THE SANDS AT EBB. 3G7 



he meets with the mosses and lichens of Greenland and 

 Nova Zembla. Something analogous to this may be 

 seen on the wastes left uncovered by the ebb of such a 

 stream tide as the last. First we pass over a sterile 

 region of waterworn pebbles and gravel, and meet with 

 neither animal nor vegetable life. Then we reach a 

 strip of plants of a deep green colour, some of them 

 resembling tufts of hair, some of them broad-leaved, and 

 of a texture exceedingly delicate. The small green crab 

 and many-eyed star-fish are natives of this region. We 

 then arrive at a strip, broader than the last, of brown 

 furcated weeds, beneath which we find whole colonies of 

 the black periwinkle, and the craw-fish buckie. A 

 waste of sand succeeds, inhabited by several varieties of 

 shell fish of the bivalve species, and sprinkled with tufts 

 of long sea-grass and brown rope-weed. We find in it, 

 besides, the sand-worm, the builder-worm, and the 

 yellow-spined sea urchin. A stony region comes next, 

 shaggy and rough with kelp weed and smooth-stemmed 

 tangle, and abounding with the cow-cockle, the brown 

 toad-like crab, and the large strong-shelled buckie. 

 Last of all, we find at the water's edge a forest of rough- 

 stemmed tangles, the favourite resort of the red crab, 

 the pink-coloured sea urchin, the dwarf lobster, and the 

 lump fish. But I perceive I am giving you rather an 

 index than a description. Ever since I recollect myself 

 I had a turn for the study of natural history, not the 

 natural history of books, but of the woods and the 

 fields and the sea-shore. I was studying it all unwit- 

 tingly when my friends thought I was doing nothing, 

 or worse ; and I now find that through my predilection 

 for it, I have learned more in the days I played truant 

 than in those I attended the school. Who knows 

 whether I may not yet turn my acquaintance with it to 



