64 Animal Life 
‘Many a time have I shown to a friend what is to all 
appearance an untenanted pool, and yet one after the other 
I have made him see forms that at first were merely 
parts of the general scheme of decoration, but ultimately 
attain some solidity and stand out distinct when the eye 
has learned what to look for. In such a pool there 
may be a score of small shannies with their bright 
mobile eyes turned up at you and curiously watching 
every movement, but quite invisible to the watcher who 
is not looking for anything in particular. But when I 
have put my finger-tips in the water and wriggled it 
gently, all the shannies converge towards it, clinging 
to the walls as long as possible for the colour protection 
they afford, and at last making a jump for the finger-tips. 
Small prawns, erstwhile invisible, also come to the same 
bait. 
You have got to adapt your eyes to see through 
the clear water to the bottom, and the glare of sunshine 
on the surface often makes this very difficult, but the 
shadow of your hat will be found helpful. Daisy 
anemones and the gem pimplet anemone at the 
bottom are species that only come into view after you 
have been gazing at them for some time. Then you 
will see brittle-stars and sand-stars wriggling about as 
though their five arms were miniature snakes. Small 
sea-urchins are there, and young hermit crabs 
scrambling unsteadily beneath their winkle-shell houses. 
SMOOTH VENUS SHELL. 
These are washed up by gales from deep water. 
The weeds that drape the walls harbour many small crustaceans, including the 
remarkable skeleton shrimp that successfully imitates the jointed lime-coated corallines. 
Where the sands are of fine grain 
BRITTLE-STAR, 
they may be explored with spade or trowel. 
In suitable localities the digger may be 
rewarded by specimens of the masked 
crab, the round crab, or the singular 
heart-urchin, which Cornish fishermen call 
“Pussy,” its stone-box being covered with 
a thick close coat of depressed silky 
bristles in leu of the stiff upright spines 
of the other species. All this digging 
work must be carried out in the sands as 
near low-water mark as possible. There 
will be found the razor-shell and many 
other bivalves, including the handsome 
spiny cockles, and on the surface washed 
up by gales from deeper water the fine 
Smooth Venus. 
Above the tide-marks on the sandy 
shore there are interesting land snails, 
especially under the leaves of such plants 
as sea holly and burdock. While for the 
botanist, of course, both cliff and sand- 
