695-h/images/p83b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff81d05 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p83b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p83s.jpg b/695-h/images/p83s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c06367f --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p83s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p85b.jpg b/695-h/images/p85b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c607faa --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p85b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p85s.jpg b/695-h/images/p85s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cb3b86 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p85s.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p92b.jpg b/695-h/images/p92b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fbf4b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p92b.jpg diff --git a/695-h/images/p92s.jpg b/695-h/images/p92s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..93bfec5 --- /dev/null +++ b/695-h/images/p92s.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e7e683 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #695 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/695) diff --git a/old/glcus10.txt b/old/glcus10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6be418 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/glcus10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4883 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore +#2 in our series by Charles Kingsley + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Glaucus; or The Wonders of the Shore + +by Charles Kingsley + +October, 1996 [Etext #695] + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore +*****This file should be named glcus10.txt or glcus10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, glcus11.txt. +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, glcus10a.txt. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-two text +files per month: or 400 more Etexts in 1996 for a total of 800. +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach 80 billion Etexts. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by the December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only 10% of the present number of computer users. 2001 +should have at least twice as many computer users as that, so it +will require us reaching less than 5% of the users in 2001. + + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/BU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (BU = Benedictine +University). (Subscriptions to our paper newsletter go to BU.) + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +We would prefer to send you this information by email +(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail). + +****** +If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please +FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives: +[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type] + +ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd etext/etext90 through /etext96 +or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information] +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET INDEX?00.GUT +for a list of books +and +GET NEW GUT for general information +and +MGET GUT* for newsletters. + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Benedictine University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Benedictine + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Benedictine University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Glaucus; or The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley +Scanned and proofed by David Price +ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +Glaucus; or The Wonders of the Shore + + + + +Dedication. + + +MY DEAR MISS GRENFELL, + +I CANNOT forego the pleasure of dedicating this little book to you; +excepting of course the opening exhortation (needless enough in +your case) to those who have not yet discovered the value of +Natural History. Accept it as a memorial of pleasant hours spent +by us already, and as an earnest, I trust, of pleasant hours to be +spent hereafter (perhaps, too, beyond this life in the nobler world +to come), in examining together the works of our Father in heaven. + +Your grateful and faithful brother-in-law, + +C. KINGSLEY. + +BIDEFORD, + +APRIL 24. 1855. + + + +GLAUCUS; OR, THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. + + + +You are going down, perhaps, by railway, to pass your usual six +weeks at some watering-place along the coast, and as you roll along +think more than once, and that not over-cheerfully, of what you +shall do when you get there. You are half-tired, half-ashamed, of +making one more in the ignoble army of idlers, who saunter about +the cliffs, and sands, and quays; to whom every wharf is but a +"wharf of Lethe," by which they rot "dull as the oozy weed." You +foreknow your doom by sad experience. A great deal of dressing, a +lounge in the club-room, a stare out of the window with the +telescope, an attempt to take a bad sketch, a walk up one parade +and down another, interminable reading of the silliest of novels, +over which you fall asleep on a bench in the sun, and probably have +your umbrella stolen; a purposeless fine-weather sail in a yacht, +accompanied by many ineffectual attempts to catch a mackerel, and +the consumption of many cigars; while your boys deafen your ears, +and endanger your personal safety, by blazing away at innocent +gulls and willocks, who go off to die slowly; a sport which you +feel to be wanton, and cowardly, and cruel, and yet cannot find in +your heart to stop, because "the lads have nothing else to do, and +at all events it keeps them out of the billiard-room;" and after +all, and worst of all, at night a soulless RECHAUFFE of third-rate +London frivolity: this is the life-in-death in which thousands +spend the golden weeks of summer, and in which you confess with a +sigh that you are going to spend them. + +Now I will not be so rude as to apply to you the old hymn-distich +about one who + + +" - finds some mischief still +For idle hands to do:" + + +but does it not seem to you, that there must surely be many a thing +worth looking at earnestly, and thinking over earnestly, in a world +like this, about the making of the least part whereof God has +employed ages and ages, further back than wisdom can guess or +imagination picture, and upholds that least part every moment by +laws and forces so complex and so wonderful, that science, when it +tries to fathom them, can only learn how little it can learn? And +does it not seem to you that six weeks' rest, free from the cares +of town business and the whirlwind of town pleasure, could not be +better spent than in examining those wonders a little, instead of +wandering up and down like the many, still wrapt up each in his +little world of vanity and self-interest, unconscious of what and +where they really are, as they gaze lazily around at earth and sea +and sky, and have + + +"No speculation in those eyes +Which they do glare withal"? + + +Why not, then, try to discover a few of the Wonders of the Shore? +For wonders there are there around you at every step, stranger than +ever opium-eater dreamed, and yet to be seen at no greater expense +than a very little time and trouble. + +Perhaps you smile, in answer, at the notion of becoming a +"Naturalist:" and yet you cannot deny that there must be a +fascination in the study of Natural History, though what it is is +as yet unknown to you. Your daughters, perhaps, have been seized +with the prevailing "Pteridomania," and are collecting and buying +ferns, with Ward's cases wherein to keep them (for which you have +to pay), and wrangling over unpronounceable names of species (which +seem to he different in each new Fern-book that they buy), till the +Pteridomania seems to you somewhat of a bore: and yet you cannot +deny that they find an enjoyment in it, and are more active, more +cheerful, more self-forgetful over it, than they would have been +over novels and gossip, crochet and Berlin-wool. At least you will +confess that the abomination of "Fancy-work" - that standing cloak +for dreamy idleness (not to mention the injury which it does to +poor starving needlewomen) - has all but vanished from your +drawing-room since the "Lady-ferns" and "Venus's hair" appeared; +and that you could not help yourself looking now and then at the +said "Venus's hair," and agreeing that Nature's real beauties were +somewhat superior to the ghastly woollen caricatures which they had +superseded. + +You cannot deny, I say, that there is a fascination in this same +Natural History. For do not you, the London merchant, recollect +how but last summer your douce and portly head-clerk was seized by +two keepers in the act of wandering in Epping Forest at dead of +night, with a dark lantern, a jar of strange sweet compound, and +innumerable pocketfuls of pill-boxes; and found it very difficult +to make either his captors or you believe that he was neither going +to burn wheat-ricks, nor poison pheasants, but was simply "sugaring +the trees for moths," as a blameless entomologist? And when, in +self-justification, he took you to his house in Islington, and +showed you the glazed and corked drawers full of delicate insects, +which had evidently cost him in the collecting the spare hours of +many busy years, and many a pound, too, out of his small salary, +were you not a little puzzled to make out what spell there could be +in those "useless" moths, to draw out of his warm bed, twenty miles +down the Eastern Counties Railway, and into the damp forest like a +deer-stealer, a sober white-headed Tim Linkinwater like him, your +very best man of business, given to the reading of Scotch political +economy, and gifted with peculiarly clear notions on the currency +question? + +It is puzzling, truly. I shall be very glad if these pages help +you somewhat toward solving the puzzle. + +We shall agree at least that the study of Natural History has +become now-a-days an honourable one. A Cromarty stonemason was +till lately - God rest his noble soul! - the most important man in +the City of Edinburgh, by dint of a work on fossil fishes; and the +successful investigator of the minutest animals takes place +unquestioned among men of genius, and, like the philosopher of old +Greece, is considered, by virtue of his science, fit company for +dukes and princes. Nay, the study is now more than honourable; it +is (what to many readers will be a far higher recommendation) even +fashionable. Every well-educated person is eager to know something +at least of the wonderful organic forms which surround him in every +sunbeam and every pebble; and books of Natural History are finding +their way more and more into drawing-rooms and school-rooms, and +exciting greater thirst for a knowledge which, even twenty years +ago, was considered superfluous for all but the professional +student. + +What a change from the temper of two generations since, when the +naturalist was looked on as a harmless enthusiast, who went "bug- +hunting," simply because he had not spirit to follow a fox! There +are those alive who can recollect an amiable man being literally +bullied out of the New Forest, because he dared to make a +collection (at this moment, we believe, in some unknown abyss of +that great Avernus, the British Museum) of fossil shells from those +very Hordwell Cliffs, for exploring which there is now established +a society of subscribers and correspondents. They can remember, +too, when, on the first appearance of Bewick's "British Birds," the +excellent sportsman who brought it down to the Forest was asked, +Why on earth he had bought a book about "cock sparrows"? and had to +justify himself again and again, simply by lending the book to his +brother sportsmen, to convince them that there were rather more +than a dozen sorts of birds (as they then held) indigenous to +Hampshire. But the book, perhaps, which turned the tide in favour +of Natural History, among the higher classes at least, in the south +of England, was White's "History of Selborne." A Hampshire +gentleman and sportsman, whom everybody knew, had taken the trouble +to write a book about the birds and the weeds in his own parish, +and the every-day things which went on under his eyes, and everyone +else's. And all gentlemen, from the Weald of Kent to the Vale of +Blackmore, shrugged their shoulders mysteriously, and said, "Poor +fellow!" till they opened the book itself, and discovered to their +surprise that it read like any novel. And then came a burst of +confused, but honest admiration; from the young squire's "Bless me! +who would have thought that there were so many wonderful things to +be seen in one's own park!" to the old squire's more morally +valuable "Bless me! why, I have seen that and that a hundred times, +and never thought till now how wonderful they were!" + +There were great excuses, though, of old, for the contempt in which +the naturalist was held; great excuses for the pitying tone of +banter with which the Spectator talks of "the ingenious" Don +Saltero (as no doubt the Neapolitan gentleman talked of Ferrante +Imperato the apothecary, and his museum); great excuses for +Voltaire, when he classes the collection of butterflies among the +other "bizarreries de l'esprit humain." For, in the last +generation, the needs of the world were different. It had no time +for butterflies and fossils. While Buonaparte was hovering on the +Boulogne coast, the pursuits and the education which were needed +were such as would raise up men to fight him; so the coarse, +fierce, hard-handed training of our grandfathers came when it was +wanted, and did the work which was required of it, else we had not +been here now. Let us be thankful that we have had leisure for +science; and show now in war that our science has at least not +unmanned us. + +Moreover, Natural History, if not fifty years ago, certainly a +hundred years ago, was hardly worthy of men of practical common +sense. After, indeed, Linne, by his invention of generic and +specific names, had made classification possible, and by his own +enormous labours had shown how much could be done when once a +method was established, the science has grown rapidly enough. But +before him little or nothing had been put into form definite enough +to allure those who (as the many always will) prefer to profit by +others' discoveries, than to discover for themselves; and Natural +History was attractive only to a few earnest seekers, who found too +much trouble in disencumbering their own minds of the dreams of +bygone generations (whether facts, like cockatrices, basilisks, and +krakens, the breeding of bees out of a dead ox, and of geese from +barnacles; or theories, like those of elements, the VIS PLASTRIX in +Nature, animal spirits, and the other musty heirlooms of +Aristotleism and Neo-platonism), to try to make a science popular, +which as yet was not even a science at all. Honour to them, +nevertheless. Honour to Ray and his illustrious contemporaries in +Holland and France. Honour to Seba and Aldrovandus; to Pomet, with +his "Historie of Drugges;" even to the ingenious Don Saltero, and +his tavern-museum in Cheyne Walk. Where all was chaos, every man +was useful who could contribute a single spot of organized standing +ground in the shape of a fact or a specimen. But it is a question +whether Natural History would have ever attained its present +honours, had not Geology arisen, to connect every other branch of +Natural History with problems as vast and awful as they are +captivating to the imagination. Nay, the very opposition with +which Geology met was of as great benefit to the sister sciences as +to itself. For, when questions belonging to the most sacred +hereditary beliefs of Christendom were supposed to be affected by +the verification of a fossil shell, or the proving that the +Maestricht "homo diluvii testis" was, after all, a monstrous eft, +it became necessary to work upon Conchology, Botany, and +Comparative Anatomy, with a care and a reverence, a caution and a +severe induction, which had been never before applied to them; and +thus gradually, in the last half-century, the whole choir of +cosmical sciences have acquired a soundness, severity, and fulness, +which render them, as mere intellectual exercises, as valuable to a +manly mind as Mathematics and Metaphysics. + +But how very lately have they attained that firm and honourable +standing ground! It is a question whether, even twenty years ago, +Geology, as it then stood, was worth troubling one's head about, so +little had been really proved. And heavy and uphill was the work, +even within the last fifteen years, of those who stedfastly set +themselves to the task of proving and of asserting at all risks, +that the Maker of the coal seam and the diluvial cave could not be +a "Deus quidam deceptor," and that the facts which the rock and the +silt revealed were sacred, not to be warped or trifled with for the +sake of any cowardly and hasty notion that they contradicted His +other messages. When a few more years are past, Buckland and +Sedgwick, Murchison and Lyell, Delabche and Phillips, Forbes and +Jamieson, and the group of brave men who accompanied and followed +them, will be looked back to as moral benefactors of their race; +and almost as martyrs, also, when it is remembered how much +misunderstanding, obloquy, and plausible folly they had to endure +from well-meaning fanatics like Fairholme or Granville Penn, and +the respectable mob at their heels who tried (as is the fashion in +such cases) to make a hollow compromise between fact and the Bible, +by twisting facts just enough to make them fit the fancied meaning +of the Bible, and the Bible just enough to make it fit the fancied +meaning of the facts. But there were a few who would have no +compromise; who laboured on with a noble recklessness, determined +to speak the thing which they had seen, and neither more nor less, +sure that God could take better care than they of His own +everlasting truth. And now they have conquered: the facts which +were twenty years ago denounced as contrary to Revelation, are at +last accepted not merely as consonant with, but as corroborative +thereof; and sound practical geologists - like Hugh Miller, in his +"Footprints of the Creator," and Professor Sedgwick, in the +invaluable notes to his "Discourse on the Studies of Cambridge" - +have wielded in defence of Christianity the very science which was +faithlessly and cowardly expected to subvert it. + +But if you seek, reader, rather for pleasure than for wisdom, you +can find it in such studies, pure and undefiled. + +Happy, truly, is the naturalist. He has no time for melancholy +dreams. The earth becomes to him transparent; everywhere he sees +significancies, harmonies, laws, chains of cause and effect +endlessly interlinked, which draw him out of the narrow sphere of +self-interest and self-pleasing, into a pure and wholesome region +of solemn joy and wonder. He goes up some Snowdon valley; to him +it is a solemn spot (though unnoticed by his companions), where the +stag's-horn clubmoss ceases to straggle across the turf, and the +tufted alpine clubmoss takes its place: for he is now in a new +world; a region whose climate is eternally influenced by some fresh +law (after which he vainly guesses with a sigh at his own +ignorance), which renders life impossible to one species, possible +to another. And it is a still more solemn thought to him, that it +was not always so; that aeons and ages back, that rock which he +passed a thousand feet below was fringed, not as now with fern and +blue bugle, and white bramble-flowers, but perhaps with the alp- +rose and the "gemsen-kraut" of Mont Blanc, at least with Alpine +Saxifrages which have now retreated a thousand feet up the mountain +side, and with the blue Snow-Gentian, and the Canadian Sedum, which +have all but vanished out of the British Isles. And what is it +which tells him that strange story? Yon smooth and rounded surface +of rock, polished, remark, across the strata and against the grain; +and furrowed here and there, as if by iron talons, with long +parallel scratches. It was the crawling of a glacier which +polished that rock-face; the stones fallen from Snowdon peak into +the half-liquid lake of ice above, which ploughed those furrows. +AEons and aeons ago, before the time when Adam first + + +"Embraced his Eve in happy hour, +And every bird in Eden burst +In carol, every bud in flower," + + +those marks were there; the records of the "Age of ice;" slight, +truly; to be effaced by the next farmer who needs to build a wall; +but unmistakeable, boundless in significance, like Crusoe's one +savage footprint on the sea-shore; and the naturalist acknowledges +the finger-mark of God, and wonders, and worships. + +Happy, especially, is the sportsman who is also a naturalist: for +as he roves in pursuit of his game, over hills or up the beds of +streams where no one but a sportsman ever thinks of going, he will +be certain to see things noteworthy, which the mere naturalist +would never find, simply because he could never guess that they +were there to be found. I do not speak merely of the rare birds +which may be shot, the curious facts as to the habits of fish which +may be observed, great as these pleasures are. I speak of the +scenery, the weather, the geological formation of the country, its +vegetation, and the living habits of its denizens. A sportsman, +out in all weathers, and often dependent for success on his +knowledge of "what the sky is going to do," has opportunities for +becoming a meteorologist which no one beside but a sailor +possesses; and one has often longed for a scientific gamekeeper or +huntsman, who, by discovering a law for the mysterious and +seemingly capricious phenomena of "scent," might perhaps throw +light on a hundred dark passages of hygrometry. The fisherman, +too, - what an inexhaustible treasury of wonder lies at his feet, +in the subaqueous world of the commonest mountain burn! All the +laws which mould a world are there busy, if he but knew it, +fattening his trout for him, and making them rise to the fly, by +strange electric influences, at one hour rather than at another. +Many a good geognostic lesson, too, both as to the nature of a +country's rocks, and as to the laws by which strata are deposited, +may an observing man learn as he wades up the bed of a trout- +stream; not to mention the strange forms and habits of the tribes +of water-insects. Moreover, no good fisherman but knows, to his +sorrow, that there are plenty of minutes, ay, hours, in each day's +fishing in which he would be right glad of any employment better +than trying to + + +"Call spirits from the vasty deep," + + +who will not + + +"Come when you do call for them." + + +What to do, then? You are sitting, perhaps, in your coracle, upon +some mountain tarn, waiting for a wind, and waiting in vain. + + +"Keine luft an keine seite, +Todes-stille frchterlich;" + + +as Gthe has it - + + +"Und der schiffer sieht bekmmert +Glatte flche rings umher." + + +You paddle to the shore on the side whence the wind ought to come, +if it had any spirit in it; tie the coracle to a stone, light your +cigar, lie down on your back upon the grass, grumble, and finally +fall asleep. In the meanwhile, probably, the breeze has come on, +and there has been half-an-hour's lively fishing curl; and you wake +just in time to see the last ripple of it sneaking off at the other +side of the lake, leaving all as dead-calm as before. + +Now how much better, instead of falling asleep, to have walked +quietly round the lake side, and asked of your own brains and of +Nature the question, "How did this lake come here? What does it +mean?" + +It is a hole in the earth. True, but how was the hole made? There +must have been huge forces at work to form such a chasm. Probably +the mountain was actually opened from within by an earthquake; and +when the strata fell together again, the portion at either end of +the chasm, being perhaps crushed together with greater force, +remained higher than the centre, and so the water lodged between +them. Perhaps it was formed thus. You will at least agree that +its formation must have been a grand sight enough, and one during +which a spectator would have had some difficulty in keeping his +footing. + +And when you learn that this convulsion probably took plus at the +bottom of an ocean hundreds of thousands of years ago, you have at +least a few thoughts over which to ruminate, which will make you at +once too busy to grumble, and ashamed to grumble. + +Yet, after all, I hardly think the lake was formed in this way, and +suspect that it may have been dry for ages after it emerged from +the primeval waves, and Snowdonia was a palm-fringed island in a +tropic sea. Let us look the place over more fully. + +You see the lake is nearly circular; on the side where we stand the +pebbly beach is not six feet above the water, and slopes away +steeply into the valley behind us, while before us it shelves +gradually into the lake; forty yards out, as you know, there is not +ten feet water; and then a steep bank, the edge whereof we and the +big trout know well, sinks suddenly to unknown depths. On the +opposite side, that flat-topped wall of rock towers up shoreless +into the sky, seven hundred feet perpendicular; the deepest water +of all we know is at its very foot. Right and left, two shoulders +of down slope into the lake. Now turn round and look down the +gorge. Remark that this pebble bank on which we stand reaches some +fifty yards downward: you see the loose stones peeping out +everywhere. We may fairly suppose that we stand on a dam of loose +stones, a hundred feet deep. + +But why loose stones? - and if so, what matter? and what wonder? +There are rocks cropping out everywhere down the hill-side. + +Because if you will take up one of these stones and crack it +across, you will see that it is not of the same stuff as those said +rocks. Step into the next field and see. That rock is the common +Snowdon slate, which we see everywhere. The two shoulders of down, +right and left, are slate, too; you can see that at a glance. But +the stones of the pebble bank are a close-grained, yellow-spotted +rock. They are Syenite; and (you may believe me or not, as you +will) they were once upon a time in the condition of a hasty +pudding heated to some 800 degrees of Fahrenheit, and in that +condition shoved their way up somewhere or other through these +slates. But where? whence on earth did these Syenite pebbles come? +Let us walk round to the cliff on the opposite side and see. It is +worth while; for even if my guess be wrong, there is good spinning +with a brass minnow round the angles of the rocks. + +Now see. Between the cliff-foot and the sloping down is a crack, +ending in a gully; the nearer side is of slate, and the further +side, the cliff itself, is - why, the whole cliff is composed of +the very same stone as the pebble ridge. + +Now, my good friend, how did these pebbles get three hundred yards +across the lake? Hundreds of tons, some of them three feet long: +who carried them across? The old Cymry were not likely to amuse +themselves by making such a breakwater up here in No-man's-land, +two thousand feet above the sea: but somebody or something must +have carried them; for stones do not fly, nor swim either. + +Shot out of a volcano? As you seem determined to have a prodigy, +it may as well be a sufficiently huge one. + +Well - these stones lie altogether; and a volcano would have hardly +made so compact a shot, not being in the habit of using Eley's wire +cartridges. Our next hope of a solution lies in John Jones, who +carried up the coracle. Hail him, and ask him what is on the top +of that cliff . . . So, "Plainshe and pogshe, and another Llyn." +Very good. Now, does it not strike you that this whole cliff has a +remarkably smooth and plastered look, like a hare's run up an +earthbank? And do you not see that it is polished thus only over +the lake? that as soon as the cliff abuts on the downs right and +left, it forms pinnacles, caves, broken angular boulders? Syenite +usually does so in our damp climate, from the "weathering" effect +of frost and rain: why has it not done so over the lake? On that +part something (giants perhaps) has been scrambling up or down on a +very large scale, and so rubbed off every corner which was inclined +to come away, till the solid core of the rock was bared. And may +not those mysterious giants have had a hand in carrying the stones +across the lake? . . . Really, I am not altogether jesting. Think +a while what agent could possibly have produced either one or both +of these effects? + +There is but one; and that, if you have been an Alpine traveller - +much more if you have been a Chamois hunter - you have seen many a +time (whether you knew it or not) at the very same work. + +Ice? Yes; ice; Hrymir the frost-giant, and no one else. And if +you will look at the facts, you will see how ice may have done it. +Our friend John Jones's report of plains and bogs and a lake above +makes it quite possible that in the "Ice age" (Glacial Epoch, as +the big-word-mongers call it) there was above that cliff a great +neve, or snowfield, such as you have seen often in the Alps at the +head of each glacier. Over the face of this cliff a glacier has +crawled down from that neve, polishing the face of the rock in its +descent: but the snow, having no large and deep outlet, has not +slid down in a sufficient stream to reach the vale below, and form +a glacier of the first order; and has therefore stopped short on +the other side of the lake, as a glacier of the second order, which +ends in an ice-cliff hanging high up on the mountain side, and kept +from further progress by daily melting. If you have ever gone up +the Mer de Glace to the Tacul, you saw a magnificent specimen of +this sort on your right hand, just opposite the Tacul, in the +Glacier de Trelaporte, which comes down from the Aiguille de +Charmoz. + +This explains our pebble-ridge. The stones which the glacier +rubbed off the cliff beneath it it carried forward, slowly but +surely, till they saw the light again in the face of the ice-cliff, +and dropped out of it under the melting of the summer sun, to form +a huge dam across the ravine; till, the "Ice age" past, a more +genial climate succeeded, and neve and glacier melted away: but +the "moraine" of stones did not, and remains to this day, as the +dam which keeps up the waters of the lake. + +There is my explanation. If you can find a better, do: but +remember always that it must include an answer to - "How did the +stones get across the lake?" + + Now, reader, we have had no abstruse science here, no long words, +not even a microscope or a book: and yet we, as two plain +sportsmen, have gone back, or been led back by fact and common +sense, into the most awful and sublime depths, into an epos of the +destruction and re-creation of a former world. + +This is but a single instance; I might give hundreds. This one, +nevertheless, may have some effect in awakening you to the +boundless world of wonders which is all around you, and make you +ask yourself seriously, "What branch of Natural History shall I +begin to investigate, if it be but for a few weeks, this summer?" + +To which I answer, Try "the Wonders of the Shore." There are along +every sea-beach more strange things to be seen, and those to be +seen easily, than in any other field of observation which you will +find in these islands. And on the shore only will you have the +enjoyment of finding new species, of adding your mite to the +treasures of science. + +For not only the English ferns, but the natural history of all our +land species, are now well-nigh exhausted. Our home botanists and +ornithologists are spending their time now, perforce, in verifying +a few obscure species, and bemoaning themselves, like Alexander, +that there are no more worlds left to conquer. For the geologist, +indeed, and the entomologist, especially in the remoter districts, +much remains to be done, but only at a heavy outlay of time, +labour, and study; and the dilettante (and it is for dilettanti, +like myself, that I principally write) must be content to tread in +the tracks of greater men who have preceded him, and accept at +second or third hand their foregone conclusions. + +But this is most unsatisfactory; for in giving up discovery, one +gives up one of the highest enjoyments of Natural History. There +is a mysterious delight in the discovery of a new species, akin to +that of seeing for the