CHAPTER V. 



VARIOUS COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SHORE. 



" Now is it pleasant on a summer eve, 

 When a broad shore retiring waters leave, 

 Awhile to wait upon the firm fair sand, 

 When all is calm at sea, and still at land, 

 And there the ocean's produce to explore, 

 As floating by> or rolling on the shore ; 

 Those living jellies which the flesh inflame, 

 Fierce as a nettle, and from that its name ; 

 Some in huge masses, some that you may bring 

 In the small compass of a lady's ring. 

 Figured by hand divine there 's not a gem 

 Wrought by man's art can be compared with them ; 

 Soft, brilliant, tender, through the wave they glow, 

 And make the moonbeam brighter where they flow." 



CRABBE. 



ONE of the most frequent objects' on our shores 

 is a yellowish ball, composed of a number of little 

 bladders, of about the size of a pea, and of a 

 membranous and tough material. These balls 

 skim over the stones or sands on a rough day, 

 never stopping till they fall into some cavity, or 

 lodge themselves against the side of a boat 

 or pier, where they often lie in numbers. They 

 are the egg-shells of the common whelk, and when 

 first deposited, are soft and full of a cream-like 

 substance. They shortly harden, and the bladders 

 then become full of small roundish eggs. There 

 are sometimes as many as a hundred eggs in each 

 case, though not more than four or five on an 

 average come to perfection. The young animals, 



