156 LOCH C RE RAN. 



which decline to leave the beds they have made for 

 themselves, and anchored themselves to with their 

 strong byssus ; and so the tubes are removed in isolated 

 patches. The whole green sloping bank where the grass 

 has emerged from the deep is, for several hundred yards, 

 specially occupied by this most interesting " crop," and 

 at length we observe a finer specimen than any we have 

 yet procured thrusting its head above the waves at the 

 water's edge. This we catch hold of with care, and 

 draw slowly towards us, in hopes that the foothold is of 

 a movable character. A stone ! no, a mussel ! no, well 

 yes, it is actually an oyster, face down as we should say, 

 for it is lying on its flat, with this huge bunch of living 

 creatures, in their homes, standing on its back. They 

 are very delicately affixed to the shell ; and no wonder, 

 standing thus upright with a weak grip, these bundles of 

 separate tubes are so frequently found lying on shore 

 broken up. But they have so many points by which to 

 catch hold, and are so incapable of rolling, that only 

 fragmentary patches are usually obtainable. We carry 

 our capture home gently, and set it in one of the ponds, 

 where it soon expands into the wonderful little community 

 that is quite past our comprehension ashore. Just come 

 along and look at it. Gently, now ! for the creatures 

 may not see, but they either feel the concussion or notice 

 a difference in the light, and there they go ! The 

 crimson corollas of the serpulae were all ablaze^a second 

 ago, but one after another they shut up like a flash, and 

 leave the sober-tinted tubes on the sober-tinted oyster as 

 dull as a room with the fire out. 



But we had more than that to carry homeward, as any 

 one who had met us on the way would have seen. 

 Oysters on stones, oysters on mussels, and of all shapes 



