THE "WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 87 



Madrepore ; a little '• cirrliipod," the cousin of 

 those tiny barnacles which roughen every rock, 

 and of those larger ones also "who burrow in the 

 thick hide of the whale, and, borne about upon 

 his mighty sides, throw out their tiny casting- 

 nets, as this Pyrgoma does, to catch every passing 

 animalcule, and sweep them into the jaws con- 

 cealed within its shell. And this creature, rooted 

 to one spot through life and death, was in its 

 infancy a free swimming animal, hovering from 

 place to place upon delicate cilia^, till, having 

 sown its wild oats, it settled down in life, built 

 itself a good stone house, and became a land- 

 owner, or rather a ghhce adscnptiis, for ever and 

 a day. IMysterious destiny ! — yet not so myste- 

 rious as that of the free medusoid young of every 

 polype and coral, whicli ends as a rooted tree of 

 horn or stone, and seems to the eye of sensuous 

 fanry to have literally degenerated into a vcgc- 

 taltlo. Of them you must read for yourselves in 

 Mr. Gossc's book ; in the mean wliilc he shall 

 tell you something of the beautiful IMadreporcs 

 themselves. His description,* by far the best 

 yet published, sliould be road in full : wc must 

 content ourselves with extracts. 



• A Xatumlist's Rambles on the Dcvonsliiro Const, p. 110. 



