90 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



strip of water with which the tide had begun to mingle I 

 noticed many live specimens of the Serolis Orbigniana, some 

 slowly crawling along the bottom, while others rapidly paddled 

 along the surface on their backs. Leaving my associates to 

 walk farther along the beach in pursuit of some ducks at a 

 short distance, I entered the woods, and was greatly delighted 

 by their beauty, for the leaves of the beeches still retained 

 their fresh greenness, and an endless variety of light and shade 

 was produced by the slanting beams of the descending sun 

 stealing in here and there. Perfect silence reigned around, 

 save for the trickling of a small stream which wound its way 

 through the trees, and the occasional hum of a musquito, or 

 the distant tap of a woodpecker. The ground in many places 

 was carpeted with mosses ; the lovely CodonorcJiis displayed its 

 white flowers in abundance, and many of the fallen trunks 

 were thickly fringed with the delicately-cut fronds of the 

 Cystopteris fragilis, which, in common with several other spe- 

 cies of our native ferns, possesses a very wide range. In 

 Hooker's Synopsis Filicum its habitat is given as " Europe and 

 Asia everywhere from Iceland to Kamtschatka, from the 

 Arctic regions to Madeira and the Himalayas, where it ascends 

 to 15,000 feet ; mountains of Abyssinia and Fernando Po ; 

 South Africa ; Van Diemen's Land, Kew Zealand, Sandwich 

 Islands ; temperate IS", and S. America ; and mountains in the 

 intermediate tropical zone." 



After some time spent in exploration I rejoined my com- 

 panions, and, as it was getting late, we began to retrace our 

 steps homewards. It was a lovely serene evening, and an 

 exquisite soft light was shed over the sward near the sea, and 

 on the scattered beeches close to the woods, many of which 

 reminded us of cedars in the manner of their growth ; and, to 

 add to our pleasure, thrushes made their appearance on some 



