'^r*- ' m>:^immMmm » » » » » CP^ \^^o\ = of its inhabitants. Starfishes and jellyfish could not ILFRACOMBE. 5 fail of being observed. Crabs are hunted and tortured by all amiable boys ; and the bone of the cuttle-fish duly prized. But in regard to its marvels and its inhabitants, the sea was a new acquaintance to make. Mr Gosse and others had made marine zoology fashionable. The Aquarium at Regent's Park had given glimpses of the wonders and the beauties which abound on the shore ; and as a student of Comparative Anatomy, I had been led to read extensively respecting the structure and functions of marine animals ; but of direct knowledge I had next to nothing. I had learned something of ponds and their inhabitants, and was now desirous of ransacking the sea. Ilfracombe was the spot fixed on : a more charming spot England could hardly furnish. At first I knew not how much of the delight with which its beauty thrilled me might be owing to the mere efi"ect of com- parison and novelty. After the metropolis, any broad- ening blue of sea, any bold headland or straggling reef, seems supremely beautiful— and novelty is, in itself^ • an integer in all traveUing enjoyment. But familiarity only served to deepen my sense of the beauty of Ilfra- combe ; the very last look was taken with a reluctance springing from unsatiated desire ; and on reaching Tenby, also a charming spot, the overpowering sense of disappointment assured me that Ilfracombe was the enchantress she had seemed. I will not describe Ilfra- combe, and for two reasons : Pirst, it would occupy all the chapter ; and, secondly, which perhaps is as good a reason as the other, I have no descriptive talent. Had 6 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. I the talent, the picture would be tempting, for the charms of the place are manifold. The country all round is billowy with hills, which rarely seem to descend into valleys. The paradox may move your scepticism ; you may bring excellent reasons, physical, geological, and geographical, to prove that wherever there are hills there must be valleys. Nevertheless, the abstract force of what must he vanishes before the con- crete force of what is; and at Ilfracombe you will find hills abounding, hills rising upon hills, but not always making valleys. What the French picturesquely call the mouvement du terrain, which suggests hills in motion like the waves, is here seen on every side ; and these waving slopes are in spring-time pale with prim- roses, or flaming with furze. If you get sight of a bit of earth to vary the verdure, it is of that rich red-brown marl which warms the whole landscape. If you climb one of those hills, the chances are that you come upon a rugged precipice sheer over the sea ; unless a green slope leads gently do\\Ti to it. These breezy hills, and the soft secluded valleys (there are valleys), and the matchless lanes which intersect the land with beauty, afford endless walks of varied delight. The lanes of Devonshire are celebrated ; but what Shakespeare's works are to the criticisms which celebrate them, these lanes are to their reputation. Were I to enter one of them, and begin describing it, we should never get down to the shore, whither I see your impatient foot- steps tend. To the shore, then ! and as we pass, we can take a glimpse of the town. ASPECTS OF ILFKACOMBE. 7 Handsome the town of Ilfracombe is not; nor, although picturesquely placed, has it a very picturesque appearance, except under certain lights, and from cer- tain points. The colour of the houses is pale dingy grey ; the lines are all rectangular and mean. Over- topping the whole town in ugliness and pretension, no less than in altitude, are two terraces, which make two factory-like lines of building on the slope of the green hill. You see at a glance that the flounces and shaved poodles Hve there. Yet, as I said, there were lights under which the town looked well ; but what will not light transform into beauty ? One evening, after a shower, I was called away from the Microscope to look at the town under the light of the setting sun, some peculiar arrangement of the clouds, with a vivid rainbow, having thrown a delicious evening tinge over the houses piled on the sides of the hill, and merged the ugliness of their forms in exquisite floods of colour. In this light Ilfracombe looked handsome. It looked resplendent, like a stupid man in the splendour of a noble deed. If unblessed with the fatal (but agreeable) gift of beauty, the little town of Ilfracombe, as a compensa- tion, is uncursed with the appearances of pretension. Except on those two unfortunate terraces, it gives itself no airs of fashion, no demure hypocrisies of re- spectability. It has no magnificent hotels ; it has no popular preacher. It makes nobody miserable. Sim- plex Triunditiis ; a plain face, but clean and honest. 8 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. sirs ! I was continually reminded of some small Ger- man town, and the simple honesty and obligingness of the people helped the resemblance. As you enter from the Braunton road, there is a white-washed inn, now untenanted, of the most primitive structm^e, and bearing the words BEAUNTON INN painted in tall brown letters all along the frontage, which I never passed without some vague reminiscence of Germany rising up, so exactly does this turn of the road repeat many turns of road I have come upon in my wanderings. An avenue of mountain-ash, with their bright red clusters brilliant against the hot blue sky, or rows of plum-trees with their purple fruit, pleasing the eye and refreshing the palate during the dusty walk, would have made the illusion complete. Let us pass this inn, and turn up the steep hill, on the summit of which stands the handsome church ; we then descend the slope which leads to the Baths. On the other side of the hedge, upon our left, rise the soft uplands ; and a little behind them the majestic Seven Tors, which with their shaggy heads towards the sea, and their soft-swelling slopes of green towards the land, remind us of some mighty animal which has reared itself on its fore-paws to gaze at the yet mightier ocean. From these uplands you perpetually hear the cry, day and night, of the landi'ail — just like the creaking of a wicker-basket — so that you begin to wonder when that unmusical bird takes its repose. THE COAST-SCENERY. 9 On your right hand, the clear Wilder- stream babbles incessantly to the wild-flowers nodding over its rij^ples. Accompanied by this music we reach the Baths, and come upon a tunnel, dark, indeed, but with a gleam of light at the end. We enter : how cool, not to say cold ! The eye is getting familiar with the darkness when we emerge, and what a thrill runs along all the sentient paths to our souls as the blue of the sea bursts upon us ! We lean upon a parapet of rock to watch the waves running up the rugged face of the cliffs, and falling back in spray. An inarticulate gasp does duty for the highest eloquence. It is enough to drink in with our eyes the scene before us ; anything more than an incoherent exclamation would be out of place. Another tunnel invites us ; through it we pass, and come upon a wooden bridge overarching an ugly- looking spot bearing the name of Tracy's Cave, which has of course its devout legend to tell, if you are will- ing to listen. Let the legend be what it may, the place is grim, and at first we tread cautiously as we pass over the bridge of logs ; but soon familiarity reconciles us to this — as it does to small-pox or the income-tax. Before reaching this spot we have come upon another opening, leaned upon another parapet, and had another gaze at the sunset gleaming over the sea. We now step on the wild and rugged shore. And what a shore ! Precipitous walls and battle- ments of rock rise on each side, making a bay ; before us, sharply-cut fragments of dark rock start out of the water for some distance. Every yard of ground here 10 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. is a picture. The whole coast -line is twisted and waved about into a series of bays and creeks, each hav- ing a character of its own ; and whether we stand on the Tors, and look along the coast — or on the shore, and look up at the rocks, there is always some new aspect, something charming for the eye to rest upon. " An iron coast and angry waves, You seem'd to hear them climb and fall, And roar, rock-thwarted, under bellowing caves, Beneath the windy wall." * The rock is grauwacke or clay- slate, with occasional streaks of quartz ; and the stratification is very various. Look at that reef, round and along which the stealthy tide is crawling ; see how the back of it is ridged with sharp sudden lines cutting against the sky ; or look at that sombre precij^ice over which the gull is floating broad-winged, uttering its piteous cry, or startling you with its strange mocking laugh. A little farther and the eye rests on a purple-tinted wall of rock, from the sides of which jut ledges covered with vegetation. The soil here is so generous, that nature seems to be burst- ing into life through every crevice, and on every inch. There is, however, one serious drawback at Ilfra- combe — the complete absence of sands whereon to loll or stroll, or, in the quiet hours of moonlight, to wander nourishing one's middle age sublime " with the fairy tales of science and the long results of time." How- ever, sands are poor hunting-grounds ; let us take con- * Tennyson. PERILS OF THE CHASE. 11 solatiou ill that, and enjoy the positive excellences of this place. The evening of my arrival was spent in reconnoitring the coast and its promises. What a flutter agitated me as I bent over the many rock-pools, clear as crystal, and sometimes enclosing perfect landscapes in minia- tm:-e. It seemed as if I should have nothino- to do but stoop and fill my jars with treasures ; for I had read in numerous books descriptions from which the inference was, that nothing could be easier than collecting '' mar- ine store." " You stroll along the beach and pick up so-and-so," is the pleasant phrase of these writers, wishing, we must suppose, to make science appear easy. Now the truth should be told. It was quickly forced on my conviction that, although after a gale you may go down to the shore and find many things, mostly dead, which you mil carry home with inte- rest — for "'tis an ill wind that blows nobody mol- luscs " — yet hunting among the rocks is not easy, nor always safe, nor certain to be successful. You must make up your mind to lacerated hands, even if you escape bruises, to utter soakings, to unusual gymnastics in wriggling yourself into impossible places. You can only do this successfully at certain tides. And, after all, you may return empty-handed, unless you are very modest in your desires. I did, indeed, behold a stout gentleman, who had been reading Mr Gosse, severely deluding himself into the idea that he was " collect- ing," because he was gasping among boulders with a pickle-bottle in one hand and a walking-stick in the 12 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. other : but I am not firmly persuaded that he carried home much wortli his trouble. Let me mention the proper equipment for a day's hunting, and you will see that the pickle-jar and walk- ing-stick theory is primitive, and somewhat inefficient. It is necessary to take with you a geologist's hammer (let it be of reasonable size), and a cold chisel ; to these add an oyster-knife, a paper-knife, a landing-net, and, if your intentions are serious, a small crowbar. You will want a basket, which must be tolerably large, and flat-bottomed. Having made that small invest- ment, you turn into the chemist's and buy up all the Avide-mouthed phials he will sell — those used for quinine are the best. The short squat bottles, with wooden caps, now sold for tooth-powder, are very convenient. We lay hands on half-a-dozen of these, and having laid in three or four earthenware jars (not to be too abstract in our diction, let us frankly say jam-pots), we return home to construct our collecting- basket, which is done in this primitive fashion : A looj) of string serves to keep a large jam-pot at one end of the basket, at the other end another loop sustains a large phial ; at one side a loop is made for hammer and chisel ; opposite are two more phials. Mr Gosse, in his Aquarium, I think, describes the basket he uses ; but as you must order this to be made for you, my plan is sufficiently serviceable, and costs no trouble. The basket ready, we are now equipped. No ; there is still one little implement. A piece of brass wire, the end twisted into a ring of two or three inches FIRST ATTEMPTS. 