NAKED-GILLED MOLLUSCA. 11 



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look at such as are immersed, we quite as frequently 

 see them closed as open. 



Southey has poetically described the influence of the 

 returning tide upon these charming creatures. 



Meantime with fuller reach and stronger swell, 

 Wave after wave advanced ; 

 Each following billow lifted the last foam 

 That trembled on the sand with rainbow-hues : 

 The living flower that, rooted to the rock. 

 Late from the thinner element 

 Shrank down within its purple stem to sleep, — 

 Xor feels the water, and again 

 Awakening, blossoms out 

 All its green anther-necks. 



Thalaba, xii. 3. 



NAKED-GILLED MOLLUSCA. 



Feb. ISlh. — The beach atBabbicombe, which, when 

 the tide is in, is composed entirely of pebbles, changes 

 lower down to larger stones, and at extreme low water 

 presents only rounded and flattened blocks from 

 six inches to a yard in width. They are invested 

 with a clothing of green weeds, and are hence slippery 

 to walk on, and when their drapery is flagged and 

 half withered by the sun, are unpleasing to the eye. 

 It struck me that I might find something under them, 

 however, and I spent an hour or two turning them 

 over, not without some loss of blood, for their edges 

 and under sides were crowded with the shells of 

 Serj)idce, the little projecting* points of which over 

 the mouth were as sharp as needles, and cut and tore 

 my fingers continually. But I was rewarded by a 

 good many of those elegant creatures, the naked 



