THE WONDERS OF THE SHOEE. 177 



gliost painters wliich cover the walls of the galleries 

 of Brussels or Antwerp ? And yet the iinconthest 

 has some quaint beauty of its own, while most — the 

 star-fishes and anemones, for example — are nothing 

 but beauty. The brilliant plates in Mr. Gosse's 

 " Aquarium " give, after all, but a meagre picture of 

 the reality, as it may be seen either in his study, or 

 in the tank-house at the Zoological Gardens ; and as 

 it may be seen also, by any one who will follow 

 carefully the directions given at the end of his book, 

 stock a glass vase with such common tilings as he 

 may find in an hour's search at low-tide, and so have 

 an opportunity of seeing how truly Mr. Gosse says, 

 in his valuable preface, that — 



" The habits " (and he might well have added, the 

 marvellous beauty) "of animals will never be tho- 

 roughly known till they are observed in detail. Nor 

 is it sufficient to mark them with attention now and 

 then; they must be closely watched, their various 

 actions carefully noted, their behaviour under dif- 

 ferent circumstances, and especially those movements 

 which seem to us mere vagaries, undirected by any 



