THE AKCIIIPELAGO OF CHAUSEY. 5 



our eyes, so that these crystalline organisms seem 

 almost to invite science to raise a corner of the veil 

 which conceals from us the mysteries of that which 

 we term life. 



In the midst of these attractive studies I found 

 that the field of my researches was continually gain- 

 ing in extent and beauty. But I was desirous, before 

 I advanced further on my present path of inquiry, 

 to obtain new materials for comparison, and to in- 

 vestigate, in a similar manner, those larger types of 

 the inferior forms of animal life which are only to 

 be found on the sea-shore. The ocean, to which I 

 was still a stranger, attracted me in its varied coast 

 lines, its innumerable zoological races, and its tides, 

 which serve alternately to conceal and to reveal its 

 treasures. These I resolved to explore; but the 

 difficulty was to make a selection among the many 

 different points of our western shores. At last, 

 however, I was led to decide in favour of a group of 

 islands situated to the north-west of the Bay of 

 St. Michael's Mount, and designated by the pompous 

 title of the Archipelago of Chausey. About the 

 middle of June I packed up my dissecting instru- 

 ments, a few books, numerous glass bottles and 

 basins, my excellent Oberhauser microscope, my 

 study lamp, maps of the islands of Chausey and of 

 the Bay of St. Michael's Mount, and thus equipped 

 I set forth on my scientific campaign. I will spare 

 my readers the details of my journey, as nothing 

 could be more thoroughly commonplace. I passed 

 through Normandy under a cold and foggy sky; 



B 3 



