FEBRUARY, 1882. 141 



bottom. The great horse mussels are as thick as they 

 can lie in the shade of the great tangle fronds. These 

 are 6ft. long in the great stem, with an equal length of 

 frond, and this does not at all represent their absolute 

 stretch, for other tangles grip with their roots the upper 

 portion of the stem, and add greatly to the length, this 

 occurring in some instances several times, so that the 

 end of the last frond must have been quite 2 oft. from 

 the original attachment. This original stem had 

 correspondingly strengthened to hold it, and was some- 

 times quite 3in. in diameter. Our hands are scored 

 among the barnacles, and we can scarce keep our feet 

 among the slippery tangles ; but down, down goes the 

 tide, and the islet we have lately landed on by boat is 

 now to be reached from its larger neighbour. With 

 some care though, and as we cross and recross with our 

 feminine burden, just to let her eyes behold the wonders 

 under " that rock," we stagger like a giant in drink. But 

 what a sight ! The wonderful colonies, rich in orange 

 or yellow, or delicately white, known as dead men's 

 fingers, are no longer fingers, but are hanging from the 

 roof of the little ocean cave in masses like the closed 

 hand and wrist. Yellow, and purple, and orange, and 

 violet, sponges almost cover the rock of the most varied 

 texture are they too, and all exceedingly beautiful ; star- 

 fish, from the huge bloated fellows 1 3 inches and upwards 

 in diameter, to the delicate, fragile, brittle stars, are crush- 

 ing themselves into the crevices ; while the suns, in 

 many-hued beauty, are lying at the bottom of the pools 

 scoffing at the great original that threatens so soon to 

 burn us up. But what are those moving their beautiful 

 limbs; all about are little creatures, rosy tinted, gripping 

 on to the rock above them with their tentacled centres, 



