FOURTH WEEK] June 149 



them. These thousands of tiny turreted castles are built 

 so closely together that many are pressed out of shape, 

 paralleling in shape as in substance the inorganic crystals 

 of the mineral kingdom. The valved doors are continually 

 opening and partly closing, and if we listen quietly we can 

 hear a perpetual shuss! shuss! Is it the creaking of the 

 tiny hinges ? As the last receding wave splashes them, they 

 shut their folding doors over a drop or two and remain 

 tightly closed, while perhaps ten hours of sunlight bake 

 them, or they glisten in the moonlight for the same length 

 of time, ready at the first touch of the returning water to 

 open wide and welcome it. 



The thought of their life history brings to mind how 

 sadly they retrogress as they grow, hatching as minute 

 free-swimming creatures like tiny lobsters, and gradually 

 changing to this plant-like life, sans eyes, sans head, sans 

 most everything except a stomach and a few pairs of 

 feathery feet to kick food into it. A few pitiful traces of 

 nerves are left them. What if there were enough ganglia 

 to enable them to dream of their past higher life, in the 

 long intervals of patient waiting ! 



A little lower down we come to the zone of mussels, - 

 hanging in clusters like some strange sea-fruit. Each is 

 attached by strands of thin silky cables, so tough that 

 they often defy our utmost efforts to tear a specimen 

 away. How secure these creatures seem, how safe from 

 all harm, and yet they have enemies which make havoc 

 among them. At high tide fishes come and crunch them, 

 shells and all, and multitudes of carnivorous snails are 

 waiting to set their file-like tongues at work, which merci- 



