XVII. 



BEAUTEOUS stars also the sea contains, as number- 

 less, though not so brilliant in appearance as those 

 which stud the firmament of heaven ; fiowers, too, 

 grow beneath the wave, and rival in loveliness the 

 gems which adorn our fields and hedge-rows. Nay, 

 more, like the land, the ocean owns its various 

 grasses, its lemons, and cucumbers, its worms, slugs, 

 and shelly snails, its hedgehogs, its birds, its ducks 

 and geese (anatidce), its dogs, its hares, and lastly its 

 mice (aphroditoe.) The latter objects, despite their 

 unprepossessing name, being in no wise less interest- 

 ing than those above mentioned. 



The Aphrodite aculeata is, perhaps, one of the 

 most gorgeous creatures that inhabits the seas of our 

 British coast. Its body is covered with a coating of 

 short brown hairs, but as these approach the sides of 

 the animal, they become intermixed with long dark 

 bristles, the whole of which are of an iridescent 

 character. In one respect this creature bears no re- 

 semblance to its namesake of the land, being extremely 



