THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 27 
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 en- 
tomologist, 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 
