1891 OBJECTS OF THE SEA-SHORE 3H 



about by its cilia. The starfish proper is formed inside, and it 

 is carried on its back this-uns. 



Finally starfish drops off carrying with it t'other one's stom- 

 ach, so that the subsequent proceedings interest t'other one no 

 more. 



4. The ropy sand tubes that make a sort of banks and reefs 

 are houses of worms, that they build up out of sand, shells, and 

 slime. If you knock a lot to pieces you will find worms inside. 



5. Now, how do I know what the rooks eat? But there are 

 a lot of unconsidered trifles about, and if you get a good tele- 

 scope and watch, you will have a glimpse as they hover between 

 sand and rooks' beaks. 



It has been blowing more or less of a gale here from the 

 west for weeks — usually cold, often foggy — so that it seems as 

 if summer were going to be late, probably about November. 



But we thrive fairly well. L. and J. and their chicks are 

 here and seem to stand the inclemency of the weather pretty 

 fairly. The children are very entertaining. 



M has been a little complaining, but is as active as 



usual. 



My love to Joyce, and tell her I am glad to hear she has 

 not forgotten her astronomy. 



In answer to your enquiry, Leonard says that Trevenen has 

 twenty-five teeth. I have a sort of notion this can be hardly 

 accurate, but never having been a mother can't presume to say. 

 — Our best love to you all. — Ever your loving Pater. 



Hodeslea, Eastbourne, Aug. 26, 1891. 



Dearest Babs — 'Pears to me your friend is a squid or pen- 

 and-ink fish. Loligo among the learned. Probably Loligo media 

 which I have taken in that region. They have ten tentacles 

 with suckers round their heads, two much longer than the others. 

 They are close to cuttle-fish, but have a thin horny shell inside 

 them instead of the " cuttle-bone." If you can get one by itself 

 in a tub of water, it is pretty to see how they blush all over and 

 go pale again, owing to little colour-bags in the skin, which ex- 

 pand and contract. Doubtless they took you for a heron, under 

 the circumstances [sketch of a wader]. 



With slight intervals it has been blowing a gale from the 

 west here for some months, the memory of man indeed goeth not 

 back to the calm. I have not been really warm more than two 

 days this so-called summer. And everybody prophesied we 

 should be roasted alive here in summer. 



