
A STROLL BY THE SEA-SIDE. 237 
hundreds of miniature aquaria in the crevices of the rocks, 
freshly stocked and daily replenished by nature, while the 
surrounding conditions, in the form of clean rocks dried by 
the sun, the absence of foliage to obstruct the light, offer the 
collector every opportunity to study the marvels of sea-life 
in their native haunts. Thus, while the sea-side offers un- 
rivalled attractions to the tourist, it opens to the naturalist a 
field for study as vast as the sea itself. 
Let us take advantage of a day at the sea-side, by a stroll 
along the shore between high and low-water mark, and jot 
_ down afew observations on the more common forms that 
ire sure to meet the eye at every turn. And first of all we 
notice the rocks whitened as if by a painter’s brush. All the 
exposed ledges, as far as the eye can reach, reflect the rays 
of the sun like snow-drifts. Can it be possible that this 
limy covering is made up of little sentient animals, whose 
soft bodies moisten the rocks, as we crush them by hundreds 
at every step? 
We examine them, and yet no signs of life are seen; 
closely they remain locked up in their shelly casements. 
Yet ina neighboring pool of water we see these tiny ani- 
mals with their doors thrown wide open, and a little crown 
of feelers flung out in constant action. And this motion 
7 incessantly repeated, making a movement like the grasp 
of a human hand in space. These animals are known as 
Barnacles (Plate 6, figs. 1, 2). They not only clothe the 
rocks in summer, but form an almost impenetrable coat of 
mail around the piles of our piers, and by their rapid growth 
foul the ship’s bottom at sea. 
A closer inspection of this animal with a lens reveals the 
_ fact, that the appendages thrown out so actively are lined 
with little hairs; that the mouth is situated within the shell 
at the base of these appendages, and that the clutching mo- 
7 tion is made to secure the minute particles of food that float 
an water, which are swept toward the mouth and secured 
yt. One hardly wearies of watching the rhythmical and 

