SKATE-BARROWS. 61 



cast in the path of the enemy. But alas ! they were 

 offered to a swinish multitude, who turned aside to 

 renew the attack on an unprotected point, till the poor 

 Oyster's strength was well nigh exhausted in the strug- 

 gle. Then in the holes pierced by the Annelides a 

 parasitic sponge (Ilalicliondria cdaia) probably estab- 

 lished itself, which ate further into his vitals, causing 

 the softer parts of the shell to rot away, and spreading 

 through its whole substance, like the dry-rot fungus 

 through a solid beam of timber, until, under his accu- 

 mulated misfortunes, the poor Oyster perished, and his 

 loosened shell was cast to the mercy of the waves. 



Before describing the more common inhabitants of 

 sandy shores, I shall mention two or three objects which 

 frequently attract us on the sands, as they are wafted to 

 our feet by the wave or left high and dry on shore from 

 a previous tide. The first of these are, what are called 

 Mermaid's Purses, which are of two or three sorts, one 

 or other of which is known to most children who have 

 rambled by the sea, though many persons may not 

 be aware of the nature of the curious object which at- 

 tracts their attention. The first and largest kind is 

 four or five inches long, and about one-and-a-half in 

 breadth, of a dark-brown colour, and a texture between 

 horny and membranous, with a very fibrous structure. 

 Its form is oblong, nearly rectangular, with the angles 

 produced into long points. This sort of Mermaid's 

 Purse is the egg, or sheath containing the young, 

 of the several kinds of Ray-fish or Skate, and on 

 some parts of the coast, according to Yarrell, they are 

 called Skate-barrows, in allusion to their resemblance 



