A WATER-TELESCOPE. 179 



But soon we passed on a little and saw still 

 more beautiful sights. The gray rocks beneath 

 us were almost covered with purple sea-urchins, 

 their straight spines standing out in every direc- 

 tion. Most of them were so large that you could 

 not put one in the crown of your hat until you 

 had taken off his spines, and they looked so happy 

 and comfortable that you would not want to do 

 that. With the spines on, many of them were as 

 large as tea-kettles, and in some places they were 

 packed on the rocks as thick as they could lie. 



Again, there would be groups of little ones no 

 bigger than your fist, but, big or little, they were 

 all very interesting objects. And the best thing 

 about it was that they were all at home, living 

 just as they liked to live, in the clear, cool, and 

 deep water of the bay, and not shut up in a glass 

 aquarium, like a wild bird in a little cage. 



Besides the sea-urchins, there were many other 

 living creatures, such as we sometimes see from 

 the shore, only larger and more perfect. There 

 were sea-anemones blossomed out like great 

 flowers; huge abalones resting on the rocks, their 

 great shells raised slightly to let the water circu- 

 late freely; starfishes of various colors, yellow, 

 red, and purple; and then true fishes, swimming 

 about so gracefully, and seeming to take no notice 



