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LEFT BY THE TIDE.

Here, too, were living flowers,
Which, like a bud compacted,

Their purple cups contracted;

And now in open blossom spread,

Stretched, like green anthers, many a seeking head.

SOUTHEY.

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F any one will take the trouble to visit which he pleases of the fashionable watering-places

on the coast during the present season of the year, unless convinced by the demands made upon his purse at every turn, a stroll on the beach will afford conclusive evidence that humanity has its migrations as well as feathered bipeds. Some mature specimens will indulge in ablutions, others in inglorious sprawlings upon the beach, and juveniles will rush deep into the mysteries of sand-pies, shovels and pails, when and where sand is to be found. One and all seem to be blissfully ignorant or indifferent to everything but drawing in as much fresh air as will be equivalent to their railway fare-plus their lodgings, and a few items in the way of "extras." Yet children will be inquisitive-they will demand of parents and guardians replies to all kinds of unconnected queries, for which the said parents and guardians are not at all times prepared. The subject of many such queries are the strange-looking objects which lie scattered up and down upon the beach, "left by the tide." We cannot suppose that the intelligent parents whose eyes habitually scan our pages are unable to satisfy the demands made upon them relative to objects so common as those we are about to allude to, but it may afford them some gratification to No. 34.

be able to refer the querist to the present number for an answer, whilst they, reclining in dreamy wakefulness, can survey in peace the flight of a solitary seagull, or watch the waves dashing and splashing over the sunken rocks, rehearsing to themselves, meanwhile, the lay of "The Ancient Mariner," or the ballad of "The Inchcape Bell."

Localization has its advantages, even when the commonest objects are to be described, and we may as well confess at once that the objects to illustrate this chapter were picked up on the beach at Hastings-a place no naturalist need be ashamed of visiting, for it has other charms beside sea-air, mermaids, and fishy odours. Romance may cling to the Lover's Seat, and take no note of the stray wanderer below, cracking the old thistle stems, and looking for a rare beetle which he might seek in vain elsewhere. It's of no use that he offers halfa-crown apiece for specimens of another coveted rarity, which he hopes will parade the streets of St. Leonards. It's low water, and everybody is off to the beach, regardless of beetles or butterflies, and thither we follow.

Here, there, and everywhere lies the Sea Wrack, which we have figured and described in a former volume (SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 1866, page 204). Most common is the Serrated Wrack, and scarcely less so the Black Tang, or Bladder Wrack. Of other seaweeds, the long furbelows of Laminaria saccharina are extremely common, and at every few steps a fragment or two of Carrageen (Chondrus crispus), or Irish Moss (fig. 207), as it is sometimes called. It is one of the most useful of seaweeds, and when carefully washed to remove the salt-water, may by boiling be made into a very palatable article of food. Seaweeds are much used as food by the Chinese and Japanese, especially the Agar-agar of the Malays, a species not found on our coasts.

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The rocks left uncovered at low water are green with two species, either of which is suitable for a marine aquarium. The narrow kind is Entero

thin that they cling to the fingers like a film when any attempt is made to lift them from the water. The little pools on the rocks are often fringed with the interesting Corallina officinalis,

long believed to belong to the animal kingdom, from the quantity of lime which it secretes (fig. 209). Bleached specimens cast upon the beach are of a chalky whiteness, but when living it is of a purplish tint.

But the shore has other spoils of the ocean which have been left by the tide beside seaweeds, and much more likely to attract attention. There are the pixy-purses, or egg-cases, of the Spotted Dog-fish, and the common Skate, described and figured in this work (for 1865, page 182); and there are also those common but puzzling objects the tufts of egg-cases of the common Whelk (fig. 210), which roll and blow

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Fig. 209. Corallina officinalis (mag.)

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Fig. 208. Rhodymenia palmata.

palmata (fig. 208), and the delicate wavy purple fronds of the laver Porphyra laciniata, which are so

Fig. 211. Eggs of Cuttle-fish.

like bunches of black grapes (fig. 211), of the eggs of the cuttle-fish, of the same kindred as the Octopus, so graphically described by Mr. J. K. Lord in a former number (1865, page 50), and the original of the "Devil-fish" of Victor Hugo's "Toilers of the Sea." Apropos of the cuttle-fish, the white oblong plates commonly called "cuttle-fish bone,"

which constitute the solid framework of the Cuttle (Sepia officinalis), and the transparent plates of the Calamary (Loligo vulgaris), sometimes called " Seapen," will occasionally be seen on the beach near the fisherman's quarter. The dead cuttle-fish may themselves be seen there, but often more offensive to the nose than pleasing to the eye.

The common Star-fish, or "Five Fingers" (Uraster rubens), is too well known on the beach to need description, and our woodcut will be a sufficient introduction to those who stay at home (fig. 212). A very pretty little star, not exceeding an

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Fig. 212. "Five Fingers."

inch in diameter, may be collected by hundreds at low water at one spot at Hastings, and we failed to find them anywhere else. This little animal is the

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Fig. 213. Ophiocoma neglecta. (a. natural size.) Ophoicoma neglecta of Forbes (fig. 213). Just by the outlet of the drainage excavations at the base of East Cliff, a cluster of rocks is left bare at low

Fig. 214. Alcyonidium.

means of which the mussel attaches itself to the rock. To preserve these little animals in a dried state, they should be plunged into fresh water, which kills them at once with the arms expanded. They may then be dried by exposure to the air, and are beautiful little objects. Specimens of the Common Sun-star (Solaster papposa), with twelve or more rays, are sometimes cast upon the beach at Hastings, and less commonly the Egg-urchin

Though both of them are

(Echinus sphæra). designated "common," they are certainly neither of them common, according to our experience, in the locality alluded to.