first time, in their native haunts, plants +or animals of which one has till then only read. Some, surely, who +read these pages have experienced that latter delight; and, though +they might find it hard to define whence the pleasure arose, know +well that it was a solid pleasure, the memory of which they would +not give up for hard cash. Some, surely, can recollect, at their +first sight of the Alpine Soldanella, the Rhododendron, or the +black Orchis, growing upon the edge of the eternal snow, a thrill +of emotion not unmixed with awe; a sense that they were, as it +were, brought face to face with the creatures of another world; +that Nature was independent of them, not merely they of her; that +trees were not merely made to build their houses, or herbs to feed +their cattle, as they looked on those wild gardens amid the wreaths +of the untrodden snow, which had lifted their gay flowers to the +sun year after year since the foundation of the world, taking no +heed of man, and all the coil which he keeps in the valleys far +below. + +And even, to take a simpler instance, there are those who will +excuse, or even approve of, a writer for saying that, among the +memories of a month's eventful tour, those which stand out as +beacon-points, those round which all the others group themselves, +are the first wolf-track by the road-side in the Kyllwald; the +first sight of the blue and green Roller-birds, walking behind the +plough like rooks in the tobacco-fields of Wittlich; the first ball +of Olivine scraped out of the volcanic slag-heaps of the Dreisser- +Weiher; the first pair of the Lesser Bustard flushed upon the downs +of the Mosel-kopf; the first sight of the cloud of white Ephemerae, +fluttering in the dusk like a summer snowstorm between us and the +black cliffs of the Rheinstein, while the broad Rhine beneath +flashed blood-red in the blaze of the lightning and the fires of +the Mausenthurm - a lurid Acheron above which seemed to hover ten +thousand unburied ghosts; and last, but not least, on the lip of +the vast Mosel-kopf crater - just above the point where the weight +of the fiery lake has burst the side of the great slag-cup, and +rushed forth between two cliffs of clink-stone across the downs, in +a clanging stream of fire, damming up rivulets, and blasting its +path through forests, far away toward the valley of the Moselle - +the sight of an object for which was forgotten for the moment that +battle-field of the Titans at our feet, and the glorious panorama, +Hundsruck and Taunus, Siebengebirge and Ardennes, and all the +crater peaks around; and which was - smile not, reader - our first +yellow foxglove. + +But what is even this to the delight of finding a new species? - of +rescuing (as it seems to you) one more thought of the Divine mind +from Hela, and the realms of the unknown, unclassified, +uncomprehended? As it seems to you: though in reality it only +seems so, in a world wherein not a sparrow falls to the ground +unnoticed by our Father who is in heaven. + +The truth is, the pleasure of finding new species is too great; it +is morally dangerous; for it brings with it the temptation to look +on the thing found as your own possession, all but your own +creation; to pride yourself on it, as if God had not known it for +ages since; even to squabble jealously for the right of having it +named after you, and of being recorded in the Transactions of I- +know-not-what Society as its first discoverer:- as if all the +angels in heaven had not been admiring it, long before you were +born or thought of. + +But to be forewarned is to be forearmed; and I seriously counsel +you to try if you cannot find something new this summer along the +coast to which you are going. There is no reason why you should +not be so successful as a friend of mine who, with a very slight +smattering of science, and very desultory research, obtained in one +winter from the Torbay shores three entirely new species, beside +several rare animals which had escaped all naturalists since the +lynx-eye of Colonel Montagu discerned them forty years ago. + +And do not despise the creatures because they are minute. No doubt +we should most of us prefer discovering monstrous apes in the +tropical forests of Borneo, or stumbling upon herds of gigantic +Ammon sheep amid the rhododendron thickets of the Himalaya: but it +cannot be; and "he is a fool," says old Hesiod, "who knows not how +much better half is than the whole." Let us be content with what +is within our reach. And doubt not that in these tiny creatures +are mysteries more than we shall ever fathom. + +The zoophytes and microscopic animalcules which people every shore +and every drop of water, have been now raised to a rank in the +human mind more important, perhaps, than even those gigantic +monsters whose models fill the lake at the Crystal Palace. The +research which has been bestowed, for the last century, upon these +once unnoticed atomies has well repaid itself; for from no branch +of physical science has more been learnt of the SCIENTIA +SCIENTIARUM, the priceless art of learning; no branch of science +has more utterly confounded a wisdom of the wise, shattered to +pieces systems and theories, and the idolatry of arbitrary names, +and taught man to be silent while his Maker speaks, than this +apparent pedantry of zoophytology, in which our old distinctions of +"animal," "vegetable," and "mineral" are trembling in the balance, +seemingly ready to vanish like their fellows - "the four elements" +of fire, earth, air, and water. No branch of science has helped so +much to sweep away that sensuous idolatry of mere size, which +tempts man to admire and respect objects in proportion to the +number of feet or inches which they occupy in space. No branch of +science, moreover, has been more humbling to the boasted rapidity +and omnipotence of the human reason, or has more taught those who +have eyes to see, and hearts to understand, how weak and wayward, +staggering and slow, are the steps of our fallen race (rapid and +triumphant enough in that broad road of theories which leads to +intellectual destruction) whensoever they tread the narrow path of +true science, which leads (if I may be allowed to transfer our +Lord's great parable from moral to intellectual matters) to Life; +to the living and permanent knowledge of living things and of the +laws of their existence. Humbling, truly, to one who looks back to +the summer of 1754, when good Mr. Ellis, the wise and benevolent +West Indian merchant, read before the Royal Society his paper +proving the animal nature of corals, and followed it up the year +after by that "Essay toward a Natural History of the Corallines, +and other like Marine Productions of the British Coasts," which +forms the groundwork of all our knowledge on the subject to this +day. The chapter in Dr. G. Johnston's "British Zoophytes," p. 407, +or the excellent little RESUME thereof in Dr. Landsborough's book +on the same subject, is really a saddening one, as one sees how +loth were, not merely dreamers like, Marsigli or Bonnet, but sound- +headed men like Pallas and Linne, to give up the old sense-bound +fancy, that these corals were vegetables, and their polypes some +sort of living flowers. Yet, after all, there are excuses for +them. Without our improved microscopes, and while the sciences of +comparative anatomy and chemistry were yet infantile, it was +difficult to believe what was the truth; and for this simple +reason: that, as usual, the truth, when discovered, turned out far +more startling and prodigious than the dreams which men had hastily +substituted for it; more strange than Ovid's old story that the +coral was soft under the sea, and hardened by exposure to air; than +Marsigli's notion, that the coral-polypes were its flowers; than +Dr. Parsons' contemptuous denial, that these complicated forms +could be "the operations of little, poor, helpless, jelly-like +animals, and not the work of more sure vegetation;" than Baker the +microscopist's detailed theory of their being produced by the +crystallization of the mineral salts in the sea-water, just as he +had seen "the particles of mercury and copper in aquafortis assume +tree-like forms, or curious delineations of mosses and minute +shrubs on slates and stones, owing to the shooting of salts +intermixed with mineral particles:" - one smiles at it now: yet +these men were no less sensible than we; and if we know better, it +is only because other men, and those few and far between, have +laboured amid disbelief, ridicule, and error; needing again and +again to retrace their steps, and to unlearn more than they learnt, +seeming to go backwards when they were really progressing most: +and now we have entered into their labours, and find them, as I +have just said, more wondrous than all the poetic dreams of a +Bonnet or a Darwin. For who, after all, to take a few broad +instances (not to enlarge on the great root-wonder of a number of +distinct individuals connected by a common life, and forming a +seeming plant invariable in each species), would have dreamed of +the "bizarreries" which these very zoophytes present in their +classification? + +You go down to any shore after a gale of wind, and pick up a few +delicate little sea-ferns. You have two in your hand, which +probably look to you, even under a good pocket magnifier, identical +or nearly so. (1) But you are told to your surprise, that however +like the dead horny polypidoms which you hold may be, the two +species of animal which have formed them are at least as far apart +in the scale of creation as a quadruped is from a fish. You see in +some Musselburgh dredger's boat the phosphorescent sea-pen (unknown +in England), a living feather, of the look and consistency of a +cock's comb; or the still stranger sea-rush (VIRGULARIA MIRABILIS), +a spine a foot long, with hundreds of rosy flowerets arranged in +half-rings round it from end to end; and you are told that these +are the congeners of the great stony Venus's fan which hangs in +seamen's cottages, brought home from the West Indies. And ere you +have done wondering, you hear that all three are congeners of the +ugly, shapeless, white "dead man's hand," which you may pick up +after a storm on any shore. You have a beautiful madrepore or +brain-stone on your mantel-piece, brought home from some Pacific +coral-reef. You are to believe that its first cousins are the +soft, slimy sea-anemones which you see expanding their living +flowers in every rock-pool - bags of sea-water, without a trace of +bone or stone. You must believe it; for in science, as in higher +matters, he who will walk surely, must "walk by faith and not by +sight." + +These are but a few of the wonders which the classification of +marine animals affords; and only drawn from one class of them, +though almost as common among every other family of that submarine +world whereof Spenser sang - + + +"Oh, what an endless work have I in hand, +To count the sea's abundant progeny! +Whose fruitful seed far passeth those in land, +And also those which won in th' azure sky, +For much more earth to tell the stars on high, +Albe they endless seem in estimation, +Than to recount the sea's posterity; +So fertile be the flouds in generation, +So huge their numbers, and so numberless their nation." + + +But these few examples will be sufficient to account both for the +slow pace at which the knowledge of sea-animals has progressed, and +for the allurement which men of the highest attainments have found, +and still find, in it. And when to this we add the marvels which +meet us at every step in the anatomy and the reproduction of these +creatures, and in the chemical and mechanical functions which they +fulfil in the great economy of our planet, we cannot wonder at +finding that books which treat of them carry with them a certain +charm of romance, and feed the play of fancy, and that love of the +marvellous which is inherent in man, at the same time that they +lead the reader to more solemn and lofty trains of thought, which +can find their full satisfaction only in self-forgetful worship, +and that hymn of praise which goes up ever from land and sea, as +well as from saints and martyrs and the heavenly host, "O all ye +works of the Lord, and ye, too, spirits and souls of the righteous, +praise Him, and magnify Him for ever!" + +I have said, that there were excuses for the old contempt of the +study of Natural History. I have said, too, it may be hoped, +enough to show that contempt to be now ill-founded. But still, +there are those who regard it as a mere amusement, and that as a +somewhat effeminate one; and think that it can at best help to +while away a leisure hour harmlessly, and perhaps usefully, as a +substitute for coarser sports, or for the reading of novels. +Those, however, who have followed it out, especially on the sea- +shore, know better. They can tell from experience, that over and +above its accessory charms of pure sea-breezes, and wild rambles by +cliff and loch, the study itself has had a weighty moral effect +upon their hearts and spirits. There are those who can well +understand how the good and wise John Ellis, amid all his +philanthropic labours for the good of the West Indies, while he was +spending his intellect and fortune in introducing into our tropic +settlements the bread-fruit, the mangosteen, and every plant and +seed which he hoped might be useful for medicine, agriculture, and +commerce, could yet feel himself justified in devoting large +portions of his ever well-spent time to the fighting the battle of +the corallines against Parsons and the rest, and even in measuring +pens with Linne, the prince of naturalists. + +There are those who can sympathise with the gallant old Scotch +officer mentioned by some writer on sea-weeds, who, desperately +wounded in the breach at Badajos, and a sharer in all the toils and +triumphs of the Peninsular war, could in his old age show a rare +sea-weed with as much triumph as his well-earned medals, and talk +over a tiny spore-capsule with as much zest as the records of +sieges and battles. Why not? That temper which made him a good +soldier may very well have made him a good naturalist also. The +late illustrious geologist, Sir Roderick Murchison, was also an old +Peninsular officer. I doubt not that with him, too, the +experiences of war may have helped to fit him for the studies of +peace. Certainly, the best naturalist, as far as logical acumen, +as well as earnest research, is concerned, whom England has ever +seen, was the Devonshire squire, Colonel George Montagu, of whom +the late E. Forbes well says, that "had he been educated a +physiologist" (and not, as he was, a soldier and a sportsman), "and +made the study of Nature his aim and not his amusement, his would +have been one of the greatest names in the whole range of British +science." I question, nevertheless, whether he would not have lost +more than he would have gained by a different training. It might +have made him a more learned systematizer; but would it have +quickened in him that "seeing" eye of the true soldier and +sportsman, which makes Montagu's descriptions indelible word- +pictures, instinct with life and truth? "There is no question," +says E. Forbes, after bewailing the vagueness of most naturalists, +"about the identity of any animal Montagu described. . . . He was a +forward-looking philosopher; he spoke of every creature as if one +exceeding like it, yet different from it, would be washed up by the +waves next tide. Consequently his descriptions are permanent." +Scientific men will recognize in this the highest praise which can +be bestowed, because it attributes to him the highest faculty - The +Art of Seeing; but the study and the book would not have given +that. It is God's gift wheresoever educated: but its true school- +room is the camp and the ocean, the prairie and the forest; active, +self-helping life, which can grapple with Nature herself: not +merely with printed-books about her. Let no one think that this +same Natural History is a pursuit fitted only for effeminate or +pedantic men. I should say, rather, that the qualifications +required for a perfect naturalist are as many and as lofty as were +required, by old chivalrous writers, for the perfect knight-errant +of the Middle Ages: for (to sketch an ideal, of which I am happy +to say our race now affords many a fair realization) our perfect +naturalist should be strong in body; able to haul a dredge, climb a +rock, turn a boulder, walk all day, uncertain where he shall eat or +rest; ready to face sun and rain, wind and frost, and to eat or +drink thankfully anything, however coarse or meagre; he should know +how to swim for his life, to pull an oar, sail a boat, and ride the +first horse which comes to hand; and, finally, he should be a +thoroughly good shot, and a skilful fisherman; and, if he go far +abroad, be able on occasion to fight for his life. + +For his moral character, he must, like a knight of old, be first of +all gentle and courteous, ready and able to ingratiate himself with +the poor, the ignorant, and the savage; not only because foreign +travel will be often otherwise impossible, but because he knows how +much invaluable local information can be only obtained from +fishermen, miners, hunters, and tillers of the soil. Next, he +should be brave and enterprising, and withal patient and undaunted; +not merely in travel, but in investigation; knowing (as Lord Bacon +might have put it) that the kingdom of Nature, like the kingdom of +heaven, must be taken by violence, and that only to those who knock +long and earnestly does the great mother open the doors of her +sanctuary. He must be of a reverent turn of mind also; not rashly +discrediting any reports, however vague and fragmentary; giving man +credit always for some germ of truth, and giving Nature credit for +an inexhaustible fertility and variety, which will keep him his +life long always reverent, yet never superstitious; wondering at +the commonest, but not surprised by the most strange; free from the +idols of size and sensuous loveliness; able to see grandeur in the +minutest objects, beauty, in the most ungainly; estimating each +thing not carnally, as the vulgar do, by its size or its +pleasantness to the senses, but spiritually, by the amount of +Divine thought revealed to Man therein; holding every phenomenon +worth the noting down; believing that every pebble holds a +treasure, every bud a revelation; making it a point of conscience +to pass over nothing through laziness or hastiness, lest the vision +once offered and despised should be withdrawn; and looking at every +object as if he were never to behold it again. + +Moreover, he must keep himself free from all those perturbations of +mind which not only weaken energy, but darken and confuse the +inductive faculty; from haste and laziness, from melancholy, +testiness, pride, and all the passions which make men see only what +they wish to see. Of solemn and scrupulous reverence for truth; of +the habit of mind which regards each fact and discovery, not as our +own possession, but as the possession of its Creator, independent +of us, our tastes, our needs, or our vain-glory, I hardly need to +speak; for it is the very essence of a nature's faculty - the very +tenure of his existence: and without truthfulness science would be +as impossible now as chivalry would have been of old. + +And last, but not least, the perfect naturalist should have in him +the very essence of true chivalry, namely, self-devotion; the +desire to advance, not himself and his own fame or wealth, but +knowledge and mankind. He should have this great virtue; and in +spite of many shortcomings (for what man is there who liveth and +sinneth not?), naturalists as a class have it to a degree which +makes them stand out most honourably in the midst of a self-seeking +and mammonite generation, inclined to value everything by its money +price, its private utility. The spirit which gives freely, because +it knows that it has received freely; which communicates knowledge +without hope of reward, without jealousy and rivalry, to fellow- +students and to the world; which is content to delve and toil +comparatively unknown, that from its obscure and seemingly +worthless results others may derive pleasure, and even build up +great fortunes, and change the very face of cities and lands, by +the practical use of some stray talisman which the poor student has +invented in his laboratory; - this is the spirit which is abroad +among our scientific men, to a greater degree than it ever has been +among any body of men for many a century past; and might well be +copied by those who profess deeper purposes and a more exalted +calling, than the discovery of a new zoophyte, or the +classification of a moorland crag. + +And it is these qualities, however imperfectly they may be realized +in any individual instance, which make our scientific men, as a +class, the wholesomest and pleasantest of companions abroad, and at +home the most blameless, simple, and cheerful, in all domestic +relations; men for the most part of manful heads, and yet of +childlike hearts, who have turned to quiet study, in these late +piping times of peace, an intellectual health and courage which +might have made them, in more fierce and troublous times, capable +of doing good service with very different instruments than the +scalpel and the microscope. + +I have been sketching an ideal: but one which I seriously +recommend to the consideration of all parents; for, though it be +impossible and absurd to wish that every young man should grow up a +naturalist by profession, yet this age offers no more wholesome +training, both moral and intellectual, than that which is given by +instilling into the young an early taste for outdoor physical +science. The education of our children is now more than ever a +puzzling problem, if by education we mean the development of the +whole humanity, not merely of some arbitrarily chosen part of it. +How to feed the imagination with wholesome food, and teach it to +despise French novels, and that sugared slough of sentimental +poetry, in comparison with which the old fairy-tales and ballads +were manful and rational; how to counteract the tendency to +shallowed and conceited sciolism, engendered by hearing popular +lectures on all manner of subjects, which can only be really learnt +by stern methodic study; how to give habits of enterprise, +patience, accurate observation, which the counting-house or the +library will never bestow; above all, how to develop the physical +powers, without engendering brutality and coarseness - are +questions becoming daily more and more puzzling, while they need +daily more and more to be solved, in an age of enterprise, travel, +and emigration, like the present. For the truth must be told, that +the great majority of men who are now distinguished by commercial +success, have had a training the directly opposite to that which +they are giving to their sons. They are for the most part men who +have migrated from the country to the town, and had in their youth +all the advantages of a sturdy and manful hill-side or sea-side +training; men whose bodies were developed, and their lungs fed on +pure breezes, long before they brought to work in the city the +bodily and mental strength which they had gained by loch and moor. +But it is not so with their sons. Their business habits are learnt +in the counting-house; a good school, doubtless, as far as it goes: +but one which will expand none but the lowest intellectual +faculties; which will make them accurate accountants, shrewd +computers and competitors, but never the originators of daring +schemes, men able and willing to go forth to replenish the earth +and subdue it. And in the hours of relaxation, how much of their +time is thrown away, for want of anything better, on frivolity, not +to say on secret profligacy, parents know too well; and often shut +their eyes in very despair to evils which they know not how to +cure. A frightful majority of our middle-class young men are +growing up effeminate, empty of all knowledge but what tends +directly to the making of a fortune; or rather, to speak correctly, +to the keeping up the fortunes which their fathers have made for +them; while of the minority, who are indeed thinkers and readers, +how many women as well as men have we seen wearying their souls +with study undirected, often misdirected; craving to learn, yet not +knowing how or what to learn; cultivating, with unwholesome energy, +the head at the expense of the body and the heart; catching up with +the most capricious self-will one mania after another, and tossing +it away again for some new phantom; gorging the memory with facts +which no one has taught them to arrange, and the reason with +problems which they have no method for solving; till they fret +themselves in a chronic fever of the brain, which too often urge +them on to plunge, as it were, to cool the inward fire, into the +ever-restless seas of doubt or of superstition. It is a sad +picture. There are many who may read these pages whose hearts will +tell them that it is a true one. What is wanted in these cases is +a methodic and scientific habit of mind; and a class of objects on +which to exercise that habit, which will fever neither the +speculative intellect nor the moral sense; and those physical +science will give, as nothing else can give it. + +Moreover, to revert to another point which we touched just now, man +has a body as well as a mind; and with the vast majority there will +be no MENS SANA unless there be a CORPUS SANUM for it to inhabit. +And what outdoor training to give our youths is, as we have already +said, more than ever puzzling. This difficulty is felt, perhaps, +less in Scotland than in England. The Scotch climate compels +hardiness; the Scotch bodily strength makes it easy; and Scotland, +with her mountain-tours in summer, and her frozen lochs in winter, +her labyrinth of sea-shore, and, above all, that priceless boon +which Providence has bestowed on her, in the contiguity of her +great cities to the loveliest scenery, and the hills where every +breeze is health, affords facilities for healthy physical life +unknown to the Englishman, who has no Arthur's Seat towering above +his London, no Western Islands sporting the ocean firths beside his +Manchester. Field sports, with the invaluable training which they +give, if not + + +"The reason firm," + + +yet still + + +"The temperate will, +Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill," + + +have become impossible for the greater number: and athletic +exercises are now, in England at least, becoming more and more +artificialized and expensive; and are confined more and more - with +the honourable exception of the football games in Battersea Park - +to our Public Schools and the two elder Universities. All honour, +meanwhile, to the Volunteer movement, and its moral as well as its +physical effects. But it is only a comparatively few of the very +sturdiest who are likely to become effective Volunteers, and so +really gain the benefits of learning to be soldiers. And yet the +young man who has had no substitute for such occupations will cut +but a sorry figure in Australia, Canada, or India; and if he stays +at home, will spend many a pound in doctors' bills, which could +have been better employed elsewhere. "Taking a walk" - as one +would take a pill or a draught - seems likely soon to become the +only form of outdoor existence possible for too many inhabitants of +the British Isles. But a walk without an object, unless in the +most lovely and novel of scenery, is a poor exercise; and as a +recreation, utterly nil. I never knew two young lads go out for a +"constitutional," who did not, if they were commonplace youths, +gossip the whole way about things better left unspoken; or, if they +were clever ones, fall on arguing and brainsbeating on politics or +metaphysics from the moment they left the door, and return with +their wits even more heated and tired than they were when they set +out. I cannot help fancying that Milton made a mistake in a +certain celebrated passage; and that it was not "sitting on a hill +apart," but tramping four miles out and four miles in along a +turnpike-road, that his hapless spirits discoursed + + +"Of fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute, +And found no end, in wandering mazes lost." + + +Seriously, if we wish rural walks to do our children any good, we +must give them a love for rural sights, an object in every walk; we +must teach them - and we can teach them - to find wonder in every +insect, sublimity in every hedgerow, the records of past worlds in +every pebble, and boundless fertility upon the barren shore; and +so, by teaching them to make full use of that limited sphere in +which they now are, make them faithful in a few things, that they +may be fit hereafter to be rulers over much. + +I may seem to exaggerate the advantages of such studies; but the +question after all is one of experience: and I have had experience +enough and to spare that what I say is true. I have seen the young +man of fierce passions, and uncontrollable daring, expend healthily +that energy which threatened daily to plunge him into recklessness, +if not into sin, upon hunting out and collecting, through rock and +bog, snow and tempest, every bird and egg of the neighbouring +forest. I have seen the cultivated man, craving for travel and for +success in life, pent up in the drudgery of London work, and yet +keeping his spirit calm, and perhaps his morals all the more +righteous, by spending over his microscope evenings which would too +probably have gradually been wasted at the theatre. I have seen +the young London beauty, amid all the excitement and temptation of +luxury and flattery, with her heart pure and her mind occupied in a +boudoir full of shells and fossils, flowers and sea-weeds; keeping +herself unspotted from the world, by considering the lilies of the +field, how they grow. And therefore it is that I hail with +thankfulness every fresh book of Natural History, as a fresh boon +to the young, a fresh help to those who have to educate them. + +The greatest difficulty in the way of beginners is (as in most +things) how "to learn the art of learning." They go out, search, +find less than they expected, and give the subject up in +disappointment. It is good to begin, therefore, if possible, by +playing the part of "jackal" to some practised naturalist, who will +show the tyro where to look, what to look for, and, moreover, what +it is that he has found; often no easy matter to discover. Forty +years ago, during an autumn's work of dead-leaf-searching in the +Devon woods for poor old Dr. Turton, while he was writing his book +on British land-shells, the present writer learnt more of the art +of observing than he would have learnt in three years' desultory +hunting on his own account; and he has often regretted that no +naturalist has established shore-lectures at some watering-place, +like those up hill and down dale field-lectures which, in pleasant +bygone Cambridge days, Professor Sedgwick used to give to young +geologists, and Professor Henslow to young botanists. + +In the meanwhile, to show you something of what may be seen by +those who care to see, let me take you, in imagination, to a shore +where I was once at home, and for whose richness I can vouch, and +choose our season and our day to start forth, on some glorious +September or October morning, to see what last night's equinoctial +gale has swept from the populous shallows of Torbay, and cast up, +high and dry, on Paignton sands. + +Torbay is a place which should be as much endeared to the +naturalist as to the patriot and to the artist. We cannot gaze on +its blue ring of water, and the great limestone bluffs which bound +it to the north and south, without a glow passing through our +hearts, as we remember the terrible and glorious pageant which +passed by in the glorious July days of 1588, when the Spanish +Armada ventured slowly past Berry Head, with Elizabeth's gallant +pack of Devon captains (for the London fleet had not yet joined) +following fast in its wake, and dashing into the midst of the vast +line, undismayed by size and numbers, while their kin and friends +stood watching and praying on the cliffs, spectators of Britain's +Salamis. The white line of houses, too, on the other side of the +bay, is Brixham, famed as the landing-place of William of Orange; +the stone on the pier-head, which marks his first footsteps on +British ground, is sacred in the eyes of all true English Whigs; +and close by stands the castle of the settler of Newfoundland, Sir +Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh's half-brother, most learned of all +Elizabeth's admirals in life, most pious and heroic in death. And +as for scenery, though it can boast of neither mountain peak nor +dark fiord, and would seem tame enough in the eyes of a western +Scot or Irishman, yet Torbay surely has a soft beauty of its own. +The rounded hills slope gently to the sea, spotted with squares of +emerald grass, and rich red fallow fields, and parks full of +stately timber trees. Long lines of tall elms run down to the very +water's edge, their boughs unwarped by any blast; here and there +apple orchards are bending under their loads of fruit, and narrow +strips of water-meadow line the glens, where the red cattle are +already lounging in richest pastures, within ten yards of the rocky +pebble beach. The shore is silent now, the tide far out: but six +hours hence it will be hurling columns of rosy foam high into the +sunlight, and sprinkling passengers, and cattle, and trim gardens +which hardly know what frost and snow may be, but see the flowers +of autumn meet the flowers of spring, and the old year linger +smilingly to twine a garland for the new. + +No wonder that such a spot as Torquay, with its delicious Italian +climate, and endless variety of rich woodland, flowery lawn, +fantastic rock-cavern, and broad bright tide-sand, sheltered from +every wind of heaven except the soft south-east, should have become +a favourite haunt, not only for invalids, but for naturalists. +Indeed, it may well claim the honour of being the original home of +marine zoology and botany in England, as the Firth of Forth, under +the auspices of Sir J. G. Dalyell, has been for Scotland. For here +worked Montagu, Turton, and Mrs. Griffith, to whose extraordinary +powers of research English marine botany almost owes its existence, +and who survived to an age long beyond the natural term of man, to +see, in her cheerful and honoured old age, that knowledge become +popular and general which she pursued for many a year unassisted +and alone. Here, too, the scientific succession is still +maintained by Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Gosse, the latter of whom by his +delightful and, happily, well-known books has done more for the +study of marine zoology than any other living man. Torbay, +moreover, from the variety of its rocks, aspects, and sea-floors, +where limestones alternate with traps, and traps with slates, while +at the valley-mouth the soft sandstones and hard conglomerates of +the new red series slope down into the tepid and shallow waves, +affords an abundance and variety of animal and vegetable life, +unequalled, perhaps, in any other part of Great Britain. It cannot +boast, certainly, of those strange deep-sea forms which Messrs. +Alder, Goodsir, and Laskey dredge among the lochs of the western +Highlands, and the sub-marine mountain glens of the Zetland sea; +but it has its own varieties, its own ever-fresh novelties: and in +spite of all the research which has been lavished on its shores, a +naturalist cannot, I suspect, work there for a winter without +discovering forms new to science, or meeting with curiosities which +have escaped all observers, since the lynx eye of Montagu espied +them full fifty years ago. + +Follow us, then, reader, in imagination, out of the gay watering- +place, with its London shops and London equipages, along the broad +road beneath the sunny limestone cliff, tufted with golden furze; +past the huge oaks and green slopes of Tor Abbey; and past the +fantastic rocks of Livermead, scooped by the waves into a labyrinth +of double and triple caves, like Hindoo temples, upborne on pillars +banded with yellow and white and red, a week's study, in form and +colour and chiaro-oscuro, for any artist; and a mile or so further +along a pleasant road, with land-locked glimpses of the bay, to the +broad sheet of sand which lies between the village of Paignton and +the sea - sands trodden a hundred times by Montagu and Turton, +perhaps, by Dillwyn and Gaertner, and many another pioneer of +science. And once there, before we look at anything else, come +down straight to the sea marge; for yonder lies, just left by the +retiring tide, a mass of life such as you will seldom see again. +It is somewhat ugly, perhaps, at first sight; for ankle-deep are +spread, for some ten yards long by five broad, huge dirty bivalve +shells, as large as the hand, each with its loathly grey and black +siphons hanging out, a confused mass of slimy death. Let us walk +on to some cleaner heap, and leave these, the great Lutraria +Elliptica, which have been lying buried by thousands in the sandy +mud, each with the point of its long siphon above the surface, +sucking in and driving out again the salt water on which it feeds, +till last night's ground-swell shifted the sea-bottom, and drove +them up hither to perish helpless, but not useless, on the beach. + +See, close by is another shell bed, quite as large, but comely +enough to please any eye. What a variety of forms and colours are +there, amid the purple and olive wreaths of wrack, and bladder- +weed, and tangle (ore-weed, as they call it in the south), and the +delicate green ribbons of the Zostera (the only English flowering +plant which grows beneath the sea). What are they all? What are +the long white razors? What are the delicate green-grey scimitars? +What are the tapering brown spires? What the tufts of delicate +yellow plants like squirrels' tails, and lobsters' horns, and +tamarisks, and fir-trees, and all other finely cut animal and +vegetable forms? What are the groups of grey bladders, with +something like a little bud at the tip? What are the hundreds of +little pink-striped pears? What those tiny babies' heads, covered +with grey prickles instead of hair? The great red star-fish, which +Ulster children call "the bad man's hands;" and the great whelks, +which the youth of Musselburgh know as roaring buckies, these we +have seen before; but what, oh what, are the red capsicums? - + +Yes, what are the red capsicums? and why are they poking, snapping, +starting, crawling, tumbling wildly over each other, rattling about +the huge mahogany cockles, as big as a child's two fists, out of +which they are protruded? Mark them well, for you will perhaps +never see them again. They are a Mediterranean species, or rather +three species, left behind upon these extreme south-western coasts, +probably at the vanishing of that warmer ancient epoch, which +clothed the Lizard Point with the Cornish heath, and the Killarney +mountains with Spanish saxifrages, and other relics of a flora +whose home is now the Iberian peninsula and the sunny cliffs of the +Riviera. Rare on every other shore, even in the west, it abounds +in Torbay at certain, or rather uncertain, times, to so prodigious +an amount, that the dredge, after five minutes' scrape, will +sometimes come up choked full of this great cockle only. You will +see hundreds of them in every cove for miles this day; a seeming +waste of life, which would be awful, in our eyes, were not the +Divine Ruler, as His custom is, making this destruction the means +of fresh creation, by burying them in the sands, as soon as washed +on shore, to fertilize the strata of some future world. It is but +a shell-fish truly; but the great Cuvier thought it remarkable +enough to devote to its anatomy elaborate descriptions and +drawings, which have done more perhaps than any others to +illustrate the curious economy of the whole class of bivalve, or +double-shelled, mollusca. (Plate II. Fig. 3.) + +That red capsicum is the foot of the animal contained in the +cockleshell. By its aid it crawls, leaps, and burrows in the sand, +where it lies drinking in the salt water through one of its +siphons, and discharging it again through the other. Put the shell +into a rock pool, or a basin of water, and you will see the siphons +clearly. The valves gape apart some three-quarters of an inch. +The semi-pellucid orange "mantle" fills the intermediate space. +Through that mantle, at the end from which the foot curves, the +siphons protrude; two thick short tubes joined side by side, their +lips fringed with pearly cirri, or fringes; and very beautiful they +are. The larger is always open, taking in the water, which is at +once the animal's food and air, and which, flowing over the +delicate inner surface of the mantle, at once oxygenates its blood, +and fills its stomach with minute particles of decayed organized +matter. The smaller is shut. Wait a minute, and it will open +suddenly and discharge a jet of clear water, which has been robbed, +I suppose, of its oxygen and its organic matter. But, I suppose, +your eyes will be rather attracted by that same scarlet and orange +foot, which is being drawn in and thrust out to a length of nearly +four inches, striking with its point against any opposing object, +and sending the whole shell backwards with a jerk. The point, you +see, is sharp and tongue-like; only flattened, not horizontally, +like a tongue, but perpendicularly, so as to form, as it was +intended, a perfect sand-plough, by which the animal can move at +will, either above or below the surface of the sand. (2) + +But for colour and shape, to what shall we compare it? To polished +cornelian, says Mr. Gosse. I say, to one of the great red +capsicums which hang drying in every Covent-garden seedsman's +window. Yet is either simile better than the guess of a certain +lady, who, entering a room wherein a couple of Cardium tuberculatum +were waltzing about a plate, exclaimed, "Oh dear! I always heard +that my pretty red coral came out of a fish, and here it is all +alive!" + +"C. tuberculatum," says Mr. Gosse (who described it from specimens +which I sent him in 1854), "is far the finest species. The valves +are more globose and of a warmer colour; those that I have seen are +even more spinous." Such may have been the case in those I sent: +but it has occurred to me now and then to dredge specimens of C. +aculeatum, which had escaped that rolling on the sand fatal in old +age to its delicate spines, and which equalled in colour, size, and +perfectness the noble one figured in poor dear old Dr. Turton's +"British Bivalves." Besides, aculeatum is a far thinner and more +delicate shell. And a third species, C. echinatum, with curves +more graceful and continuous, is to be found now and then with the +two former. In it, each point, instead of degenerating into a +knot, as in tuberculatum, or developing from delicate flat briar- +prickles into long straight thorns, as in aculeatum, is close-set +to its fellow, and curved at the point transversely to the shell, +the whole being thus horrid with hundreds of strong tenterhooks, +making his castle impregnable to the raveners of the deep. For we +can hardly doubt that these prickles are meant as weapons of +defence, without which so savoury a morsel as the mollusc within +(cooked and eaten largely on some parts of our south coast) would +be a staple article of food for sea-beasts of prey. And it is +noteworthy, first, that the defensive thorns which are permanent on +the two thinner species, aculeatum and echinatum, disappear +altogether on the thicker one, tuberculatum, as old age gives him a +solid and heavy globose shell; and next, that he too, while young +and tender, and liable therefore to be bored through by whelks and +such murderous univalves, does actually possess the same briar- +prickles, which his thinner cousins keep throughout life. +Nevertheless, prickles, in all three species, are, as far as we can +see, useless in Torbay, where no wolf-fish (Anarrhichas lupus) or +other owner of shell-crushing jaws wanders, terrible to lobster and +to cockle. Originally intended, as we suppose, to face the strong- +toothed monsters of the Mediterranean, these foreigners have +wandered northward to shores where their armour is not now needed; +and yet centuries of idleness and security have not been able to +persuade them to lay it by. This - if my explanation is the right +one - is but one more case among hundreds in which peculiarities, +useful doubtless to their original possessors, remain, though now +useless, in their descendants. Just so does the tame ram inherit +the now superfluous horns of his primeval wild ancestors, though he +fights now - if he fights at all - not with his horns, but with his +forehead. + +Enough of Cardium tuberculatum. Now for the other animals of the +heap; and first, for those long white razors. They, as well as the +grey scimitars, are Solens, Razor-fish (Solen siliqua and S. +ensis), burrowers in the sand by that foot which protrudes from one +end, nimble in escaping from the Torquay boys, whom you will see +boring for them with a long iron screw, on the sands at low tide. +They are very good to eat, these razor-fish; at least, for those +who so think them; and abound in millions upon all our sandy +shores. (3) + +Now for the tapering brown spires. They are Turritellae, snail- +like animals (though the form of the shell is different), who crawl +and browse by thousands on the beds of Zostera, or grass wrack, +which you see thrown about on the beach, and which grows naturally +in two or three fathoms water. Stay: here is one which is "more +than itself." On its back is mounted a cluster of barnacles +(Balanus Porcatus), of the same family as those which stud the +tide-rocks in millions, scratching the legs of hapless bathers. Of +them, I will speak presently; for I may have a still more curious +member of the family to show you. But meanwhile, look at the mouth +of the shell; a long grey worm protrudes from it, which is not the +rightful inhabitant. He is dead long since, and his place has been +occupied by one Sipunculus Bernhardi; a wight of low degree, who +connects "radiate" with annulate forms - in plain English, sea- +cucumbers (of which we shall see some soon) with sea-worms. But +however low in the scale of comparative anatomy, he has wit enough +to take care of himself; mean ugly little worm as he seems. For +finding the mouth of the Turritella too big for him, he has +plastered it up with sand and mud (Heaven alone knows how), just as +a wry-neck plasters up a hole in an apple-tree when she intends to +build therein, and has left only a round hole, out of which he can +poke his proboscis. A curious thing is this proboscis, when seen +through the magnifier. You perceive a ring of tentacles round the +mouth, for picking up I know not what; and you will perceive, too, +if you watch it, that when he draws it in, he turns mouth, +tentacles and all, inwards, and so down into his stomach, just as +if you were to turn the finger of a glove inward from the tip till +it passed into the hand; and so performs, every time he eats, the +clown's as yet ideal feat, of jumping down his own throat. (4) + +So much have we seen on one little shell. But there is more to see +close to it. Those yellow plants which I likened to squirrels' +tails and lobsters' horns, and what not, are zoophytes of different +kinds. Here is Sertularia argentea (true squirrel's tail); here, +S. filicula, as delicate as tangled threads of glass; here, +abietina; here, rosacea. The lobsters' horns are Antennaria +antennina; and mingled with them are Plumulariae, always to be +distinguished from Sertulariae by polypes growing on one side of +the branch, and not on both. Here is falcata, with its roots +twisted round a sea-weed. Here is cristata, on the same weed; and +here is a piece of the beautiful myriophyllum, which has been +battered in its long journey out of the deep water about the ore +rock. For all these you must consult Johnson's "Zoophytes," and +for a dozen smaller species, which you would probably find tangled +among them, or parasitic on the sea-weed. Here are Flustrae, or +sea-mats. This, which smells very like Verbena, is Flustra +coriacea (Pl. I. Fig. 2). That scurf on the frond of ore-weed is +F. lineata (Pl. Fig. 1). The glass bells twined about this +Sertularia are Campanularia syringa (Pl. I. Fig. 9); and here is a +tiny plant of Cellularia ciliata (Pl. I. Fig. 8). Look at it +through the field-glass; for it is truly wonderful. Each polype +cell is edged with whip-like spines, and on the back of some of +them is - what is it, but a live vulture's head, snapping and +snapping - what for? + +Nay, reader, I am here to show you what can be seen: but as for +telling you what can be known, much more what cannot, I decline; +and refer you to Johnson's "Zoophytes," wherein you will find that +several species of polypes carry these same birds' heads: but +whether they be parts of the polype, and of what use they are, no +man living knoweth. + +Next, what are the striped pears? They are sea-anemones, and of a +species only lately well known, Sagartia viduata, the snake-locked +anemone (Pl. V. Fig. 3(5)). They have been washed off the loose +stones to which they usually adhere by the pitiless roll of the +ground-swell; however, they are not so far gone, but that if you +take one of them home, and put it in a jar of water, it will expand +into a delicate compound flower, which can neither be described nor +painted, of long pellucid tentacles, hanging like a thin bluish +cloud over a disk of mottled brown and grey. + +Here, adhering to this large whelk, is another, but far larger and +coarser. It is Sagartia parasitica, one of our largest British +species; and most singular in this, that it is almost always (in +Torbay, at least,) found adhering to a whelk: but never to a live +one; and for this reason. The live whelk (as you may see for +yourself when the tide is out) burrows in the sand in chase of +hapless bivalve shells, whom he bores through with his sharp tongue +(always, cunning fellow, close to the hinge, where the fish is), +and then sucks out their life. Now, if the anemone stuck to him, +it would be carried under the sand daily, to its own disgust. It +prefers, therefore, the dead whelk, inhabited by a soldier crab, +Pagurus Bernhardi (Pl. II. Fig. 2), of which you may find a dozen +anywhere as the tide goes out; and travels about at the crab's +expense, sharing with him the offal which is his food. Note, +moreover, that the soldier crab is the most hasty and blundering of +marine animals, as active as a monkey, and as subject to panics as +a horse; wherefore the poor anemone on his back must have a hard +life of it; being knocked about against rocks and shells, without +warning, from morn to night and night to morn. Against which +danger, kind Nature, ever MAXIMA IN MINIMIS, has provided by +fitting him with a stout leather coat, which she has given, I +believe, to no other of his family. + +Next, for the babies' heads, covered with prickles, instead of +hair. They are sea-urchins, Amphidotus cordatus, which burrow by +thousands in the sand. These are of that Spatangoid form, which +you will often find fossil in the chalk, and which shepherd boys +call snakes' heads. We shall soon find another sort, an Echinus, +and have time to talk over these most strange (in my eyes) of all +living animals. + +There are a hundred more things to be talked of here: but we must +defer the examination of them till our return; for it wants an hour +yet of the dead low spring-tide; and ere we go home, we will spend +a few minutes at least on the rocks at Livermead, where awaits us a +strong-backed quarryman, with a strong-backed crowbar, as is to be +hoped (for he snapped one right across there yesterday, falling +miserably on his back into a pool thereby), and we will verify Mr. +Gosse's observation, that - + +"When once we have begun to look with curiosity on the strange +things that ordinary people pass over without notice, our wonder is +continually excited by the variety of phase, and often by the +uncouthness of form, under which some of the meaner creatures are +presented to us. And this is very specially the case with the +inhabitants of the sea. We can scarcely poke or pry for an hour +among the rocks, at low-water mark, or walk, with an observant +downcast eye, along the beach after a gale, without finding some +oddly-fashioned, suspicious-looking being, unlike any form of life +that we have seen before. The dark concealed interior of the sea +becomes thus invested with a fresh mystery; its vast recesses +appear to be stored with all imaginable forms; and we are tempted +to think there must be multitudes of living creatures whose very +figure and structure have never yet been suspected. + + +"'O sea! old sea! who yet knows half +Of thy wonders or thy pride!'" +GOSSE'S AQUARIUM, pp. 226, 227. + + +These words have more than fulfilled themselves since they were +written. Those Deep-Sea dredgings, of which a detailed account +will be found in Dr. Wyville Thomson's new and most beautiful book, +"The Depths of the Sea," have disclosed, of late years, wonders of +the deep even more strange and more multitudinous than the wonders +of the shore. The time is past when we thought ourselves bound to +believe, with Professor Edward Forbes, that only some hundred +fathoms down, the inhabitants of the sea-bottom "become more and +more modified, and fewer and fewer, indicating our approach towards +an abyss where life is either extinguished, or exhibits but a few +sparks to mark it's lingering presence." + +Neither now need we indulge in another theory which had a certain +grandeur in it, and was not so absurd as it looks at first sight, - +namely, that, as Dr. Wyville Thomson puts it, picturesquely enough, +"in going down the sea water became, under the pressure, gradually +heavier and heavier, and that all the loose things floated at +different levels, according to their specific weight, - skeletons +of men, anchors and shot and cannon, and last of all the broad gold +pieces lost in the wreck of many a galleon off the Spanish Main; +the whole forming a kind of 'false bottom' to the ocean, beneath +which there lay all the depth of clear still water, which was +heavier than molten gold." + +The facts are; first that water, being all but incompressible, is +hardly any heavier, and just as liquid, at the greatest depth, than +at the surface; and that therefore animals can move as freely in it +in deep as in shallow water; and next, that as the fluids inside +the body of a sea animal must be at the same pressure as that of +the water outside it, the two pressures must balance each other; +and the body, instead of being crushed in, may be unconscious that +it is living under a weight of two or three miles of water. But so +it is; as we gather our curiosities at low-tide mark, or haul the +dredge a mile or two out at sea, we may allow our fancy to range +freely out to the westward, and down over the subaqueous cliffs of +the hundred-fathom line, which mark the old shore of the British +Isles, or rather of a time when Britain and Ireland were part of +the continent, through water a mile, and two, and three miles deep, +into total darkness, and icy cold, and a pressure which, in the +open air, would crush any known living creature to a jelly; and be +certain that we shall find the ocean-floor teeming everywhere with +multitudinous life, some of it strangely like, some strangely +unlike, the creatures which we see along the shore. + +Some strangely like. You may find, for instance, among the sea- +weed, here and there, a little black sea-spider, a Nymphon, who has +this peculiarity, that possessing no body at all to speak of, he +carries his needful stomach in long branches, packed inside his +legs. The specimens which you will find will probably be half an +inch across the legs. An almost exactly similar Nymphon has been +dredged from the depths of the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, nearly +two feet across. + +You may find also a quaint little shrimp, CAPRELLA, clinging by its +hind claws to sea-weed, and waving its gaunt grotesque body to and +fro, while it makes mesmeric passes with its large fore claws, - +one of the most ridiculous of Nature's many ridiculous forms. +Those which you will find will be some quarter of an inch in +length; but in the cold area of the North Atlantic, their cousins, +it is now found, are nearly three inches long, and perch in like +manner, not on sea-weeds, for there are none so deep, but on +branching sponges. + +These are but two instances out of many of forms which were +supposed to be peculiar to shallow shores repeating themselves at +vast depths: thus forcing on us strange questions about changes in +the distribution and depth of the ancient seas; and forcing us, +also, to reconsider the old rules by which rocks were distinguished +as deep-sea or shallow-sea deposits according to the fossils found +in them. + +As for the new forms, and even more important than them, the +ancient forms, supposed to have been long extinct, and only known +as fossils, till they were lately rediscovered alive in the nether +darkness, - for them you must consult Dr. Wyville Thomson's book, +and the notices of the "Challenger's" dredgings which appear from +time to time in the columns of "Nature;" for want of space forbids +my speaking of them here. + +But if you have no time to read "The Depths of the Sea," go at +least to the British Museum, or if you be a northern man, to the +admirable public museum at Liverpool; ask to be shown the deep-sea +forms; and there feast your curiosity and your sense of beauty for +an hour. Look at the Crinoids, or stalked star-fishes, the "Lilies +of living stone," which swarmed in the ancient seas, in vast +variety, and in such numbers that whole beds of limestone are +composed of their disjointed fragments; but which have vanished out +of our modern seas, we know not why, till, a few years since, +almost the only known living species was the exquisite and rare +Pentacrinus asteria, from deep water off the Windward Isles of the +West Indies. + +Of this you will see a specimen or two both at Liverpool and in the +British Museum; and near them, probably, specimens of the new-old +Crinoids, discovered of late years by Professor Sars, Mr. Gwyn +Jeffreys, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Wyville Thomson, and the other deep- +sea disciples of the mythic Glaucus, the fisherman, who, enamoured +of the wonders of the sea, plunged into the blue abyss once and for +all, and became himself "the blue old man of the sea." + +Next look at the corals, and Gorgonias, and all the sea-fern tribe +of branching polypidoms, and last, but not least, at the glass +sponges; first at the Euplectella, or Venus's flower-basket, which +lives embedded in the mud of the seas of the Philippines, supported +by a glass frill "standing up round it like an Elizabethan ruff." +Twenty years ago there was but one specimen in Europe: now you may +buy one for a pound in any curiosity shop. I advise you to do so, +and to keep - as I have seen done - under a glass case, as a +delight to your eyes, one of the most exquisite, both for form and +texture, of natural objects. + +Then look at the Hyalonemas, or glass-rope ocean floor by a twisted +wisp of strong flexible flint needles, somewhat on the principle of +a screw-pile. So strange and complicated is their structure, that +naturalists for a long while could literally make neither head nor +tail of them, as long as they had only Japanese specimens to study, +some of which the Japanese dealers had, of malice prepense, stuck +upside down into Pholas-borings in stones. Which was top and which +bottom; which the thing itself, and which special parasites growing +on it; whether it was a sponge, or a zoophyte, or something else; +at one time even whether it was natural, or artificial and a make- +up, - could not be settled, even till a year or two since. But the +discovery of the same, or a similar, species in abundance from the +Butt of the Lows down to Setubal on the Portuguese coast, where the +deep-water shark fishers call it "sea-whip," has given our savants +specimens enough to make up their minds - that they really know +little or nothing about it, and probably will never know. + +And do not forget, lastly, to ask, whether at Liverpool or at the +British Museum, for the Holtenias and their congeners, - hollow +sponges built up of glassy spicules, and rooted in the mud by glass +hairs, in some cases between two and three feet long, as flexible +and graceful as tresses of snow-white silk. + +Look at these, and a hundred kindred forms, and then see how nature +is not only "maxima in minimis" - greatest in her least, but often +"pulcherrima in abditis" - fairest in her most hidden works; and +how the Creative Spirit has lavished, as it were, unspeakable +artistic skill on lowly-organized creature, never till now beheld +by man, and buried, not only in foul mud, but in their own +unsightly heap of living jelly. + +But so it was from the beginning; - and this planet was not made +for man alone. Countless ages before we appeared on earth the +depths of the old chalk-ocean teemed with forms as beautiful and +perfect as those, their lineal descendants, which the dredge now +brings up from the Atlantic sea-floor; and if there were - as my +reason tells me that there must have been - final moral causes for +their existence, the only ones which we have a right to imagine are +these - that all, down to the lowest Rhizopod, might delight +themselves, however dimly, in existing; and that the Lord might +delight Himself in them. + +Thus, much - alas! how little - about the wonders of the deep. We, +who are no deep-sea dredgers, must return humbly to the wonders of +the shore. And first, as after descending the gap in the sea-wall +we walk along the ribbed floor of hard yellow sand, let me ask you +to give a sharp look-out for a round grey disc, about as big as a +penny-piece, peeping out on the surface. No; that is not it, that +little lump: open it, and you will find within one of the common +little Venus gallina. - The closet collectors have given it some +new name now, and no thanks to them: they are always changing the +names, instead of studying the live animals where Nature has put +them, in which case they would have no time for word-inventing. +Nay, I verify suspect that the names grow, like other things; at +least, they get longer and longer and more jaw-breaking every year. +The little bivalve, however, finding itself left by the tide, has +wisely shut up its siphons, and, by means of its foot and its +edges, buried itself in a comfortable bath of cool wet sand, till +the sea shall come back, and make it safe to crawl and lounge about +on the surface, smoking the sea-water instead of tobacco. Neither +is that depression what we seek. Touch it, and out poke a pair of +astonished and inquiring horns: it is a long-armed crab, who saw +us coming, and wisely shovelled himself into the sand by means of +his nether-end. Corystes Cassivelaunus is his name, which he is +said to have acquired from the marks on his back, which are +somewhat like a human face. "Those long antennae," says my friend, +Mr. Lloyd (6) - I have not verified the fact, but believe it, as he +knows a great deal about crabs, and I know next to nothing - "form +a tube through which a current of water passes into the crab's +gills, free from the surrounding sand." Moreover, it is only the +male who has those strangely long fore-arms and claws; the female +contenting herself with limbs of a more moderate length. Neither +is that, though it might be, the hole down which what we seek has +vanished: but that burrow contains one of the long white razors +which you saw cast on shore at Paignton. The boys close by are +boring for them with iron rods armed with a screw, and taking them +in to sell in Torquay market, as excellent food. But there is one, +at last - a grey disc pouting up through the sand. Touch it, and +it is gone down, quick as light. We must dig it out, and +carefully, for it is a delicate monster. At last, after ten +minutes' careful work, we have brought up, from a foot depth or +more - what? A thick, dirty, slimy worm, without head or tail, +form or colour. A slug has more artistic beauty about him. Be it +so. At home in the aquarium (where, alas! he will live but for a +day or two, under the new irritation of light) he will make a very +different figure. That is one of the rarest of British sea- +animals, Peachia hastata (Pl. XII. Fig. 1), which differs from most +other British Actiniae in this, that instead of having like them a +walking disc, it has a free open lower end, with which (I know not +how) it buries itself upright in the sand, with its mouth just +above the surface. The figure on the left of the plate represents +a curious cluster of papillae which project from one side of the +mouth, and are the opening of the oviduct. But his value consists, +not merely