8o 



DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



6 inches in length. These are eel-shaped, silvery fish, which 

 swim near the shore, but burrow into the soft sand as 

 the tide recedes. They are excellent eating. We used 

 at Sandown to make up a party of young people to dig 

 the smaller " sand-eels," or " sand-launce." The agility 

 and rapid disappearance of the burrowing fish into the 

 sand when one thought one had safely dug them out, 

 rendered the pursuit difficult and exciting. Then a 

 wood fire on the beach, a frying-pan, fat, flour, and salt 

 were brought into operation, and the 

 sand-eels were cooked to perfection 

 and eaten. 



Some of the marks or small heaps 

 of sand on the flats exposed at low 

 tide are characteristic of certain shell- 

 fish. The "razor-fish" (Fig. ig t b) — a 

 very much elongated clam, or mussel, 

 with astonishing powers of rapid 

 burrowing — leaves a hole on the 

 surface like a keyhole, about an inch 

 long. It can be dug up by an 

 energetic spadesman, but a spoonful 

 of common salt poured over the opening of its burrow 

 will cause it to suddenly shoot out on to the surface, 

 when it may be picked up, and the hunter spared 

 any violent exertion. The curious heart-urchin (Fig. 5), 

 as fragile as an egg-shell, and covered with long, 

 closely-set spines like a brush, is often to be found 

 burrowing in the sand, as well as the transparent, 

 pink-coloured worm known as Synapta, in the skin of 

 which are set thousands of minute calcareous anchors 

 hinged to little sculptured plates. These burrowers 

 swallow the sand and extract nutriment from stray 

 organic particles mixed in it. 



Fig. 5.— The shell of the 

 Heart-urchin (Spatan- 

 gus purpureus) with 

 its spines rubbed off. 

 One-fourth the actual 

 diameter. 



