LIFE IN THE OCEAN WAVE. 321 



Towards evening the cray-fish come out from their 

 caves and walk on the sand. It is astonishing how high 

 they stand on their legs, and how large they look. One 

 of the oddest things connected with them is that the 

 wrasses have taken a fancy to swim under the cray- 

 fish as they walk along, just like dogs under carts, 

 sometimes slipping away for a moment, but always 

 coming back again and resuming their places as if 

 performing an act of duty. It is worth while to look 

 carefully along the back of the cray-fish, on which are 

 sundry white filaments waving steadily to and fro. 

 These are in reality the ' cirrhi,' or bristle-legs of the 

 ocean barnacle, numbers of which have fixed them- 

 selves on the shell of the cray-fish, and there sweep the 

 waters with their net-like legs, so as to procure the tiny 

 morsels of nutriment which float unseen, and are 

 removed by the most efficient of Nature's scavengers. 



Another grotto is chiefly inhabited by prawns, and 

 presents a most singular and beautiful picture of life 

 below the waves. Every projecting ledge of rock is 

 crowded with the semi-transparent bodies of prawns, 

 while the light flashes in bright sparklets from their 

 waving antennae, or is reflected from their mobile eyes, 

 which glare like living opals. Some are sitting or 

 crawling on the sand, while one or two hang suspended 

 in the water, as the kestrel hangs in air, surrounding 

 themselves with the tiny ripples caused by the cease- 

 less movement of the fan-legs, which drive the water 

 through their gills. 



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