13 diameter, to which is fastened a canvass bag, makes a convenient little net to be used in pools too small to admit the landing-net. The brief note in my journal which records the re- sults of my first visit always amuses me when it catches my eye : " On the rocks. Found some Actiniae and Serpulse." The idea oi finding Serpulse will make the amateur smile as he remembers how difficult it is to avoid these swarming Annelids, whose shells, sharp as lancets, cut the hands in fifty different places before many stones are turned ; but to my inexperienced eye there were only the empty shells of Serpulae to be found, until I came upon some in the water with their little fans expanded, and these were pounced on with great eagerness. The Actiniae spoken of were the com- mon Smooth Anemone — not even the Strawberry variety — (if you will face a long name, it is Mesemhry- anthemum) — and these which I bagged with great glee, I soon learned to pass by with no more regard than if they had been sea-weed. So much of our enjoyment depends on the difficulty of obtaining it, that these Actiniae, which I still hold to be exquisitely beautiful, and far more intrinsically beautiful than very many of the rare species, to obtain which one nearly dislocates one's limbs, wriggling through cre- vices, or runs a risk of " catching one's death " by standing in a pool dripped on from a thousand orifices above — these Actinias, I say, are left untouched be- cause they are abundant, and do not demand the chisel. Perverse, ungrateful human nature ! What 14 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. should we not think of daylight, or of woman's patient love, if it were not given with such generous abund- ance ? Ask the prisoner, or the man who has scarcely known the mother's ceaseless tenderness, the wife's sur- passing love. The coquette knows this by instinct, and she draws adventiu'ous seekers after her. What a coquette is the Daisy {Actinia hellis), who displays her cinq-spotted bosom, beautiful as Imogen's, in the crystal pool. You are on your knees at once ; but no sooner is your hand stretched towards her, than at the first touch she disappears in a hole. Nothing but chisel- ling out the piece of rock will secure her ; your labour is the price paid for the capture, and the captive is prized accordingly ; if as much labour had been given to the Smooth Anemone, she would have seemed as lovely in your eyes. There is something sad in the fugitive keenness of pleasure. I shall never feel again the delight of get- ting my first Actmia. No rare species can give that peculiar thrill. There is a bloom on the cheek which the first kiss carries away, and which never again meets the same lips. No partridge is worth the first which falls by your gun ; no second salmon is ever landed with the same pride as the first. Even printer's ink has a perfume when your first "proofs" arrive. Who will revive within me that flutter which deprived me of all coolness and presence of mind, as first I saw the long grey serpent-like tentacles of Antliea cereus waving to and fro in a clear pool ? Who will restore the enthusiasm of that moment when my eye first CONTACT WITH NATURE. . 15 rested on a clump of Clavelince (Plate I., fig. 4), almost as translucent as tlie water in which they stood ! And wherefore, three weeks afterwards, could I not be in- duced to stop and pick up either of these, unless of very magnificent pretensions ? If nature were not more inexhaustible than man's curiosity, we should come to the end of our hunting pleasures in a few years. As it is, our lifetime is too brief. If these fi^^st thrills can never come back to us, there is ample compensation in the new vistas which open with increasing knowledge ; the first kiss may be peculiar in its charm, but as the years roll on, we learn to love more and more the cheek on which we first found little besides that charm. Knowledsfe widens, and changes its horizon ; and as we travel, we pass under newer skies lighted by serener stars. In direct contact with Nature we not only learn reverence by having our own insignificance forced on us, but we learn more and more to appreciate the Infinity on all sides ; so that we cannot give ourselves up to one small segment of the circle, no matter how small, without speedily discerning that life piled on life would not sufiice to travel over this small segment of a segment. And yet the very immensity of the world of Life is a source of encouragement. Compared with what is accessible to us, the knowledge, even of the wisest, is as that of a child ; but if, instead of comparing what is with what is to he known, we compare our knowledge with our previous ignorance, the rapidity of progress becomes the k-eenest motive for endeavour. A few 16 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. months at the coast, under proper conditions, will make us acquainted with all, or almost all, the principal forms of life ; and where so much is still to be ob- served, each may hope to contribute something new to the general stock, and thus all be benefited. A very few days of resolute study sufficed to substi- tute definite ideas for that haze which necessarily over- hangs mere book-knowledge, and repeated failures helped to educate both eye and mind in the art of find- ing animals, and of identifying them. At first, not only did I mistake sea-weeds for polypes, but instead of filling jars and phials with ease, as anticipation had prefigured, I often came home with very meagre results — and this in a place abounding in treasm-es. The truth is, one has to learn many little details about the animals — where to look for them, how to see them when there, and how to secure them when seen — before one's basket returns home well stocked. Luck is something, of course : if there is only one bunch of sea-grapes (eggs of the cuttle-fish) thrown on shore, only one person can bag it. But it is the knowingest hunters that are the luckiest. They know how to profit by good fortune. You may perhaj^s be inter- ested if I sketch a day's hunting, and into it condense most of the details, the knowledge of which may abridge your own labours, and increase your success on taking to the sport. It is spring-tide. Little or nothing can be done during neap-tides, because it is among the rocks near extreme low-water that the prizes are found. The OUR COSTUME. 17 common smooth Anemone, and the Daisy indeed, may be had not far from high-water-mark in many places ; and Anthea cereus may also be found at some distance from low- water ; but for the superb Ci^assicornis, or the lovelier " Gems " and " Trogs " (Gemmaccce and Troglodytes) — for Polypes and the rarer molluscs, we must not be far from low- water-mark. The morning is brilliant. A light breeze carries the large clouds over the lazy blue, tempering the heat of the sun ; and our spirits are high, as we clatter through the tunnels on to the shore. There are three of us ; and as we pass that young lady seated on a ridge, sketching Hangman's Head, she eyes us askance, and although politeness keeps in the secresy of her own bosom the translation of that look, I know how it would run in the vernacular : " Well ! how people can make them- selves such guys ! " And she who says this is, I ^^ledge you my word, a guy of the first water. I know one when I see one, though I can't describe female costume. Her complexion is dubious, not to say spotty ; and from it stands a nose not aquiline — to tell the truth, it was a turn-up, — and probably some subtle sense of harmony made her turn up very maich the sides of her stone-coloured felt hat, which, with its floating ribbons and feather, may be said, in painter's phrase, to have "carried off" the nose. I also remember the three deep flounces of her Manchester muslin, and a general aj^pearance of flying ribbons and miscellanies. If I allude to the personal appearance of this future mother of good, but not handsome, citizens, it is because her B 18 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. criticism of us forced us to consider 'from luhat pedestal of elegance we were reojarded. Not that 1 insinuate any idea of our not having looked somewhat queer. Our costume was but indifferently adapted to the drawing-room, and would have obtained small suffrage on the Boulevard des Italiens, the Prater, or Pail-Mall. You shall judge. We are a lady and two men. The lady, except that she carries a landing-net, and has taken the precaution of putting on the things which " won't spoil," has nothing out of the ordinary in her costume. We are thus arrayed : a wide-awake hat ; an old coat, with manifold pockets in unexpected places, over which is slung a leathern case, containing hammer, chisel, oyster -knife, and paper-knife ; trousers war- ranted not to spoil ; over the trousers are drawn huge worsted stockings, over which again are drawn huge leathern boots. Mine are fisherman's boots, and come a few inches over the knee. The soles are well nailed, which is of material service in preventing our slipping so much on the rocks. Now these boots, with the worsted stockings peeping above, are not, it is true, eminently sesthetic. I will not recommend them as objects for the Journal des Modes ; but if you con- sider the imperfect success which will attend any hesi- tation as to walking into the water, — and through it, — or if you reflect on the very mitigated pleasure of feeling the water trickle into your boots, — you will at once recognise the merit of such boots as I have just described, covered with liquid india-rubber, and well greased. Never mind the inelegance : handsome is as handsome does ! THE FIRST CRASSICORNIS. 