THE -VVOXDEnS OF THE SHORE. 65 



or other shell-crushing pairs of jaws, wander, 

 terrible to lobster and to cockle. Originally in- 

 tended, as we suppose, to face the strong-toothed 

 monsters of the Mediterranean, these foreigners 

 have been left behind on shores Avhere their 

 armor is not now needed : and yet centuries of 

 idleness and security have not been able to per- 

 suade them to lay it by ; as it is written, " They 

 continue this day as at tlie beginning ; Thou hast 

 given them a law which shall never be broken." 



Enough of Cardhim Uihercidatum. "What are 

 the names of the other shells which you have 

 gathered, any Introduction to Conchology will 

 tell you ; and the Sea-side Book will give you 

 many a curious fact as to their habits. If you 

 wish to know more, you must consult that 

 new collection of true fairy tales, Dr. John- 

 ston's " Lectures on Conchology." But the lit- 

 tle pink pears are rare, hundreds of them as 

 there hapi)cn to be here to-day. They arc a 

 delicate sea-anemone,* whose beautiful disc you 

 may sec well engraved in Gosse's " Naturalist in 

 Devon." Thoy ndlicrc by tliousands to the 

 undcr-sidc of loose stones among the sand, and 

 some colony of them has been uprooted by the 

 ♦ Actinia anguicumn. 



5 



