THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. i271 
fish, found viands to its taste in “the lean of cooked 
meat and portions of earthworms,” filling: up the 
intervals by a perpetual dessert of microscopic ani- 
malcules, whirled into that lovely avernus, its mouth, 
by the currents of the delicate ciliz which clothe 
every tentacle. The fact is, that the Madrepore, like 
those glorious sea-anemones whose living flowers 
stud every pool, is by profession a scavenger and 
a feeder on carrion; and being as useful as he is 
beautiful, really comes under the rule which he 
seems at first to break, that handsome is who hand- 
some does. 
Another species of Madrepore! was discovered on 
our Devon coast by Mr. Gosse, more gaudy, though 
not so delicate in hue as our Caryophyllia. Mr. 
Gosse’s locality, for this and numberless other curi- 
osities, is Ilfracombe, on the north coast of Devon. 
My specimens came from Lundy Island, in the 
mouth of the Bristol Channel, or more properly 
from that curious “Rat Island” to the south of it, 
where still lingers the black long-tailed English rat, 
1 Balanophyllia regia, Plate V. fiy. 1. 
