38 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



these, which nature itself seems to have prepared for 

 us, and how much science may be advanced by the 

 profound study of beings so insignificant in appear- 

 ance. I was most anxious to commence my observa- 

 tions, and I, therefore, lost no time after I was once 

 domiciled in setting to work with hearty good will. 



I was especially impatient to explore the Saca- 

 viron, a narrow channel which separates Meule 

 from Ile-aux-Oiseaux, whose zoological treasures 

 have been made known by MM. Audouin and Milne 

 Edwards. After having been disappointed, on ac- 

 count of the prevalence of storms, I was at length 

 enabled to visit it during the magnificent weather of 

 our July spring tide. Imagine a narrow and deep 

 valley, with precipitous rocks on either side, shining 

 brightly in the sun wherever the granite had been 

 denuded of its covering of fucus by the knife of the 

 barilla-collector. At the bottom of this wild ravine, 

 from which the ocean retreats only three or four 

 times a year, a small stream of clear and limpid sea- 

 water flows over pebbles which have been dyed 

 every shade of colour by different kinds of Fucus, 

 Coralline, Spongodium*, and other species of Algae. 

 In this spot, where every stone is a world within 

 itself, I was able to contemplate in its incredible 

 variety the domain of the lower marine animals; 

 here I could admire in all their glory those unknown 

 wonders of the deep of which even our best museums 

 afford not the least idea; for these animal forms 

 droop and, as it were, fade from view whenever 



* The Spongodium is a plant belonging to the family of the 

 Algae, looking very much like a green sponge. 



