72 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



themselves into simi)le cornigations of the investing mem- 

 brane ; and I can very confidently assert that in no single 

 species of Terehella which has fallen in my way, was there 

 the slightest trace of muscle. 



But enough of anatomy for this morning ! The lovely 

 lanes of Ilfracombe invite us, and we may cool our over- 

 heated brows by a delicious breeze blowing over the Tors ; 

 or perhaps the noble sweep of Tenby sands seduces us to 

 walk to Giltar Point. A bottle or two wdll be useful in 

 either expedition ; a small basket will be worth the trouble 

 of carriage if we take the sands, for there was a gale last 

 night, and who knows what may have been thrown up by 

 it ? And if you trust to your hands to carry all you may 

 find, you will, perhaps, be the " observed of all obser^^rs," 

 as I was, carrying a large Cuttlefish in each hand, whUe some 

 compassionate sailors superfluously assured me, "Them's not 

 good to eat, sir ! " Another day I transported a Dogfish 

 through the streets — much to the horror of all the flounces, 

 and the ineffable scorn of all the pink shirts and telescopes. 

 You may be as indifferent to the stares and the scorns of 

 flounces and telescopes as I was, but still I say, out of mere 

 convenience, carry a phial, if not a basket. On one memor- 

 able afternoon we came upon, and almost stepped upon, an 

 adder lying just outside the hedge. All is grist to the 

 anatomist's mill, so I cut off" the adder's head, and wrapped 

 it in my pocket-handkerchief. Presently we came to a 

 pleasant pond, the surface of which, with its varied greenth 

 of scum, was so full of promise that there burst from me a 

 sudden Ok ! which stai'tled, and not a little puzzled, a lazy 



