TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 35 



In a small glass vessel, the bottom of which was 

 covered with sand, there was to be seen one of the 

 valves of a St. James's shell. On its rough surface 

 this shell bore a strange population: some Escharae, 

 like stony concretions of rounded form, projected their 

 almost innumerable arms on every side, and these 

 moved themselves in all directions in order to seize 

 their unseen prey ; sertularians and cellularians, with 

 finely divided branches, erected their miniature fronds 

 in the water, covered with polypes like little flowers ; 

 while fixed to the shell some of the tube-dwelling 

 worms, twisted Spirorbis, Serpulae of whimsical iorms, 

 displayed their many-coloured branchiae at the extrem- 

 ities of their calcareous coverings. 



Some other more fragile annelids were lodged in 

 the sand Terebellse, Sabellae ; these had no calcareous 

 covering, but grains of sand and fragments of shells 

 agglutinated round their bodies formed a mosaic cloth- 

 ing that almost entirely concealed them. Kene*, as- 

 sisted by a powerful lens, examined all these details 

 minutely. 



" Do you know what I shall call that," said he. 

 " It is really fairyland in a glass of water." 



" Would you like to see now fairyland in a drop of 

 water ? Here is some water from the oysters that you 

 found so good. Let us look for a little at what it 

 contains after it has been kept a few days." 



The microscope was brought out, and placed in a 



