MARCH, 1883. 29 i 



tongue about the dainty little beauties, and one or two 

 for supper would be a fit finish to the day of the delicate 

 beauty who began it with a "shrimp." Little cockles 

 of various species are numerous, and as they find them- 

 selves " on land " under the lamplight, they throw out 

 their long foot, several times the length of the shell, until 

 scarce a fraction remains inside, and thus toss themselves 

 about with a great display of muscular vigour. Nuculae, 

 with the mother-of-pearl lining and beautiful comb hinges, 

 are numerous and of fine proportions from the bag full 

 of mud here ; while Corbula, with its unequal-valved 

 shell, and delicate pink-tinted species, are jostling one 

 another in the mass over there. None are too small to 

 have enemies, and some of these little spiral rascals with 

 the rasp tongues have perforated the shells of many, of 

 all kinds, with a neat, well-drilled hole, through which 

 the occupant is reached. 



Here, too, come a lot of stupid fellows, dull, slimy, 

 and sluggish, without a redeeming feature apparently. 

 Chuck them into that basin of water and leave them 

 for a time ; ay ! even those little dusky quarter-inch and 

 eighth-inch slugs, with the rough flat foot on one side of 

 the body. By-and-by, first one and then another of the 

 creatures throws out a beautiful branching set of tenta- 

 cles ; here rich purple, there rich crimson of feathery 

 form and most delicate consistency. You thought to 

 deceive us into tossing you back into the loch, did you ! 

 and declined to display your finery until you thought you 

 had escaped. Well, you are indeed dainty slugs, and 

 we expend an infinitude of the patience of our host in 

 our endeavours to transfer you in a proper ostentatious 

 mood to the lovely spirit land, where you now look like 

 peripatetic sea-anemones in full flower. 