in his beauty (though that, really, is not small), but +in his belonging to what the long word-makers call an +"interosculant" group, - a party of genera and species which +connect families scientifically far apart, filling up a fresh link +in the great chain, or rather the great network, of zoological +classification. For here we have a simple, and, as it were, crude +form; of which, if we dared to indulge in reveries, we might say +that the Creative Mind realized it before either Actiniae or +Holothurians, and then went on to perfect the idea contained in it +in two different directions; dividing it into two different +families, and making on its model, by adding new organs, and taking +away old ones, in one direction the whole family of Actiniae (sea- +anemones), and in a quite opposite one the Holothuriae, those +strange sea-cucumbers, with their mouth-fringe of feathery gills, +of which you shall see some anon. Thus there has been, in the +Creative Mind, as it gave life to new species, a development of the +idea on which older species were created, in order - we may fancy - +that every mesh of the great net might gradually be supplied, and +there should be no gaps in the perfect variety of Nature's forms. +This development is one which we must believe to be at least +possible, if we allow that a Mind presides over the universe, and +not a mere brute necessity, a Law (absurd misnomer) without a +Lawgiver; and to it (strangely enough coinciding here and there +with the Platonic doctrine of Eternal Ideas existing in the Divine +Mind) all fresh inductive discovery seems to point more and more. + +Let me speak freely a few words on this important matter. Geology +has disproved the old popular belief that the universe was brought +into being as it now exists by a single fiat. We know that the +work has been gradual; that the earth + + +"In tracts of fluent heat began, +The seeming prey of cyclic storms, +The home of seeming random forms, +Till, at the last, arose the man." + + +And we know, also, that these forms, "seeming random" as they are, +have appeared according to a law which, as far as we can judge, has +been on the whole one of progress, - lower animals (though we +cannot yet say, the lowest) appearing first, and man, the highest +mammal, "the roof and crown of things," one of the latest in the +series. We have no more right, let it be observed, to say that +man, the highest, appeared last, than that the lowest appeared +first. It was probably so, in both cases; but there is as yet no +positive proof of either; and as we know that species of animals +lower than those which already existed appeared again and again +during the various eras, so it is quite possible that they may be +appearing now, and may appear hereafter: and that for every +extinct Dodo or Moa, a new species may be created, to keep up the +equilibrium of the whole. This is but a surmise: but it may be +wise, perhaps, just now, to confess boldly, even to insist on, its +possibility, lest any should fancy, from our unwillingness to allow +it, that there would be ought in it, if proved, contrary to sound +religion. + +I am, I must honestly confess, more and more unable to perceive +anything which an orthodox Christian may not hold, in those +physical theories of "evolution," which are gaining more and more +the assent of our best zoologists and botanists. All that they ask +us to believe is, that "species" and "families," and indeed the +whole of organic nature, have gone through, and may still be going +through, some such development from a lowest germ, as we know that +every living individual, from the lowest zoophyte to man himself, +does actually go through. They apply to the whole of the living +world, past, present, and future, the law which is undeniably at +work on each individual of it. They may be wrong, or they may be +right: but what is there in such a conception contrary to any +doctrine - at least of the Church of England? To say that this +cannot be true; that species cannot vary, because God, at the +beginning, created each thing "according to its kind," is really to +beg the question; which is - Does the idea of "kind" include +variability or not? and if so, how much variability? Now, "kind," +or "species," as we call it, is defined nowhere in the Bible. What +right have we to read our own definition into the word? - and that +against the certain fact, that some "kinds" do vary, and that +widely, - mankind, for instance, and the animals and plants which +he domesticates. Surely that latter fact should be significant, to +those who believe, as I do, that man was created in the likeness of +God. For if man has the power, not only of making plants and +animals vary, but of developing them into forms of higher beauty +and usefulness than their wild ancestors possessed, why should not +the God in whose image he is made possess the same power? If the +old theological rule be true - "There is nothing in man which was +not first in God" (sin, of course, excluded) - then why should not +this imperfect creative faculty in man be the very guarantee that +God possesses it in perfection? + +Such at least is the conclusion of one who, studying certain +families of plants, which indulge in the most fantastic varieties +of shape and size, and yet through all their vagaries retain - as +do the Palms, the Orchids, the Euphorbiaceae - one organ, or form +of organs, peculiar and highly specialized, yet constant throughout +the whole of each family, has been driven to the belief that each +of these three families, at least, has "sported off" from one +common ancestor - one archetypal Palm, one archetypal Orchid, one +archetypal Euphorbia, simple, it may be, in itself, but endowed +with infinite possibilities of new and complex beauty, to be +developed, not in it, but in its descendants. He has asked +himself, sitting alone amid the boundless wealth of tropic forests, +whether even then and there the great God might not be creating +round him, slowly but surely, new forms of beauty? If he chose to +do it, could He not do it? That man found himself none the worse +Christian for the thought. He has said - and must be allowed to +say again, for he sees no reason to alter his words - in speaking +of the wonderful variety of forms in the Euphorbiaceae, from the +weedy English Euphorbias, the Dog's Mercuries, and the Box, to the +prickly-stemmed Scarlet Euphorbia of Madagascar, the succulent +Cactus-like Euphorbias of the Canaries and elsewhere; the Gale-like +Phyllanthus; the many-formed Crotons; the Hemp-like Maniocs, +Physic-nuts, Castor-oils, the scarlet Poinsettia, the little pink +and yellow Dalechampia, the poisonous Manchineel, and the gigantic +Hura, or sandbox tree, of the West Indies, - all so different in +shape and size, yet all alike in their most peculiar and complex +fructification, and in their acrid milky juice,- "What if all these +forms are the descendants of one original form? Would that be one +whit the more wonderful than the theory that they were, each and +all, with the minute, and often imaginary, shades of difference +between certain cognate species among them, created separately and +at once? But if it be so - which I cannot allow - what would the +theologian have to say, save that God's works are even more +wonderful than he always believed them to be? As for the theory +being impossible - that is to be decided by men of science, on +strict experimental grounds. As for us theologians, who are we, +that we should limit, priori, the power of God? 'Is anything too +hard for the Lord?' asked the prophet of old; and we have a right +to ask it as long as the world shall last. If it be said that +'natural selection,' or, as Mr. Herbert Spencer better defines it, +the 'survival of the fittest,' is too simple a cause to produce +such fantastic variety - that, again, is a question to be settled +exclusively by men of science, on their own grounds. We, +meanwhile, always knew that God works by very simple, or seemingly +simple, means; that the universe, as far as we could discern it, +was one organization of the most simple means. It was wonderful - +or should have been - in our eyes, that a shower of rain should +make the grass grow, and that the grass should become flesh, and +the flesh food for the thinking brain of man. It was - or ought to +have been - more wonderful yet to us that a child should resemble +its parents, or even a butterfly resemble, if not always, still +usually, its parents likewise. Ought God to appear less or more +august in our eyes if we discover that the means are even simpler +than we supposed? We held Him to be Almighty and All-wise. Are we +to reverence Him less or more if we find Him to be so much +mightier, so much wiser, than we dreamed, that He can not only make +all things, but - the very perfection of creative power - MAKE ALL +THINGS MAKE THEMSELVES? We believed that His care was over all His +works; that His providence worked perpetually over the universe. +We were taught - some of us at least - by Holy Scripture, that +without Him not a sparrow fell to the ground, and that the very +hairs of our head were all numbered; that the whole history of the +universe was made up, in fact, of an infinite network of special +providences. If, then, that should be true which a great +naturalist writes, 'It may be metaphorically said that natural +selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, +every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, +preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly +working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers, at the +improvement of each organic being, in relation to its organic and +inorganic conditions of life,' - if this, I say, were proved to be +true, ought God's care and God's providence to seem less or more +magnificent in our eyes? Of old it was said by Him without whom +nothing is made - 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' Shall +we quarrel with physical science, if she gives us evidence that +those words are true?" + +And - understand it well - the grand passage I have just quoted +need not be accused of substituting "natural selection for God." +In any case natural selection would be only the means or law by +which God works, as He does by other natural laws. We do not +substitute gravitation for God, when we say that the planets are +sustained in their orbits by the law of gravitation. The theory +about natural selection may be untrue, or imperfect, as may the +modern theories of the "evolution and progress" of organic forms: +let the man of science decide that. But if true, the theories seem +to me perfectly to agree with, and may be perfectly explained by, +the simple old belief which the Bible sets before us, of a LIVING +GOD: not a mere past will, such as the Koran sets forth, creating +once and for all, and then leaving the universe, to use Goethe's +simile, "to spin round his finger;" nor again, an "all-pervading +spirit," words which are mere contradictory jargon, concealing, +from those who utter them, blank Materialism: but One who works in +all things which have obeyed Him to will and to do of His good +pleasure, keeping His abysmal and self-perfect purpose, yet +altering the methods by which that purpose is attained, from aeon +to aeon, ay, from moment to moment, for ever various, yet for ever +the same. This great and yet most blessed paradox of the +Changeless God, who yet can say "It repenteth me," and "Behold, I +work a new thing on the earth," is revealed no less by nature than +by Scripture; the changeableness, not of caprice or imperfection, +but of an Infinite Maker and "Poietes," drawing ever fresh forms +out of the inexhaustible treasury of His primaeval Mind; and yet +never throwing away a conception to which He has once given actual +birth in time and space, (but to compare reverently small things +and great) lovingly repeating it, re-applying it; producing the +same effects by endlessly different methods; or so delicately +modifying the method that, as by the turn of a hair, it shall +produce endlessly diverse effects; looking back, as it were, ever +and anon over the great work of all the ages, to retouch it, and +fill up each chasm in the scheme, which for some good purpose had +been left open in earlier worlds; or leaving some open (the forms, +for instance, necessary to connect the bimana and the quadrumana) +to be filled up perhaps hereafter when the world needs them; the +handiwork, in short, of a living and loving Mind, perfect in His +own eternity, but stooping to work in time and space, and there +rejoicing Himself in the work of His own hands, and in His eternal +Sabbaths ceasing in rest ineffable, that He may look on that which +He hath made, and behold it is very good. + +I speak, of course, under correction; for this conclusion is +emphatically matter of induction, and must be verified or modified +by ever-fresh facts: but I meet with many a Christian passage in +scientific books, which seems to me to go, not too far, but rather +not far enough, in asserting the God of the Bible, as Saint Paul +says, "not to have left Himself without witness," in nature itself, +that He is the God of grace. Why speak of the God of nature and +the God of grace as two antithetical terms? The Bible never, in a +single instance, makes the distinction; and surely, if God be (as +He is) the Eternal and Unchangeable One, and if (as we all confess) +the universe bears the impress of His signet, we have no right, in +the present infantile state of science, to put arbitrary limits of +our own to the revelation which He may have thought good to make of +Himself in nature. Nay, rather, let us believe that, if our eyes +were opened, we should fulfil the requirement of Genius, to "see +the universal in the particular," by seeing God's whole likeness, +His whole glory, reflected as in a mirror even in the meanest +flower; and that nothing but the dulness of our own souls prevents +them from seeing day and night in all things, however small or +trivial to human eclecticism, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself +fulfilling His own saying, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I +work." + +To me it seems (to sum up, in a few words, what I have tried to +say) that such development and progress as have as yet been +actually discovered in nature, bear every trace of having been +produced by successive acts of thought and will in some personal +mind; which, however boundlessly rich and powerful, is still the +Archetype of the human mind; and therefore (for to this I confess I +have been all along tending) probably capable, without violence to +its properties, of becoming, like the human mind, incarnate. + +But to descend from these perhaps too daring speculations, there is +another, and more human, source of interest about the animal who is +writhing feebly in the glass jar of salt water; for he is one of +the many curiosities which have been added to our fauna by that +humble hero Mr. Charles Peach, the self-taught naturalist, of whom, +as we walk on toward the rocks, something should be said, or rather +read; for Mr. Chambers, in an often-quoted passage from his +Edinburgh Journal, which I must have the pleasure of quoting once +again, has told the story better than we can tell it:- + +"But who is that little intelligent-looking man in a faded naval +uniform, who is so invariably to be seen in a particular central +seat in this section? That, gentle reader, is perhaps one of the +most interesting men who attend the British Association. He is +only a private in the mounted guard (preventive service) at an +obscure part of the Cornwall coast, with four shillings a day, and +a wife and nine children, most of whose education he has himself to +conduct. He never tastes the luxuries which are so common in the +middle ranks of life, and even amongst a large portion of the +working classes. He has to mend with his own hands every sort of +thing that can break or wear in his house. Yet Mr. Peach is a +votary of Natural History; not a student of the science in books, +for he cannot afford books; but an investigator by sea and shore, a +collector of Zoophytes and Echinodermata - strange creatures, many +of which are as yet hardly known to man. These he collects, +preserves, and describes; and every year does he come up to the +British Association with a few novelties of this kind, accompanied +by illustrative papers and drawings: thus, under circumstances the +very opposite of those of such men as Lord Enniskillen, adding, in +like manner, to the general stock of knowledge. On the present +occasion he is unusually elated, for he has made the discovery of a +Holothuria with twenty tentacula, a species of the Echinodermata +which Professor Forbes, in his book on Star-Fishes, has said was +never yet observed in the British seas. It may be of small moment +to you, who, mayhap, know nothing of Holothurias: but it is a +considerable thing to the Fauna of Britain, and a vast matter to a +poor private of the Cornwall mounted guard. And accordingly he +will go home in a few days, full of the glory of his exhibition, +and strong anew by the kind notice taken of him by the masters of +the science, to similar inquiries, difficult as it may be to +prosecute them, under such a complication of duties, professional +and domestic. Honest Peach! humble as is thy home, and simple thy +bearing, thou art an honour even to this assemblage of nobles and +doctors: nay, more, when we consider everything, thou art an +honour to human nature itself; for where is the heroism like that +of virtuous, intelligent, independent poverty? And such heroism is +thine!" - CHAMBERS' EDIN. JOURN., Nov. 23, 1844. + +Mr. Peach has been since rewarded in part for his long labours in +the cause of science, by having been removed to a more lucrative +post on the north coast of Scotland; the earnest, it is to be +hoped, of still further promotion. + +I mentioned just now Synapta; or, as Montagu called it, Chirodota: +a much better name, and, I think, very uselessly changed; for +Chirodota expresses the peculiarity of the beast, which consists in +- start not, reader - twelve hands, like human hands, while Synapta +expresses merely its power of clinging to the fingers, which it +possesses in common with many other animals. It is, at least, a +beast worth talking about; as for finding one, I fear that we have +no chance of such good fortune. + +Colonel Montagu found them here some forty years ago; and after +him, Mr. Alder, in 1845. I found hundreds of them, but only once, +in 1854 after a heavy south-eastern gale, washed up among the great +Lutrariae in a cove near Goodrington; but all my dredging outside +failed to procure a specimen - Mr. Alder, however, and Mr. Cocks +(who find everything, and will at last certainly catch Midgard, the +great sea-serpent, as Thor did, by baiting for him with a bull's +head), have dredged them in great numbers; the former, at Helford +in Cornwall, the latter on the west coast of Scotland. It seems, +however, to be a southern monster, probably a remnant, like the +great cockle, of the Mediterranean fauna; for Mr. MacAndrew finds +them plentifully in Vigo Bay, and J. Mller in the Adriatic, off +Trieste. + +But what is it like? Conceive a very fat short earth-worm; not +ringed, though, like the earth-worm, but smooth and glossy, dappled +with darker spots, especially on one side, which may be the upper +one. Put round its mouth twelve little arms, on each a hand with +four ragged fingers, and on the back of the hand a stump of a +thumb, and you have Synapta Digitata (Plates IV. and V., from my +drawings of the live animal). These hands it puts down to its +mouth, generally in alternate pairs, but how it obtains its food by +them is yet a mystery, for its intestines are filled, like an +earth-worm's, with the mud in which it lives, and from which it +probably extracts (as does the earth-worm) all organic matters. + +You will find it stick to your fingers by the whole skin, causing, +if your hand be delicate, a tingling sensation; and if you examine +the skin under the microscope, you will find the cause. The whole +skin is studded with minute glass anchors, some hanging freely from +the surface, but most imbedded in the skin. Each of these anchors +is jointed at its root into one end of a curious cribriform plate, +- in plain English, one pierced like a sieve, which lies under the +skin, and reminds one of the similar plates in the skin of the +White Cucumaria, which I will show you presently; and both of these +we must regard as the first rudiments of an Echinoderm's outside +skeleton, such as in the Sea-urchins covers the whole body of the +animal. (See on Echinus Millaris, p. 89.) (7) Somewhat similar +anchor-plates, from a Red Sea species, Synapta Vittata, may be seen +in any collection of microscopic objects. + +The animal, when caught, has a strange habit of self-destruction, +contracting its skin at two or three different points, and writhing +till it snaps itself into "junks," as the sailors would say, and +then dies. My specimens, on breaking up, threw out from the +wounded part long "ovarian filaments" (whatsoever those may be), +similar to those thrown out by many of the Sagartian anemones, +especially S. parasitica. Beyond this, I can tell you nothing +about Synapta, and only ask you to consider its hands, as an +instance of that fantastic play of Nature which repeats, in +families widely different, organs of similar form, though perhaps +of by no means similar use; nay, sometimes (as in those beautiful +clear-wing hawk-moths which you, as they hover round the +rhododendrons, mistake for bumble-bees) repeats the outward form of +a whole animal, for no conceivable reason save her - shall we not +say honestly His? - own good pleasure. + +But here we are at the old bank of boulders, the ruins of an +antique pier which the monks of Tor Abbey built for their +convenience, while Torquay was but a knot of fishing huts within a +lonely limestone cove. To get to it, though, we have passed many a +hidden treasure; for every ledge of these flat New-red-sandstone +rocks, if torn up with the crowbar, discloses in its cracks and +crannies nests of strange forms which shun the light of day; +beautiful Actiniae fill the tiny caverns with living flowers; great +Pholades (Plate X. figs. 3, 4) bore by hundreds in the softer +strata; and wherever a thin layer of muddy sand intervenes between +two slabs, long Annelid worms of quaintest forms and colours have +their horizontal burrows, among those of that curious and rare +radiate animal, the Spoonworm, (8) an eyeless bag about an inch +long, half bluish grey, half pink, with a strange scalloped and +wrinkled proboscis of saffron colour, which serves, in some +mysterious way, soft as it is, to collect food, and clear its dark +passage through the rock. + +See, at the extreme low-water mark, where the broad olive fronds of +the Laminariae, like fan-palms, droop and wave gracefully in the +retiring ripples, a great boulder which will serve our purpose. +Its upper side is a whole forest of sea-weeds, large and small; and +that forest, if you examined it closely, as full of inhabitants as +those of the Amazon or the Gambia. To "beat" that dense cover +would be an endless task: but on the under side, where no sea- +weeds grow, we shall find full in view enough to occupy us till the +tide returns. For the slab, see, is such a one as sea-beasts love +to haunt. Its weed-covered surface shows that the surge has not +shifted it for years past. It lies on other boulders clear of sand +and mud, so that there is no fear of dead sea-weed having lodged +and decayed under it, destructive to animal life. We can see dark +crannies and caves beneath; yet too narrow to allow the surge to +wash in, and keep the surface clean. It will be a fine menagerie +of Nereus, if we can but turn it. + +Now the crowbar is well under it; heave, and with a will; and so, +after five minutes' tugging, propping, slipping, and splashing, the +boulder gradually tips over, and we rush greedily upon the spoil. + +A muddy dripping surface it is, truly, full of cracks and hollows, +uninviting enough at first sight: let us look it round leisurely, +to see if there are not materials enough there for an hour's +lecture. + +The first object which strikes the eye is probably a group of milk- +white slugs, from two to six inches long, cuddling snugly together +(Plate IX. fig. 1). You try to pull them off, and find that they +give you some trouble, such a firm hold have the delicate white +sucking arms, which fringe each of their five edges. You see at +the head nothing but a yellow dimple; for eating and breathing are +suspended till the return of tide; but once settled in a jar of +salt-water, each will protrude a large chocolate-coloured head, +tipped with a ring of ten feathery gills, looking very much like a +head of "curled kale," but of the loveliest white and primrose; in +the centre whereof lies perdu a mouth with sturdy teeth - if indeed +they, as well as the whole inside of the beast, have not been +lately got rid of, and what you see be not a mere bag, without +intestine or other organ: but only for the time being. For hear +it, worn-out epicures, and old Indians who bemoan your livers, this +little Holothuria knows a secret which, if he could tell it, you +would be glad to buy of him for thousands sterling. To him blue +pill and muriatic acid are superfluous, and travels to German +Brunnen a waste of time. Happy Holothuria! who possesses really +the secret of everlasting youth, which ancient fable bestowed on +the serpent and the eagle. For when his teeth ache, or his +digestive organs trouble him, all he has to do is just to cast up +forthwith his entire inside, and, faisant maigre for a month or so, +grow a fresh set, and then eat away as merrily as ever. His name, +if you wish to consult so triumphant a hygeist, is Cucumaria +Pentactes: but he has many a stout cousin round the Scotch coast, +who knows the antibilious panacea as well as he, and submits, among +the northern fishermen, to the rather rude and undeserved name of +sea-puddings; one of which grows in Shetland to the enormous length +of three feet, rivalling there his huge congeners, who display +their exquisite plumes on every tropic coral reef. (9) + +Next, what are those bright little buds, like salmon-coloured +Banksia roses half expanded, sitting closely on the stone? Touch +them; the soft part is retracted, and the orange flower of flesh is +transformed into a pale pink flower of stone. That is the +Madrepore, Caryophyllia Smithii (Plate V. fig. 2); one of our south +coast rarities: and see, on the lip of the last one, which we have +carefully scooped off with the chisel, two little pink towers of +stone, delicately striated; drop them into this small bottle of +sea-water, and from the top of each tower issues every half-second +- what shall we call it? - a hand or a net of finest hairs, +clutching at something invisible to our grosser sense. That is the +Pyrgoma, parasitic only (as far as we know) on the lip of this same +rare Madrepore; a little "cirrhipod," the cousin of those tiny +barnacles which roughen every rock (a larger sort whereof I showed +you on the Turritella), and of those larger ones also who burrow in +the thick hide of the whale, and, borne about upon his mighty +sides, throw out their tiny casting nets, as this Pyrgoma does, to +catch every passing animalcule, and sweep them into the jaws +concealed within its shell. And this creature, rooted to one spot +through life and death, was in its infancy a free swimming animal, +hovering from place to place upon delicate ciliae, till, having +sown its wild oats, it settled down in life, built itself a good +stone house, and became a landowner, or rather a glebae adscriptus, +for ever and a day. Mysterious destiny! - yet not so mysterious as +that of the free medusoid young of every polype and coral, which +ends as a rooted tree of horn or stone, and seems to the eye of +sensuous fancy to have literally degenerated into a vegetable. Of +them you must read for yourself in Mr. Gosse's book; in the +meanwhile he shall tell you something of the beautiful Madrepores +themselves. His description, (10) by far the best yet published, +should be read in full; we must content ourselves with extracts. + +"Doubtless you are familiar with the stony skeleton of our +Madrepore, as it appears in museums. It consists of a number of +thin calcareous plates standing up edgewise, and arranged in a +radiating manner round a low centre. A little below the margin +their individuality is lost in the deposition of rough calcareous +matter. . . . The general form is more or less cylindrical, +commonly wider at top than just above the bottom. . . . This is but +the skeleton; and though it is a very pretty object, those who are +acquainted with it alone, can form but a very poor idea of the +beauty of the living animal. . . . Let it, after being torn from +the rock, recover its equanimity; then you will see a pellucid +gelatinous flesh emerging from between the plates, and little +exquisitely formed and coloured tentacula, with white clubbed tips +fringing the sides of the cup-shaped cavity in the centre, across +which stretches the oval disc marked with a star of some rich and +brilliant colour, surrounding the central mouth, a slit with white +crenated lips, like the orifice of one of those elegant cowry +shells which we put upon our mantelpieces. The mouth is always +more or less prominent, and can be protruded and expanded to an +astonishing extent. The space surrounding the lips is commonly +fawn colour, or rich chestnut-brown; the star or vandyked circle +rich red, pale vermilion, and sometimes the most brilliant emerald +green, as brilliant as the gorget of a humming-bird." + +And what does this exquisitely delicate creature do with its pretty +mouth? Alas for fact! It sips no honey-dew, or fruits from +paradise. - "I put a minute spider, as large as a pin's head, into +the water, pushing it down to the coral. The instant it touched +the tip of a tentacle, it adhered, and was drawn in with the +surrounding tentacles between the plates. With a lens I saw the +small mouth slowly open, and move over to that side, the lips +gaping unsymmetrically; while with a movement as imperceptible as +that of the hour hand of a watch, the tiny prey was carried along +between the plates to the corner of the mouth. The mouth, however, +moved most, and at length reached the edges of the plates, +gradually closed upon the insect, and then returned to its usual +place in the centre." + +Mr. Gosse next tried the fairy of the walking mouth with a house- +fly, who escaped only by hard fighting; and at last the gentle +creature, after swallowing and disgorging various large pieces of +shell-fish, found viands to its taste in "the lean of cooked meat +and portions of earthworms," filling up the intervals by a +perpetual dessert of microscopic animalcules, whirled into that +lovely avernus, its mouth, by the currents of the delicate ciliae +which clothe every tentacle. The fact is, that the Madrepore, like +those glorious sea-anemones whose living flowers stud every pool, +is by profession a scavenger and a feeder on carrion; and being as +useful as he is beautiful, really comes under the rule which he +seems at first to break, that handsome is who handsome does. + +Another species of Madrepore (11) was discovered on our Devon coast +by Mr. Gosse, more gaudy, though not so delicate in hue as our +Caryophyllia. Mr. Gosse's locality, for this and numberless other +curiosities, is Ilfracombe, on the north coast of Devon. My +specimens came from Lundy Island, in the mouth of the Bristol +Channel, or more properly from that curious "Rat Island" to the +south of it, where still lingers the black long-tailed English rat, +exterminated everywhere else by his sturdier brown cousin of the +Hanoverian dynasty. + +Look, now, at these tiny saucers of the thinnest ivory, the largest +not bigger than a silver threepence, which contain in their centres +a milk-white crust of stone, pierced, as you see under the +magnifier, into a thousand cells, each with its living architect +within. Here are two kinds: in one the tubular cells radiate from +the centre, giving it the appearance of a tiny compound flower, +daisy or groundsel; in the other they are crossed with waving +grooves, giving the whole a peculiar fretted look, even more +beautiful than that of the former species. They are Tubulipora +patina and Tubulipora hispida; - and stay - break off that tiny +rough red wart, and look at its cells also under the magnifier: it +is Cellepora pumicosa; and now, with