FEBRUARY, 1882. 131 



of the water. The sea water is no doubt injurious to 

 agricultural land, but, on the other hand, the evidence 

 is in favour of its action on pasture. On lands close to 

 the sea that are covered every spring tide, the produce 

 of butter is improved, and we learn of a dairy-woman who 

 always noticed a marked improvement in the first churn- 

 ing after every spring tide ! This could not arise from 

 its action on the grass, so much as upon the cattle them- 

 selves, the salt no doubt acting as a stimulant to their 

 secretions, as cows are always fond of, and advantaged 

 by, a proportion of salt. 



We were wandering yesterday along the edge of the 

 stream where it cuts its path through the blue clay, and 

 where the sea was soon to rise several feet deep. Here 

 and there the shells of Myarenaria were sticking tenant- 

 less out of the clay that had been cut away from about 

 them, and the smaller but still large My a truncata, that 

 other siphon shell fish, were scattered all about, either 

 emptied by the long bills of the curlews, or the owners 

 having given up the struggle in disgust. Suddenly the 

 bed of the stream was obscured for many yards by a 

 moving curtain of a hazy character, and we stopped to 

 examine the phenomenon more closely. Why, the 

 My sis were casting their young in August and September, 

 and yet here are absolute myriads of them about a quarter 

 of an inch in length, thronging every corner of the stream, 

 and filling all the pools in the clay foreshore. What is 

 the meaning of this ; and is it a quite exceptional infliction 

 upon our waters ? We know that this small class of 

 crustacean forms a most important portion of the diet of 

 the very largest marine animals, and it is more than 

 presumed that the herring also obtains a large proportion 

 of its food from among the same class : is there any con- 