19 In this costume we wooed the mermaids. We brought a crowbar, to turn over the heavy stones which could not otherwise be moved, but which are worth moving, because it is under such that rarities will be hidden. It is nearly half-past eleven, and the tide will have quite run out in half an hour or more. We ought to have been here a little sooner, but there is still nearly two hours' opportunity before us — so, to work ! Over these jago-ed rocks we spring, stride, scramble, and crawl. Whew ! there was an escape ! This fucus is so slippery and treacherous : had it not been for the well-nailed soles, I should have perhaps tumbled into that gully, — and as the height is six or seven feet, the fall could not have been soft. The mere suggestion has made me a little nervous, and I begin to doubt whether these cockney legs were meant for such pro- gression, and whether the right man is here in the right place, — when the shout of ''Here's a Crass I" banishes all reflections, and in a flurry of scrambling I clamber to the spot. "Where? Let me see it." " In that pool." " I see nothing." " That is because I disturbed him. He has drawn in his tentacles, and covered himself with a coating of stones, mud, and mucus ; but take off your coat, tuck up your sleeve, and you will feel him at the bottom. Got him?" "I feel nothing but a fleshy lump of something, with small stones on it." " That's the gentleman ! " 20 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. " He seems very small." " Now he's shut up ; but if you had seen him ex- panded — the size of a sugar-basin — superb white ten- tacles round a scarlet-purple disc !" " Well, hand me the chisel." '' There ! Don't place it too near him ; give him room — an inch all round. Not too hard ! Never mind the toughness of the rock — clay-slate isn't made of butter ; but with patience and steady blows What ! you've rapped your knuckles instead of the chisel? Well, it does fall out so sometimes. While you are hammering, Til try elsewhere." Accordingly I am left stretched on a sloping ledge, leaning into a j^ool of about a foot deep, where I have to bang away at my chisel, not in the least seeing the effect of my blows, for the crumbling of the rock has made the water the colour of a London gutter. From time to time I pull my chisel out, and feel with my hand to ascertain progress. At last a piece of the rock comes away, and I bring up the Anemone named Crassicornis — a very ill-favoured gentleman, to judge by his present aspect ; but I throw him into the jar of sea-water, in full rehance on what he va^ be to-night or to-morrow. He has cost me twenty minutes' hard labour ; but he was worth it. If you are anxious to know why all this pains was taken to chisel away the rock, you may learn a curious fact — namely, that Anemones, like Achilles, are in- vulnerable, except in one spot. They will bear an extraordinary amount of cutting and tearing if you CHISELLIXG ANEMONES. 21 keep their base unlacerated. Not only have I cut off portions of them for microscopic examination, as you would cut buds off a tree, but, while I write this, there are several of the exquisite little Auroras and Venustas which have been cut or torn in half by the splitting of the stones on which they rested, and each half is as vigorous as if nothing had interfered with its integrity. In the course of some weeks no one will be able to trace in them that they have been wounded. The Abbe Dicquemare relates how he cut an Anemone in two, transversely : the upper portion at once expanded its tentacles, and began feeding ; in about two months tentacles began to grow from the cut extremity of the other portion, and thus he got two perfect Anemones in place of one. And yet these animals, so indifferent to wounds, rarely survive a slight laceration of their base. At least the Grcissicornis does not. I have not experimented in this way on the other kinds, and will limit my statement to the Crassicornis. This is the reason why a chisel is necessary; for the "Crass" clings to the rock with a \ngour which generally defies finger-nails — unlike the Anthea or the Mesemhryan- themum, which yield to a very light fingering. I have got my prize, but have so disturbed the water that it is useless to remain longer by this pool. There are plenty more. I poke and peer into them without result, till at last a huge wall of stone rears itself in my path ; and I suspect the other side is rent with fissures, rugged with ledges of promise. It is so. I squeeze into one of these fissures, where various- 22 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. coloured Sponges, compound Ascidians, Serpulae, and Algae, with drops of water pendent from tlieir tips, are just discernible through the darkness. In vain I strain my eyes, now familiar with obscurity ; nothing tempts me. The Sponges and the Rednoses squirt water at me incessantly ; the Algae drip, drip, drip ; sj^oradic Crabs trundle away in all directions ; but nothing solicits my desires. You want to know why I poke into that dark hole ? Because Experience — the best of schoolmasters, were not the fees so heavy ! — has tauo'ht, that the two conditions most favoiu-able to most of those marine animals we are in quest of are Darkness and Depth of water. They are impatient of the light, and prefer darkness even to many fathoms. When I say they, I mean most Molluscs, Crustacea, Annelids, and ZoojDhytes. Jellyfish seek the light, and float at the top of the sunny sea ; but we shall find none of them to-day, so that fissures, caves, and the under side of boulders, must be our fields. It is well for the young hunter to bear in mind this requisite of darkness. Let him turn over all stones, peer into all fissures, push aside the overhanging Fucus, or long waving Oar-weed, and see if the pools beneath do not contain what he seeks. And when I say look, he must not understand thereby a careless casual glance, but a long deliberate scrutiny. He must allow the eye to rest long enough on the spot to lose the perplexity occasioned by a hundi^ed different details, and must let " the demure travel of his regard" pass calmly over it. Sometimes the pool is so dark and still, that it is not until your SEA-HARES AND SEA-SLUGS. 23 nose-tip is cold against the surface that you know there is water. We have just climbed up a ledge, and looked down into a pool. Oui' footing is somewhat in- secure, but we cling savagely, and call down few bless- ings on the heads of the countless Balani which stud the rock, and tear our hands. There, now, we have settled into a position in which we can work. Look at that Gem, with its lovely tiger- tentacles ; it has just swallowed a small fish, and is now, while digesting, opening its arms for more. And there, on the green broad leaves of theUlva, crawl two Sea-hares (A ply sice) (see Plate II., fig. 4). What queer creatures! One would fancy them slugs which had been troubled with absurd caprices of • metamorphosis, and having first thought of passing from the form of slugs to that of hares, changed their weak minds, and resolved on being- camels ; but no sooner was the hump complete, than they bethought them that, after all, the highest thing in life was to be a slug — and so as slugs they finished their development. Not, however, without further caprices, since, instead of filling its mouth with teeth to grind its vegetable food, the Sea-hare transposes its teeth into its stomach, or rather into one of its stomachs, and not the one nearest the mouth, but the last of the series, as it passes into the intestine ; so that after the food has undergone preparatory digestion, it has to be further ground by these teeth. This strange animal, as harmless as a butterfly, carries a traditional terror to the vulgar mind. The Eomans beheved — what would they not believe! — that the mere sight of it caused 24 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. sickness, sometimes death ; and pregnant women were especially warned against it. Apuleius happened to have a curiosity about this animal, for which he was accused of magic* On every coast the fishermen who happen to know anything about the Sea-hare (and they know very little of animals they do not sell), assure you of its poisonous qualities ; and the bright purple fluid it throws out, when irritated, although perfectly harmless, may well excite the suspicion of the ignorant. Whenever you find one crawling on the sea- weed, or left stranded by the retiring tide, carry it home and study it. Few molluscs are so easy to dissect ; and the attention of anatomists will profit- ably be directed to it, because several errors are stereotyped in our treatises, which prove that, since Cuvier, few have minutely examined its structure. But to return to our hunt. We place these Sea- hares in a small jar by themselves, and quickly add thereto a broad white ribbon of tiniest beads, which is coiled up against the under side of the ledge, and which we see with joy to be the spawn of the Doris — another sea-slug, if a name so ugly as that can properly be applied to a creature so attractive. — (Plate II., fig. 2.) Keally this pool is enchanting ! How gracefully the Polypes wave from its sides, like fairy fir-trees in the summer air. The longer we look, the more beauties * Dans sa defense, Apul^e repondit qu'en effet il avait observe des lievres marins, mais seulement dans le but de satisfaire une curiosite qui n'offrait rien de condamnable. La description qu'il donne de petits osselets existans dans restomac de ces animaux, prouve qu'il les avait observes en naturaliste. — Cuvier, Hist, des Sciences Naturdles, i. 287. VARIOUS BEAUTIES. 