198 THE SEA. 



breeze from the southward, which hove the sea against the opposite entrance of the cavern to 

 that on which we were standing 1 ; and the funnel-shaped cliffs on that side concentrated the 

 successive waves, which drove through a sort of ' bore/ and covered with turbulent water 

 large tracts which but a few moments before were dry. We were pushed from stone to stone, 

 and from spot to spot, like a retreating enemy before a successful army; but we lingered, 

 wishing to see the junction of the waters and the insulation of the rock. It is at this point 

 that the advance is so treacherous. There was an isthmus of some twenty feet wide of dry 

 .sand, when my wife, who had seen the process before, said, ' It will be all over by the time you 

 have counted a hundred/ Before I had reached fifty it was a wide wash of water." 



A melancholy fate overtook a large family party near here some years ago. They had 

 walked over the sands to Fern Cliff, and made their picnic in a cavern close by, forgetful of 

 the silent march of the tide. When they discovered their isolation escape was cut off, and the 

 overhanging rock forbade all chance of climbing. They were all drowned, and the bodies 

 picked up one by one, as the sea washed them in. 



All the species of anemone found on the rocks above the water are to be seen below it, and 

 iill displaying their beauties in an incomparably more charming fashion. The whole sub- 

 merged wall is nothing else than a parterre of most brilliant flowers, taken bodily and set on 

 end. " The eye is bewildered with their number and variety, and knows not which to look at 

 first. Here are the rosy anemones (Sagartia rosea], with a firm fleshy column of rich sienna- 

 Torown, paler towards the base, and with the upper part studded with indistinct spots, marking 

 the situation of certain organs which have an adhesive power. The disc is of a pale neutral 

 tint, with a crimson mouth in the centre, and a circumference of crowded tentacles of the 

 most lovely rose-purple, the rich hue of that lovely flower that bears the name of General 

 Jacqueminot. In those specimens that are most widely opened this tentacular fringe forms a 

 blossom whose petals overhang the concealed column, expanding to the width of an inch or 

 more; but there are others in which the expansion is less complete in different degrees, and 

 these all give distinct phases of loveliness. We find a few among the rest which, with the 

 characteristically-coloured tentacles, have the column and disc of a creamy white ; and one in 

 which the disc is of a brilliant orange, inclining to scarlet. Most lovely little creatures are 

 they all ! Commingling with these charming roses there are others which attain a larger 

 size, occurring in even greater abundance. They are frequently an inch and a half in diameter 

 when expanded, and some are even larger than this. You may know them at once by observ- 

 ing that the outer row of tentacles, and occasionally also some of the others, are of a scarlet 

 hue, which, when examined minutely, is seen to be produced by a sort of core of that rich hue 

 pervading the pellucid tentacle. The species is commonly known as the scarlet- fringed 

 anemone (Sagartia miniata) . The inner rows of tentacles, which individually are larger than 

 those of the outer rows, are pale, marked at the base with strong bars of black. The disc is 

 very variable in hue, but the column is for the most part of the same rich brown as we saw in 

 the rosy. Yet, though these are characteristic colours, there are specimens which diverge 

 exceedingly from them, and some approach so near the roses as to be scarcely distinguishable 

 from them." The loveliness of these submarine gardens cannot be over-rated. 