Of Zoophytes and Polyzoa, dead specimens are plentiful enough. There is the Oaten Pipe Coralline (Tubularia indivisa), and the Branched Pipe Coralline (see SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 1865, page 177); still more commonly the Sickle Coralline (Plumularia falcata), and the Sea Fir (Sertularia abietina), both of which are figured in a former number (August, 1865). One of the most frequent of Polyzoa is the Sea Mat (Flustra foliacea), and, nearly as common, the Paper Sea Mat (Flustra chartacea), to say nothing of the parasitic species on sea mat, coralline, or seaweed.

Of all the strange objects which a high tide leaves stranded, there is one not at all attractive by any beauty which it possesses, but which is sure to raise a host of inquiries (fig. 214). It has a most variable form and size, ranging between two or three inches and a foot in length, of a colour resembling sponge, the substance tough, fleshy, and somewhat firm; and the odour nothing in particular when fresh, but particularly undesirable as it becomes stale. This is the "Dead Man's Fingers" (Alcyonidium gelatinosum, fig. 212), a republic of "low life." Under the microscope, the whole surface will be found covered with teat-like projections; and should the specimen be really alive, an animal resident within each of these projections will protude its tentacles. It is most probable that the specimens picked up on the beach will be past all exhibition of vitality.

We must not forget the sea-anemones, which the receding tide will leave exposed to the stroller's gaze like little lumps of jelly adhering to the rocks. No great variety will be found here; but, especially on the rocks near the old town, marked by the remains of old piles, their tops worn to cones and covered with green seaweed, hundreds of smooth anemone, of all shades and sizes, may be collected. This species is figured under the name of "Beadlet" (Actinia mesembryanthemum) in our volume for 1865 (page 157, fig. 10). Its chief beauty resides in the turquoise beads which surround the disc; otherwise the colours are usually some shade between brown and green.

Towards the other end of the town, a little to the east of the Infirmary, when the water is very low, as at new and full moon, a few Daisy Anemones (Sagartia bellis) may be seen, with an occasionalvery occasional-" crass," or Dahlia Wartlet (Tealia crassicornis). To see them is one thing, but to get them, if required for an aquarium, is another. This applies particularly to the Daisy Anemone, which of all others is the most desirable for a small aquarium. Our hostess had never seen such creatures until we established a temporary tank in a hand-basin for their reception; and her brother, although seventeen years resident, had neither seen nor heard of such

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more rounded shells of the Trough-shell (Mactra stultorum, fig. 218) are also numerous. The shells of the mussel, limpet, rocks, stones, iron drain-pipes, &c., are profusely covered with the Acorn Barnacle (Balanus balanoides), and the rocks are perforated in all directions by Pholas dactylus, one of the most wonderful of Nature's excavators.

There are other objects besides those which we have enumerated thus briefly, each of which has a history, and possesses an interest; but had we at

tempted more than this barren enumeration, the present number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP would have contained but a single chapter-"a consummation not

Fig. 218. Mactra stultorum.

devoutly to be wished." The Nudibranche Molluscs, found on the rocks at low tide, have been almost

we may come to a termination. As for their elders (like "the three clerks" in the ballad)

Sauntering down the shady hollow,

Strolling o'er the sunny sands,

Letting fancy idly follow

Steamers bound for distant lands;

Watching, through the distance hazy,
Vessels standing out to sea,

we will leave them to try an aquarium in a handbasin, as we have done. If a recipe is desired, let the following suffice. Take a basin, bowl, or pan of coarse earthenware capable of holding a gallon of water; spread on the bottom thereof a quart of small beach pebbles well washed from sand. Lay thereon two or three stones, or fragments of rock, on which green seaweeds are vigorously growing. Over all pour a half gallon of clear sea-water, and allow it to stand a day or two. Finally, collect and transfer to the bowl half a dozen sea-anemones, a dog-whelk or two, and anything else will probably be too much, for shrimps and sandhoppers will soon die, hermitcrabs won't like it, æolis will attack the anemones when they become hungry: hence it is advisable to "leave well alone," and be content with strolling up and down to ascertain what has been "left by the tide."

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Fig. 219. Æolis coronata.

forgotten, and of these the pretty little Eolis

MERMIS NIGRESCENS.

By R. T. LEWIS.*

coronata (fig. 219) is very attractive. Annelids, or THE subject of the following remarks-Mermis

sea-worms, must also be passed by, with an allusion to the tubes of a species of Terebella, found either attached to or drifted amongst the seaweed. These tubes are about the thickness of a tobacco-pipe (fig. 220), and composed of sand, little stones, and minute shells, or fragments of shells, agglutinated together into a flexible tube, somewhat after the manner of the cases of the

caddis. The mouth of the tube is fringed with a number of smaller hair

[blocks in formation]

nigrescens is a creature concerning which there has of late been much discussion, both of a scientific and of a speculative character. The facts of its recent appearance have gone the round of the newspapers and serials, and it has been a topic of conversation at several meetings of learned societies. It will no doubt be remembered that the first two days (of last June were unusually hot, with light wind from the S.W.; and that during the night of the 2nd a remarkably heavy rain-fall took place, accompanied by lightning and thunder. On the following morning much surprise was created in the districts over which the storm had passed by the appearance of great numbers of hair-worms on the leaves of plants, bushes, and, in some instances, of trees. They were chiefly observed to be hanging by one extremity, and waving their slender bodies to and fro in the air, seeming at first sight to be so many threads of silk; but on being taken into the hand, they immediately coiled up in that peculiarly intricate manner which originally suggested a name for the family to which they belong. Mention was made of them at the meeting of the Entomological Society on the evening of June 3rd, but they were then thought to be Gordius aquaticus; and at the meeting of the Linnean Society on June 22nd,

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Read at the Quekett Microscopical Club, Aug. 23rd.

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