25 and wonders we discover. I have just detected an Ascidian^ standing up like an amphora of crystal, containing strange mne of yellow and scarlet ; and crawling about the root of that Oar-weed, I see various Annelids of great beauty ; we must have the root— the more so that it bears some Botryllus clustering round it. You want to know what is that jelly-like globule no bigger than a pea ? I can't answer ; but probably the ovum of some fish. At any rate, the rule is to carry home whatever one does not know, and identify there, if possible ; so pop the glc^ule into a phial. Having made this haul, we may now begin to hammer away for the Gem. There, he is all safe in the jar, and we get down from our ledge much richer than we got up. It was a good find that pool, was it not? We had been upwards of an hour peering about, without finding anything except a Crassicornis ; and lo ! we come upon a little pool not two feet in length, which yields us enough to occupy a month of careful study. The tide is fast flowing in, and our jars are still half empty. We must waste no time in talk. Here, give me the landing-net ; I see a fish worth having. Bravo ! he is in the glass jar, and looking at us mth strange human look, not in the least abashed by our admiration. Did you ever see anything more exquisite ? It is a ribbon-fish, but not the Gymnetrus Banksii. It can- not be more than two inches and a half long, and a fifth * Plate I., Frontispiece, fig. 4, represents a compound Ascidian, magnified ; the solitary Ascidian is less elongated, and is ordinarily of about the size figured, but is sometimes found thrice the size. 26 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. of an inch high ; and note how the caudal fin, instead of being a climax to the tail, as in other fishes, forms a delicate ridge running all down the back. What a delicate Quaker brown the colour is, and how the transparency of the tissues allows us to see the pulsat- ing heart ! I hope we shall be able to keep it alive ; it will be the cynosure of our collection. Meanwhile one of our party who has been ferreting everywhere, is now crouching in a pool, and presently calls to us to come and see a Terebella (Plate VII., fig. 1). In thre^ rapid strides we are there, crouch down, look where he jDoints, and see — nothing. " Impossible ! Don't you see long waving threads, like minute worms?" " Yes, I see threads, but that's all." " That is the Terebella. His body is snug in the mud, and he pokes his long arms out in this way for some purpose or other, to me unknown." " Perhaps for respiration ? " ""Why do you say that?" " Because it's safe. Whenever zoologists don't know the function of an appendage, they are pretty sure to say it's connected with respiration ; every unknown spot is an eye, every appendage a gill, or subsidiary to gills ! However, the Terebella has already been credited with branchial tufts, in the shape of smaller and redder little worms beneath the tentacles ; so never mind about function * — get the animal, which I have never seen out of books." * See the next Chapter for an elucidation of this point. THE EOLIS. 27 " He is hidden in the mud ; we must dig out the mud." Whereupon my companion, tucking up his sleeve, phmges his hand into the mass of sand and shells, and strews the handful on a boulder, where we soon find the worm twistmg itself into irritated convolutions, as if highly disapproving of this treatment. We pop him into a phial with some sand, and he soon makes himself happy there. During this capture, quick female eyes have discerned, and nimble fingers have delicately secured, one of the loveliest of sea charmers — an Eolis, of about three-quarters of inch in length, with transparent body, tapering into the most graceful of tails (we must call it a tail, although anatomists call it a foot), and with rows of pink papillae on its back, forming the most elegant of ornaments (Plate II., fig. 1). The tide may now drive in as fast as it will, we shall go home rich. Wearied with hammering, clambering, and stooping in this blazing sunlight of a summer noon, we seat om'selves on a convenient boulder, for half an hour's repose. My companion, whose legs are lolling in a shallow pool, brings out a pocket-pistol of sherry and a bag of biscuits. To this " repast we do ample justice" (as detestable writers with imerring unanimity always say, when they want to describe eating and drinking), and then the blue lazy curl of a mild havannah rises into the warm air, making contentment more content. The waves are crawling over the boulders, and rushing up the gullies with a soothing sound. A few white 28 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. sails dot the blue breadth before us. Out there on the strip of sand in the creek, a row of lazy gulls, motion- less as stones, and looking like them, seem as if they too were resting from their hunt. A sense of pleasant weariness gives its dreamy calmness to the scene. "We are silent, or wander into idlest chat, as if we had fairly reached thsft land "Wherein it seemed always afternoon." It was enough that our glance should fall upon the stealthy sea, and follow wave after wave as each grew out of the swell and ran along, a curling line of foam, to plunge upon the shore. We wanted nothing more. There is a peculiar charm about the sea ; it is always the same, yet never monotonous. Mr Gosse has well observed, that you soon get tired of looking at the loveliest field, but never of the rolling waves. The secret, perhaps, is that the field does not seem alive ; the sea is life-abounding. Profoundly mysterious as the field is, with its countless forms of life, the aspect does not irresistibly and at once coerce the mind to think of subjects mysterious and awful — it carries with it no ineradicable associations of terror and awe, such as are borne in every murmur of old ocean — and thus is neither so terrible nor so suggestive. As we look from the clifis, every wave has its history ; every swell keeps up suspense — will it break now, or will it melt into that larger wave ? And the log which floats so aimlessly on the wave, and now is carried under again like a drowning wretch, — is it the fragment of some ship which has struck miles and miles away, fai- from ASPECTS OF THE SEA. 29 all help and all pity, unseen except of Heaven, with no messenger of its agony to earth, except this log which floats so buoyantly on the tide ? We may weave some such tragic story, as we idly w^atch the fluctuating advance of the dark log ; but whatever we weave, the story will not be wholly tragic, for the beauty and serenity of the scene are sure to assert their influences. mighty and unfathomable sea I terrible familiar ! grand and mysterious passion ! In thy gentleness thou art terrible, when sleep smiles on thy quiet-heav- ing breast ; in thy wrath and thunder thou art beauti- ful ! By the light of rising or of setting suns, in grey dawn or garish day, in twilight or in sullen storms of darkness, ever and everywhere beautiful ; the poets have sung of thee, the painters have painted thee ; but neither the song of the poet, nor the cunning of the painter's hand, has caught more than faint reflexes of thy incommunicable grandeur, thy loveliness inexhaust- ible ! Durins: this dioression our cio:ars have come to an end, and the tide has almost cut off" our retreat. "We clutch up our baskets, and with belated strides hasten over ridges out of harm's way. Our return home brings us on to the Capstone Parade, where our appear- ance must of course stimulate quizzing. If that young- lady with the sketch-book, who saw us going out, made private reflections on the imj)erfect elegance of our cos- tume, I leave you to judge of the impression we pro- duce on the mind of that haughty " swell '' with a telescope, and a mustache of recent growth. He has 30 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. come to Ilfracombe with apparently no other object than that of setting his mind seriously to these things : he will array himself in a straw-hat with a pink rib- bon, a coloured shirt, a shooting-jacket never meant to shoot in, and thus arrayed he will show himself and his telescope. The telescope is indispensable. He will never use it, but he borrows from it a nautical air, which is quite the right thing, you know. I wish I were just enough acquainted with that young gentle- man to bow to him — I would do it in sight of the whole Parade. As we pass along, the staring excited by our incongruous appearance of dirt, damp, and utensils, suggests ludicrous reflections on the way we all judge of each other ; and more serious reflections on the utterly foolish disposal of time which the majo- rity of sea- side visitors make. History proves that we English are a magnificent race ; but I appeal to every one whether the concrete Englishman he meets abroad, or at the sea-side, in the least represents his idea of that magnificent race. I'm afraid we are disao-reeable to the backbone. At the coast we are all dismal as well as disagreeable. What an air of weariness hangs over almost everybody ! After the " visitors '' have had their first walk on the beach, their first two or three hours' " sail,'' from which they return looking very green — after they have seen the sunset once, they relapse into utter novel-reading. Not only do they here read more novels than at home, but they are content to read the novels no one reads at home. Look at that young gentleman who has brought SEA-SIDE VISITORS. 31 two volumes with him to the Parade. He finds the place so dull that he must read even when in the open air ; yet when at home he has not the reputation of a severe student ; he is not known to read at his meals, or bum the midnight oil ; he is rather a stupid young gentleman, if the truth be told, and eyes us and our jars with measureless contempt, wondering " what the doose we can do, you know, with that sort of thing, you know." Then, again, I should not call that lady who scrutinises us gloomily through the blue veil of a cavernous bonnet ; nor that severe and '' rather intel- lectual-looking " lady with crimp curls, whom we pre- sume to be a schoolmistress ; nor that grim gentleman, who, we are sure, is a Methodist with an imperfect liver ; nor those three sisters in their teens, " sent " to the coast with their governess, — not one of these should I call successful at the sea- side. Indeed, I meet with very few successes. The children, of course, are ex- cluded. Master Tommy, in gorgeous hat and feathers, may " worrit " his maid by the persistence he displays in " getting hisself wet ; " but the young rascal has got a spade, and means to enjoy himself, and does what he means. Another perfectly happy person amid all this weariness is yon elderly gentleman, with large stomach, white waistcoat, and a general sense of " well to do," who has escaped from care for a few days ; who en- joyed his dinner at the hotel yesterday, though the port was fruity ; enjoyed his breakfast this morning ; and now, having read the paper, is sniffing the breezes for an appetite, and is aglow with the pleasant sensation 32 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. compounded of present vigour and boyish associations. He is too old for the circulating library ; has outlived straw-hats and coloured shirts ; and is supremely indif- ferent to telescopes. He is happy. He gives a genial glance of interest to everything. He stops us, and politely inquires about the contents of our baskets, listening to the brief details with "dear me ! bless me ! well, how very singular ! " and even tliinks he should like to go out collecting himself, — if he were younger. If the j^i'omenaders are not supremely interesting, the scene itself is worth a visit. The Capstone Parade, a. walk cut round the Capstone at great expense, offers many ^^ictures. We are at the farther end, nearest the quay, and look back upon old Hillsborough jutting out far into the water, while behind him looms the giant Hangman, grim as his name, and beyond that the purple line of another headland. Between us and Hillsborough stands Lantern Hill, a picturesque mass of green and grey, surmounted by an old bit of building which was once a convent, and which looks as if it were the habitation of some huo;e mollusc that had secreted its shell from the material of the rock. Indeed the houses all about naturally recall the curious shells and habitats with which our hunting has made us familiar. In mountainous districts, where houses and clusters of houses look so tiny in comparison with the huge limbs of Mother Earth, one is apt to think of man as a para- sitic animal living on a grander creature — an epizoon nestling in the skin of this planetary organism, which rolls through space like a ciliated ovum rolling through HABITATIONS OF MEN AND MOLLUSCS. 