JUNE 1902. 



ONLY towards the end of this month did we experience any- 

 thing like summer weather. Belieing the wintry weather we 

 had been experiencing, the fragrant odour of the hawthorn 

 blossom borne on the off-shore wind imparts a pleasurable 

 sensation, recalling scenes of earlier days when void of care 

 we went " nourish " gathering, or later on disported ourselves 

 amongst the "hips and haws." Here, no sylvan scenery 

 greets the tired eye nor gives respite to the senses from the 

 everlasting waste of waters, with its ever-changing moods, 

 from placid glassy calm to the wildest turbulence, when 

 blustering Boreas drives his team amain, and the white- 

 maned coursers charge down upon us like an avalanche. As 

 the tide drops, and the long lush tangles trail their tattered 

 tops on the surface, a dank heavy odour is perceptible, 

 scarcely so pleasing to the senses as that of the " hawthorn 

 bud that opes in the month of May." Equipped with a stout 

 stick bearing an iron hook, an hour's crab-hunting among the 

 rocks brings one into contact with many forms of life other- 

 wise unnoticed. Groping underneath a projecting ledge, to 

 ascertain if the inmate is at home, the eye is arrested by 

 minute nodules of scarlet jelly pendant from the roof, and 

 destined to become a close imitation of their terrestrial name- 

 sake the anemone, or, in similar situations, patches of white 

 whelk ova appear like so many grains of wheat arranged as 

 close as possible to each other. 



Recently a solitary instance was noticed of a whelk carry- 

 ing the ova attached to the exterior of its own shell. Many 

 different species of whelks are thus met with, some scarcely 

 distinguishable by the naked eye. The intrusion of the crab- 

 stick soon betrays the presence of the crab. Gripping the 



