276 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



other times assuming au hour-glass constriction in the middle. 

 The filaments which contain the "thread-capsules" are 

 poured forth in gi^eat abundance whenever the animal is dis- 

 turbed. While on the subject of Jersey Anemones, it may 

 be added that, besides the ordinary species, I dredged what 

 is probably a vai'iety of the Actinia ornata, described and 

 beautifully figm-ed by Dr Strethill Wright in the Edinburgh 

 Philosophical Journal for July 1856, — the body white, the 

 exterior circle of tentacles orange, the two interior circles 

 white striped with grey, the disc orange in the centre ; very 

 charming to behold. 



Having stocked my jars and dishes, I was somewhat 

 reluctant to broil in a noonday sun amid the rocks, with 

 little hope of finding any animal not already familiar ; and 

 therefore contented myself with the less exciting and more 

 remunerative labour of deep-water hunting. By this I got 

 initiated into the art and mystery of trawling, having made 

 friends with a fisherman, master of a Trawler of about 

 twenty tons. 



Pleasant it is on a bright sunny morning, with a nice 

 breeze from the shore, to recline on the deck of a fast-sailing 

 vessel, and listen to the men retailing their experiences, or 

 watch them heave out and haul in the net. Away we glide 

 towards the coast of France, Jersey melting in the dis- 

 tance, — 



"The sands untumbled, the blue waves untost, 

 And all is stillness, save the seabird's cry 

 And dolphin's leap." 



The net is at the bottom, collecting in its gaping mouth the 

 treasures we are duly awaiting ; meanwhile, in a sort of 



