SEA-MAT MAKERS, 



their empty cells as mementoes, whilst the marginal 

 cells are not only living, but at the extreme margin 

 still budding extremely juvenile cells, and thus the 

 process continues to go on, so long as the colony, in 

 its entirety, is in a living and thriving condition. In 

 the encrusting spe- 

 cies, many of them 

 go on depositing a 

 thick layer of cal- 

 careous matter, until 

 the outer wall ac- 

 quires much thick- 

 ness and strength. 



The latest enume- 

 ration gives no less 

 than two hundred 

 and thirty-five spe- 

 cies as inhabitants 

 of the British coasts, 

 and some of these 

 are extremely com- 

 mon. The dead 

 skeletons, or tenantless homes, are cast upon the beach 

 by every storm, and these objects must be familiar 

 to every lounger on the shore. One of the largest, 

 most plentiful (figs. 61, 62), and most popular is the 

 common sea-mat (Flustra foliaced], which is sure to 

 be picked up, with the residue of that odd miscellany 



"FIG. 62. SEA-MAT (Flustra foliacea). 



