186 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



with that of the latter tribes is found to exhibit a 

 most remarkable kind of compensation.* All these 

 species proved real treasures to us, and it was with 

 no common eagerness that, armed with hammers, 

 we pursued them to the inmost recesses of their 

 narrow caverns, where we rapidly contrived to fill 

 our vials and boxes with a rich supply of specimens. 

 When the object of our researches was thus success- 

 fully achieved, we hurried back to the village, and 

 at once immersed our captives in large glass vessels, 

 filled with clear sea-water, in which we were able 

 to trace their slightest movements ; and selecting 

 those individuals which were doomed to be the first 

 victims to science, we entered enthusiastically into 

 the enjoyments yielded by unchecked indulgence in 

 our favourite studies. 



How rapidly the hours passed, as each, following 

 some clue, opened by former studies or presented 

 by the suggestion of the moment, contributed his 

 share towards the thorough elaboration of the rich 

 mine that had been thrown open to us, while his 

 personal gain seemed tripled by the labours and dis- 

 coveries of his companions, added to his own ! To 

 me especially this companionship added an inex- 

 pressible charm to my studies, from the contrast it 

 presented to my former experience of solitude at 

 Chausey, St. Malo, Brehat, and St. Yast la Hougue. 

 To understand what solitude really is, one must be 



* In the Nemertes the intestine is simple and only slightly 

 developed, whilst in the Planarias, on the contrary, it ramifies 

 throughout the entire body, and is moreover highly complicated. 



