158 GLAUCUS; OR, 



on, to beg you not to despise tliose pink, or grey, or 

 white lumps of jelly, which will expand in salt water 

 into exquisite sea-anemones, of quite different forms 

 from any which we have found along the rocks. One 

 of them will certainly be the Dianthus,* which will 

 open into a furbelowed flower, furred with innumer- 

 able delicate tentacida ; and in the centre, a mouth 

 of the most brilliant orange, the size of the whole 

 animal being perhaps eight inches high and five 

 across. Perhaps it will be of a satiny grey, perhaps 

 pale rose, perhaps pure white ; whatever its colour, it 

 is the very maiden queen of all the beautiful tribe, 

 and one of the loveliest gems, in my opinion, with 

 which it has pleased God to bedeck this lower world. 

 These and much more you will find on the scal- 

 lops, or even more plentifully on any lump of ancient 

 oysters ; and if you do not dredge, it would be well 

 worth your while to make interest with the fish- 

 monger for a few oyster-lumps, put into water the 

 moment they are taken out of the trawl. Divide 

 them carefully, clear out the oysters with a knife, 



* There are very fine specimens in the Zoological Gardens. 



