THE YOtfffG NATURALIST. 



127 



Heath" after the special moth to be obtained 

 there— the Speckled Footman (C. cribntm j. 

 Th - last day of their stay they took the 

 train from Brockenhurst station to Ley- 

 mington, from thence by boat to Yarmouth, 

 in the Isle of Wight, and from there they 

 walked across the island to Freshwater Bay. 

 Going down to the beach they find that the 

 tide is out, so shoes and stockings are taken 

 off, and a search is at once begun. Beautiful 

 little crabs, anemones, and various colored 

 sea-weeds are handed out, and placed in 

 proper receptacles. The latter were to be 

 washed in fresh water, and then pressed 

 between sheets of blotting paper, and when 

 sufficiently dry were to be mounted in a 

 book as a momsnto of their visit. 



"Hallo!" said John, as he lifted up a large 

 piece of matted sea- weed from the sand, "just 

 look here, life without end." He had disturbed 

 the peace of some hundreds of the little 

 "sand-hoppers" (Talitrus Locusta ) which were 

 jumping about in all directions ; then he 

 picked up a mussel, which, on opening, was 

 found to contain a living pea-crab (Pinnotheres 

 pisum ) ; then a fine shell, or an interesting 

 zoophite. The next object that arrested 

 their attention was a very pretty white 

 longish bivalve shell, thicker at one end 

 than the other, and with serrated ribs run- 

 ning lengthwise. 



" What do you call this ? " said John. 



" I believe it is a Pholas," said Mrs. Summer. 



"Yes, a Pholas, that is the name, I thought 

 it was, I have read of them boring into 

 timber, and even into hard rock, but what a 

 delicate shell for such work ! " 



Another object of interest was now picked 

 up, it was a piece of sea-mat (Flustra), gener- 

 ally looked upon by visitors to the sea shore 

 as a sea weed, but which is no plant at all, 

 but an animal organism. If a piece of sea- 

 mat be examined with a pocket lens, it will 

 be found to be constructed of a series of 

 minute cells, each of which once was in- 

 habited by a living zoophite. 



The tide was now rapidly advancing 



towards high-water, which drove the party 

 from the beach to the pastures on the cliff 

 top. They had not been long there when 

 their attention was arrested by the call notes 

 of birds, which were new to them, but upon 

 getting near one they were able to see they 

 were Stonechats, which had bred among the 

 furze. 



A grassy slope was selected, and the three 

 sat down for lunch, where they had a g»od 

 view of the white chalk rocks, and the wide 

 expanse of sea, beyond which lay the French 

 coast. Presently a native passes, and John 

 determined to have a word with him. 



" Good afternoon." says he, " can you tell 

 me how high those cliffs are ? " 



" Why, Sirs," answered the weather beaten 

 boatman, " yonder at Sun Corner they reckon 

 as its about 600 feet, and yet men go over the 

 top, and are let down by ropes to get the sea- 

 birds' eggs. " 



" Sea birds do breed in those cliffs then ? " 

 enquired Mus. Summer. 



" Ah ! bless ye, mam, I should think they 

 does ; you should ha' been here this morning 

 at day-break ; you would ha' thought the face 

 o' the cliffs were falling into the sea : thou- 

 sands and thousands o' birds ! but they have 

 gone out to sea now fishing ; ye may see a 

 few here and there, odd ones just coming in, 

 but nothing like what there will be in a few 

 hours," 



A merry twitter somewhere among the 

 grass caught Sunshine's ear. 



"Hark! a grasshopper!" and crouching 

 on her knees, Sunshine crept gently towards 

 the place from whence the sound came. 

 Gently, and still more gently, as she neared 

 the object of her attention, until she was 

 within three feet of him, and could distinctly 

 see his hind legs in quick vibration against 

 his wing cases which caused the noise. A 

 i little nearer, and just as her hand was about 

 ! to lay hold of him, he took a tremendous 

 jump and bade her good-bye. 



(To be continued. J 