33 a drop of water. In flat districts a town looks impos- ing ; even a single house raises its head with haughti- ness. There is nothing around to rival it in height ; and from it we may fondly imagine earth our pedestal. But our thoughts are otherwise when we see the house lost on the broad side of a noble hill ; and still more when, from a little distance, we see a number of houses clustered on the side, clinging to it like so many Bar- nacles clinmno' to a rock ; we then begin to think of our family resemblance to all other building, burrow- ing, house-appropriating animals. In vain does our pride rebel at the thought of consanguinity with a mol- lusc ; the difference between Brown, with the house he built, and Buccinum, with the shell he secreted, lies in the number of steps or phenomena interposed between the fact of individual existence and the completion of the buildino;. Brown is ao;hast at the suo-aestion, and says he hates metaphysics. This much he will per- haps admit, namely, that whatever other advantages our habitations may have over those of insects and molluscs, it is clear they have not the advantage in architectural beauty subservient to utility. Consider man from a distance — look at him as a shell-fish — and it must be confessed that his habitation is surprisingly ugly. Only after a great many intermediate " steps or phenomena'' does he contrive to secrete here and there a Palace or a Parthenon which enchants the eye. While thus moralising we have reached our lodg- ings, and another work begins. Our treasures must be displayed, and, where needful, identified. The animals c 34 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. are to be kept alive, their wants attended to, and tlieir habits watched, that we may form some idea of their theory of life, before we dissect them to learn some- thing of their structure. Jars and phials are emptied into soup-plates of sea-water, previous to a general dis- tribution into pans and vases. A glass tank is very elegant, but expensive. It is ornamental in a quite other style than that of wax-flowers, gorgons in old china, or dark specimens of the Bad Masters, which by many are supposed to enliven apartments ; but if you intend to keep animals for study, a glass tank on many accounts is less desirable than several glass vases, which are inexpensive and portable. I had no tank, and of course never thought of transporting it to Devonshire. Up to this time my Aquarium had been constituted by finger-glasses, tumblers, and glass sugar- basins ; these sufficed for the produce of fresh-water ponds ; but now, on the eve of cultivating the more imposing acquaintance of marine inhabitants, I adopted a friend's advice, and laid in a store of glass jars of formidable dimensions — -jars such as confectioners use to contain sponge-cakes, almonds, &c. These made an additional hamper to my luggage, and the " glass, with care," increased my anxiety not a little. I cannot enu- merate the extra sixjoences it cost me to impress on porters and railway guards the inherent frangibility of glass. I made myself a torment to all officials by the impressive emphasis of my anxiety. And, after all, the jars were almost worthless. Experience flatly and per- emptorily decided against them, as too deep and un- CLOSE OF THE DAY S WORK. 35 ■vvieldy. I quickly discarded all but the smallest, and bought half-a-dozen glass jars of nearly a foot high, which have proved very serviceable. When an animal dies, and the mortality is great, it is easier to discover and remove the corpse, and change the water from a small jar than from a tank : moreover, in jars you can keep your animals separate ; and animals are not more amiable to each other than men ; the strong devour the weak without any religious scruples. To the jars were added shallow earthenware pans, for Actiniae, and some animals which the Actinias would not molest. Our day's produce fakly sorted, the work of identifi- cation begins. It is not enouo-h to know that we have got a Polype, an Eolis, or an Annelid before us ; we also desire to know what species of each ; and this is sometimes a work of lono- and troublesome investio:a- tion, because even if the species is not one hitherto undescribed, we may have great difiiculty in identify- ing it by descriptions. This tries the patience, but it exercises the faculties, and greatly sharpens knowledge by forcing attention upon details. And here a word respecting the books you ought to put in your box. For reading, properly so called, the naturalist has little time while at the coast; but certain books will be constantly referred to. All the books on Natural History, or Comparative Anatomy, you can buy, beg, or borrow, will be found of use ; but if your portmanteau refuses the burden of many volumes, it is well you should know what will be most ser\4ceable. 36 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. First, then, as indispensable, there must be an "Animal Kino-dom " — if not Cuvier's, then Vooi;'s " Zoolo2:ische Briefe," or Eymer Jones's "General Outline of the Organisation of the Animal Kingdom/' richly illus- trated, or Mr Dallas's recently published volume, "The Natural History of the Animal Kingdom," cheap and very compact. Next you must have Mr Gosse's in- valuable "Manual of Marine Zoology" — meant ex- pressly for identification ; and you may add the very cheap and comj^endious " Manual of the Mollusca," by Mr Woodward, published among Weale's series of Eudimentary Treatises. If you can lay hands on Johnston's " British Zoophytes," Forbes's " Naked- Eyed Medusae " and " British Starfishes," and Alder and Hancock's "Nudibranchiate Mollusca,'' you will be set up. It is needless to name works of Histology or Comparative Anatomy, because, if your studies lie in these directions, you will already have possessed your- self of what is necessary. And now, when all is done, the Microscope is taken out, and severer studies begin. The hours I spent thus, fled like minutes, and left behind them traces as of years, so crowded were they with facts new and strange, or if not absolutely new, yet new in their definiteness, and in the thoughts they suggested. The typical forms took possession of me. They were ever present in my waking thoughts ; they filled my dreams with fantastic images ; they came in troops as I lay awake during meditative morning hours ; they teased me as I turned restlessly from side to side at night ; FASCINATION OF STUDY. 37 they made all things converge towards them. If I tried a little relaxation of literature, the page became a starting-point for the wandering fancy, or more obtru- sive memory ; a phrase like " throbbing heart " would detach my thoughts from the subject of the book, and hurry them away to the stage of the Microscope, w^here the heart of some embryo w^as pulsating. I could not look at anything intently, but the chance was that some play of light would transform itself into the image of a mollusc or a polype. The things I have seen in Tapioca pudding ... 1 This intense absorption in one study was wrong, and I tried to vary my employments ; but intellectual passions are not obedient to abstract convictions; they will exert their jealous exclusiveness. " No array of terms can tell how much I was at ease " on matters agitating the majority of my countrymen. I utterly declined to look at the Times. What cared I about Palmer and his trial ? or about the impendmg quarrel with America ? As much as the stock-broker towards the close of 'Change, or the Opposition member during the vote of confidence, would care for your attempt to interest him in the " extraordinary little organ dis- covered this morning in the tail of a tadpole — quite unsuspected by anatomists, I assure you." This was exclusive — say narrow, if you will. I had really interest in little but what the Scalpel and Micro- scope would disclose. Everything was new to me, so that every step was delightful. When I discovered what had long been known to others, the pleasure of 38 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. discovery was something essentially different from that of mere learnins; • and when I was fortunate enouo-h to discover what had not been known before, the delight in novelty was heightened by the triumph (surely not a guilty one ?) of amour j^rojjre. Three months of such study were worth years of lectures and readings — although the lectures and readings were necessary pre- parations for the full benefit of such study. But thoughts of " benefit '' are after- thoughts ; — the real incentive to work is passionate fondness for the work itself ; and I know nothing in the shape of intellectual activity which I would exchange for a long day with the Microscope. This feeling is beautifully indicated by M. Quatrefages, in that page of his Souvenirs d\in Naturaliste in which he describes his residence on the little archipelago of Chaussey, where none lived besides himself and a few fishermen. At night, when the songs and the disputes of the fishermen gradually lapsed into silence, and nothing could be heard but the murmurs of the sea, he sat down at his square deal table, covered with the produce of his day's hunt. There he sat, before a Microscope which opened to him the world of the infinitely minute, his pencil sketching the novel forms, his pen hastily tracing the result of his observations. And thus the nio^ht ad- vanced, till, with fingers so benumbed that he could no longer hold the scalpel, he crept into his bed as the fishermen were leaving theirs. The passage is too long to quote, but the reader can seek it in the charm- ing book itself, the work of a naturalist — which means, an enthusiast. ERRORS CONCERNING THE MICROSCOPE. 