SHORES OF THE CLYDE AND FIRTH. 
49 
we tread our way to the furthermost point of the rocks, 
passing at various points many specimens of lovely creatures. 
Gazing down the precipitous grey rocks to the ver,. e of 
the blue water beneath, we observe a number of round 
objects here and there adhering to the rocks nearly as large 
as a man's fist, presenting a jagged, thorny-like appearance. 
These objects, both from colour and shape, give to the 
uninitiated the notion that they are so many full-blown poppy- 
heads transferred to the sea from the garden beds of the 
villas above. But what are they Cautiously moving 
down the declivity, we take one up in our hand, and find it to 
be the hedgehog's prototype of the sea, viz., the sea urchin. 
Rising from the deepest depths of the beetling cliff's that 
overhang the sea, these creatures are to be found, particularly 
in the adult state, in the nooks and crevices of the rocks left 
bare by the receding tide basking in the sunlight and air of, 
to them at least, another world; they peacefully await the 
return of their native element, seemingly wrapped in a state 
of sound repose. Who knows not their world of dream- 
land ! Their most frequented spots, however, are the banks 
immediately adjoining the lower ebb reaches of the shore, 
and the shore itself at that point, amongst the boulders 
and stones, where in the spring time they deposit their ova ; 
SEA URCHIN. 