the Madrepore, you hold in +your hand the principal, at least the commonest, British types of +those famed coral insects, which in the tropics are the architects +of continents, and the conquerors of the ocean surge. All the +world, since the publication of Darwin's delightful "Voyage of the +Beagle,"' and of Williams' "Missionary Enterprises," knows, or +ought to know, enough about them: for those who do not, there are +a few pages in the beginning of Dr. Landsborough's "British +Zoophytes," well worth perusal. + +There are a few other true cellepore corals round the coast. The +largest of all, Cervicornis, may be dredged a few miles outside on +the Exmouth bank, with a few more Tubulipores: but all tiny +things, the lingering and, as it were, expiring remnants of that +great coral-world which, through the abysmal depths of past ages, +formed here in Britain our limestone hills, storing up for +generations yet unborn the materials of agriculture and +architecture. Inexpressibly interesting, even solemn, to those who +will think, is the sight of those puny parasites which, as it were, +connect the ages and the aeons: yet not so solemn and full of +meaning as that tiny relic of an older world, the little pear- +shaped Turbinolia (cousin of the Madrepores and Sea-anemones), +found fossil in the Suffolk Crag, and yet still lingering here and +there alive in the deep water of Scilly and the west coast of +Ireland, possessor of a pedigree which dates, perhaps, from ages +before the day in which it was said, "Let us make man in our image, +after our likeness." To think that the whole human race, its joys +and its sorrows, its virtues and its sins, its aspirations and its +failures, has been rushing out of eternity and into eternity again, +as Arjoon in the Bhagavad Gita beheld the race of men issuing from +Kreeshna's flaming mouth, and swallowed up in it again, "as the +crowds of insects swarm into the flame, as the homeless streams +leap down into the ocean bed," in an everlasting heart-pulse whose +blood is living souls - and all that while, and ages before that +mystery began, that humble coral, unnoticed on the dark sea-floor, +has been "continuing as it was at the beginning," and fulfilling +"the law which cannot be broken," while races and dynasties and +generations have been + + +"Playing such fantastic tricks before high heaven, +As make the angels weep." + + +Yes; it is this vision of the awful permanence and perfection of +the natural world, beside the wild flux and confusion, the mad +struggles, the despairing cries of the world of spirits which man +has defiled by sin, which would at moments crush the naturalist's +heart, and make his brain swim with terror, were it not that he can +see by faith, through all the abysses and the ages, not merely + + +" Hands, +From out the darkness, shaping man;" + + +but above them a living loving countenance, human and yet Divine; +and can hear a voice which said at first, "Let us make man in our +image;" and hath said since then, and says for ever and for ever, +"Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." + +But now, friend, who listenest, perhaps instructed, and at least +amused - if, as Professor Harvey well says, the simpler animals +represent, as in a glass, the scattered organs of the higher races, +which of your organs is represented by that "sca'd man's head," +which the Devon children more gracefully, yet with less adherence +to plain likeness, call "mermaid's head," (12) which we picked up +just now on Paignton Sands? Or which, again, by its more beautiful +little congener, (13) five or six of which are adhering tightly to +the slab before us, a ball covered with delicate spines of lilac +and green, and stuck over (cunning fellows!) with stripes of dead +sea-weed to serve as improvised parasols? One cannot say that in +him we have the first type of the human skull: for the +resemblance, quaint as it is, is only sensuous and accidental, (in +the logical use of that term,) and not homological, I.E. a lower +manifestation of the same idea. Yet how is one tempted to say, +that this was Nature's first and lowest attempt at that use of +hollow globes of mineral for protecting soft fleshy parts, which +she afterwards developed to such perfection in the skulls of +vertebrate animals! But even that conceit, pretty as it sounds, +will not hold good; for though Radiates similar to these were among +the earliest tenants of the abyss, yet as early as their time, +perhaps even before them, had been conceived and actualized, in the +sharks, and in Mr. Hugh Miller's pets the old red sandstone fishes, +that very true vertebrate skull and brain, of which this is a mere +mockery. (14) Here the whole animal, with his extraordinary +feeding mill, (for neither teeth nor jaws is a fit word for it,) is +enclosed within an ever-growing limestone castle, to the +architecture of which the Eddystone and the Crystal Palace are +bungling heaps; without arms or legs, eyes or ears, and yet +capable, in spite of his perpetual imprisonment, of walking, +feeding, and breeding, doubt it not, merrily enough. But this +result has been attained at the expense of a complication of +structure, which has baffled all human analysis and research into +final causes. As much concerning this most miraculous of families +as is needful to be known, and ten times more than you are likely +to understand, may be read in Harvey's "Sea-Side Book," pp. 142- +148, - pages from which you will probably arise with a sense of the +infinity and complexity of Nature, even in what we are pleased to +call her "lower" forms, and the simplest and, as it were, easiest +forms of life. Conceive a Crystal Palace, (for mere difference in +size, as both the naturalist and the metaphysician know, has +nothing to do with the wonder,) whereof each separate joist, +girder, and pane grows continually without altering the shape of +the whole; and you have conceived only one of the miracles embodied +in that little sea-egg, which the Creator has, as it were, to +justify to man His own immutability, furnished with a shell capable +of enduring fossil for countless ages, that we may confess Him to +have been as great when first His Spirit brooded on the deep, as He +is now and will be through all worlds to come. + +But we must make haste; for the tide is rising fast, and our stone +will be restored to its eleven hours' bath, long before we have +talked over half the wonders which it holds. Look though, ere you +retreat, at one or two more. + +What is that little brown thing whom you have just taken off the +rock to which it adhered so stoutly by his sucking-foot? A limpet? +Not at all: he is of quite a different family and structure; but, +on the whole, a limpet-like shell would suit him well enough, so he +had one given him: nevertheless, owing to certain anatomical +peculiarities, he needed one aperture more than a limpet; so one, +if you will examine, has been given him at the top of his shell. +(15) This is one instance among a thousand of the way in which a +scientific knowledge of objects must not obey, but run counter to, +the impressions of sense; and of a custom in nature which makes +this caution so necessary, namely, the repetition of the same form, +slightly modified, in totally different animals, sometimes as if to +avoid waste, (for why should not the same conception be used in two +different cases, if it will suit in both?) and sometimes (more +marvellous by far) when an organ, fully developed and useful in one +species, appears in a cognate species but feeble, useless, and, as +it were, abortive; and gradually, in species still farther removed, +dies out altogether; placed there, it would seem, at first sight, +merely to keep up the family likeness. I am half jesting; that +cannot be the only reason, perhaps not the reason at all; but the +fact is one of the most curious, and notorious also, in comparative +anatomy. + +Look, again, at those sea-slugs. One, some three inches long, of a +bright lemon-yellow, clouded with purple; another of a dingy grey; +(16) another exquisite little creature of a pearly French White, +(17) furred all over the back with what seem arms, but are really +gills, of ringed white and grey and black. Put that yellow one +into water, and from his head, above the eyes, arise two serrated +horns, while from the after-part of his back springs a circular +Prince-of-Wales's-feather of gills, - they are almost exactly like +those which we saw just now in the white Cucumaria. Yes; here is +another instance of the same custom of repetition. The Cucumaria +is a low radiate animal - the sea-slug a far higher mollusc; and +every organ within him is formed on a different type; as indeed are +those seemingly identical gills, if you come to examine them under +the microscope, having to oxygenate fluids of a very different and +more complicated kind; and, moreover, the Cucumaria's gills were +put round his mouth, the Doris's feathers round the other +extremity; that grey Eolis's, again, are simple clubs, scattered +over his whole back, and in each of his nudibranch congeners these +same gills take some new and fantastic form; in Melibaea those +clubs are covered with warts; in Scyllaea, with tufted bouquets; in +the beautiful Antiopa they are transparent bags; and in many other +English species they take every conceivable form of leaf, tree, +flower, and branch, bedecked with every colour of the rainbow, as +you may see them depicted in Messrs. Alder and Hancock's unrivalled +Monograph on the Nudibranch Mollusca. + +And now, worshipper of final causes and the mere useful in nature, +answer but one question, - Why this prodigal variety? All these +Nudibranchs live in much the same way: why would not the same +mould have done for them all? And why, again, (for we must push +the argument a little further,) why have not all the butterflies, +at least all who feed on the same plant, the same markings? Of all +unfathomable triumphs of design, (we can only express ourselves +thus, for honest induction, as Paley so well teaches, allows us to +ascribe such results only to the design of some personal will and +mind,) what surpasses that by which the scales on a butterfly's +wing are arranged to produce a certain pattern of artistic beauty +beyond all painter's skill? What a waste of power, on any +utilitarian theory of nature! And once more, why are those strange +microscopic atomies, the Diatomaceae and Infusoria, which fill +every stagnant pool; which fringe every branch of sea-weed; which +form banks hundreds of miles long on the Arctic sea-floor, and the +strata of whole moorlands; which pervade in millions the mass of +every iceberg, and float aloft in countless swarms amid the clouds +of the volcanic dust; - why are their tiny shells of flint as +fantastically various in their quaint mathematical symmetry, as +they are countless beyond the wildest dreams of the Poet? Mystery +inexplicable on the conceited notion which, making man forsooth the +centre of the universe, dares to believe that this variety of forms +has existed for countless ages in abysmal sea-depths and untrodden +forests, only that some few individuals of the Western races might, +in these latter days, at last discover and admire a corner here and +there of the boundless realms of beauty. Inexplicable, truly, if +man be the centre and the object of their existence; explicable +enough to him who believes that God has created all things for +Himself, and rejoices in His own handiwork, and that the material +universe is, as the wise man says, "A platform whereon His Eternal +Spirit sports and makes melody." Of all the blessings which the +study of nature brings to the patient observer, let none, perhaps, +be classed higher than this: that the further he enters into those +fairy gardens of life and birth, which Spenser saw and described in +his great poem, the more he learns the awful and yet most +comfortable truth, that they do not belong to him, but to One +greater, wiser, lovelier than he; and as he stands, silent with +awe, amid the pomp of Nature's ever-busy rest, hears, as of old, +"The Word of the Lord God walking among the trees of the garden in +the cool of the day." + +One sight more, and we have done. I had something to say, had time +permitted, on the ludicrous element which appears here and there in +nature. There are animals, like monkeys and crabs, which seem made +to be laughed at; by those at least who possess that most +indefinable of faculties, the sense of the ridiculous. As long as +man possesses muscles especially formed to enable him to laugh, we +have no right to suppose (with some) that laughter is an accident +of our fallen nature; or to find (with others) the primary cause of +the ridiculous in the perception of unfitness or disharmony. And +yet we shrink (whether rightly or wrongly, we can hardly tell) from +attributing a sense of the ludicrous to the Creator of these forms. +It may be a weakness on my part; at least I will hope it is a +reverent one: but till we can find something corresponding to what +we conceive of the Divine Mind in any class of phenomena, it is +perhaps better not to talk about them at all, but observe a stoic +"epoche," waiting for more light, and yet confessing that our own +laughter is uncontrollable, and therefore we hope not unworthy of +us, at many a strange creature and strange doing which we meet, +from the highest ape to the lowest polype. + +But, in the meanwhile, there are animals in which results so +strange, fantastic, even seemingly horrible, are produced, that +fallen man may be pardoned, if he shrinks from them in disgust. +That, at least, must be a consequence of our own wrong state; for +everything is beautiful and perfect in its place. It may be +answered, "Yes, in its place; but its place is not yours. You had +no business to look at it, and must pay the penalty for +intermeddling." I doubt that answer; for surely, if man have +liberty to do anything, he has liberty to search out freely his +heavenly Father's works; and yet every one seems to have his +antipathic animal; and I know one bred from his childhood to +zoology by land and sea, and bold in asserting, and honest in +feeling, that all without exception is beautiful, who yet cannot, +after handling and petting and admiring all day long every uncouth +and venomous beast, avoid a paroxysm of horror at the sight of the +common house-spider. At all events, whether we were intruding or +not, in turning this stone, we must pay a fine for having done so; +for there lies an animal as foul and monstrous to the eye as +"hydra, gorgon, or chimaera dire," and yet so wondrously fitted to +its work, that we must needs endure for our own instruction to +handle and to look at it. Its name, if you wish for it, is +Nemertes; probably N. Borlasii; (18) a worm of very "low" +organization, though well fitted enough for its own work. You see +it? That black, shiny, knotted lump among the gravel, small enough +to be taken up in a dessert spoon. Look now, as it is raised and +its coils drawn out. Three feet - six - nine, at least: with a +capability of seemingly endless expansion; a slimy tape of living +caoutchouc, some eighth of an inch in diameter, a dark chocolate- +black, with paler longitudinal lines. Is it alive? It hangs, +helpless and motionless, a mere velvet string across the hand. Ask +the neighbouring Annelids and the fry of the rock fishes, or put it +into a vase at home, and see. It lies motionless, trailing itself +among the gravel; you cannot tell where it begins or ends; it may +be a dead strip of sea-weed, Himanthalia lorea, perhaps, or Chorda +filum; or even a tarred string. So thinks the little fish who +plays over and over it, till he touches at last what is too surely +a head. In an instant a bell-shaped sucker mouth has fastened to +his side. In another instant, from one lip, a concave double +proboscis, just like a tapir's (another instance of the repetition +of forms), has clasped him like a finger; and now begins the +struggle: but in vain. He is being "played" with such a fishing- +line as the skill of a Wilson or a Stoddart never could invent; a +living line, with elasticity beyond that of the most delicate fly- +rod, which follows every lunge, shortening and lengthening, +slipping and twining round every piece of gravel and stem of sea- +weed, with a tiring drag such as no Highland wrist or step could +ever bring to bear on salmon or on trout. The victim is tired now; +and slowly, and yet dexterously, his blind assailant is feeling and +shifting along his side, till he reaches one end of him; and then +the black lips expand, and slowly and surely the curved finger +begins packing him end-foremost down into the gullet, where he +sinks, inch by inch, till the swelling which marks his place is +lost among the coils, and he is probably macerated to a pulp long +before he has reached the opposite extremity of his cave of doom. +Once safe down, the black murderer slowly contracts again into a +knotted heap, and lies, like a boa with a stag inside him, +motionless and blest. (19) + +There; we must come away now, for the tide is over our ankles; but +touch, before you go, one of those little red mouths which peep out +of the stone. A tiny jet of water shoots up almost into your face. + +The bivalve (20) who has burrowed into the limestone knot (the +softest part of the stone to his jaws, though the hardest to your +chisel) is scandalized at having the soft mouths of his siphons so +rudely touched, and taking your finger for some bothering Annelid, +who wants to nibble him, is defending himself; shooting you, as +naturalists do humming-birds, with water. Let him rest in peace; +it will cost you ten minutes' hard work, and much dirt, to extract +him; but if you are fond of shells, secure one or two of those +beautiful pink and straw-coloured scallops (Hinnites pusio, Plate +X. fig. 1), who have gradually incorporated the layers of their +lower valve with the roughnesses of the stone, destroying thereby +the beautiful form which belongs to their race, but not their +delicate colour. There are a few more bivalves too, adhering to +the stone, and those rare ones, and two or three delicate Mangeliae +and Nassae (21) are trailing their graceful spires up and down in +search of food. That little bright red and yellow pea, too, touch +it - the brilliant coloured cloak is withdrawn, and, instead, you +have a beautiful ribbed pink cowry, (22) our only European +representative of that grand tropical family. Cast one wondering +glance, too, at the forest of zoophytes and corals, Lepraliae and +Flustrae, and those quaint blue stars, set in brown jelly, which +are no zoophytes, but respectable molluscs, each with his well- +formed mouth and intestines, (23) but combined in a peculiar form +of Communism, of which all one can say is, that one hopes they like +it; and that, at all events, they agree better than the heroes and +heroines of Mr. Hawthorne's "Blithedale Romance." + +Now away, and as a specimen of the fertility of the water-world, +look at this rough list of species, (24) the greater part of which +are on this very stone, and all of which you might obtain in an +hour, would the rude tide wait for zoologists: and remember that +the number of individuals of each species of polype must be counted +by tens of thousands; and also, that, by searching the forest of +sea-weeds which covers the upper surface, we should probably obtain +some twenty minute species more. + +A goodly catalogue this, surely, of the inhabitants of three or +four large stones; and yet how small a specimen of the +multitudinous nations of the sea! + +From the bare rocks above high-water mark, down to abysses deeper +than ever plummet sounded, is life, everywhere life; fauna after +fauna, and flora after flora, arranged in zones, according to the +amount of light and warmth which each species requires, and to the +amount of pressure which they are able to endure. The crevices of +the highest rocks, only sprinkled with salt spray in spring-tides +and high gales, have their peculiar little univalves, their crisp +lichen-like sea-weed, in myriads; lower down, the region of the +Fuci (bladder-weeds) has its own tribes of periwinkles and limpets; +below again, about the neap-tide mark, the region of the corallines +and Algae furnishes food for yet other species who graze on its +watery meadows; and beneath all, only uncovered at low spring-tide, +the zone of the Laminariae (the great tangles and ore-weeds) is +most full of all of every imaginable form of life. So that as we +descend the rocks, we may compare ourselves (likening small things +to great) to those who, descending the Andes, pass in a single day +from the vegetation of the Arctic zone to that of the Tropics. And +here and there, even at half-tide level, deep rock-basins, shaded +from the sun and always full of water, keep up in a higher zone the +vegetation of a lower one, and afford in nature an analogy to those +deep "barrancos" which split the high table-land of Mexico, down +whose awful cliffs, swept by cool sea-breezes, the traveller looks +from among the plants and animals of the temperate zone, and sees +far below, dim through their everlasting vapour-bath of rank hot +steam, the mighty forms and gorgeous colours of a tropic forest. + +"I do not wonder," says Mr. Gosse, in his charming "Naturalist's +Rambles on the Devonshire Coast" (p. 187), "that when Southey had +an opportunity of seeing some of those beautiful quiet basins +hollowed in the living rock, and stocked with elegant plants and +animals, having all the charm of novelty to his eye, they should +have moved his poetic fancy, and found more than one place in the +gorgeous imagery of his Oriental romances. Just listen to him + + +"It was a garden still beyond all price, +Even yet it was a place of paradise; +And here were coral bowers, +And grots of madrepores, +And banks of sponge, as soft and fair to eye +As e'er was mossy bed +Whereon the wood-nymphs lie +With languid limbs in summer's sultry hours. +Here, too, were living flowers, +Which, like a bud compacted, +Their purple cups contracted; +And now in open blossom spread, +Stretch'd, like green anthers, many a seeking head. +And arborets of jointed stone were there, +And plants of fibres fine as silkworm's thread; +Yea, beautiful as mermaid's golden hair +Upon the waves dispread. +Others that, like the broad banana growing, +Raised their long wrinkled leaves of purple hue, +Like streamers wide outflowing.' - KEHAMA, xvi. 5. + + +"A hundred times you might fancy you saw the type, the very +original of this description, tracing, line by line, and image by +image, the details of the picture; and acknowledging, as you +proceed, the minute truthfulness with which it has been drawn. For +such is the loveliness of nature in these secluded reservoirs, that +the accomplished poet, when depicting the gorgeous scenes of +Eastern mythology - scenes the wildest and most extravagant that +imagination could paint - drew not upon the resources of his +prolific fancy for imagery here, but was well content to jot down +the simple lineaments of Nature as he saw her in plain, homely +England. + +"It is a beautiful and fascinating sight for those who have never +seen it before, to see the little shrubberies of pink coralline - +'the arborets of jointed stone' - that fringe those pretty pools. +It is a charming sight to see the crimson banana-like leaves of the +Delesseria waving in their darkest corners; and the purple fibrous +tufts of Polysiphonia and Ceramia, 'fine as silkworm's thread.' +But there are many others which give variety and impart beauty to +these tide-pools. The broad leaves of the Ulva, finer than the +finest cambric, and of the brightest emerald-green, adorn the +hollows at the highest level, while, at the lowest, wave tiny +forests of the feathery Ptilota and Dasya, and large leaves, cut +into fringes and furbelows, of rosy Rhodymeniae. All these are +lovely to behold; but I think I admire as much as any of them, one +of the commonest of our marine plants, Chondrus crispus. It occurs +in the greatest profusion on this coast, in every pool between +tide-marks; and everywhere - except in those of the highest level, +where constant exposure to light dwarfs the plant, and turns it of +a dull umber-brown tint - it is elegant in form and brilliant in +colour. The expanding fan-shaped fronds, cut into segments, cut, +and cut again, make fine bushy tufts in a deep pool, and every +segment of every frond reflects a flush of the most lustrous azure, +like that of a tempered sword-blade." - GOSSE'S DEVONSHIRE COAST, +pp. 187-189. + +And the sea-bottom, also, has its zones, at different depths, and +its peculiar forms in peculiar spots, affected by the currents and +the nature of the ground, the riches of which have to be seen, +alas! rather by the imagination than the eye; for such spoonfuls of +the treasure as the dredge brings up to us, come too often rolled +and battered, torn from their sites and contracted by fear, mere +hints to us of what the populous reality below is like. Often, +standing on the shore at low tide, has one longed to walk on and in +under the waves, as the water-ousel does in the pools of the +mountain burn, and see it all but for a moment; and a solemn beauty +and meaning has invested the old Greek fable of Glaucus the +fisherman: how eating of the herb which gave his fish strength to +leap back into their native element, he was seized on the spot with +a strange longing to follow them under the waves, and became for +ever a companion of the fair semi-human forms with which the +Hellenic poets peopled their sunny bays and firths, feeding "silent +flocks" far below on the green Zostera beds, or basking with them +on the sunny ledges in the summer noon, or wandering in the still +bays on sultry nights amid the choir of Amphitrite and her sea- +nymphs:- + + +"Joining the bliss of the gods, as they waken the coves with their +laughter," + + +in nightly revels, whereof one has sung, - + + +"So they came up in their joy; and before them the roll of the +surges +Sank, as the breezes sank dead, into smooth green foam-flecked +marble +Awed; and the crags of the cliffs, and the pines of the mountains, +were silent. +So they came up in their joy, and around them the lamps of the sea- +nymphs, +Myriad fiery globes, swam heaving and panting, and rainbows, +Crimson, and azure, and emerald, were broken in star-showers, +lighting, +Far in the wine-dark depths of the crystal, the gardens of Nereus, +Coral, and sea-fan, and tangle, the blooms and the palms of the +ocean. +So they went on in their joy, more white than the foam which they +scattered, +Laughing and singing and tossing and twining; while, eager, the +Tritons +Blinded with kisses their eyes, unreproved, and above them in +worship +Fluttered the terns, and the sea-gulls swept past them on silvery +pinions, +Echoing softly their laughter; around them the wantoning dolphins +Sighed as they plunged, full of love; and the great sea-horses +which bore them +Curved up their crests in their pride to the delicate arms of their +riders, +Pawing the spray into gems, till a fiery rainfall, unharming, +Sparkled and gleamed on the limbs of the maids, and the coils of +the mermen. +So they went on in their joy, bathed round with the fiery coolness, +Needing nor sun nor moon, self-lighted, immortal: but others, +Pitiful, floated in silence apart; on their knees lay the sea-boys +Whelmed by the roll of the surge, swept down by the anger of +Nereus; +Hapless, whom never again upon quay or strand shall their mothers +Welcome with garlands and vows to the temples; but, wearily pining, +Gaze over island and main for the sails which return not; they, +heedless, +Sleep in soft bosoms for ever, and dream of the surge and the sea- +maids. +So they passed by in their joy, like a dream, on the murmuring +ripple." + + +Such a rhapsody may be somewhat out of order, even in a popular +scientific book; and yet one cannot help at moments envying the old +Greek imagination, which could inform the soulless sea-world with a +human life and beauty. For, after all, star-fishes and sea- +anemones are dull substitutes for Sirens and Tritons; the lamps of +the sea-nymphs, those glorious phosphorescent medusae whose beauty +Mr. Gosse sets forth so well with pen and pencil, are not as +attractive as the sea-nymphs themselves would be; and who would +not, like Menelaus, take the grey old man of the sea himself asleep +upon the rocks, rather than one of his seal-herd, probably too with +the same result as the world-famous combat in the Antiquary, +between Hector and Phoca? And yet - is there no human interest in +these pursuits, more humanity and more divine, than there would be +even in those Triton and Nereid dreams, if realized to sight and +sense? Heaven forbid that those should say so, whose wanderings +among rock and pool have been mixed up with holiest passages of +friendship and of love, and the intercommunion of equal minds and +sympathetic hearts, and the laugh of children drinking in health +from every breeze and instruction at every step, running ever and +anon with proud delight to add their little treasure to their +parents' stock, and of happy friendly evenings spent over the +microscope and the vase, in examining, arranging, preserving, +noting down in the diary the wonders and the labours of the happy, +busy day. No; such short glimpses of the water-world as our +present appliances afford us are full enough of pleasure; and we +will not envy Glaucus: we will not even be over-anxious for the +success of his only modern imitator, the French naturalist who is +reported to have fitted himself with a waterproof dress and +breathing apparatus, in order to walk the bottom of the +Mediterranean, and see for himself how the world goes on at the +fifty-fathom line: we will be content with the wonders of the +shore and of the sea-floor, as far as the dredge will discover them +to us. We shall even thus find enough to occupy (if we choose) our +lifetime. For we must recollect that this hasty sketch has hardly +touched on that vegetable water-world, which is as wonderful and as +various as the animal one. A hint or two of the beauty of the sea- +weeds has been given; but space has allowed no more. Yet we might +have spent our time with almost as much interest and profit, had we +neglected utterly the animals which we have found, and devoted our +attention exclusively to the flora of the rocks. Sea-weeds are no +mere playthings for children; and to buy at a shop some thirty +pretty kinds, pasted on paper, with long names (probably mis-spelt) +written under each, is not by any means to possess a collection of +them. Putting aside the number and the obscurity of their species, +the questions which arise in studying their growth, reproduction, +and organic chemistry are of the very deepest and most important in +the whole range of science; and it will need but a little study of +such a book as Harvey's "Algae," to show the wise man that he who +has comprehended (which no man yet does) the mystery of a single +spore or tissue-cell, has reached depths in the great "Science of +Life" at which an Owen would still confess himself "blind by excess +of light." "Knowest thou how the bones grow in the womb?" asks the +Jewish sage, sadly, half self-reprovingly, as he discovers that man +is not the measure of all things, and that in much learning may be +vanity and vexation of spirit, and in much study a weariness of the +flesh; and all our deeper physical science only brings the same +question more awfully near. "Vilior alg," more worthless than the +very sea-weed, says the old Roman: and yet no torn scrap of that +very sea-weed, which to-morrow may manure the nearest garden, but +says to us, "Proud man! talking of spores and vesicles, if thou +darest for a moment to fancy that to have seen spores and vesicles +is to have seen me, or to know what I am, answer this. Knowest +thou how the bones do grow in the womb? Knowest thou even how one +of these tiny black dots, which thou callest spores, grow on my +fronds?" And to that question what answer shall we make? We see +tissues divide, cells develop, processes go on - but How and Why? +These are but phenomena; but what are phenomena save effects? +Causes, it may be, of other effects; but still effects of other +causes. And why does the cause cause that effect? Why should it +not cause something else? Why should it cause anything at all? +Because it obeys a law. But why does it obey the law? and how does +it obey the law? And, after all, what is a law? A mere custom of +Nature. We see the same phenomenon happen a great many times; and +we infer from thence that it has a