39 Of late years the Microscope has not only become indispensable to the scientific student, but a delight to the amateur. Nevertheless certain popular errors still deter many from its employment ; and now that it is no longer the costly instrument it used to be, those errors should be combated. A very general belief of its ''injuring the eyes" will be found even among microscopists. On evidence the most conclusive, I deny the accusation. My own eyes, unhappily made delicate by over-study in imprudent youth, have been employed for hours daily over the Microscope without injury or fatigue. By artificial light, indeed, I find it very trying ; but by daylight — which on all accounts is the best light for work — it does not produce more fatigue than any other steadfast employment of the eye. Compared with looking at pictures, for instance, the fatigue is as nothing. Nor should any uneasiness be felt at the musccB volitantes, which may be ob- served for the first time after using the Microscope. Few eyes are altogether without them, and it is erro- neous to attribute them to the Microscope, because they may not have been previously observed. The student should early learn to keep the unoccupied eye open, not to screw it up, and distort his countenance, because the sight of other objects confuses him. In a little while he will learn to attend only to the eye look- ing through the Microscope ; and his studies will be greatly relieved thereby. It is further said that microscopic observation is apt to be very erroneous, and that we can see whatever we wish to see. Undoubtedly men often do see what they 40 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. want to see, and what no one else can recognise. But this is not the fault of the instrument. So far from the Microscope being in itself deceptive, I maintain that it is less so than the unassisted eye ; and for this reason : all vision is mainly inferential ; from certain appearances certain forms are inferred ; this holds of the eye as well as of the Microscope, the optical prin- ciples of which are essentially the same ; but while the physical conditions are similar, the mental conditions at- tending vision with the assisted and the unassisted eye are different. The microscopic observer is on his guard against fallacies of interpretation which seldom suggest themselves to him when observing with the naked eye ; and this critical caution makes him not only less rash in interpreting appearances, but makes him anxious to verify interpretations by other means. If the contra- dictions of observers be cited as a proof of the decep- tive nature of the instrument, what shall we say to those manifold and persistent contradictions of anatom- ists using their unassisted eyes? But in truth, the controversies of microscopists have rarely turned upon simple facts of appearance, they have been almost wholly questions of interpretation. The scientific Naturalist will not content himself with Observation, however cautious and patient ; to it he will add what may be called the great mental in- strument, Experiment, the instrument by which we veinfy the accuracy of our observations and conclu- sions, and by which Nature is interrogated. Experi- mental Physiology is in its infancy ; which is another OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT. 41 way of saying that the science of life is in its youth. Sciences begin in casual observation and systematic reasoning. Careless of facts, men are then careful in logic. They build elaborate structures upon shifting- sand. Afterwards arrives the epoch of doubt ; men become aware how illusory is the reliance on reason- ing, be it never so logical, unless the data are exact, unless each step has been verified. The scrutiny of facts becoming more urgent, Observation ceases to be casual and careless ; a cultivated caution takes its place, and conclusions are tested less by their logical coherence than by their verified dependence on veri- fied facts. Now the most puissant instrument of veri- fication is the Experimental Method which, by- a pro- cess of elimination and exclusion, directly interrogates Nature. You thus perceive that time is not likely to hang heavy on our hands, while at the coast ; there is enough to do and to enjoy. Dr Johnson said that he who would acquire a pm^e English style must give his days and nights to Addison. I have some doubts whether the prescription is likely to be followed, or, if followed, likely to eff'ect its purpose ; but its language may be borrowed to suit my turn. He who would learn the exquisite delights Nature has for those who ardently pursue her, and would acquire a deep sense of rever- ence and piety in presence of the great and unfathom- able mysteries which encompass Life, must give his mornings to laborious searchings on the rocks, his afternoons to patient labour with the Microscope. CHAPTER 11. SUPERIOR CHARMS OF MARINE-HUNTIIfG — MORNING LABOURS— THE HERMIT-CRABS — CORSICAX BROTHERS — FOOD OF THE CRAB — A COMICAL FISH — ZOOLOGICAL PARADOXES — STUDY OF NATURE — VITALITY OF SEPARATED PARTS — DEFINITION OF LIFE — ORGANIC LAW OF DIVISION OF LABOUR — THE TEREBELLA : ITS SPONTANE- OUS FISSION (bonnet's EXPERIMENTS), ITS TWO CIRCULATING FLUIDS, AND DOUBLE RESPIRATION — STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF ITS TENTACLES — ERRONEOUS USE OP THE TERMS MUSCLE AND NERVE— ALWAYS CARRY A BASKET— THE LANES OF ILFRACOMBE. In the previous chapter, I endeavoured to convey- some idea of the charms which the naturalist and amateur may find in the dark fissures of frowning rocks, the endless occupation and amusement of clam- bering over ridges, creeping imder ledges, wriggling into crevices, or exploring the under side of boulders, while a summer sun is gleaming over the retiring sea, and the white gulls are hovering almost as lazily as the whiter clouds hanmno^ in the blue above them. Above and around, the landscape ; in pools and cre- vices, the game ; and by your side, pleasant companions eager as yourself. My description of these delights may have been thought enthusiastic by those to whom such pleasures are unknown ; but in truth no enthusi- asm is adequate, no description can reach the vividness DEFENCE OF EATING. 43 of reality ; the best description is but thin and meagre, following beggar-like in the footsteps of Eeality. The language of enthusiasm may serve to convey to others an impression that the speaker is moved, but it neces- sarily fails to paint the felicitous details which moved him. In this approximative and confessedly incomplete style, I will endeavour to describe something of the delimits which attend the naturalist when his huntino; is over, and his home is reached. For, understand this : the naturalist, and especially the 23hysiologist, has a Morrow to his pleasure, whereas all other hunt- ers have but a fine To-day. Far be it from me to underrate any man's pleasure ; nevertheless the most catholic may discriminate; and I must here discriminate between the sportsman's possible pleasure and my own. Brown is excited when he brings down a buck, lands a pike, or recovers a snipe which has fallen among the reeds. He has his day's sport, has proved his skill — to his own satisfaction entirely proved it ; and now nothing remains but to eat the produce. A dish the more upon his dinner-table — nothing but that ! Not that I mean to speak disrespectfully of dishes ; assur- edly not of venison, pike, or snipe, well dressed, well served, well wined, and well companioned. I have no patience with those who pretend not to care for their dinner, on the ludicrous assumption that "spiritual" negations imply superior souls. A man who is care- less about his dinner is generally a man of flaccid body, and of feeble mind ; as old Samuel Johnson authorita- 44 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. tively said, " Sir, a man seldom thinks with more ear- nestness of anything than he does of his dinner ; and if he cannot get that well dressed, he should he sus- 2^ected of inaccuracy in other things." Homo sum, et nihil, (^c. (&c. I respect man, and all his appetites. When the man is not basely insensible to the hunger of soul, the keen intellectual voracities and emotional desires, he is all the healthier, all the stronger, all the better for a noble capacity for food — a capacity which becomes noble when it ministers to a fine, and not merely a gluttonous nature. Moreover, I observe this constant fact, which is worth flinging at the heads of all super-refined superfine spiritualists, who talk about our God-given senses as "gross" — namely, that when- ever we get authentic details about a great man, we always find him to have been a generous eater. If I, who write this, must confess to being a small eater, I must also confess to not being a great man. Had nature willed it otherwise but she did not so will it ; and only gave me sufiicient sagacity to per- ceive that dishes are in no sense despicable. When, therefore, I think of the hunter's finale as merely an extra dish, and pronounce that to be an anti- climax to his day's work, instead of being, as my finale is, an ascending crescending culmination of delight ; this reflection is not suggested by any scorn of eating in itself, but is suggested by the obtrusive fact, that eating is at the best a, fiiiite pleasure. It has no savour of the infinite, which all true and great pleasures must possess. It is vigorous in sensation, but it is circum- DELIGHTS OF SCIENCE. 45 scribed ; it throws out no feelers into other, wider regions ; it generates no thought ; it leads nowhither ; it is terminal. Therefore, I say the finale of the table is an anticlimax for a hunter ; unless, indeed, he is huntino- for subsistence, and then of coui^se his finale becomes proportionately aggrandised. No such anticlimax was mine ; no such terminal enjoyment ; my finale was not final. If, as a matter of fact, the dissecting-table was the scene on which my captures made a last appearance, this last appearance was the end of a long series of episodes intermediate between the capture of prey and the incision of the scalpel. And even this finale was not, strictly speak- ing, a finis ; for when the last shred of delicate tissue had been examined under the Microscope, when various parts of the animal had been made into "preparations" for after-study, when everything to the physical eye may have seemed concluded, no end was reached, no dead wall of terminal blankness ; on the contrary, the philosophical eye followed the devious paths of specu- lation, into which new facts conducted ; and thus the feast of reason and the flow of physiology, generated pleasures superior to the j)leasures of the ordinary hunter by quite transcendent degrees. I dined as well as Brown, thanks to my poulterer and fishmonger. If the truth were known, my game was perhaps better than his. We both dined, '•' But oh ! the diflference to me !" On an equality as regards mere plenitude and diges- tive beatitude, how far below the "reaches of my soul" 46 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. were any thoughts which he could extricate from under that oppression of venison ! Table for Table, then, finale for finale, it is clear that my hunting was superior to Brown's in having a grand climax ; but I had already distanced him by many lengths before we came to that winning-post of the table. Brown lands his pike, and carries it home with a careless ostentation, and an " Oh-I-could-have- caught-more" kind of air. Admiring eyes follow him throuoh the villao-e. He stands on his lawn and holds up the fish before the window, to receive the facile admiration of acquiescent Mrs B. And here his sport ends till dinner. Now, although I carry home a bas- ket of marine animals with none of that eff'ect upon the popular mind (indeed the popular mind is terribly apt to eye my costume and basket with ill-concealed contempt), and although my servant can't for her life think what master does with them things, not she ; yet, when Brown and I are both fairly housed, his delio'ht runs do^ai like a clock -weioht — mine ascends like a windlass. The amusement of distri- buting and identifying the animals I have already noticed ; so we will suppose all that over, and that the fatigues of the