OCTOBER, 1882. 239 



together ; when, the moment your pressure is removed, 

 they spring apart, for the hinge that binds the valves 

 together is a perfectly composed and exceedingly strong 

 elastic spring of black india-rubber, or at least something 

 that serves the same purpose and has the same appearance. 

 It is arranged for the water, however, like the worms' 

 thread ; and, dried, becomes as brittle as the elastic spiral 

 anchors of a dog-fish egg. You affix your india-rubber 

 spring to keep your door shut, the Pecten has it placed 

 to keep the valves open, the natural position, and the one 

 assumed the moment the strong muscle, that closes the 

 valves against an enemy, is relaxed. 



Here is the seaweed growing luxuriantly about some 

 stones in the midst of the muddy expanse, well out on 

 the foreshores ; so we stoop to sweep it away and expose 

 the scuttling dwellers under its shade. As we do so, 

 our face comes in contact with yes, with ! we rise and 

 draw carefully from our beard the unwonted object, and 

 scarce believe our eyes when we find it to be the 

 gossamer web of a spider! "Blown out to sea," we 

 mutter, " but no doubt the little spinner secured a safe 

 retreat long ere the fated thread was carried hitherwards 

 by the breath of the frosty morn." We turn once again 

 to the eel, seeking to escape by burrowing dexterously 

 and rapidly under the nearest stone where has it gone ? 

 A moment more, and the least movement in the world 

 is perceptible at the other corner of the imbedded stone 

 from that on which it entered ! An eel must breathe, 

 and just as a seal must come to the surface for air, an 

 eel must have its snout out of the mud or else it would 

 be choked, so the poor eely has betrayed itself, notwith- 

 standing its cunning. Cunning indeed, for it chose a 

 corner under the shadow of the stone, and only brought 



