THE WONDERS OF THE SHOEE. 79 



of the sea becomes thus invested with a fresh mys- 

 tery ; its vast recesses appear to be stored with all 

 imaginable forms ; and we are tempted to think 

 there must be multitudes of living creatures whose 

 very figure and structure have never yet been sus- 

 pected. 



" ' sea ! old sea ! who yet knows half 

 Of thy wonders or thy pride ! ' " 



Gosse's A quarium, pp. 226, 227. 



But first, as after descending the gap in the sea- 

 w^all we walk along the ribbed floor of hard yellow 

 sand, be so kind as to give a sharp look-out for 

 a round grey disc, about as big as a penny-piece, 

 peeping out on the surface. No ; that is not it, 

 that little lump : open it, and you will find within 

 one of the common little Venus gallina. — (They 

 have given it some new name now, and no thanks 

 to them : they are always changing the names, 

 those closet collectors, instead of studying the live 

 animals where Nature has put them, in which case 

 they would have no time for word-inventing. Nay, 

 I verily suspect that the names grow, like other 