day have been snored off" with great frankness. The morrow begins. My first thought on descending in the morning is to glance with fond anxiety at my animals. While the urn is musically hissing, and the cofiee percolating, I am carefully inspecting vases and pans, removing a bit of dirt here, a decayed weed there, placing a small A NATURALIST S DRAWING-ROOM. 47 stone more conveniently there, poking a sluggish Doris (Plate 11, fig. 2), to assure myself that he is alive, rescuing an Actinia from the crowding propensities of its cousins, or — sadder office still! — discovering: and removing those of my pets who have been inconsider- ate enough to pay their debt to nature's laws. This removal is a very necessary bit of work, for these amiable creatures, when dead, are capable of stinking Avith some vigour, and corrupting the water in which their companions live. Breakfast was always ready before I had fairly finished my overseeing, for the par- ishes were numerous, and some of the parishioners apt to skulk out of sight. During the pleasant hour of breakfast, and the cigar which followed, I contemplated my treasures with a placid eye. Picture to yourself a large and airy room, made out of two, in an elegant villa : on the sideboard stand four or five glass vases, various in size and in contents ; from this the eye travels to a table, opposite the window which opens on a balcony sheltered by a verandah ; this table is covered with bottles, phials, troughs, microscope, dis- secting-case, note-book, &c., all in that state of imper- fect order denominated higgledy-piggledy. Three soup- plates occupy the extreme end of the table, and, "carry the eye" into the balcony, where three yellow earthen- ware pans and a white foot-pan mimic, tant Men que mal, the shallow rock-pools of the shore. If the eye so carried into the balcony happen to be in the least a conventional eye — one never so well pleased as when resting on the elegancies of surface civilisation — it is 48 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. possible, nay, it is extremely probable, that it will rest upon these pans with a very mitigated admiration. Even I will confess they are not strictly ornamental. Without having read " Price on the Picturesque/' one may be startled, on walking up an elegant garden to an elegant villa, if the eye falls upon yellow pie-dishes and white foot-pans symmetrically insolent under a verandah. As to Gillow of Oxford Street, be sure he would feel his hair turning grey at such a sight. And I know many persons of irreproachable drawing-rooms, liberal in opinions, affable in demeanour, and glad to own me among their visiting acquaintances, who would cut me at once after seeing the proprieties thus out- raged. But look inside my pans and pie-dishes, and if you are not pleased with the beauty of those exqui- site animals, and those charming weeds, I set you down as one who judges of books by their binding, not by their contents. Observe, I do not take my stand on these pie-dishes. I should greatly prefer a tank, either of glass or stone ; but one can't imj)rovise a tank at sea-side lodgings, whereas pie-dishes ai^e attainable. From the glimpse just given of my before-breakfast occupation, you begin to suspect something of what was meant by the intermediate episodes between the capture and the scalpel ; you see that the mere keep- ins: and watching; of these animals will be a source of pleasures unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. One gets interested in anything which solicits attention, and in proportion to the solicitation ; hence our fond- THE HERMIT-CRAB. 49 ness for animals and children. Nay, do but watch a man walking round his garden, pulling out this weed and brushing off that insect, trimming this branch and trailing up that cluster, — see what an incessant pleasure it is to him. Now deepen this pleasure by a scientific interest, which makes every detail of man- ners, and every newly-observed point of structure, the starting-point for fresh speculation, and you will form a faint idea of what it is to keep pans and vases full of animals. You doubtless know the Hermit-crab, by naturalists named Pagurus? Unlike other crabs, who are con- tent to live in their own solid shells, Pagurus lives in the empty shell of some mollusc. He looks fiercely' upon the world from out of this apparently inconve- nient tub, the Diogenes of Crustacea, and wears an expression of conscious yet defiant theft, as if he knew the rightful owner of the shell, or his relatives, were coming every moment to recover it, and he, for his part, very much wished they might get it. All the fore 23art of Pagurus, including his claws, is defended by the solid armour of crabs. But his hind parts are soft, covered only by a delicate membrane, in which the anatomist, however, detects shell-plates in a rudi- mentary condition. Now a gentleman so extremely pugnacious, troubled with so tender a back and con- tinuation, would fare ill in this combative world, had he not some means of redressing the wrong done him at birth ; accordingly he selects an empty shell of convenient size, into which he pops his tender tail, D 50 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. fastening on by the hooks on each side of his tail ; and having thus secured his rear, he scuttles over the sea- bed, a grotesque but philosophic marauder. You ask how it is that this tendency to inhabit the shells of molluscs became organised in the hermit-crab? Either we must suppose that the crab was originally so created, — designed with the express view of inhabiting shells, to which end his structure was arranged ; or — • and this I think the more reasonable supposition — that the hermit-crab originally was furnished with shell-plates for the hinder -part of his body, but that these have now become rudimentary, in consequence of the animal's practice of inhabiting other shells, — a practice originally resorted to, perhaps, as a refuge from more powerful enemies, and now become an organised tendency in the species. Be this as it may, the hermit-crab will not live long out of an appropriated shell ; and very ludicrous was the scene I witnessed between two taken from their shells. Selecting them nearly equal in size, I dropped them, " naked as their mother bore them," into a glass vase of sea water. They did not seem comfortable, and carefully avoided each other. I then placed one of the empty shells (first breaking off its spiral point) between them, and at once the contest commenced. One made direct for the shell, poked into it an inquir- ing claw, and having satisfied his cautious mind that all was safe, slipped in his tail with ludicrous agility, and, fastening on by his hooks, scuttled away, rejoic- ing. He was not left long in undisturbed possession. FIGHT OF THE HERMIT-CRABS. 51 His rivcal approached with strictly dishonourable in- tentions ; and they both walked round and round the vase, eyeing each other with settled malignity, — like Charles Kean and Wigan in the famous duel of the Corsican Brothers. No words of mine can describe our shouts of laughter at this ludicrous combat, — one combatant uneasy about his unprotected rear, the other sublimely awkward in his borrowed armour. For the sake of distinctness, I will take a liberty with two actors' names, and continue to designate our two crabs as Charles Kean and Alfred Wio-an. C. K., although the blacker, larger, and stronger of the two, was at the disadvantage of being out of his shell, and was slow in coming to close quarters ; at last, after many hesitations, approaches, and retreats, he made a rush behind, seized the shell in his powerful grasp, while with his huo;e claw he haled Wio;an out, fluno; him discomfited aside, and popj^ed his tail into the shell. Wigan looked piteous for a few moments, but soon, his "soul in arms and eager for the shell," he rushed upon his foe ; and then came the tug of crabs ! C. K. had too firm a hold ; he could not be dislodged. I poked his tender tail, which was exposed through the broken shell, and he vacated, leaving Wigan once more in possession. But not for long. Once more Wigan was clutched, haled out, and flung away. I then placed a smaller shell, but perfect, in the vase. Kean at once quitted his dilapidated roof, and ensconced himself in this more modest cottage, leaving Wigan to make himself comfortable in the ruin ; which he did. 52 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. The fun was not over yet. A third hermit-crab was placed in the vase. He was much smaller than the other two, but his shell was larger than the one in which Kean had settled, as that unscrupulous crab quickly perceived, for he set about bullying the stran- ger, who, however, had a shell large enough to admit his whole body, and into it he withdrew. It was droll to see Kean clutching the shell, vainly waiting for the stranger to protrude enough of his body to permit of a good grasp and a tug ; but the stranger knew better. He must have been worn out at last, however, for although I did not witness the feat, an hour afterwards I saw Kean comfortable in the stranger's house. They were changed again ; but again the usurpation was successful. On the third day I find recorded in my journal : " The crabs have been fighting, and changing their abodes continually. C. K. is the terror of the other two, and Wigan is so subdued by constant de- feats that he is thrown into a fluster if even an empty shell is placed near him ; and although without a shell himself, which must make him very cold and comfort- less in the terminal regions, he is afraid to enter an empty one. The terrors of the last two days have been too much for his nerves : one must almost ques- tion his perfect sanity ; he is not oidy beside his shell, but beside himself The approach of C. K. throws him into a trepidation, which expresses itself in the most grotesque efforts at escape." A new experiment was tried. Throwing a good- sized whelk into the vase, I waited to see Kean devour HERMIT-CRAB AND \yHELK. 