THE 
By F. Martin 
ik it were possible to obtamm a census 
of all the pretty flotsam and jetsam 
gathered during the annual holiday, as 
mementos of pleasant rambles by the dancing, 
sunlit waves, the graceful seaweed-like objects 
portrayed here would be found to be in the 
majority. Cast ashore by the ebbing tide, 
their graceful feathery fronds all ghttermg 
with prismatic colours, they may well rank 
amongst the most beautiful waifs of the sea 
and be treasured as mementos of the happy 
summer days spent by the 
restless waves; while if the 
romantic and wonderful 
story of their life history 
were more generally 
known, they would be still 
more valued and keenly 
sought by the holiday- 
maker. 
For a long while the 
feathery, seaweed-like 
things were a sore puzzle 
to all scientific men, and 
the cause of many fierce 
and wordy battles; so 
that for a while the world 
of science was split up 
into two parties, each 
THE DESERTED VILLAGE. 
This beautiful object was once the home of a 
colony of Moss Animals. 
STORY OF SOME STRANGE ANIMAL COLONIES. 
Duncan, F.R.H.S. 
perfectly certain that. their own particular 
theory was right. And all this wordy warfare 
arose from the uncertainty as to whether these 
common objects of the seashore belonged to 
the animal or vegetable kingdom. 
At first those who considered these 
sraceful objects to belong to the vegetable 
kingdom were in the majority, and certainly 
this was not to be wondered at, for as 
generally seen when stranded on the shore 
they are singularly plant-like in appearance. 
And as plants these 
seaweed-like things would 
have been classed to this 
day, had not those opposed 
to that theory got out 
their microscopes and, 
instead of looking at the 
dead specimens cast up by 
the receding tide, gathered 
fresh and lving forms 
from out the deep, rock- 
bound pools and, placing 
them in little glass jars 
full of fresh sea water, 
> patiently watched their 
se motions. 
Richly were those 
patient watchers rewarded, 
121 
