368 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE 



CHAPTER XVIII 



ZOOPHYTES 



IT is pleasant to go down to the shore on a bright 

 autumnal morning at low water, when the tide has 

 receded far, exposing great areas of wet sand and 

 wildernesses of rugged rocks draped with black and red 

 weed. It is pleasant to make our way on cautious foot 

 round some frowning point whose base is usually beaten 

 by the billows; to travel among the slippery bowlders, 

 now leaping from one to another, now winding between 

 them, now creeping under their beetling roofs: to pene- 

 trate where we have never ventured before, and to explore 

 with a feeling of undefined awe the wild solitudes where 

 the hollow sea growls, and the gray gull wails. It is pleas- 

 ant to get under the shadow of the tall cliffs of limestone, 

 to creep into low arching caves, and there to stoop and 

 peer into the dark pools, which are filled to the brim with 

 water as clear as crystal and as unruffled as a well. What 

 microcosms are these rugged basins! How full of life all 

 unsuspected by the rude stonecutter that daily trudges by 

 them to and from his work in the marble quarry of the 

 cliff above! What arts, and wiles, and stratagems are 

 being practiced there ! what struggles for mastery, for food, 

 for life! what pursuits and nights! what pleasant gambols! 

 what conjugal and parental affections! what varied enjoy- 

 ments! what births! what deaths! are every hour going 