custom of happening; and +therefore we call it a law: but we have not seen the law; all we +have seen is the phenomenon which we suppose to indicate the law. +We have seen things fall: but we never saw a little flying thing +pulling them down, with "gravitation" labelled on its back; and the +question, why things fall, and HOW, is just where it was before +Newton was born, and is likely to remain there. All we can say is, +that Nature has her customs, and that other customs ensue, when +those customs appear: but that as to what connects cause and +effect, as to what is the reason, the final cause, or even the +CAUSA CAUSANS, of any phenomenon, we know not more but less than +ever; for those laws or customs which seem to us simplest +("endosmose," for instance, or "gravitation"), are just the most +inexplicable, logically unexpected, seemingly arbitrary, certainly +supernatural - miraculous, if you will; for no natural and physical +cause whatsoever can be assigned for them; while if anyone shall +argue against their being miraculous and supernatural on the ground +of their being so common, I can only answer, that of all absurd and +illogical arguments, this is the most so. For what has the number +of times which the miracle occurs to do with the question, save to +increase the wonder? Which is more strange, that an inexplicable +and unfathomable thing should occur once and for all, or that it +should occur a million times every day all the world over? + +Let those, however, who are too proud to wonder, do as seems good +to them. Their want of wonder will not help them toward the +required explanation: and to them, as to us, as soon as we begin +asking, "HOW?" and "WHY?" the mighty Mother will only reply with +that magnificent smile of hers, most genial, but most silent, which +she has worn since the foundation of all worlds; that silent smile +which has tempted many a man to suspect her of irony, even of +deceit and hatred of the human race; the silent smile which Solomon +felt, and answered in "Ecclesiastes;" which Goethe felt, and did +not answer in his "Faust;" which Pascal felt, and tried to answer +in his "Thoughts," and fled from into self-torture and +superstition, terrified beyond his powers of endurance, as he found +out the true meaning of St. John's vision, and felt himself really +standing on that fragile and slippery "sea of glass," and close +beneath him the bottomless abyss of doubt, and the nether fires of +moral retribution. He fled from Nature's silent smile, as that +poor old King Edward (mis-called the Confessor) fled from her hymns +of praise, in the old legend of Havering-atte-bower, when he cursed +the nightingales because their songs confused him in his prayers: +but the wise man need copy neither, and fear neither the silence +nor the laughter of the mighty mother Earth, if he will be but +wise, and hear her tell him, alike in both - "Why call me mother? +Why ask me for knowledge which I cannot teach, peace which I cannot +give or take away? I am only your foster-mother and your nurse - +and I have not been an unkindly one. But you are God's children, +and not mine. Ask Him. I can amuse you with my songs; but they +are but a nurse's lullaby to the weary flesh. I can awe you with +my silence; but my silence is only my just humility, and your gain. +How dare I pretend to tell you secrets which He who made me knows +alone? I am but inanimate matter; why ask of me things which +belong to living spirit? In God I live and move, and have my +being; I know not how, any more than you know. Who will tell you +what life is, save He who is the Lord of life? And if He will not +tell you, be sure it is because you need not to know. At least, +why seek God in nature, the living among the dead? He is not here: +He is risen." + +He is not here: He is risen. Good reader, you will probably agree +that to know that saying, is to know the key-note of the world to +come. Believe me, to know it, and all it means, is to know the +keynote of this world also, from the fall of dynasties and the fate +of nations, to the sea-weed which rots upon the beach. + +It may seem startling, possibly (though I hope not, for my readers' +sake, irreverent), to go back at once after such thoughts, be they +true or false, to the weeds upon the cliff above our heads. But He +who is not here, but is risen, yet is here, and has appointed them +their services in a wonderful order; and I wish that on some day, +or on many days, when a quiet sea and offshore breezes have +prevented any new objects from coming to land with the rising tide, +you would investigate the flowers peculiar to our sea-rocks and +sandhills. Even if you do not find the delicate lily-like +Trichonema of the Channel Islands and Dawlish, or the almost as +beautiful Squill of the Cornish cliffs, or the sea-lavender of +North Devon, or any of those rare Mediterranean species which Mr. +Johns has so charmingly described in his "Week at the Lizard +Point," yet an average cliff, with its carpeting of pink thrift and +of bladder catchfly, and Lady's finger, and elegant grasses, most +of them peculiar to the sea marge, is often a very lovely flower- +bed. + +Not merely interesting, too, but brilliant in their vegetation are +sandhills; and the seemingly desolate dykes and banks of salt +marshes will yield many a curious plant, which you may neglect if +you will: but lay to your account the having to repent your +neglect hereafter, when, finding out too late what a pleasant study +botany is, you search in vain for curious forms over which you trod +every day in crossing flats which seemed to you utterly ugly and +uninteresting, but which the good God was watching as carefully as +He did the pleasant hills inland: perhaps even more carefully; for +the uplands He has completed, and handed over to man, that he may +dress and keep them: but the tide-flats below are still +unfinished, dry land in the process of creation, to which every +tide is adding the elements of fertility, which shall grow food, +perhaps in some future state of our planet, for generations yet +unborn. + +But to return to the water-world, and to dredging; which of all +sea-side pursuits is perhaps the most pleasant, combining as it +does fine weather sailing with the discovery of new objects, to +which, after all, the waifs and strays of the beach, whether +"flotsom jetsom, or lagand," as the old Admiralty laws define them, +are few and poor. I say particularly fine weather sailing; for a +swell, which makes the dredge leap along the bottom, instead of +scraping steadily, is as fatal to sport as it is to some people's +comfort. But dredging, if you use a pleasure boat and the small +naturalist's dredge, is an amusement in which ladies, if they will, +may share, and which will increase, and not interfere with, the +amusements of a water-party. + +The naturalist's dredge, of which Mr. Gosse's "Aquarium" gives a +detailed account, should differ from the common oyster dredge in +being smaller; certainly not more than four feet across the mouth; +and instead of having but one iron scraping-lip like the oyster +dredge, it should have two, one above and one below, so that it +will work equally well on whichsoever side it falls, or how often +soever it may be turned over by rough ground. The bag-net should +be of strong spunyarn, or (still better) of hide "such as those +hides of the wild cattle of the Pampas, which the tobacconists +receive from South America," cut into thongs, and netted close. It +should be loosely laced together with a thong at the tail edge in +order to be opened easily, when brought on board, without canting +the net over, and pouring the contents roughly out through the +mouth. The dragging-rope should be strong, and at least three +times as long as the perpendicular depth of the water in which you +are working; if, indeed, there is much breeze, or any swell at all, +still more line should be veered out. The inboard end should be +made fast somewhere in the stern sheets, the dredge hove to +windward, the boat put before the wind; and you may then amuse +yourself as you will for the next quarter of an hour, provided that +you have got ready various wide-mouthed bottles for the more +delicate monsters, and a couple of buckets, to receive the large +lumps of oysters and serpulae which you will probably bring to the +surface. + +As for a dredging ground, one may be found, I suppose, off every +watering-place. The most fertile spots are in rough ground, in not +less than five fathoms water. The deeper the water, the rarer and +more interesting will the animals generally be: but a greater +depth than fifteen fathoms is not easily reached on this side of +Plymouth; and, on the whole, the beginner will find enough in seven +or eight fathoms to stock an aquarium rivalling any of those in the +"Tank-house" at the Zoological Gardens. + +In general, the south coast of England, to the eastward of +Portland, affords bad dredging ground. The friable cliffs, of +comparatively recent formations, keep the sea shallow, and the +bottom smooth and bare, by the vast deposits of sand and gravel. +Yet round the Isle of Wight, especially at the back of the Needles, +there ought to be fertile spots; and Weymouth, according to Mr. +Gosse and other well-known naturalists, is a very garden of Nereus. +Torbay, as may well be supposed, is an admirable dredging spot; +perhaps its two best points are round the isolated Thatcher and +Oare-rock, and from the mouth of Brixham harbour to Berry Head; +along which last line, for perhaps three hundred years, the decks +of all Brixham trawlers have been washed down ere running into +harbour, and the sea-bottom thus stored with treasures scraped up +from deeper water in every direction for miles and miles. + +Hastings is, I fear, but a poor spot for dredging. Its friable +cliffs and strong tides produce a changeable and barren sea-floor. +Yet the immense quantities of Flustra thrown up after a storm +indicate dredging ground at no great distance outside; its rocks, +uninteresting as they are compared with our Devonians, have yielded +to the industry and science of M. Tumanowicz a vast number of sea- +weeds and sponges. Those three curious polypes, Valkeria cuscuta +(Plate I. fig. 3), Notamia Bursaria, and Serialaria Lendigera, +abound within tide-marks; and as the place is so much visited by +Londoners, it may be worth while to give a few hints as to what +might be done, by anyone whose curiosity has been excited by the +salt-water tanks of the Zoological Gardens and the Crystal Palace. + +An hour or two's dredging round the rocks to the eastward, would +probably yield many delicate and brilliant little fishes; Gobies, +brilliant Labri, blue, yellow, and orange, with tiny rabbit mouths, +and powerful protruding teeth; pipe fishes (Syngnathi) (25) with +strange snipe-bills (which they cannot open) and snake-like bodies; +small cuttlefish (Sepiolae) of a white jelly mottled with brilliant +metallic hues, with a ring of suckered arms round their tiny +parrots' beaks, who, put into a jar, will hover and dart in the +water, as the skylark does in air, by rapid winnowings of their +glassy side-fins, while they watch you with bright lizard-eyes; the +whole animal being a combination of the vertebrate and the mollusc, +so utterly fantastic and abnormal, that (had not the family been +amongst the commonest, from the earliest geological epochs) it +would have seemed, to man's deductive intellect, a form almost as +impossible as the mermaid, far more impossible than the sea- +serpent. These, and perhaps a few handsome sea-slugs and bivalve +shells, you will be pretty sure to find: perhaps a great deal +more. + +Meanwhile, without dredging, you may find a good deal on the shore. +In the spring Doris bilineata comes to the rocks in thousands, to +lay its strange white furbelows of spawn upon their overhanging +edges. Eolides of extraordinary beauty haunt the same spots. The +great Eolis papillosa, of a delicate French grey; Eolis pellucida +(?) (Plate X. fig. 4), in which each papilla on the back is +beautifully coloured with a streak of pink, and tipped with iron +blue; and a most fantastical yellow little creature, so covered +with plumes and tentacles that the body is invisible, which I +believe to be the Idalia aspersa of Alder and Hancock. + +At the bottom of the rock pools, behind St. Leonard's baths, may be +found hundreds of the snipe's feather Anemone (Sagartia +troglodytes), of every line; from the common brown and grey snipe's +feather kind, to the white-horned Hesperus, the orange-horned +Aurora, and a rich lilac and crimson variety, which does not seem +to agree with either the Lilacinia or Rubicunda of Gosse. A more +beautiful living bouquet could hardly be seen, than might be made +of the varieties of this single species, from this one place. + +On the outside sands between the end of the Marina and the Martello +tower, you may find, at very low tides, great numbers of a sand- +tube, about three inches long, standing up out of the sand. I do +not mean the tubes of the Terebella, so common in all sands, which +are somewhat flexible, and have their upper end fringed with a +ragged ring of sandy arms: those I speak of are straight and +stiff, and ending in a point upward. Draw them out of the sand - +they will offer some resistance - and put them into a vase of +water; you will see the worm inside expand two delicate golden +combs, just like old-fashioned back-hair combs, of a metallic +lustre, which will astonish you. With these combs the worm seems +to burrow head downward into the sand; but whether he always +remains in that attitude I cannot say. His name is Pectinaria +Belgica. He is an Annelid, or true worm, connected with the +Serpulea and Sabellae of which I have spoken already, and holds +himself in his case like them, by hooks and bristles set on each +ring of his body. In confinement he will probably come out of his +case and die; when you may dissect him at your leisure, and learn a +great deal more about him thereby than (I am sorry to say) I know. + +But if you have courage to run out fifteen or twenty miles to the +Diamond, you may find really rare and valuable animals. There is a +risk, of course, of being blown over to the coast of France, by a +change of wind; there is a risk also of not being able to land at +night on the inhospitable Hastings beach, and of sleeping, as best +you can, on board: but in the long days and settled fine weather +of summer, the trip, in a stout boat, ought to be a safe and a +pleasant one. + +On the Diamond you will find many, or most of those gay creatures +which attract your eye in the central row of tanks at the +Zoological Gardens: great twisted masses of Serpulae, (26) those +white tubes of stone, from the mouth of which protrude pairs of +rose-coloured or orange fans, flashing in, quick as light, the +moment that your finger approaches them or your shadow crosses the +water. + +You will dredge, too, the twelve-rayed sun-star (Solaster papposa), +with his rich scarlet armour; and more strange, and quite as +beautiful, the bird's foot star (Palmipes membranaceus), which you +may see crawling by its thousand sucking-feet in the Crystal Palace +tanks, a pentagonal webbed bird's foot, of scarlet and orange +shagreen. With him, most probably, will be a specimen of the great +purple heart-urchin (Spatangus purpureus), clothed in pale lilac +horny spines, and other Echinoderms, for which you must consult +Forbes's "British Star-fishes:" but perhaps the species among them +which will interest you most, will be the common brittle-star +(Ophiocoma rosula), of which a hundred or so, I can promise, shall +come up at a single haul of the dredge, entwining their long spine- +clad arms in a seemingly inextricable confusion of "kaleidoscope" +patterns (thanks to Mr. Gosse for the one right epithet), purple +and azure, fawn, brown, green, grey, white and crimson; as if a +whole bed of China-asters should have first come to life, and then +gone mad, and fallen to fighting. But pick out, one by one, +specimens from the tangled mass, and you will agree that no China- +aster is so fair as this living stone-flower of the deep, with its +daisy-like disc, and fine long prickly arms, which never cease +their graceful serpentine motion, and its colours hardly alike in +any two specimens. Handle them not, meanwhile, too roughly, lest, +whether modesty or in anger, they begin a desperate course of +gradual suicide, and, breaking off arm after arm piecemeal, fling +them indignantly at their tormentor. Along with these you will +certainly obtain a few of that fine bivalve, the great Scallop, +which you have seen lying on every fishmonger's counter in +Hastings. Of these you must pick out those which seem dirtiest and +most overgrown with parasites, and place them carefully in a jar of +salt water, where they may not be rubbed; for they are worth your +examination, not merely for the sake of that ring of gem-like eyes +which borders their "cloak," lying along the extreme out edge of +the shell as the valves are half open, but for the sake of the +parasites outside: corallines of exquisite delicacy, Plumulariae +and Sertulariae, dead men's hands (Alcyonia), lumps of white or +orange jelly, which will protrude a thousand star-like polypes, and +the Tubularia indivisa, twisted tubes of fine straw, which ought +already to have puzzled you; for you may pick them up in +considerable masses on the Hastings beach after a south-west gale, +and think long over them before you determine whether the oat-like +stems and spongy roots belong to an animal, or a vegetable. +Animals they are, nevertheless, though even now you will hardly +guess the fact, when you see at the mouth of each tube a little +scarlet flower, connected with the pink pulp which fills the tube. +For a further description of this largest and handsomest of our +Hydroid Polypes, I must refer you to Johnston, or, failing him, to +Landsborough; and go on, to beg you not to despise those pink, or +grey, or white lumps of jelly, which will expand in salt water into +exquisite sea-anemones, of quite different forms from any which we +have found along the rocks. One of them will certainly be the +Dianthus, (27) which will open into a furbelowed flower, furred +with innumerable delicate tentacula; and in the centre a mouth of +the most delicate orange, the size of the whole animal being +perhaps eight inches high and five across. Perhaps it will be of a +satiny grey, perhaps pale rose, perhaps pure white; whatever its +colour, it is the very maiden queen of all the beautiful tribe, and +one of the loveliest gems with which it has pleased God to bedeck +this lower world. + +These and much more you will find on the scallops, or even more +plentifully on any lump of ancient oysters; and if you do not +dredge, it would be well worth your while to make interest with the +fish-monger for a few oyster lumps, put into water the moment they +are taken out of the trawl. Divide them carefully, clear out the +oysters with a knife, and put the shells into your aquarium, and +you will find that an oyster at home is a very different thing from +an oyster on a stall. + +You ought, besides, to dredge many handsome species of shells, +which you would never pick up along the beach; and if you are +conchologizing in earnest, you must not forget to bring home a tin +box of shell sand, to be washed and picked over in a dish at your +leisure, or forget either to wash through a fine sieve, over the +boat's side, any sludge and ooze which the dredge brings up. Many +- I may say, hundreds - rare and new shells are found in this way, +and in no other. + +But if you cannot afford the expense of your own dredge and boat, +and the time and trouble necessary to follow the occupation +scientifically, yet every trawler and oyster-boat will afford you a +tolerable satisfaction. Go on board one of these; and while the +trawl is down, spend a pleasant hour or two in talking with the +simple, honest, sturdy fellows who work it, from whom (if you are +as fortunate as I have been for many a year past) you may get many +a moving story of danger and sorrow, as well as many a shrewd +practical maxim, and often, too, a living recognition of God, and +the providence of God, which will send you home, perhaps, a wiser +and more genial man. And when the trawl is hauled, wait till the +fish are counted out, and packed away, and then kneel down and +inspect (in a pair of Mackintosh leggings, and your oldest coat) +the crawling heap of shells and zoophytes which remains behind +about the decks, and you will find, if a landsman, enough to occupy +you for a week to come. Nay, even if it be too calm for trawling, +condescend to go out in a dingy, and help to haul some honest +fellow's deep-sea lines and lobster-pots, and you will find more +and stranger things about them than even fish or lobsters: though +they, to him who has eyes to see, are strange enough. + +I speak from experience; for it was not so very long ago that, in +the north of Devon, I found sermons, not indeed in stones, but in a +creature reputed among the most worthless of sea-vermin. I had +been lounging about all the morning on the little pier, waiting, +with the rest of the village, for a trawling breeze which would not +come. Two o'clock was past, and still the red mainsails of the +skiffs hung motionless, and their images quivered head downwards in +the glassy swell, + + +"As idle as a painted ship +Upon a painted ocean." + + +It was neap-tide, too, and therefore nothing could be done among +the rocks. So, in despair, finding an old coast-guard friend +starting for his lobster-pots, I determined to save the old man's +arms, by rowing him up the shore; and then paddled homeward again, +under the high green northern wall, five hundred feet of cliff +furred to the water's edge with rich oak woods, against whose base +the smooth Atlantic swell died whispering, as if curling itself up +to sleep at last within that sheltered nook, tired with its weary +wanderings. The sun sank lower and lower behind the deer-park +point; the white stair of houses up the glen was wrapped every +moment deeper and deeper in hazy smoke and shade, as the light +faded; the evening fires were lighted one by one; the soft murmur +of the waterfall, and the pleasant laugh of children, and the +splash of homeward oars, came clearer and clearer to the ear at +every stroke: and as we rowed on, arose the recollection of many a +brave and wise friend, whose lot was cast in no such western +paradise, but rather in the infernos of this sinful earth, toiling +even then amid the festering alleys of Bermondsey and Bethnal +Green, to palliate death and misery which they had vainly laboured +to prevent, watching the strides of that very cholera which they +had been striving for years to ward off, now re-admitted in spite +of all their warnings, by the carelessness, and laziness, and greed +of sinful man. And as I thought over the whole hapless question of +sanitary reform, proved long since a moral duty to God and man, +possible, easy, even pecuniarily profitable, and yet left undone, +there seemed a sublime irony, most humbling to man, in some of +Nature's processes, and in the silent and unobtrusive perfection +with which she has been taught to anticipate, since the foundation +of the world, some of the loftiest discoveries of modern science, +of which we are too apt to boast as if we had created the method by +discovering its possibility. Created it? Alas for the pride of +human genius, and the autotheism which would make man the measure +of all things, and the centre of the universe! All the invaluable +laws and methods of sanitary reform at best are but clumsy +imitations of the unseen wonders which every animalcule and leaf +have been working since the world's foundation; with this slight +difference between them and us, that they fulfil their appointed +task, and we do not. + +The sickly geranium which spreads its blanched leaves against the +cellar panes, and peers up, as if imploringly, to the narrow slip +of sunlight at the top of the narrow alley, had it a voice, could +tell more truly than ever a doctor in the town, why little Bessy +sickened of the scarlatina, and little Johnny of the hooping-cough, +till the toddling wee things who used to pet and water it were +carried off each and all of them one by one to the churchyard +sleep, while the father and mother sat at home, trying to supply by +gin that very vital energy which fresh air and pure water, and the +balmy breath of woods and heaths, were made by God to give; and how +the little geranium did its best, like a heaven-sent angel, to +right the wrong which man's ignorance had begotten, and drank in, +day by day, the poisoned atmosphere, and formed it into fair green +leaves, and breathed into the children's faces from every pore, +whenever they bent over it, the life-giving oxygen for which their +dulled blood and festered lungs were craving in vain; fulfilling +God's will itself, though man would not, too careless or too +covetous to see, after thousands of years of boasted progress, why +God had covered the earth with grass, herb, and tree, a living and +life-giving garment of perpetual health and youth. + +It is too sad to think long about, lest we become very +Heraclituses. Let us take the other side of the matter with +Democritus, try to laugh man out of a little of his boastful +ignorance and self-satisfied clumsiness, and tell him, that if the +House of Commons would but summon one of the little Paramecia from +any Thames' sewer-mouth, to give his evidence before their next +Cholera Committee, sanitary blue-books, invaluable as they are, +would be superseded for ever and a day; and sanitary reformers +would no longer have to confess, that they know of no means of +stopping the smells which in past hot summers drove the members out +of the House, and the judges out of Westminster Hall. + +Nay, in the boat at the minute of which I have been speaking, +silent and neglected, sat a fellow-passenger, who was a greater +adept at removing nuisances than the whole Board of Health put +together; and who had done his work, too, with a cheapness +unparalleled; for all his good deeds had not as yet cost the State +one penny. True, he lived by his business; so do other inspectors +of nuisances: but Nature, instead of paying Maia Squinado, +Esquire, some five hundred pounds sterling per annum for his +labour, had contrived, with a sublime simplicity of economy which +Mr. Hume might have envied and admired afar off, to make him do his +work gratis, by giving him the nuisances as his perquisites, and +teaching him how to eat them. Certainly (without going the length +of the Caribs, who upheld cannibalism because, they said, it made +war cheap, and precluded entirely the need of a commissariat), this +cardinal virtue of cheapness ought to make Squinado an interesting +object in the eyes of the present generation; especially as he was +at that moment a true sanitary martyr, having, like many of his +human fellow-workers, got into a fearful scrape by meddling with +those existing interests, and "vested rights which are but vested +wrongs," which have proved fatal already to more than one Board of +Health. For last night, as he was sitting quietly under a stone in +four fathoms water, he became aware (whether by sight, smell, or +that mysterious sixth sense, to us unknown, which seems to reside +in his delicate feelers) of a palpable nuisance somewhere in the +neighbourhood; and, like a trusty servant of the public, turned out +of his bed instantly and went in search; till he discovered, +hanging among what he judged to be the stems of ore-weed +(Laminaria), three or four large pieces of stale thornback, of most +evil savour, and highly prejudicial to the purity of the sea, and +the health of the neighbouring herrings. Happy Squinado! He +needed not to discover the limits of his authority, to consult any +lengthy Nuisances' Removal Act, with its clauses, and counter- +clauses, and explanations of interpretations, and interpretations +of explanations. Nature, who can afford to be arbitrary, because +she is perfect, and to give her servants irresponsible powers, +because she has trained them to their work, had bestowed on him and +on his forefathers, as general health inspectors, those very +summary powers of entrance and removal in the watery realms for +which common sense, public opinion, and private philanthropy are +still entreating vainly in the terrestrial realms; so finding a +hole, in he went, and began to remove the nuisance, without +"waiting twenty-four hours," "laying an information," "serving a +notice," or any other vain delay. The evil was there, - and there +it should not stay; so having neither cart nor barrow, he just +began putting it into his stomach, and in the meanwhile set his +assistants to work likewise. For suppose not, gentle reader, that +Squinado went alone; in his train were more than a hundred thousand +as good as he, each in his office, and as cheaply paid; who needed +no cumbrous baggage train of force-pumps, hose, chloride of lime +packets, whitewash, pails or brushes, but were every man his own +instrument; and, to save expense of transit, just grew on +Squinado's back. Do you doubt the assertion? Then lift him up +hither, and putting him gently into that shallow jar of salt water, +look at him through the hand-magnifier, and see how Nature is +maxima in minimis. + +There he sits, twiddling his feelers (a substitute, it seems, with +crustacea for biting their nails when they are puzzled), and by no +means lovely to look on in vulgar eyes; - about the bigness of a +man's fist; a round-bodied, spindle-shanked, crusty, prickly, dirty +fellow, with a villanous squint, too, in those little bony eyes, +which never look for a moment both the same way. Never mind: many +a man of genius is ungainly enough; and Nature, if you will +observe, as if to make up to him for his uncomeliness, has arrayed +him as Solomon in all his glory never was arrayed, and so fulfilled +one of the proposals of old Fourier - that scavengers, chimney- +sweeps, and other workers in disgusting employments, should be +rewarded for their self-sacrifice in behalf of the public weal by +some peculiar badge of honour, or laurel crown. Not that his +crown, like those of the old Greek games, is a mere useless badge; +on the contrary, his robe of state is composed of his fellow- +servants. His whole back is covered with a little grey forest of +branching hairs, fine as a spider's web, each branchlet carrying +its little pearly ringed club, each club its rose-coloured polype, +like (to quote Mr. Gosse's comparison) the unexpanded birds of the +acacia. (28) + +On that leg grows, amid another copse of the grey polypes, a +delicate straw-coloured Sertularia, branch on branch of tiny double +combs, each tooth of the comb being a tube containing a living +flower; on another leg another Sertularia, coarser, but still +beautiful; and round it again has trained itself, parasitic on the +parasite, plant upon plant of glass ivy, bearing crystal bells, +(29) each of which, too, protrudes its living flower; on another +leg is a fresh species, like a little heather-bush of whitest +ivory, (30) and every needle leaf a polype cell - let us stop +before the imagination grows dizzy with the contemplation of those +myriads of beautiful atomies. And what is their use? Each living +flower, each polype mouth is feeding fast, sweeping into itself, by +the perpetual currents caused by the delicate fringes upon its rays +(so minute these last, that their motion only betrays their +presence), each tiniest atom of decaying matter in the surrounding +water, to convert it, by some wondrous alchemy, into fresh cells +and buds, and either build up a fresh branch in their thousand- +tenanted tree, or form an egg-cell, from whence when ripe may +issue, not a fixed zoophyte, but a free swimming animal. + +And in the meanwhile, among this animal forest grows a vegetable +one of delicatest sea-weeds, green and brown and crimson, whose +office is, by their everlasting breath, to reoxygenate the impure +water, and render it fit once more to be breathed by the higher +animals who swim or creep around. + +Mystery of mysteries! Let us jest no more, - Heaven forgive us if +we have jested too much on so simple a matter as that poor spider- +crab, taken out of the lobster-pots, and left to die at the bottom +of the boat, because his more aristocratic cousins of the blue and +purple armour will not enter the trap while he is within. + +I am not aware whether the surmise, that these tiny zoophytes help +to purify the water by exhaling oxygen gas, has yet been verified. +The