72 
NATURE NOTES 
as far as the eye can reach, stretches an unbroken line of dead 
crabs and crab-shells. It is as if one had come suddenly upon 
one of the plagues of Egypt ! The shells are of every size and 
of many varieties of colour, from rich purples to dull greens and 
browns. Was it the intense cold of the last few days that killed 
these sturdy crustaceans, or the fierce buffeting of the waves ? 
Probably the former, as the shells are for the most part intact. 
Perfect specimens of cuttlebone are to be found strewn about 
the beach, and clumps of the “ Flustra ” coralline, so closely 
resembling seaweed. Nearer the cliffs, fragments of chalk have 
fallen away, revealing sometimes the knobbed whorls of an 
ammonite, sometimes the impression of a shell. Nowadays, 
except for the delicate white Pholas which riddles the chalk 
rocks, this shore is singularly destitute of shells — only the 
commoner kinds are to be found — limpets, mussels, tiny yellow 
“ winkles,” Purpura, and whelks, whose eggs, like balls of 
scales, are found in quantities upon the beach. The dark, 
leathery egg-cases of the skate, “ barrows ” as they are some- 
times called from their shape, are here in abundance, and the 
smaller purse-like egg-cases of the dog-fish are occasionally met 
with. Sometimes, too, one comes upon small grain-like sub- 
stances adhering to the rock. These when hatched produce a 
tiny sort of minnow. But it is in the pools — those epitomes of 
the ocean — that the chief treasures are to be found. Here the 
seaweed, which looks like so much tangled pulp when stranded 
high and dry upon the beach, floats out its fairy meshes of 
crimson and pink, and myriads of feathery white tufts dot the 
surface of the water. These latter are found to be attached to 
the elastic tubes of sand and shell constructed by the Terebella. 
More often than not the builders of the tube are absent, but some- 
times one is fortunate enough to come upon some of these tiny 
annelids, and if they are taken home and kept in a glass bowl, one 
may be rewarded by seeing them come out of their dwellings 
and exhibit the double row of hooks by which they are enabled 
to climb out of the tubes. In the nooks and crannies of the 
pools scores of starfish stretch out their rosy fingers, minnows 
dart from side to side, and a clumsy crab may occasionally 
emerge from some shadowy recess. The rocky walls of the 
pool are lined with the little strawberry anemone, with its olive- 
green or crimson tentacles, bordered with a turquoise beading. 
Sometimes, too, but far more rarely, one comes upon the beauti- 
ful crassicornis, like a great chrysanthemum or dahlia, opening its 
pink, translucent petals upon the sandy bottom of the pool. 
For the moment we are distracted from our pool-gazing by 
the passing of a brown-sailed fishing-boat. To-day fishing 
looks like a child’s simple pastime, while yesterday it meant a 
struggle between man and the elements. To-day all is stillness 
and repose, and the flocks of seagulls, floating placidly on the 
water, seem like an embodiment of the all-prevailing peace. 
And this enchanted land lies at our very feet, only to be 
