THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 101 



and wrinkled proboscis of saffron colour, which serves, 

 in some mysterious way, soft as it is, to collect food, 

 and clear its dark passage through the rock. 



See, at the extreme low-water mark, where the 

 broad olive fronds of the Laminarise, lilvc fan-palms, 

 droop and wave gracefully in the retiring ripples, 

 a great boulder which will serve our purpose. Its 

 upper side is a whole forest of sea-weeds, large and 

 small : and that forest, if you examined it closely, 

 as full of inhabitants as those of the Amazon or the 

 Gambia. To "beat" that dense cover would be an 

 endless task ; but on the under side, where no sea- 

 weeds grow, we shall find full in view enough to 

 occupy us till the tide returns. For the slab, see, is 

 such a one as sea-beasts love to haunt. Its weed- 

 covered surface shows that the surge has not shifted 

 it for years past. It lies on other boulders clear of 

 sand and mud, so that there is no fear of dead sea- 

 weed having lodged and decayed under it, destruc- 

 tive to animal life. We can see dark crannies 

 and caves beneath ; yet too narrow to allow the 

 surge to wash in, and keep the surface clean. It 



