22 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



coloured Sponges, compound Ascidians, Serpulae, and 

 Algae, with drops of water pendent from tlieir tips, are 

 just discernible through the darkness. In vain I strain 

 my eyes, now familiar with obscurity ; nothing tempts 

 me. The Sponges and the Rednoses squirt water at 

 me incessantly ; the Algae drip, drip, drip ; sj^oradic 

 Crabs trundle away in all directions ; but nothing 

 solicits my desires. You want to know why I poke 

 into that dark hole ? Because Experience — the best 

 of schoolmasters, were not the fees so heavy ! — has 

 tauo'ht, that the two conditions most favoiu-able to most 

 of those marine animals we are in quest of are Darkness 

 and Depth of water. They are impatient of the light, 

 and prefer darkness even to many fathoms. When I 

 say they, I mean most Molluscs, Crustacea, Annelids, 

 and ZoojDhytes. Jellyfish seek the light, and float at 

 the top of the sunny sea ; but we shall find none of 

 them to-day, so that fissures, caves, and the under side 

 of boulders, must be our fields. It is well for the 

 young hunter to bear in mind this requisite of darkness. 

 Let him turn over all stones, peer into all fissures, push 

 aside the overhanging Fucus, or long waving Oar-weed, 

 and see if the pools beneath do not contain what he 

 seeks. And when I say look, he must not understand 

 thereby a careless casual glance, but a long deliberate 

 scrutiny. He must allow the eye to rest long enough 

 on the spot to lose the perplexity occasioned by a 

 hundi^ed different details, and must let " the demure 

 travel of his regard" pass calmly over it. Sometimes 

 the pool is so dark and still, that it is not until your 



