24 GLAUCUS ; OR, 



gone back, or been led back by fact and common 

 sense, into the most awful and sublime depths, 

 into an epos of the destruction and re-creation of 

 a former world. 



This is but a single instance ; I might give 

 hundreds. This one, nevertheless, may have 

 some effect in awakening you to the boundless 

 world of wonders which is all around you, and 

 make you ask yourself seriously, " What branch 

 of Natural History shall I begin to investigate, if 

 it be but for a few weeks, this summer ? " 



To which I answer. Try " the Wonders of the 

 Shore." There are along every sea-beach more 

 strange things to be seen, and those to be seen 

 easily, than in any other field of observation 

 which you will find in these islands. And on 

 the shore only will you have the enjoyment of 

 finding new species, of adding your mite to the 

 treasures of science. 



For not only the English ferns, but the natural 

 history of all our land species, are now well-nigh 

 exhausted. Our home botanists, entomologists, 

 and ornithologists are spending their time now, 

 perforce, in verifying a few obscure species, and 

 bemoaning themselves like Alexander, that there 

 are no more worlds left to conquer. For the 