infusorial animalcules do so, reversing the functions of animal +life, and instead of evolving carbonic acid gas, as other animals +do, evolve pure oxygen. So, at least, says Liebig, who states that +he found a small piece of matchwood, just extinguished, burst out +again into a flame on being immersed in the bubbles given out by +these living atomies. + +I myself should be inclined to doubt that this is the case with +zoophytes, having found water in which they were growing (unless, +of course, sea-weeds were present) to be peculiarly ready to become +foul; but it is difficult to say whether this is owing to their +deoxygenating the water while alive, like other animals, or to the +fact that it is very rare to get a specimen of zoophyte in which a +large number of the polypes have not been killed in the transit +home, or at least so far knocked about, that (in the Anthozoa, +which are far the most abundant) the polype - or rather living +mouth, for it is little more - is thrown off to decay, pending the +growth of a fresh one in the same cell. + +But all the sea-weeds, in common with other vegetables, perform +this function continually, and thus maintain the water in which +they grow in a state fit to support animal life. + +This fact - first advanced by Priestley and Ingenhousz, and though +doubted by the great Ellis, satisfactorily ascertained by Professor +Daubeny, Mr. Ward, Dr. Johnston, and Mr. Warrington - gives an +answer to the question, which I hope has ere now arisen in the +minds of some of my readers, - + +How is it possible to see these wonders at home? Beautiful and +instructive as they may be, can they be meant for any but dwellers +by the sea-side? Nay more, even to them, must not the glories of +the water-world be always more momentary than those of the rainbow, +a mere Fata Morgana which breaks up and vanishes before the eyes? +If there were but some method of making a miniature sea-world for a +few days; much more of keeping one with us when far inland. - + +This desideratum has at last been filled up; and science has shown, +as usual, that by simply obeying Nature, we may conquer her, even +so far as to have our miniature sea, of artificial salt-water, +filled with living plants and sea-weeds, maintaining each other in +perfect health, and each following, as far as is possible in a +confined space, its natural habits. + +To Dr. Johnston is due, as far as is known, the honour of the first +accomplishment of this as of a hundred other zoological triumphs. +As early as 1842, he proved to himself the vegetable nature of the +common pink Coralline, which fringes every rock-pool, by keeping it +for eight weeks in unchanged salt-water, without any putrefaction +ensuing. The ground, of course, on which the proof rested in this +case was, that if the coralline were, as had often been thought, a +zoophyte, the water would become corrupt, and poisonous to the life +of the small animals in the same jar; and that its remaining fresh +argued that the coralline had re-oxygenated it from time to time, +and was therefore a vegetable. + +In 1850, Mr. Robert Warrington communicated to the Chemical Society +the results of a year's experiments, "On the Adjustment of the +Relations between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, by which the +Vital Functions of both are permanently maintained." The law which +his experiments verified was the same as that on which Mr. Ward, in +1842, founded his invaluable proposal for increasing the purity of +the air in large towns, by planting trees and cultivating flowers +in rooms, THAT THE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE RESPIRATIONS MIGHT +COUNTERBALANCE EACH OTHER; the animal's blood being purified by the +oxygen given off by the plants, the plants fed by the carbonic acid +breathed out by the animals. + +On the same principle, Mr. Warrington first kept, for many months, +in a vase of unchanged water, two small gold fish and a plant of +Vallisneria spiralis; and two years afterwards began a similar +experiment with sea-water, weeds, and anemones, which were, at +last, as successful as the former ones. Mr. Gosse had, in the +meanwhile, with tolerable success begun a similar method, unaware +of what Mr. Warrington had done; and now the beautiful and curious +exhibition of fresh and salt water tanks in the Zoological Gardens +in London, bids fair to be copied in every similar institution, and +we hope in many private houses, throughout the kingdom. + +To this subject Mr. Gosse's book, "The Aquarium," is principally +devoted, though it contains, besides, sketches of coast scenery, in +his usual charming style, and descriptions of rare sea-animals, +with wise and goodly reflections thereon. One great object of +interest in the book is the last chapter, which treats fully of the +making and stocking these salt-water "Aquaria;" and the various +beautifully coloured plates, which are, as it were, sketches from +the interior of tanks, are well fitted to excite the desire of all +readers to possess such gorgeous living pictures, if as nothing +else, still as drawing-room ornaments, flower-gardens which never +wither, fairy lakes of perpetual calm which no storm blackens, - + +[Greek text which cannot be reproduced] + +Those who have never seen one of them can never imagine (and +neither Mr. Gosse's pencil nor my clumsy words can ever describe to +them) the gorgeous colouring and the grace and delicacy of form +which these subaqueous landscapes exhibit. + +As for colouring, - the only bit of colour which I can remember +even faintly resembling them (for though Correggio's Magdalene may +rival them in greens and blues, yet even he has no such crimsons +and purples) is the Adoration of the Shepherds, by that "prince of +colorists" - Palma Vecchio, which hangs on the left-hand side of +Lord Ellesmere's great gallery. But as for the forms, - where +shall we see their like? Where, amid miniature forests as +fantastic as those of the tropics, animals whose shapes outvie the +wildest dreams of the old German ghost painters which cover the +walls of the galleries of Brussels or Antwerp? And yet the +uncouthest has some quaint beauty of its own, while most - the +star-fishes and anemones, for example - are nothing but beauty. +The brilliant plates in Mr. Gosse's "Aquarium" give, after all, but +a meagre picture of the reality, as it may be seen in the tank- +house at the Zoological Gardens; and as it may be seen also, by +anyone who will follow carefully the directions given at the end of +his book, stock a glass vase with such common things as he may find +in an hour's search at low tide, and so have an opportunity of +seeing how truly Mr. Gosse says, in his valuable preface, that - + +"The habits" (and he might well have added, the marvellous beauty) +"of animals will never be thoroughly known till they are observed +in detail. Nor is it sufficient to mark them with attention now +and then; they must be closely watched, their various actions +carefully noted, their behaviour under different circumstances, and +especially those movements which seem to us mere vagaries, +undirected by any suggestible motive or cause, well examined. A +rich fruit of result, often new and curious and unexpected, will, I +am sure, reward anyone who studies living animals in this way. The +most interesting parts, by far, of published Natural History are +those minute, but graphic particulars, which have been gathered up +by an attentive watching of individual animals." + +Mr. Gosse's own books, certainly, give proof enough of this. We +need only direct the reader to his exquisitely humorous account of +the ways and works of a captive soldier-crab, (31) to show them how +much there is to be seen, and how full Nature is also of that +ludicrous element of which we spoke above. And, indeed, it is in +this form of Natural History: not in mere classification, and the +finding out of means, and quarrellings as to the first discovery of +that beetle or this buttercup, - too common, alas! among mere +closet-collectors, - "endless genealogies," to apply St. Paul's +words by no means irreverently or fancifully, "which do but gender +strife;" - not in these pedantries is that moral training to be +found, for which we have been lauding the study of Natural History: +but in healthful walks and voyages out of doors, and in careful and +patient watching of the living animals and plants at home, with an +observation sharpened by practice, and a temper calmed by the +continual practice of the naturalist's first virtues - patience and +perseverance. + +Practical directions for forming an "Aquarium" may be found in Mr. +Gosse's book bearing that name, at pp. 101, 255, ET SEQ.; and those +who wish to carry out the notion thoroughly, cannot do better than +buy his book, and take their choice of the many different forms of +vase, with rockwork, fountains, and other pretty devices which he +describes. + +But the many, even if they have Mr. Gosse's book, will be rather +inclined to begin with a small attempt; especially as they are +probably half sceptical of the possibility of keeping sea-animals +inland without changing the water. A few simple directions, +therefore, will not come amiss here. They shall be such as anyone +can put into practice, who goes down to stay in a lodging-house at +the most cockney of watering-places. + +Buy at any glass-shop a cylindrical glass jar, some six inches in +diameter and ten high, which will cost you from three to four +shillings; wash it clean, and fill it with clean salt-water, dipped +out of any pool among the rocks, only looking first to see that +there is no dead fish or other evil matter in the said pool, and +that no stream from the land runs into it. If you choose to take +the trouble to dip up the water over a boat's side, so much the +better. + +So much for your vase; now to stock it. + +Go down at low spring-tide to the nearest ledge of rocks, and with +a hammer and chisel chip off a few pieces of stone covered with +growing sea-weed. Avoid the common and coarser kinds (fuci) which +cover the surface of the rocks; for they give out under water a +slime which will foul your tank: but choose the more delicate +species which fringe the edges of every pool at low-water mark; the +pink coralline, the dark purple ragged dulse (Rhodymenia), the +Carrageen moss (Chondrus), and above all, the commonest of all, the +delicate green Ulva, which you will see growing everywhere in +wrinkled fan-shaped sheets, as thin as the finest silver-paper. +The smallest bits of stone are sufficient, provided the sea-weeds +have hold of them; for they have no real roots, but adhere by a +small disc, deriving no nourishment from the rock, but only from +the water. Take care, meanwhile, that there be as little as +possible on the stone, beside the weed itself. Especially scrape +off any small sponges, and see that no worms have made their +twining tubes of sand among the weed-stems; if they have, drag them +out; for they will surely die, and as surely spoil all by +sulphuretted hydrogen, blackness, and evil smells. + +Put your weeds into your tank, and settle them at the bottom; which +last, some say, should be covered with a layer of pebbles: but let +the beginner leave it as bare as possible; for the pebbles only +tempt cross-grained annelids to crawl under them, die, and spoil +all by decaying: whereas if the bottom of the vase is bare, you +can see a sickly or dead inhabitant at once, and take him out +(which you must do) instantly. Let your weeds stand quietly in the +vase a day or two before you put in any live animals; and even +then, do not put any in if the water does not appear perfectly +clear: but lift out the weeds, and renew the water ere you replace +them. + +This is Mr. Gosse's method. But Mr. Lloyd, in his "Handbook to the +Crystal Palace Aquarium," advises that no weed should be put into +the tank. "It is better," he says, "to depend only on those which +gradually and naturally appear on the rocks of the aquarium by the +action of light, and which answer every chemical purpose." I +should advise anyone intending to set up an aquarium, however +small, to study what Mr. Lloyd says on this matter in pp. 17-19, +and also in page 30, of his pamphlet; and also to go to the Crystal +Palace Aquarium, and there see for himself the many beautiful +species of sea-weeds which have appeared spontaneously in the tanks +from unsuspected spores floating in the sea-water. On the other +hand, Mr. Lloyd lays much stress on the necessity of arating the +water, by keeping it in perpetual motion; a process not easy to be +carried out in small aquaria; at least to that perfection which has +been attained at the Crystal Palace, where the water is kept in +continual circulation by steam-power. For a jar-aquarium, it will +be enough to drive fresh air through the water every day, by means +of a syringe. + +Now for the live stock. In the crannies of every rock you will +find sea-anemones (Actiniae); and a dozen of these only will be +enough to convert your little vase into the most brilliant of +living flower-gardens. There they hang upon the under side of the +ledges, apparently mere rounded lumps of jelly: one is of dark +purple dotted with green; another of a rich chocolate; another of a +delicate olive; another sienna-yellow; another all but white. Take +them from their rock; you can do it easily by slipping under them +your finger-nail, or the edge of a pewter spoon. Take care to tear +the sucking base as little as possible (though a small rent they +will darn for themselves in a few days, easily enough, and drop +them into a basket of wet sea-weed; when you get home turn them +into a dish full of water and leave them for the night, and go to +look at them to-morrow. What a change! The dull lumps of jelly +have taken root and flowered during the night, and your dish is +filled from side to side with a bouquet of chrysanthemums; each has +expanded into a hundred-petalled flower, crimson, pink, purple, or +orange; touch one, and it shrinks together like a sensitive plant, +displaying at the root of the petals a ring of brilliant turquoise +beads. That is the commonest of all the Actiniae +(Mesembryanthemum); you may have him when and where you will: but +if you will search those rocks somewhat closer, you will find even +more gorgeous species than him. See in that pool some dozen large +ones, in full bloom, and quite six inches across, some of them. If +their cousins whom we found just now were like Chrysanthemums, +these are like quilled Dahlias. Their arms are stouter and shorter +in proportion than those of the last species, but their colour is +equally brilliant. One is a brilliant blood-red; another a +delicate sea-blue striped with pink; but most have the disc and the +innumerable arms striped and ringed with various shades of grey and +brown. Shall we get them? By all means if we can. Touch one. +Where is he now? Gone? Vanished into air, or into stone? Not +quite. You see that knot of sand and broken shell lying on the +rock, where your Dahlia was one moment ago. Touch it, and you will +find it leathery and elastic. That is all which remains of the +live Dahlia. Never mind; get your finger into the crack under him, +work him gently but firmly out, and take him home, and he will be +as happy and as gorgeous as ever to-morrow. + +Let your Actiniae stand for a day or two in the dish, and then, +picking out the liveliest and handsomest, detach them once more +from their hold, drop them into your vase, right them with a bit of +stick, so that the sucking base is downwards, and leave them to +themselves thenceforth. + +These two species (Mesembryanthemum and Crassicornis) are quite +beautiful enough to give a beginner amusement: but there are two +others which are not uncommon, and of such exceeding loveliness, +that it is worth while to take a little trouble to get them. The +one is Dianthus, which I have already mentioned; the other Bellis, +the sea-daisy, of which there is an excellent description and +plates in Mr. Gosse's "Rambles in Devon," pp. 24 to 32. + +It is common at Ilfracombe, and at Torquay; and indeed everywhere +where there are cracks and small holes in limestone or slate rock. +In these holes it fixes its base, and expands its delicate brown- +grey star-like flowers on the surface: but it must be chipped out +with hammer and chisel, at the expense of much dirt and patience; +for the moment it is touched it contracts deep into the rock, and +all that is left of the daisy flower, some two or three inches +across, is a blue knot of half the size of a marble. But it will +expand again, after a day or two of captivity, and will repay all +the trouble which it has cost. Troglodytes may be found, as I have +said already, in hundreds at Hastings, in similar situations to +that of Bellis; its only token, when the tide is down, being a +round dimple in the muddy sand which firs the lower cracks of +rocks. + +But you will want more than these anemones, both for your own +amusement, and for the health of your tank. Microscopic animals +will breed, and will also die; and you need for them some such +scavenger as our poor friend Squinado, to whom you were introduced +a few pages back. Turn, then, a few stones which lie piled on each +other at extreme low-water mark, and five minutes' search will give +you the very animal you want, - a little crab, of a dingy russet +above, and on the under side like smooth porcelain. His back is +quite flat, and so are his large angular fringed claws, which, when +he folds them up, lie in the same plane with his shell, and fit +neatly into its edges. Compact little rogue that he is, made +especially for sidling in and out of cracks and crannies, he +carries with him such an apparatus of combs and brushes as Isidor +or Floris never dreamed of; with which he sweeps out of the sea- +water at every moment shoals of minute animalcules, and sucks them +into his tiny mouth. Mr. Gosse will tell you more of this marvel, +in his "Aquarium," p. 48. + +Next, your sea-weeds, if they thrive as they ought to do, will sow +their minute spores in millions around them; and these, as they +vegetate, will form a green film on the inside of the glass, +spoiling your prospect: you may rub it off for yourself, if you +will, with a rag fastened to a stick; but if you wish at once to +save yourself trouble, and to see how all emergencies in nature are +provided for, you will set three or four live shells to do it for +you, and to keep your sub-aqueous lawn close mown. + +That last word is no figure of speech. Look among the beds of sea- +weed for a few of the bright yellow or green sea-snails (Nerita), +or Conical Tops (Trochus), especially that beautiful pink one +spotted with brown (Ziziphinus), which you are sure to find about +shaded rock-ledges at dead low tide, and put them into your +aquarium. For the present, they will only nibble the green ulvae; +but when the film of young weed begins to form, you will see it +mown off every morning as fast as it grows, in little semicircular +sweeps, just as if a fairy's scythe had been at work during the +night. + +And a scythe has been at work; none other than the tongue of the +little shell-fish; a description of its extraordinary mechanism +(too long to quote here, but which is well worth reading) may be +found in Gosse's "Aquarium." (32) + +A prawn or two, and a few minute star-fish, will make your aquarium +complete; though you may add to it endlessly, as one glance at the +salt-water tanks of the Zoological Gardens, and the strange and +beautiful forms which they contain, will prove to you sufficiently. + +You have two more enemies to guard against, dust, and heat. If the +surface of the water becomes clogged with dust, the communication +between it and the life-giving oxygen of the air is cut off; and +then your animals are liable to die, for the very same reason that +fish die in a pond which is long frozen over, unless a hole be +broken in the ice to admit the air. You must guard against this by +occasional stirring of the surface, or, as I have already said, by +syringing and by keeping on a cover. A piece of muslin tied over +will do; but a better defence is a plate of glass, raised on wire +some half-inch above the edge, so as to admit the air. I am not +sure that a sheet of brown paper laid over the vase is not the best +of all, because that, by its shade, also guards against the next +evil, which is heat. Against that you must guard by putting a +curtain of muslin or oiled paper between the vase and the sun, if +it be very fierce, or simply (for simple expedients are best) by +laying a handkerchief over it till the heat is past. But if you +leave your vase in a sunny window long enough to let the water get +tepid, all is over with your pets. Half an hour's boiling may +frustrate the care of weeks. And yet, on the other hand, light you +must have, and you can hardly have too much. Some animals +certainly prefer shade, and hide in the darkest crannies; and for +them, if your aquarium is large enough, you must provide shade, by +arranging the bits of stone into piles and caverns. But without +light, your sea-weeds will neither thrive nor keep the water sweet. +With plenty of light you will see, to quote Mr. Gosse once more, +(33) "thousands of tiny globules forming on every plant, and even +all over the stones, where the infant vegetation is beginning to +grow; and these globules presently rise in rapid succession to the +surface all over the vessel, and this process goes on +uninterruptedly as long as the rays of the sun are uninterrupted. + +"Now these globules consist of PURE OXYGEN, given out by the plants +under the stimulus of light; and to this oxygen the animals in the +tank owe their life. The difference between the profusion of +oxygen-bubbles produced on a sunny day, and the paucity of those +seen on a dark cloudy day, or in a northern aspect, is very +marked." Choose, therefore, a south or east window, but draw down +the blind, or throw a handkerchief over all if the heat become +fierce. The water should always feel cold to your hand, let the +temperature outside be what it may. + +Next, you must make up for evaporation by FRESH water (a very +little will suffice), as often as in summer you find the water in +your vase sink below its original level, and prevent the water from +getting too salt. For the salts, remember, do not evaporate with +the water; and if you left the vase in the sun for a few weeks, it +would become a mere brine-pan. + +But how will you move your treasures up to town? + +The simplest plan which I have found successful is an earthen jar. +You may buy them with a cover which screws on with two iron clasps. +If you do not find such, a piece of oilskin tied over the mouth is +enough. But do not fill the jar full of water; leave about a +quarter of the contents in empty air, which the water may absorb, +and so keep itself fresh. And any pieces of stone, or oysters, +which you send up, hang by a string from the mouth, that they may +not hurt tender animals by rolling about the bottom. With these +simple precautions, anything which you are likely to find will well +endure forty-eight hours of travel. + +What if the water fails, after all? + +Then Mr. Gosse's artificial sea-water will form a perfect +substitute. You may buy the requisite salts (for there are more +salts than "salt" in sea-water) from any chemist to whom Mr. Gosse +has entrusted his discovery, and, according to his directions, make +sea-water for yourself + +One more hint before we part. If, after all, you are not going +down to the sea-side this year, and have no opportunities of +testing "the wonders of the shore," you may still study Natural +History in your own drawing-room, by looking a little into "the +wonders of the pond." + +I am not jesting; a fresh-water aquarium, though by no means as +beautiful as a salt-water one, is even more easily established. A +glass jar, floored with two or three inches of pond-mud (which +should be covered with fine gravel to prevent the mud washing up); +a specimen of each of two water-plants which you may buy now at any +good shop in Covent Garden, Vallisneria spiralis (which is said to +give to the Canvas-backed duck of America its peculiar richness of +flavour), and Anacharis alsinastrum, that magical weed which, +lately introduced from Canada among timber, has multiplied, self- +sown, to so prodigious an extent, that it bid fair, a few years +since, to choke the navigation not only of our canals and fen- +rivers, but of the Thames itself: (34) or, in default of these, +some of the more delicate pond-weeds; such as Callitriche, +Potamogeton pusillum, and, best of all, perhaps, the beautiful +Water-Milfoil (Myriophyllium), whose comb-like leaves are the +haunts of numberless rare and curious animalcules:- these (in +themselves, from the transparency of their circulation, interesting +microscopic objects) for oxygen-breeding vegetables; and for +animals, the pickings of any pond; a minnow or two, an eft; a few +of the delicate pond-snails (unless they devour your plants too +rapidly): water-beetles, of activity inconceivable, and that +wondrous bug the Notonecta, who lies on his back all day, rowing +about his boat-shaped body, with one long pair of oars, in search +of animalcules, and the moment the lights are out, turns head over +heels, rights himself, and opening a pair of handsome wings, starts +to fly about the dark room in company with his friend the water- +beetle, and (I suspect) catch flies; and then slips back demurely +into the water with the first streak of dawn. But perhaps the most +interesting of all the tribes of the Naiads, - (in default, of +course, of those semi-human nymphs with which our Teutonic +forefathers, like the Greeks, peopled each "sacred fountain,") - +are the little "water-crickets," which may be found running under +the pebbles, or burrowing in little galleries in the banks: and +those "caddises," which crawl on the bottom in the stiller waters, +enclosed, all save the head and legs, in a tube of sand or pebbles, +shells or sticks, green or dead weeds, often arranged with quaint +symmetry, or of very graceful shape. Their aspect in this state +may be somewhat uninviting, but they compensate for their youthful +ugliness by the strangeness of their transformations, and often by +the delicate beauty of the perfect insects, as the "caddises," +rising to the surface, become flying Phryganeae (caperers and sand- +flies), generally of various shades of fawn-colour; and the water- +crickets (though an unscientific eye may be able to discern but +little difference in them in the "larva," or imperfect state) +change into flies of the most various shapes; - one, perhaps, into +the great sluggish olive "Stone-fly" (Perla bicaudata); another +into the delicate lemon-coloured "Yellow Sally" (Chrysoperla +viridis); another into the dark chocolate "Alder" (Sialis lutaria): +and the majority into duns and drakes (Ephemerae); whose grace of +form, and delicacy of colour, give them a right to rank among the +most exquisite of God's creations, from the tiny "Spinners" (Batis +or Chloron) of incandescent glass, with gorgeous rainbow-coloured +eyes, to the great Green Drake (Ephemera vulgata), known to all +fishermen as the prince of trout-flies. These animals, their +habits, their miraculous transformations, might give many an hour's +quiet amusement to an invalid, laid on a sofa, or imprisoned in a +sick-room, and debarred from reading, unless by some such means, +any page of that great green book outside, whose pen is the finger +of God, whose covers are the fire kingdoms and the star kingdoms, +and its leaves the heather-bells, and the polypes of the sea, and +the gnats above the summer stream. + +I said just now, that happy was the sportsman who was also a +naturalist. And, having once mentioned these curious water-flies, +I cannot help going a little farther, and saying, that lucky is the +fisherman who is also a naturalist. A fair scientific knowledge of +the flies which he imitates, and of their habits, would often +ensure him sport, while other men are going home with empty creels. +One would have fancied this a self-evident fact; yet I have never +found any sound knowledge of the natural water-flies which haunt a +given stream, except among cunning old fishermen of the lower +class, who get their living by the gentle art, and bring to indoors +baskets of trout killed on flies, which look as if they had been +tied with a pair of tongs, so rough and ungainly are they; but +which, nevertheless, kill, simply because they are (in COLOUR, +which is all that fish really care for) exact likenesses of some +obscure local species, which happen to be on the water at the time. +Among gentlemen-fishermen, on the other hand, so deep is the +ignorance of the natural fly, that I have known good sportsmen +still under the delusion that the great green May-fly comes out of +a caddis-bait; the gentlemen having never seen, much less fished +with, that most deadly bait the "Water-cricket," or free creeping +larva of the May-fly, which may be found in May under the river- +banks. The consequence of this ignorance is that they depend for +good patterns of flies on mere chance and experiment; and that the +shop patterns, originally excellent, deteriorate continually, till +little or no likeness to their living prototype remains, being tied +by town girls, who have no more understanding of what the feathers +and mohair in their hands represent than they have of what the +National Debt represents. Hence follows many a failure at the +stream-side; because the "Caperer," or "Dun," or "Yellow Sally," +which is produced from the fly-book, though, possibly, like the +brood which came out three years since on some stream a hundred +miles away, is quite unlike the brood which is out to-day on one's +own river. For not only do most of these flies vary in colour in +different soils and climates, but many of them change their hue +during life; the Ephemerae, especially, have a habit of throwing +off the whole of their skins (even, marvellously enough, to the +skin of the eyes and wings, and the delicate "whisks" at their +tail), and appearing in an utterly new garb after ten minutes' +rest, to the discomfiture of the astonished angler. + +The natural history of these flies, I understand from Mr. Stainton +(one of our most distinguished entomologists), has not yet been +worked out, at least for England. The only attempt, I believe, in +that direction is one made by a charming book, "The Fly-fisher's +Entomology," which should be in every good angler's library; but +why should not a few fishermen combine to work out the subject for +themselves, and study for the interests both of science and their +own sport, "The Wonders of the Bank?" The work, petty as it may +seem, is much too great for one man, so prodigal is Nature of her +forms, in the stream as in the ocean; but what if a correspondence +were opened between a few fishermen - of whom one should live, say, +by the Hampshire or Berkshire chalk streams; another on the slates +and granites of Devon; another on the limestones of Yorkshire or +Derbyshire; another among the yet earlier slates of Snowdonia, or +some mountain part of Wales; and more than one among the hills of +the Border and the lakes of the Highlands? Each would find (I +suspect), on comparing his insects with those of the others, that +he was exploring a little peculiar world of his own, and that with +the exception of a certain number of typical forms, the flies of +his county were unknown a hundred miles away, or, at least, +appeared there under great differences of size and colour; and +each, if he would take the trouble to collect the caddises and +water-crickets, and breed them into the perfect fly in an aquarium, +would see marvels in their transformations, their instincts, their +anatomy, quite as great (though not, perhaps, as showy and +startling) as I have been trying to point out on the sea-shore. +Moreover, each and every one of the party, I will warrant, will +find his fellow-correspondents (perhaps previously unknown to him) +men worth knowing; not, it may be, of the meditative and half- +saintly type of dear old Izaak Walton (who, after all, was no fly- +fisher, but a sedentary "popjoy" guilty of float and worm), but +rather, like his fly-fishing disciple Cotton, good fellows and men +of the world, and, perhaps, something better over and above. + +The suggestion has been made. Will it ever be taken up, and a +"Naiad Club" formed, for the combination of sport and science? + +And, now, how can this desultory little treatise end more usefully +than in recommending a few books on Natural History, fit for the +use