26 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



rarer kinds of crab eager to avoid the observation of the 

 octopus, of which it is the regular food. A spade pushed 

 into the neighbouring sandbanks reveals heart-urchins, 

 gorgeous sea-worms, and burrowing shell-fish and perhaps 

 sand-eels. The human visitor — bending over these 

 scenes of wonderment and perhaps venturing to transfer 

 one or two only of the less familiar animals to a glass 

 jar filled with sea-water so that he may see them more 

 clearly — at last stands up and straightens his back, gazing 

 over the sun-bathed scene from the tumbled weed -grown 

 rocks, encrusted with crowds of purple-blue mussels, to 

 the patches of golden sand, clear pools, and the blue 

 sea beyond. Then he may note (as I have) a curious 

 rhythmical sound if he is among rocks covered with sea- 

 weeds — a quiet but incessant " hiss-hiss," which is heard 

 above the deeper-toned lapping of the little waves among 

 the big stones. This is the sound made by the rasp-like 

 tongues of the periwinkles feeding on the abundant weed, 

 over which they crawl, leaving the water and " browsing " 

 on the surface exposed to the air by the fall of the tide. 

 The browsing sound of these little snails is to the sea- 

 shore what the humming of bees is to inland meadows. 



Day after day and at various seasons of the year the 

 nature-lover will visit this sanctuary, and, whilst con- 

 templating the lovely forms, colour, and movement of 

 its denizens, will learn the secrets of their life, of their^ 

 comings and goings, and the mysteries of their re- 

 production, their birth, and their childhood. Each dayl 

 he finds something unknown to his brother naturalists. 

 He will examine it with his lens, paint it in all its 

 beauty, and tell of it in due course in printed page and 

 coloured portraiture ; but he is no mere seeker for 

 novelty, nor is the credit of discovery the motive of his 

 devotion. Beyond and greater than any such gains 



