SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



TUE START — ILFRACOMBE — HOW TO HUNT FOR MARINE ANIMALS — NECESSARY 

 EQUIPMENT — A DAY'S HUNT— SEA HAKES— TEREBELL^— ASPECTS OF THE 

 SEA— RETURN HOME— GLASS JARS AND GLASS TANKS— IDENTIFYING ANI- 

 MALS—BOOKS NECESSARY FOB THE STUDENT— DELIGHTS OF THE MICRO- 

 SCOPE—POPULAR ERRORS RESPECTING THE MICROSCOPE— EXPERIMENT. 



A FEW warm sunny days in April 1856, which flew over 

 our heads like swallows twittering of the coming summer, 

 stirred in my bosom irresistible longings to quit the moil 

 and turmoil of metropolitan crowds for the bright and 

 breezy coast. As I hurried through the noisy streets, or 

 sauntered through the comparatively quiet lanes of Eichmond 

 and Twickenham, and looked at the summerhke sky above, 

 I began to miderstand the migration of birds, and felt some- 

 thing of what they must feel, when certain dim imperious 

 influences urge them to quit their present homes, and traverse 

 many a weary league of foam, in search of the resting-place 

 awaiting them somewhere with a warmer smile. I grew 

 impatient to take wing. I asked myself constantly — 



" Why, though ill at ease 

 Within this region I subsist, 

 Whose spiiits fail within the mist 

 And languish for the purple seas ? " 



