JUNE, 1882. 189 



that very minute specimens of cockles made their 

 appearance in June, and yet the livelihood of thousands 

 of the coast population mainly depended upon under- 

 standing them and their ways. We are satisfied that 

 although certain seasons find the larger proportion of 

 shellfish, as of true fish, spawning, yet they spawn in our 

 warm seas almost all the year, and so are independent 

 of any sudden untoward occurrence at the spawning 

 season of the majority. The quantity of " food" we 

 dug up in a foot or two was most remarkable, and how a 

 cockle manages not only to get so fat but deposits such 

 a quantity of lime in the short time at its disposal is a 

 mystery. The My<z also are most vigorous, and form 

 large and strong shells, each valve occasionally reaching 

 5 inches by 3, in favourable positions with us ; although 

 this is much beyond their customary dimensions else- 

 where. These latter shellfish, although rarely taken by 

 the people about, do not consequently increase the more ; 

 but the cockles that are steadily hunted more or less the 

 year through before our door, are as numerous and as 

 large as we have ever seen them ! This itself would 

 point to regular relays of sizes growing up to take the 

 place of those removed, and at the same time shows the 

 advantage to a species to have the larger individuals 

 regularly removed, just as the Fijians " clubbed " their 

 fathers ! 



The sea-farer and sea-labourer have not found the days 

 so kind, but you did steal one happy day, my friend, to 

 probe the sea-bottom, and endeavour to decipher more 

 of its story than you previously knew ; and all, too, were 

 lucky enough to tumble on board at the right time, as 

 the strong-winded launch puffed across to the deepest 

 water to be had inside the Atlantic. We know that if 



