WORK AT THE SEASHORE. 239 



without previous experience, he immediately fell into 

 the ways of a collector of marine objects, discovering 

 almost by intuition what species were and what were not 

 suited for artificial preservation, and how the sensitive 

 varieties of plants and fixed animals were to be transported 

 without injury. Nevertheless he was not entirely satisfied 

 with St. Marychurch as a centre ; it suited him zoologi- 

 cally, but not medically. His headaches returned, and the 

 soft luscious air seemed to leave him constantly weaker. 

 In March he tried Brixham, on the south side of the bay ; 

 but this was warmer still, and not so favourable for collect- 

 ing. At the end of April he determined to try the northern 

 coast of the county. The prevalence of a heavy surf upon 

 the shore below St. Marychurch, in consequence of an 

 undeviating wind from the east, had prevented him from 

 being as successful as he had hoped to be. Still he had 

 gained great experience, and had added many new species 

 to the English fauna. Among the sea-anemones, in par- 

 ticular, which had hitherto been greatly neglected, he had 

 already secured several novelties. Two beautiful species, 

 now widely known to zoologists, rosea and nivea, Philip 

 Gosse had the good fortune to discover on the same day, 

 April 20, the one on the south, the other on the north side 

 of the limestone headland called Petit Tor. These were 

 his latest trophies there, for in the course of the following 

 week the family transferred themselves to Ilfracombe, on 

 the Bristol Channel, then already a summer resort of some 

 local repute. 



The change was instantly beneficial. The air of North 

 Devon proved much more exhilarating, and the rock-pools 

 even richer than those of the Oddicombe district. He 

 found the angular basins in the slaty coast densely fringed 

 with seaweeds, under whose lucent curtains lurked an 

 immense and luxuriant variety of zoophytes of every 



