ZOOPHYTES. 401 



shiiig-le ot* the sea-floor, save when, on gala occasionjj 

 perchance, the Lacmiedece that fringe tlie walls light np 

 their myriads of fairy lamps, and the tiny MednscB 

 crowd in to the Avatery festivities Avith their ellisb 

 circlets and spangles of living flame. It is then that 

 the Cows' paps " take their hair out of paper," and dis- 

 play their loveliness to advantage. 



Unfortunately, we have no card of invitation to these 

 submarine routs, but perhaps we may induce one of the 

 more juvenile of these beauties to indulge us, as a 

 special favour, with a sample of the effect ; particularly 

 if we can improvise a ball-room suited to the occasion. 

 Let us try. 



Selecting the verj^ smallest specimen — a tiny thing 

 no larger than a pea — I try to detach it without injury, 

 by inserting the tij:) of my pocket-knife under the 

 frilled lamina of oyster-shell on which ic rests, and 

 working off the fragment. I have succeeded : hei'e it 

 is; its attachment unbroken ; it is still firmly adherent 

 to the severed slice of shell, which is so small that I 

 can drop it with its burden into this narrow trough of 

 glass. The whole concern — trough, shell, and polype 

 — is now to be dropped into this capacious jar of freshly 

 dipped sea-water, and put away for an hour into a dark 

 closet. 



Kow let as see the result. Yes, it is as I expected. 

 The united stimulus of the darkness and the sea-water 

 has acted on the Cow's pap, just as M'ould. the rising 

 and covering tide in its native cavern, after it had 

 been left exposed for some hours bv the recess of the 



