Natural History Society of H. I>., BuUetin No. lY. 
9G 
Tlic rocks consist mostly of much-jointed red sandstones, covered at 
the point by boulders of various sizes. Here may be found great 
numbers of the green spine clad sea urchins, red, yellow, green and 
purple star-fishes, holothurians displaying in some quiet tide pool 
their magnificent branching feathery tentacles, while on turning over 
some fiat stone, clinging to its under surface is the spotted sand-star, 
turning its fine, snake-like, fringed arms in rapid and irregular 
motion, and colonies of bryozoa looking like miniature ranges of red 
and yellow volcanoes. If one is fortunate enough to find, without 
disturbing it, a sea-anemone in the water, he will be rewarded by 
beholding a beautiful sight, for the long and slender tentacles, moving 
continually, decompose the light and send back to the eye the most 
varied, lovely and ever-changing hues. And speaking of beauty, that 
man would be dull indeed who would not be moved to admiration by 
many of our marine invertebrates. If he love beauty of form, the 
arrowy flight of the cuttle fish, the slow and measured contraction 
and expansion of the disc of the jelly fish, the serpentine turning of 
the rays of the brittle star, the rapid sweep of the arm of the bar- 
nacles, will show him grace in motion ; the wonderful structure of 
the interior framework of the rays of the star-fish, resembling the 
most delicate and perfect Grecian architecture, grace and elegance, 
fixed and embodied ; while the ever-changing, iridescent hues of some 
of the annelids, the pearly light from the interior of a fresh mussel 
shell, the effects due to the decomposition and reflection of light by 
the slender tentacles of the sea-anemone, afford a richness and deli- 
cacy of coloring that cannot be surpassed. Very beautiful, too, is 
tlie phosphoresence. On a dark night a boat rowed over the water 
seems to plough through a sea of living fire ; long lines of lambent 
flame run from the bow, while every dip of the oar makes to flash 
anew the ghostly gleaming water. But if the observer is fortunate 
enough to behold it at night, when the sky is overcast and the surf 
rollino' in great waves upon the beach, he will see it at its best. All 
the water is dark exce})t when a wave breaks, and then a line of 
bluish light is followed by darkness again, while upon the shore 
itself the water is incessantly alight, and rolling up upon the beach 
ai»d receding, it leaves the sand carpeted with brilliancy. And all 
til is effect is jiroduced by the tiny bactilinea ; such is the power of 
numbers. 
But, after all, how little is really known not only of these but of 