of young people; and fit to serve as introductions to such +deeper and larger works as Yarrell's "Birds and Fishes," Bell's +"Quadrupeds" and "Crustacea," Forbes and Hanley's "Mollusca," +Owen's "Fossil Mammals and Birds," and a host of other admirable +works? Not that this list will contain all the best; but simply +the best of which the writer knows; let, therefore, none feel +aggrieved, if, as it may chance, opening these pages, they find +their books omitted. + +First and foremost, certainly, come Mr. Gosse's books. There is a +playful and genial spirit in them, a brilliant power of word- +painting combined with deep and earnest religious feeling, which +makes them as morally valuable as they are intellectually +interesting. Since White's "History of Selborne," few or no +writers on Natural History, save Mr. Gosse, Mr. G. H. Lewes, and +poor Mr. E. Forbes, have had the power of bringing out the human +side of science, and giving to seemingly dry disquisitions and +animals of the lowest type, by little touches of pathos and humour, +that living and personal interest, to bestow which is generally the +special function of the poet: not that Waterton and Jesse are not +excellent in this respect, and authors who should be in every boy's +library: but they are rather anecdotists than systematic or +scientific inquirers; while Mr. Gosse, in his "Naturalist on the +Shores of Devon," his "Tour in Jamaica," his "Tenby," and his +"Canadian Naturalist," has done for those three places what White +did for Selborne, with all the improved appliances of a science +which has widened and deepened tenfold since White's time. Mr. +Gosse's "Manual of the Marine Zoology of the British Isles" is, for +classification, by far the completest handbook extant. He has +contrived in it to compress more sound knowledge of vast classes of +the animal kingdom than I ever saw before in so small a space. (35) + +Miss Anne Pratt's "Things of the Sea-coast" is excellent; and still +better is Professor Harvey's "Sea-side Book," of which it is +impossible to speak too highly; and most pleasant it is to see a +man of genius and learning thus gathering the bloom of his varied +knowledge, to put it into a form equally suited to a child and a +SAVANT. Seldom, perhaps, has there been a little book in which so +vast a quantity of facts have been told so gracefully, simply, +without a taint of pedantry or cumbrousness - an excellence which +is the sure and only mark of a perfect mastery of the subject. Mr. +G. H. Lewes's "Sea-shore Studies" are also very valuable; hardly +perhaps a book for beginners, but from his admirable power of +description, whether of animals or of scenes, is interesting for +all classes of readers. + +Two little "Popular" Histories - one of British Zoophytes, the +other of British Sea-weeds, by Dr. Landsborough (since dead of +cholera, at Saltcoats, the scene of his energetic and pious +ministry) - are very excellent; and are furnished, too, with well- +drawn and coloured plates, for the comfort of those to whom a +scientific nomenclature (as liable as any other human thing to be +faulty and obscure) conveys but a vague conception of the objects. +These may serve well for the beginner, as introductions to +Professor Harvey's large work on British Algae, and to the new +edition of Professor Johnston's invaluable "British Zoophytes," +Miss Gifford's "Marine Botanist," third edition, and Dr. Cocks's +"Sea-weed Collector's Guide," have also been recommended by a high +authority. + +For general Zoology the best books for beginners are, perhaps, as a +general introduction, the Rev. J. A. L. Wood's "Popular Zoology," +full of excellent plates; and for systematic Zoology, Mr. Gosse's +four little books, on Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes, +published with many plates, by the Christian Knowledge Society, at +a marvellously cheap rate. For miscroscopic animalcules, Miss +Agnes Catlow's "Drops of Water" will teach the young more than they +will ever remember, and serve as a good introduction to those +teeming abysses of the unseen world, which must be afterwards +traversed under the guidance of Hassall and Ehrenberg. + +For Ornithology, there is no book, after all, like dear old Bewick, +PASSE though he may be in a scientific point of view. There is a +good little British ornithology, too, published in Sir W. Jardine's +"Naturalist's Library," and another by Mr. Gosse. And Mr. Knox's +"Ornithological Rambles in Sussex," with Mr. St. John's "Highland +Sports," and "Tour in Sutherlandshire," are the monographs of +naturalists, gentlemen, and sportsmen, which remind one at every +page (and what higher praise can one give?) of White's "History of +Selborne." These last, with Mr. Gosse's "Canadian Naturalist," and +his little book "The Ocean," not forgetting Darwin's delightful +"Voyage of the Beagle and Adventure," ought to be in the hands of +every lad who is likely to travel to our colonies. + +For general Geology, Professor Ansted's Introduction is excellent; +while, as a specimen of the way in which a single district may be +thoroughly worked out, and the universal method of induction learnt +from a narrow field of objects, what book can, or perhaps ever +will, compare with Mr. Hugh Miller's "Old Red Sandstone"? + +For this last reason, I especially recommend to the young the Rev. +C. A. Johns's "Week at the Lizard," as teaching a young person how +much there is to be seen and known within a few square miles of +these British Isles. But, indeed, all Mr. Johns's books are good +(as they are bound to be, considering his most accurate and varied +knowledge), especially his "Flowers of the Field," the best cheap +introduction to systematic botany which has yet appeared. Trained, +and all but self-trained, like Mr. Hugh Miller, in a remote and +narrow field of observation, Mr. Johns has developed himself into +one of our most acute and persevering botanists, and has added many +a new treasure to the Flora of these isles; and one person, at +least, owes him a deep debt of gratitude for first lessons in +scientific accuracy and patience, - lessons taught, not dully and +dryly at the book and desk, but livingly and genially, in +adventurous rambles over the bleak cliffs and ferny woods of the +wild Atlantic shore, - + + +"Where the old fable of the guarded mount +Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold." + + +Mr. Henfrey's "Rudiments of Botany" might accompany Mr. Johns's +books. Mr. Babington's "Manual of British Botany" is also most +compact and highly finished, and seems the best work which I know +of from which a student somewhat advanced in English botany can +verify species; while for ferns, Moore's "Handbook" is probably the +best for beginners. + +For Entomology, which, after all, is the study most fit for boys +(as Botany is for girls) who have no opportunity for visiting the +sea-shore, Catlow's "Popular British Entomology," having coloured +plates (a delight to young people), and saying something of all the +orders, is, probably, still a good work for beginners. + +Mr. Stainton's "Entomologist's Annual for 1855" contains valuable +hints of that gentleman's on taking and arranging moths and +butterflies; as well as of Mr. Wollaston's on performing the same +kind office for that far more numerous, and not less beautiful +class, the beetles. There is also an admirable "Manual of British +Butterflies and Moths," by Mr. Stainton, in course of publication; +but, perhaps, the most interesting of all entomological books which +I have seen (and for introducing me to which I must express my +hearty thanks to Mr. Stainton), is "Practical Hints respecting +Moths and Butterflies, forming a Calendar of Entomological +Operations," (36) by Richard Shield, a simple London working-man. + +I would gladly devote more space than I can here spare to a review +of this little book, so perfectly does it corroborate every word +which I have said already as to the moral and intellectual value of +such studies. Richard Shield, making himself a first-rate +"lepidopterist," while working with his hands for a pound a week, +is the antitype of Mr. Peach, the coast-guardsman, among his +Cornish tide-rocks. But more than this, there is about Shield's +book a tone as of Izaak Walton himself, which is very delightful; +tender, poetical, and religious, yet full of quiet quaintness and +humour; showing in every page how the love for Natural History is +in him only one expression of a love for all things beautiful, and +pure, and right. If any readers of these pages fancy that I over- +praise the book, let them buy it, and judge for themselves. They +will thus help the good man toward pursuing his studies with larger +and better appliances, and will be (as I expect) surprised to find +how much there is to be seen and done, even by a working-man, +within a day's walk of smoky Babylon itself; and how easily a man +might, if he would, wash his soul clean for a while from all the +turmoil and intrigue, the vanity and vexation of spirit of that +"too-populous wilderness," by going out to be alone a while with +God in heaven, and with that earth which He has given to the +children of men, not merely for the material wants of their bodies, +but as a witness and a sacrament that in Him they live and move, +and have their being, "not by bread alone, but by EVERY word that +proceedeth out of the mouth of God." + + +Thus I wrote some twenty years ago, when the study of Natural +History was confined mainly to several scientific men, or mere +collectors of shells, insects, and dried plants. + +Since then, I am glad to say, it has become a popular and common +pursuit, owing, I doubt not, to the impulse given to it by the many +authors whose works I then recommended. I recommend them still; +though a swarm of other manuals and popular works have appeared +since, excellent in their way, and almost beyond counting. But all +honour to those, and above all to Mr. Gosse and Mr. Johns, who +first opened people's eyes to the wonders around them all day long. +Now, we have, in addition to amusing books on special subjects, +serials on Natural History more or less profound, and suited to +every kind of student and every grade of knowledge. I mention the +names of none. For first, they happily need no advertisement from +me; and next, I fear to be unjust to any one of them by +inadvertently omitting its name. Let me add, that in the +advertising columns of those serials, will be found notices of all +the new manuals, and of all apparatus, and other matters, needed by +amateur naturalists, and of many who are more than amateurs. +Microscopy, meanwhile, and the whole study of "The Wonders of the +Little," have made vast strides in the last twenty years; and I was +equally surprised and pleased, to find, three years ago, in each of +two towns of a few thousand inhabitants, perhaps a dozen good +microscopes, all but hidden away from the public, worked by men who +knew how to handle them, and who knew what they were looking at; +but who modestly refrained from telling anybody what they were +doing so well. And it was this very discovery of unsuspected +microscopists which made me more desirous than ever to see - as I +see now in many places - scientific societies, by means of which +the few, who otherwise would work apart, may communicate their +knowledge to each other, and to the many. These "Microscopic," +"Naturalist," "Geological," or other societies, and the "Field +Clubs" for excursions into the country, which are usually connected +with them, form a most pleasant and hopeful new feature in English +Society; bringing together, as they do, almost all ranks, all +shades of opinion; and it has given me deep pleasure to see, in the +case at least of the Country Clubs with which I am acquainted, the +clergy of the Church of England taking an active, and often a +leading, interest in their practical work. The town clergy are, +for the most part, too utterly overworked to follow the example of +their country brethren. But I have reason to know that they regard +such societies, and Natural History in general, with no unfriendly +eyes; and that there is less fear than ever that the clergy of the +Church of England should have to relinquish their ancient boast - +that since the formation of the Royal Society in the seventeenth +century, they have done more for sound physical science than any +other priesthood or ministry in the world. Let me advise anyone +who may do me the honour of reading these pages, to discover +whether such a Club or Society exists in his neighbourhood, and to +join it forthwith, certain that - if his experience be at all like +mine - he will gain most pleasant information and most pleasant +acquaintances, and pass most pleasant days and evenings, among +people whom he will be glad to know, and whom he never would have +known save for the new - and now, I hope, rapidly spreading - +freemasonry of Natural History. + +Meanwhile, I hope - though I dare not say I trust - to see the day +when the boys of each of our large schools shall join - like those +of Marlborough and Clifton - the same freemasonry; and have their +own Naturalists' Clubs; nay more; when our public schools and +universities shall awake to the real needs of the age, and - even +to the curtailing of the time usually spent in not learning Latin +and Greek - teach boys the rudiments at least of botany, zoology, +geology, and so forth; and when the public opinion, at least of the +refined and educated, shall consider it as ludicrous - to use no +stronger word - to be ignorant of the commonest facts and laws of +this living planet, as to be ignorant of the rudiments of two dead +languages. All honour to the said two languages. Ignorance of +them is a serious weakness; for it implies ignorance of many things +else; and indeed, without some knowledge of them, the nomenclature +of the physical sciences cannot be mastered. But I have got to +discover that a boy's time is more usefully spent, and his +intellect more methodically trained, by getting up Ovid's Fasti +with an ulterior hope of being able to write a few Latin verses, +than in getting up Professor Rolleston's "Forms of Animal Life," or +any other of the excellent Scientific Manuals for beginners, which +are now, as I said, happily so numerous. + +May that day soon come; and an old dream of mine, and of my +scientific friends, be fulfilled at last. + +And so I end this little book, hoping, even praying, that it may +encourage a few more labourers to go forth into a vineyard, which +those who have toiled in it know to be full of ever-fresh health, +and wonder and simple joy, and the presence and the glory of Him +whose name is LOVE. + + + +APPENDIX. + + + +PLATE I. + + + +ZOOPHYTA. POLYZOA. + +THE forms of animal life which are now united in an independent +class, under the name Polyzoa, so nearly resemble the Hydroid +Zoophytes in general form and appearance that a casual observer may +suppose them to be nearly identical. In all but the more recent +works, they are treated as distinct indeed, but still included +under the general term "ZOOPHYTES." The animals of both groups are +minute, polypiform creatures, mostly living in transparent cells, +springing from the sides of a stem which unites a number of +individuals in one common life, and grows in a shrub-like form upon +any submarine body, such as a shell, a rock, a weed, or even +another polypidom to which it is parasitically attached. Each +polype, in both classes, protrudes from and retreats within its +cell by an independent action, and when protruded puts forth a +circle of tentacles whose motion round the mouth is the means of +securing nourishment. There are, however, peculiarities in the +structure of the Polyzoa which seem to remove them from +Zoophytology to a place in the system of nature more nearly +connected with Molluscan types. Some of them come so near to the +compound ascidians that they have been termed, as an order, +"Zoophyta ascidioida." + +The simplest form of polype is that of a fleshy bag open at one +end, surmounted by a circle of contractile threads or fingers +called tentacles. The plate shows, on a very minute scale, at +figs. 1, 3, and 6, several of these little polypiform bodies +protruding from their cells. But the Hydra or Fresh-water Polype +has no cell, and is quite unconnected with any root thread, or with +other individuals of the same species. It is perfectly free, and +so simple in its structure, that when the sac which forms its body +is turned inside out it will continue to perform the functions of +life as before. The greater part, however, of these Hydraform +Polypes, although equally simple as individuals, are connected in a +compound life by means of their variously formed POLYPIDOM, as the +branched system of cells is termed. The Hydroid Zoophytes are +represented in the first plate by the following examples. + + +HYDROIDA. + + +SERTULARIA ROSEA. PL. I. FIG. 6. + +A species which has the cells in pairs on opposite sides of the +central tube, with the openings turned outwards. In the more +enlarged figure is seen a septum across the inner part of each cell +which forms the base upon which the polype rests. Fig. 6 B +indicates the natural size of the piece of branch represented; but +it must be remembered that this is only a small portion of the +bushy shrub. + + +CAMPANULARIA SYRINGA. PL. I. FIG. 8. + + +This Zoophyte twines itself parasitically upon a species of +Sertularia. The cells in this species are thrown out at irregular +intervals upon flexible stems which are wrinkled in rings. They +consist of lengthened, cylindrical, transparent vases. + + +CAMPANULARIA VOLUBILIS. PL. I. FIG. 9. + + +A still more beautiful species, with lengthened foot-stalks ringed +at each end. The polype is remarkable for the protrusion and +contractile power of its lips. It has about twenty knobbed +tentacula. + + +POLYZOA. + + +Among Polyzoa the animal's body is coated with a membraneous +covering, like that of the Tunicated Mollusca, but which is a +continuation of the edge of the cell, which doubles back upon the +body in such a manner that when the animal protrudes from its cell +it pushes out the flexible membrane just as one would turn inside +out the finger of a glove. This oneness of cell and polype is a +distinctive character of the group. Another is the higher +organization of the internal parts. The mouth, surrounded by +tentacles, leads by gullet and gizzard through a channel into a +digesting stomach, from which the rejectable matter passes upwards +through an intestinal canal till it is discharged near the mouth. +The tentacles also differ much from those of true Polypes. Instead +of being fleshy and contractile, they are rather stiff, resembling +spun glass, set on the sides with vibrating cilia, which by their +motion up one side and down the other of each tentacle, produce a +current which impels their living food into the mouth. When these +tentacles are withdrawn, they are gathered up in a bundle, like the +stays of an umbrella. Our Plate I. contains the following examples +of Polyzoa. + + +VALKERIA CUSCUTA. PL. I. FIG. 3. + + +From a group in one of Mr. Lloyd's vases. Fig. 3 A is the natural +size of the central group of cells, in a specimen coiled round a +thread-like weed. Underneath this is the same portion enlarged. +When magnified to this apparent size, the cells could be seen in +different states, some closed, and others with their bodies +protruded. When magnified to 3 D, we could pleasantly watch the +gradual eversion of the membrane, then the points of the tentacles +slowly appearing, and then, when fully protruded, suddenly +expanding into a bell-shaped circle. This was their usual +appearance, but sometimes they could be noticed bending inwards, as +in fig. 3 C, as if to imprison some living atom of importance. +Fig. B represents two tentacles, showing the direction in which the +cilia vibrate. + + +CRISIA DENTICULATA. PL. I. FIG. 4. + + +I have only drawn the cells from a prepared specimen. The polypes +are like those described above. + + +GEMELLARIA LORICATA. PL. I. FIG. 5. + + +Here the cells are placed in pairs, back to back. 5 A is a very +small portion on the natural scale. + + +CELLULARIA CILIATA. Pl. I. FIG. 7 + + +The cells are alternate on the stem, and are curiously armed with +long whip-like cilia or spines. On the back of some of the cells +is a very strange appendage, the use of which is not with certainty +ascertained. It is a minute body, slightly resembling a vulture's +head, with a movable lower beak. The whole head keeps up a nodding +motion, and the movable beak occasionally opens widely, and then +suddenly snaps to with a jerk. It has been seen to hold an +animalcule between its jaws till the latter has died, but it has no +power to communicate the prey to the polype in its cell or to +swallow and digest it on its own account. It is certainly not an +independent parasite, as has been supposed, and yet its purpose in +the animal economy is a mystery. Mr. Gosse conjectures that its +use may be, by holding animalcules till they die and decay, to +attract by their putrescence crowds of other animalcules, which may +thus be drawn within the influence of the polype's ciliated +tentacles. Fig. 7 B shows the form of one of these "birds' heads," +and fig. 7 C, its position on the cell. + + +FLUSTRA LINEATA. PL. I. FIG. 1. + + +In Flustrae, the cells are placed side by side on an expanded +membrane. Fig. 1 represents the general appearance of a species +which at least resembles F. lineata as figured in Johnston's work. +It is spread upon a Fucus. Fig. A is an enlarged view of the +cells. + + +FLUSTRA FOLIACEA. PL. I. FIG. 2. + + +We figure a frond or two of the common species, which has cells on +both sides. It is rarely that the polypes can be seen in a state +of expansion. + + +SERIALARIA LENDIGERA. PL. I. fig. 10. + +NOTAMIA BURSARIA. PL. I. fig. 11. + + +The "tobacco-pipe"" appendages, fig. 11 B, are of unknown use: +they are probably analogous to the birds' heads in the Cellularae. + + + +PLATE V. + + + +CORALS AND SEA ANEMONES. + + +CARYOPHYLLAEA SMITHII. PL. V. FIG. 2. PL. VI. FIG. 3. + + +THE connection between Brainstones, Mushroom Corals, and other +Madrepores abounding on Polynesian reefs, and the "Sea Anemones," +which have lately become so familiar to us all, can be seen by +comparing our comparatively insignificant C. Smithii with our +commonest species of Actinia and Sagartia. The former is a +beautiful object when the fleshy part and tentacles are wholly or +partially expanded. Like Actinia, it has a membranous covering, a +simple sac-like stomach, a central mouth, a disk surrounded by +contractile and adhesive tentacles. Unlike Actinia, it is fixed to +submarine bodies, to which it is glued in very early life, and +cannot change its place. Unlike Actinia, its body is supported by +a stony skeleton of calcareous plates arranged edgewise so as to +radiate from the centre. But as we find some Molluscs furnished +with a shell, and others even of the same character and habits +without one, so we find that in spite of this seemingly important +difference, the animals are very similar in their nature. Since +the introduction of glass tanks we have opportunities of seeing +anemones crawling up the sides, so as to exhibit their entire basal +disk, and then we may observe lightly coloured lines of a less +transparent substance than the interstices, radiating from the +margin to the centre, some short, others reaching the entire +distance, and arranged in exactly the same manner as the plates of +Caryophyllaea. These are doubtless flexible walls of compartments +dividing the fleshy parts of the softer animals, and corresponding +with the septa of the coral. Fig. 2 A represents a section of the +latter, to be compared with the basal disk of Sagartia. + + +SAGARTIA ANGUICOMA. PL. V. FIG. 3, A, B. + + +This genus has been separated from Actinia on account of its habit +of throwing out threads when irritated. Although my specimens +often assumed the form represented in fig. 3, Mr. Lloyd informs me +that it must have arisen from unhealthiness of condition, its usual +habit being to contract into a more flattened form. When fully +expanded, its transparent and lengthened tentacles present a +beautiful appearance. Fig. 3 A, showing a basal disk, is given for +the purpose already described. + + +BALANOPHYLLAEA REGIA. PL. V. FIG. 1. + + +Another species of British madrepore, found by Mr. Gosse at +Ilfracombe, and by Mr. Kingsley at Lundy Island. It is smaller +than O. Smithii, of a very bright colour, and always covers the +upper part of its bony skeleton, in which the plates are +differently arranged from those of the smaller species. Fig. 1 +shows the tentacles expanded in an unusual degree; 1 A, animal +contracted; 1 B, the coral; 1 C, a tentacle enlarged. + + + +PLATE VI. + + + +CORALS AND SEA ANEMONES. + +ACTINIA MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. PL. VI. FIG. 1 A. + + +This common species is more frequently met with than many others, +because it prefers shallow water, and often lives high up among +rocks which are only covered by the sea at very high tide; so that +the creature can, if it will, spend but a short portion of its time +immersed. When uncovered by the tide, it gathers up its leathery +tunic, and presents the appearance of fig. 1 A. When under water +it may often be seen expanding its flower-like disk and moving its +feelers in search of food. These feelers have a certain power of +adhesion, and any not too vigorous animals which they touch are +easily drawn towards the centre and swallowed. Around the margin +of the tunic are seen peeping out between the tentacles certain +bright blue globules looking very like eyes, but whose purpose is +not exactly ascertained. Fig. 1 represents the disk only partially +expanded. + + +BUNODES CRASSICORNIS. PL. VI. FIG. 2. + + +This genus of Actinioid zoophytes is distinguished from Actinia +proper by the tubercles or warts which stud the outer covering of +the animal. In B. gemmacea these warts are arranged symmetrically, +so as to give a peculiarly jewelled appearance to the body. Being +of a large size, the tentacles of B. crassicornis exhibit in great +perfection the adhesive powers produced by the nettling threads +which proceed from them. + + +CARYOPHYLLAEA SMITHII. PL. VI. FIG. 3. + + +This figure is to show a whiter variety, with the flesh and +tentacles fully expanded + + + +PLATE VIII. + + + +MOLLUSCA. + +NASSA RETICULATA. PL. VIII. fig. 2, A, B, C, D, E, F + + +A VERY active Mollusc, given here chiefly on account of the +opportunity afforded by the birth of young fry in Mr. Lloyd's +tanks. The NASSA feeds on small animalcules, for which, in +aquaria, it may be seen routing among the sand and stones, +sometimes burying itself among them so as only to show its caudal +tube moving along between them. A pair of Nassae in Mr. Lloyd's +collection, deposited, on the 5th of April, about fifty capsules or +bags of eggs upon the stems of weeds (fig. 2 B); each capsule +contained about a hundred eggs. The capsules opened on the 16th of +May, permitting the escape of rotiferous fry (fig. 2, C, D, E), not +in the slightest degree resembling the parent, but presenting +minute nautilus-shaped transparent shells. These shells rather +hang on than cover the bodies, which have a pair of lobes, around +which vibrate minute cilia in such a manner as to give them an +appearance of rotatory motion. Under a lens they may be seen +moving about very actively in various positions, but always with +the look of being moved by rapidly turning wheels. We should have +been glad to witness the next step towards assuming their ultimate +form, but were disappointed, as the embryos died. Fig. 2 F is the +tongue of a Nassa, from a photograph by Dr. Kingsley. + + + +Footnotes: + +(1) SERTULARIA OPERCULATA and GEMELLARIA LOCICULATA; or any of the +small SERTULARIAE, compared with CRISIAE and CELLULARIAE, are very +good examples. For a fuller description of these, see Appendix +explaining Plate I. + +(2) If any inland reader wishes to see the action of this foot, in +the bivalve Molluscs, let him look at the Common Pond-Mussel +(Anodon Cygneus), which he will find in most stagnant waters, and +see how he burrows with it in the mud, and how, when the water is +drawn off, he walks solemnly into deeper water, leaving a furrow +behind him. + +(3) These shells are so common that I have not cared to figure +them. + +(4) Plate IX. Fig. 3, represents both parasites on the dead +Turritella. + +(5) A few words on him, and on sea-anemones in general, may be +found in Appendix II. But full details, accompanied with beautiful +plates, may be found in Mr. Gosse's work on British sea-anemones +and madrepores, which ought to be in every seaside library. + +(6) Handbook to the Marine Aquarium of the Crystal Palace. + +(7) An admirable paper on this extraordinary family may be found in +the Zoological Society's Proceedings for July 1858, by Messrs. S. +P. Woodward and the late lamented Lucas Barrett. See also +Quatrefages, I. 82, or Synapta Duvernaei. + +(8) Thalassema Neptuni (Forbes' British Star-Fishes, p. 259), + +(9) The Londoner may see specimens of them at the Zoological +Gardens and at the Crystal Palace; as also of the rare and +beautiful Sabella, figured in the same plate; and of the +Balanophyllia, or a closely-allied species, from the Mediterranean, +mentioned in p. 109. + +(10) A Naturalist's Rambles on the Devonshire Coast, p. 110. + +(11) Balanophyllia regia, Plate V. fig. 1. + +(12) Amphidotus cordatus. + +(13) Echinus miliaris, Plate VII. + +(14) See Professor Sedgwick's last edition of the "Discourses on +the Studies of Cambridge." + +(15) Fissurella graeca, Plate X. fig. 5. + +(16) Doris tuberculata and bilineata. + +(17) Eolis papi losa. A Doris and an Eolis, though not of these +species, are figured in Plate X. + +(18) Plate III. + +(19) Certain Parisian zoologists have done me the honour to hint +that this description was a play of fancy. I can only answer, that +I saw it with my own eyes in my own aquarium. I am not, I hope, in +the habit of drawing on my fancy in the presence of infinitely more +marvellous Nature. Truth is quite strange enough to be interesting +without lies. + +(20) Saxicava rugosa, Plate XI. fig. 2. + +(21) Plate VIII. represents the common Nassa, with the still more +common Littorina littorea, their teeth-studded palates, and the +free swimming young of the Nassa. (VIDE Appendix.) + +(22) Cyproea Europoea. + +(23) Botrylli. + +(24) Molluscs. + +Doris tuberculata. +- bilineata. +Eolis papillosa. +Pleurobranchus plumila. +Neritina. +Cypraea. +Trochus, - 2 species. +Mangelia. +Triton. +Trophon. +Nassa, - 2 species. +Cerithium. +Sigaretus. +Fissurella. +Arca lactea. +Pecten pusio. +Tapes pullastra. +Kellia suborbicularis. +Shaenia Binghami. +Saxicava rugosa. +Gastrochoena pholadia. +Pholas parva. +Anomiae, -2 or 3 species +Cynthia,-2 species. +Botryllus, do. + +ANNELIDS. + +Phyllodoce, and other Nereid worms. +Polynoe squamata. + +CRUSTACEA. + +4 or 5 species. + +ECHINODERMS. + +Echinus miliaris. +Asterias gibbosa. +Ophiocoma neglecla. +Cucumaria Hyndmanni. +- communis. + +POLYPES. + +Sertularia pumila. +- rugosa. +- fallax. +- filicula. +Plumularia falcata. +- setacea. +Laomedea geniculata. +Campanularia volubilis. +Actinia mesembryanthemum. +Actinia clavata. +- anguicoma. +- crassicornis. +Tubulipora patina. +- hispida. +- serpens. +Crisia eburnea. +Cellepora pumicosa. +Lepraliae,- many species. +Membranipora pilosa. +Cellularia ciliata. +- scruposa. +- reptans. +Flustra membranacea, &c. + +(25) Plate XI. fig. 1. + +(26) Plate X. fig. 1. + +(27) There are very fine specimens in the Crystal Palace. + +(28) Coryne ramosa. + +(29) Campanularia integra. + +(30) Crisidia Eburnea. + +(31) Aquarium, p. 163. + +(32) P. 34. Figures of it are given in Plate VIII. + +(33) P. 259. + +(34) But if any young lady, her aquarium having failed, shall (as +dozens do) cast out the same Anacharis into the nearest ditch, she +shall be followed to her grave by the maledictions of all millers +and trout-fishers. Seriously, this is a wanton act of injury to +the neighbouring streams, which must be carefully guarded against. +As well turn loose queen-wasps to build in your neighbour's banks. + +(35) Very highly also, in interest, ranks M. Quatrefages' "Rambles +of a Naturalist" (about the Mediterranean and the French Coast), +translated by M. Otte. + +(36) Van Voorst & Co. price 3s. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore + diff --git a/old/glcus10.zip b/old/glcus10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..326c3b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/glcus10.zip |
