complaint may be heard : "I want my 

 white anemone to perch on the bridge, 

 and he won't." 



Sometimes, seeing an anemone throw 

 out an extension behind the glass, you 

 think it is going to walk off, but the 

 other edge holds firm while the extension 

 takes shape. Next it becomes a penin- 

 sula with a well-defined isthmus, which 

 gradually shrinks to one point of con- 

 tact (as the lower rim of the rising 

 moon seems to elongate and cling to the 

 water, giving her the air of parting un- 

 willingly from her gilded wake). When 

 the last point of contact is severed, there 

 is a baby anemone, no bigger than a split 

 pea, all ready to set up for itself. 



Anemones must be taken from the 

 rock with care and patience, loosening a 

 bit at a time, or they will be torn and 

 spoiled. Limpets must be surprised and 

 "run in" while their shells are raised. If 

 time is given one to shut down that shell, 

 you may smash it, but you cannot move 

 it. Cockles have no such power of suc- 

 tion and may be picked like berries ; and 

 we had some very handsome barred ones, 

 orange and black, and orange and white. 

 We used to drop empty shells of this 

 variety in the hermit crab's path, in hopes 

 he might be induced to tenant one; but 

 he objects to display, and always chose 

 to shamble about in the shabbiest old 

 barrack to be found. But perhaps he 

 had an eye for color after all, and with 

 his precious tail in mind, feared to attract 

 attention. 



The two green weeds of use and 

 beauty in the aquarium, the broad-leaved 

 ulva and the ropy enteromorpha, are to 

 be found in great abundance on a long 

 spit of pebbles running out at the mouth 

 of the canal, turning it perceptibly green 

 in late summer ; but the first easterly will 

 start an undertow and roll these pebbles, 

 rubbing off all the best weed. There- 

 fore it is desirable to secure a supply be- 

 fore this occurs ; but this course has its 



difficulties, since the storms always come 

 in September, and the aquarium is sel- 

 dom started before October. The aim 

 should be to secure the largest possible 

 weed on the smallest possible stones, ex- 

 cept for bridge-building, when displace- 

 ment gives way to other considerations. 

 Enteromorpha entangles more air bub- 

 bles than ulva, and is therefore of more 

 vital importance; but the broad wavy 

 ulva, with its flutings and deep cuttings, 

 is very graceful and makes the aquarium, 

 when the light streams through it, quite 

 as fresh and summery-looking as a pot of 

 ferns. The water must be clear, how- 

 ever, and the glass kept free from the 

 green, which tends to gather on it as cer- 

 tainly as on all else in the tank. Limpets 

 are especially useful in keeping down the 

 verdure, pasturing on it like cows; and 

 what they leave must be scraped off with 

 a long palette knife or other implement, 

 for hands must not be put into the water. 

 The expression Low Tides in the al- 

 manac is often misunderstood and has 

 brought people thirty miles before now, 

 expecting access to the lowest rock pools 

 on the strength of it, whereas they 

 scarcely found the upper edge of the 

 weed uncovered. Low tides are feeble 

 at both ends. The collector wants High 

 Tides, but these are always low at sun- 

 rise and sunset, inconvenient hours in 

 the short days of October. A waxing 

 light is to be preferred to a waning one, 

 but in this case the sallying party must 

 get up before light, to be on the ground 

 at least an hour before the tide turns. 

 But enthusiasm sticks at nothing, and on 

 one such occasion there escaped from the 

 upper story a murmured fragment : 



"Their pillows scornin', 

 That self-same mornin', 

 Thimsilves adornin', 

 All by candlelight." 



But the adornment was mainly com- 

 posed of rubber boots and the oldest 

 clothes to be found. 



Helen Mansfield. 



187 



