62 TOR ABBEY SANDS. 



ing the hue to become first violet, then a purple more 

 and more tinged with red, till at length, after five or 

 six hours (in a room without direct sun -light) it 

 assumes its final tint, a rather dull purplish crimson, 

 or lake. The direct beams of the sun, however, 

 greatly expedite the process, and at any stage will 

 carry the remaining stages through to completion in 

 a few minutes, 



TOR ABBEY SANDS. 



OiF the Tor Abbey sands and headland, the receding 

 tide leaves bare a large surface of rock, chiefly sand- 

 stone and conglomerate. Little shallow pools occur 

 abundantly, filled with AlgcB of various species, among 

 which colonies of Anthea cereus^ of both the grey and 

 the green varieties, are common. The soft sandstone 

 is inhabited by Pholas daciylus,midL Ph. parva; the 

 orifices of whose burrows reveal their secret ; the first 

 stroke of the hammer on the stone causes the animal 

 to contract in alarm, and the result is an instant 

 ejection of a slender jet of clear water from the hole, 

 to the distance of several inches. 



Under loose stones I found Doris hilamellata nu- 

 merous, four, five and six under one stone, mostly 

 spawning ; one specimen of the blackish-grey variety of 

 B, jpilosa occurred among them. The soft spongy 

 texture of the cloak in this species gives it a character 

 very diff'erent from that of the former. In the same 

 situations also I found several of the pretty little 

 Gibbous Starlet {Asterina gihhosa /) also the young 

 of Trochus ziziphinus, and a lump of rock covered with 



