CONTRACTILITY OF COLOUR-SPECS. 99 



night. It is soon invisible ; the plash of the oars 

 ceases to reach my ears. There is something pathetic 

 in the thought of these men nightly braving what they 

 brave, and totally insensible to the poetry of their 

 situation, which might make it something better than 

 a mere venture for a few pence. My thoughts are sad 

 to-night. I wander on, and the waves come to greet 

 me, but the image of that boat disappearing through 

 the darkness will not leave me. Life seems so sad, so 

 transitory, so ineffectual, and Nature so pitiless and calm. 



The next morning all such thoughts have vanished 

 like uneasy dreams. Nature is joyous, clear, sunny ; 

 my mistress yonder is sparkling and singing in the 

 light ; white sails dot the distance ; the busy hum of 

 men rises on every side. I go out on the sands, and 

 at my feet the tide throws a Calamary {Loligo) with 

 which I rush back to my lodgings in great glee. A 

 pie-dish of sea water receives the welcome Cephalopod; 

 but he is dead, and will show none of his ways. Yet 

 what is this? the colour-specs are coming out on the 

 skin, like stars appearing at night ; and now the whole 

 surface, which was pearly- white, is of a variegated hue. 



I had heard of this fact before, but actual observa- 

 tion gives one very different feelings from those of 

 mere acquiescence in a fact. The colour-specs continued 

 to come and go, muchto my puzzlement ; nor could I 

 gain much light from any books at hand. M. Alcide 

 d'Orbigny, who has studied Molluscs for twenty years, 

 especially the Cephalopoda, ought, of course, to be con- 

 sulted, and you shall hear what he says : " The col- 



