64 LUNDY ISLAND. 



chocolate-brown, or of all shades between that and a 

 glowing red. More rarely, it is dark olive, merging 

 into grass-green ; and not unfrequently specimens are 

 found, especially such as are of very large size, in which 

 both of these hues are combined, the ground colour 

 being dark-red, studded all over with small green 

 spots. This is the best known of all our native spe- 

 cies ; indeed, it is the only one ever seen by thousands 

 who fancy themselves familiar with our sea-anemones. 

 The reason is not only the great abundance of this kind, 

 but its habit of living within tide-marks ; for such is its 

 patience of exposure to the air, that it may frequently 

 be seen sticking to rocks, particularly if shaded from 

 the sun, not far below high-water mark, where it must 

 be necessarily exposed to the air for many hours out of 

 every tide. Handsome as its appearance is, whether 

 displaying its smooth and glossy coat, or expanding 

 its crown of tentacles like a full-blown crimson flower, 

 it is the least beautiful, perhaps of all, and is not 

 worthy to be compared for beauty with some other 

 species which frequently dwell in its immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, but in so retired a manner, that few, except 

 the professed naturalist, ever have the opportunity of 

 admiring their charms ; like modest worth, whose 

 excellence is often unknown or unappreciated, because 

 of that retiring humility which is its greatest grace, 

 while inferior pretensions are honoured, because they 

 are flaunted in the face of day. 



In one of the crevices within the cavern I had 

 noticed a specimen of a far nobler species, certainly 



