NATURAL HISTORY. 



571 



with those ou the rivers of the 

 Atlantic coast : the cockle is small, 

 and resembles much that of the 

 Atlantic : there is also an animal 

 that inhabits a shell perfectly cir- 

 cular, about three inches in dia- 

 meter, thin and entire on the 

 maigin, convex and smooth on 

 the upper side, plain on the under 

 part, and covered with a numi)er 

 of minute cai)illary fibres, by 

 means of which it attaches itself 

 to the sides of the rocks : the 

 shell is thin, and consists of one 

 valve ; a small circular aperture 

 is formed in the centre of the 

 under shell : the animal is soft 

 and boneless. 



The pellucid substance and fuci. 

 The pellucid jeih'-like substance, 

 called the sea-nettle, is found in 

 great abundance along the strand, 

 where it has been thrown up by 

 the waves and tide : there are 

 two species of the fuci thrown up 

 in that manner : the tiist species 

 at one extremity consists of a 

 large vesicle or hollow vessel, 

 which will contain from one to 

 two gallons : it is of a conic 

 form, the base of which forms 

 the extreme end, and is convex 

 and globular, bearing at its centre 

 some short, broad, and angular 

 fibres : the substance is about the 

 consistence of the rind of a citron 

 melon, and three- fourths of an 

 inch thick : the rind is smooth 

 from the small extremity of the 

 cone ; a long hollow cylindric and 

 regular tapering tube extends to 

 twenty or thirty feet, and is then 

 terminated with a number of 

 branches, which are flat, half an 

 inch in width, rough, partic\ilarly 

 on the edges, wliere they are fur- 

 nished with a number of little 

 ovate vesicles or hags of tlie size 

 of a j)igeon's egg ; tliis plant 



seems to be calculated to float at 

 each extremity, while the little 

 end of the tube, from whence the 

 branches proceed, lies deepest in 

 the water : the other species seen 

 on the coast towards the Killa- 

 mucks, resembles a large pump- 

 kin; it is solid, and its specific 

 gravity is greater than the water, 

 though sometimes thrown out by 

 the waves : it is of a yellowish 

 brown colour ; the rind smooth, 

 and its consistence is harder than 

 tliat of the pmnpkin ; but easily 

 cut >". ith a knife : there are some 

 dark brown fibres, rather harder 

 than any other pnrt which pass 

 longitudinally through tlie pulp 

 or substance which forms the in- 

 terior of this marine production. 



Tlie reptiles of this country are 

 the rattlesnake, the gartersnake, 

 lizard, and snail. 



The gartersnake appears to be- 

 long to the same family with the 

 common gartersnake of the At- 

 lantic coast, and like that snake 

 they inherit no poisonous quali- 

 ties : they have one hundred and 

 sixty scuta on the abdomen, and 

 seventy on the tail : those on the 

 abdomen near the head and jaws 

 as high as the eye, are of a bluish 

 white, which, as it recedes from 

 the head, becomes of a dark 

 brown : the field of the back and 

 sides black : a narrow stripe of a 

 light yellow runs along the centre 

 of the b.ack ; on each side of this 

 stripe there is a range of small 

 transverse, oblong sjiots, of a pale 

 brick red; diminishing as they re- 

 cede from the heati, and disappear 

 at the commencement, of the tail : 

 the ])upil of tlie eyeis-black, with 

 a na^l•o^v ring of wiille bordering 

 on its edge ; the remainder of the 

 iris is of a dark yellowisli t;rown. 



The horned li/.:)ri!, rali'd, and 



for 



