54 ROUND THE YEAR 



Chinese. How it must plague the Pond-mussel to be 

 overrun, as it almost always is, with Water-mites, and 

 yet be unable even to scratch itself! The Pinna 

 harbours a small crab, the Pea-crab, within its shell, 

 and must, one would think, wince at times as the hard, 

 pointed legs press against its unprotected flesh. 1 But 

 use is everything. Dogs are said to turn melancholy 

 if they are kept absolutely clear of Fleas, and perhaps 

 the Mollusks, whose sedentary life in a dark shell 

 must be dulness itself, find their parasites a source of 

 mild excitement. 



THE MOON. 



Townsfolk do not care very much about the Moon, 

 nor observe her very carefully. Now and then they 

 admire the slender crescent in the western sky, or the 

 full Moon flooding the landscape with her cold light, 

 but the Moon is of little practical use to people who 

 live in well-lit streets. It is quite different in the 

 country, where there are no gas-lamps. If there is a 

 Moon, we travel comfortably along, with light enough 

 to steer our course ; if there is none, we are liable to 

 step off the foot-path into a puddle, or to walk into a 

 bush. Country people often arrange their meetings 

 so as to walk home by moonlight, and not on nights 

 when there is no Moon. 



Even if the sky is hidden by clouds, the Moon, 

 especially when half or more than half-full, can send 

 a faint, diffused light through the clouds. It is seldom 



1 Another species of the Pea-crab is not uncommon within 

 the valves of the edible Mussel. 



