34 THE THICK- HORNED ANEMONE. 



wliicli he makes into his well-known tahles and chim- 

 ney-jiieces, — is not less rugged and worn into caverns 

 and holes than that side which I have just been 

 describing. It is, however, very different in its 

 character and its productions. The erosions have a 

 greater tendency to form deep basins in which the 

 water always lies ; and the lofty rock overhangs much 

 more. Add to this that, the aspect being north, the 

 sun's rays never penetrate to the cavities. For all 

 these reasons they are particularly dark, and therefore 

 favourable for the development of the deeper-growing 

 AlgcL', and many of the zoophytes which are impatient 

 of much light. 



To get at them you walk along a tolerably level 

 platform of rock beneath the cliff, for some distance, 

 towards the point of the promontory, till you are 

 arrested by a cleft, a little too wide to be leaped, that 

 runs right up to the perpendicular face of the cliff. 

 By means of one or two slight projections you can 

 scramble across here, and then from the opposite side 

 descend into the chasm, where you will find one or 

 two beautiful little deep basins, almost as regular and 

 smooth, especially near the bottom, as if they had 

 been chiselled out of the marble by a sculptor. 



ACTINIA CRASSICORNIS. 



In the few holes and angles that are found around 

 the sides of these rock-pools dwell some fine speci- 

 mens of the noblest species of Sea-anemone that I 

 am acquainted with. Actinia crassicornia. They are 

 rather difficult to procure, because of the firmness 



