UNIVALVES. 169 
that inhabit them, never receive the rays of light 
but through the medium of water: where the 
valleys are clothed with elastic plants, such as the 
sea-peacock, the leaves of which are perforated like 
a sieve, for the evident purpose of admitting the 
currents, that gush through them, as if they were 
sluices: where the hills stand thick with bristly 
beds of madrepore, festooned with floating garlands 
of fuci, algee, and innumerable sea-weeds, the colours 
of which are nearly as splendid as those of the showery 
bow of Iris. 
Such are the objects which amuse the leisure 
hours, and occupy the thoughts of those who delight 
to trace the footsteps of unerring Wisdom, as they 
appear impressed on the oozy bed of ocean. Nor 
let him who is confined to inland scenes, lament that 
these researches are beyond the reach of his fortune, 
or exertions. The mossy lanes which surround his 
quiet dwelling, or the river that waters his native 
town, will afford subjects of investigation and im- 
provement. In the shady recesses of the one, or 
on the margin of the other, he may learn that the 
wonders of creation are inexhaustible. 
For my own part, I confess that when I see a poor 
little Muscle, who seems by her helplessness to lie 
at the mercy of every passing wave, mooring her fra- 
gile bark under the shelter of some projecting stone, 
