Brighton they have been making some little nets of yellow cotton, fixed in whalebone hoops, with which they catch shrimps and small fish in the little lakes or pools of salt water which are frequent among the stones and pebbles at the foot of the rocks. One day they found a very curious thing belonging to the zoophytes, which are a sort of intermediate class between animals and vegetables. We brought it home, and shewed it to mamma, who said it was a sea anemone. I scarcely knew at first whether it was an animal or a flower, for it appeared like a carnation or anemone, with a great number of petals of beautiful colours, which were expanded and closed, and closed and expanded all the time we were looking at it, which appeared very surprising, as you know that flowers and plants do not possess the property of moving at pleasure; and

after having made many useless conjectures we were informed by mamma, to whom we always apply when we want explanations, that animals resembling flowers belong to a class called zoophytes. We are making a collection of shells and sea-weeds, in order to form a cabinet like yours, and we find that rubbing and polishing the shells is very amusing work. We spread the sea-weed upon paper to display it to more advantage; this is done by putting a little bit at a time into a saucer of clear water, and opening it with a needle while it floats upon the surface; a sheet of writing paper is then slipped under it, and, when perfectly dry, the little fibrous branches are uncommonly beautiful.

My father said that if we intended to have a cabinet it was quite necessary to know something of conchology, that is, the study of shells; so we procured an

elementary work, and are now almost as fond of it as you are of botany. Mamma that the carriage is waiting to take us a ride, so good bye, my dear Ellen.

says

LETTER VII.

ELLEN to CAROLINE.

Carwood, July 29.

It is my turn to write to you, my dear Caroline, and to give you some account of our pursuits. Papa has lately presented us with several volumes of Mr. Sydenham Edwards's Botanical Register, which make a valuable addition to our own little library. As Louisa has a book in which she copies wild flowers from nature, my sister Isabel proposed that I should have one in order to copy exotics. So last week I copied the honeysuckle azalea from Mr. Edwards's

book; but when it was done, papa said that he did not approve of my drawing from coloured engravings, and that I ought to draw from nature, adding moreover, that he would take me some day to see the gardens and green-houses at Hackney, which are on a very extensive scale, and contain beautiful plants from almost every part of the world. Louisa and I took care not to let him forget his promise, and yesterday we went to Hackney. The hot-houses and conservatories are very large, and the plants they contain quite innumerable; but as it would take too long a time to describe all we saw, I shall only mention those which interested me most. First on my list comes the tea tree, which, you know, of course, is a native of China: it was about the size of one of those almond trees on the lawn, with leaves of a very bright green, and flow

ers of a pink colour, somewhat like wild dog-roses; next to this was a tall shrub, with blue papilionaceous or pea-shaped flowers, which the gardener told me was the indigo plant, and as indigo is a very useful ingredient in dyeing, I will describe the manner in which it is procured. The gardener said that it is a native of the warm parts of Asia, and that when the people wish to procure the substance called indigo, they cut down several whole plants, and lay them in water in a large wooden vessel. In the course of a few days, as the plant decays, the water becomes discoloured, and on being drawn off, a blue sediment is found in the tub, which, when formed into small lumps and dried, is indigo. I dare say you will recollect that indigo was one of West's primary colours.

As soon as we had looked as long as we wished at the indigo plant, we exa