53 the whelk in order to appropriate his shell ; for the house he last stole, though better than the previous houses, by no means suited him. Mr Bell, in his History of British Crustacea, conjectures that the hermit-crab often eats the mollusc in whose shell he is found — a conjecture adopted by subsequent writers, although Mr Bell owns that he never witnessed the fact. My observation flatly contradicted the conjec- ture. Kean clutched the shell at once, and poked in his interrogatory claw, which, touching the operculum of the whelk, made that animal withdraw and leave an empty space, into which Kean poi3ped his tail. In a few minutes the whelk, tired of this confinement in his own house, and all alarm being over, began to pro- trude himself, and in doing so gently pushed C. K. before him. In vain did the intruder, feeling himself slipping, cling fiercely to the shell ; with slow but irresistible pressure the mollusc ejected him. This was repeated several times, till at length C. K. gave up in despair, and contented himself with his former shell. Thus, instead of eating the whelk (which, I may remark in passing, the crab never does, even in captivity, where food is scanty), he had not even the means of getting him out of his shell, and the conjec- ture of our admirable naturalist must be erased from all Hand-books. These traits of manners and morals pleasantly vary our graver observations : but it is only with the higher organisms that we can be so amused ; the lower or- ganisms, although they have their manners and their 54 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. morals, are too far removed from us to be intelligible. I have no doubt the mollusc is a moral individual, but you cannot consider him to be greatly impassioned ; an oyster, or a limpet, may have his theory of life : but you cannot appeal to his finer sensibilities through the medium of music, poetry, or painting. I have some doubts even of the crab in these regions of cul- ture ; but if he cannot soar so high as Art, we see how he touches the confines of Wit by his feeling for the Grotesque. Fish, too, are funny, and far more educable than jDeople suppose. Your fish has a sense of the proprieties ; he will even condescend to con- ventionalism in costume. At least, one I had at Ilfracombe did so. A queer little dolphin-like fellow he was, who, after swimming about the vase for some time, would sink to the bottom, and there, curling his tail round him as a cat does when making herself comfortable, he would look up with his impudent unabashed eyes, and pant away, as if fatigued with his gambols. This curling of himself whenever at rest was very comical, and he looked as if he knew it. When I had him, he was in full black — evening costume ; but on descendino- next mornino- I found him arrayed in an entire suit of light brown — cool morning summer costume ; in the afternoon he again presented himself in full black ; and the next morn- ing he was dead. I grieved for him, and, as a consola- tion — dissected him. This was my constant solace, when I found — as, alas ! I often found — that some of my pets had de- ANIMAL PARADOXES. 55 parted. The zoologist softened, the anatomist was resolved. I had lost a pet, and gained a "prepara- tion." Grief gave way nnder the scalpel. Science dried afflicted eyes. Nay, shall I confess it? Many a time I have had the nnfeelingness to eye a pet with an undertaker's glance, almost wishing it would die, for the sake of its corpse. And when this was the case, you may be sure I bore the announcement of mortality with something of that fortitude displayed by legatees when a choleric old gentleman, or a lady of starched and vigorous virtue, departs this life, leav- ing a trifle in the 3 per cents. Death was no finale to me. The closing scene was only the close of an act, after which the curtain rose once more, the drama culminating in interest. A thousand problems assailed the mind ; a thousand strange thoughts arose as I penetrated deeper and deeper into the mysteries of these various organisms, and mused upon their many paradoxes. Here was an animal without a heart ; there, one without a liver — nothing but quantities of hepatic cells distributed along the course of the alimentary canal. Here was an animal breathing by means of his legs ; and here one not breathing at all. Here was a mollusc with its intestine passing through its heart ; here another with teeth in its stomach ; and here an animal (the Physalia) digesting its food before swallowing it — that is to say, performing the act of chymification before the act of deglutition. Here was an animal of two sexes, and here one of no sex at all, — or, more 56 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. correctly speaking, of the female sex only, the male being non-existent. But the most piquant of all para- doxes is that of the parasitic Crustacean, a Lerncea (see Plate V., fig. 1) : The female, ensconced in the eye, or gills, of a fish, lives a lazy life at the fish's expense, and the male lives upon her as she lives on the fish (not unlike some disreputable males of the human species), and this male is himself infested with parasitic Vorticellag, so that we find parasites of para- sites of parasites ! * " Great fleas have little fleas, and lesser fleas to bite 'em, And these again have other fleas, and so ad infinitum." Paradoxes like these — and they might be indefinitely multiplied — titillate curiosity, but they do not form the real attraction of our studies ; they excite a smile, or a passing wonderment, which is as nothing com- pared with the deep, abiding, almost awful sense of the mystery and marvel of Nature. The crowning glory is the knowdedge which ever opens into newer and newer vistas, quickening our sense of the vastness and the complexity of Life. For it is eminently the case with these studies, that they intensify and exalt our conceptions of the incommunicable grandeur and infinity of Nature. Many eloquent pages have set forth the eff'ect produced upon the mind by the study of Nature, the enlarging influences of contact with * See the second part of Nordmann's Mikrogr-aphische Beilrdge zur Naturgeschichte d. Wirhellosen Thiere 1832, for a full and admirable monograph of these parasites, illustrated by coloured plates ; also a Memoire by Van Beneden, in the Annales des Sciences, 1851. EFFECT OF NATUKE ON THE MIND. 57 and contemplation of her phenomena, so different from the fleeting fashions and miserable pretexts of much that passes as civilisation, so full of rebukes to our foolish pride and pretences ; so full of lessons to us to be in earnest, and to trust in simple earnestness. But although contact with all reality must necessarily have something of this influence, I should say, speak- ing from my own experience, that this is true in quite another sense to those minds familiarised with the phenomena of life manifested by the simpler organ- isms. Here the Microscope is not the mere extension of a faculty, it is a new sense. At some distance from the Alps, we discern their masses of purple grandeur, but that is all we discern ; on approaching nearer, these purple masses assume shapes more and more definite, although their varied architecture is still hid- den from us : we see none of their ravines and valleys ; a little nearer, and we detect these, but discern none of the chalets nestled in the valley, or scattered over the mountain-sides ; nearer still, we see the habita- tions, and the cattle, and the men ; yet nearer, and we discriminate individualities ; but we have still to advance, and patiently watch, before the tragedies and comedies acted in these scenes can become intel- ligible to us. Thus with each step we have changed our conceptions of the Alps. Thus with each step do we change our conceptions of Nature. We all begin, where most of us end, with seeing things removed from us — kept distant by ignorance and the still more obscuring screen of familiarity. We afterwards learn 58 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. to observe sometliing besides these broad general out- lines which constitute the scenery of our existence, and learn to admire the magnificence of Nature. The observation of one detail is a step to the recognition of many. In this stage we resemble the traveller who has discovered the Alps to have valleys and habita- tions. If the Microscope be now placed in our hands, it brings us into the very homes and haunts of Life ; and finally, the high creative combining faculty, mov- ing amid these novel observations, reveals something of the great drama which is incessantly enacted in every drop of water, on every inch of earth. Then, and only then, do we realise the mighty complexity, the infinite splendour of Nature ; then, and only then, do we feel how full of Life, varied, intricate, marvel- lous, world within world, yet nowhere without space to move, is this single planet, on the crust of which we stand, and look out into shoreless space, peopled by myriads of other planets, larger, if not more won- derful, than ours. And if with this substitution of definite and particular ideas for the vague generalities with which at first we represented Nature — if wdth increase of knowledge there comes, as necessarily there must come, increase of reverence, it is evident that the study of Life must of all studies best nourish the mind with true philosophy. The facts are the least of the attractions in this study, although they are the bricks with which you build. If you happen to be of a speculative turn, every fresh observation mil start new trains of thought. VITALITY OF SEPARATED PARTS. 59 Walk up to my working-table, and take the first pliial or trough chance may present. You have chosen a phial in which a quantity of thread-like worms are wriggling like uninspired Pythonesses. You are mis- taken in supposing them to be worms, — they are nothing of the kind ; they are not even individuals. In spite of your stare, I repeat the statement : they are not individuals, they are organs. Why then do they live and wriggle ? and of what are they organs? The first question is easier to ask than to answer. The second is as easy to answer as to ask ; so, like an adroit teacher, who evades difficulties to di'op with confidence on what is easy, I will answer it. In the preceding chapter (p. 26) I recorded with some min- uteness the finding of a Terebella buried in the sand, its long thread-like tentacles waving in the air being- all that was visible, until it was dug up. Those tentacles are what you have in the phial before you. While examininoj the worm, I observed that one of its tentacles had been torn off", and was wriggling with independent vivacity : I bethought me of trying how long these organs would live separated from the body ; so, cutting them all off", I placed them in this phial. This was on the 21st May ; on the 25th some died; but to-day is the 27th, and there are still several vivacious. Nor is this by any means a solitary instance. The other day I was examining one of those white fila- ments which certain Actinim copiously throw out when disturbed. The filament is nothing but a deli- 60 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. cate membranous tube covered with vibratile cilia, and enclosing, I believe, a still more delicate tube, filled with granules and those thread- capsules which anatomists declare (erroneously, as I shall prove here- after) to be the urticating or stinging cells. Such is the structure of this filament, which, although it had long been removed from the animal, was twisting and twirling itself like a worm in an unhappy state of mind ; and moving across the stage with motions which it was impossible to distinguish from voluntary motions. I then crushed it into many minute fragments ; but long after- wards I observed some of these moving about like so many animalcules. Another day I observed what seemed a tiny white annelid crawling at the bottom of a vase ; on securincr it, I found it was one of the Actinia's filaments. It may be answered that this motion was not life : in both cases it was only ciliary action. But do not let us cheat ourselves with phrases. What is the motion of early embryos but ciliary action ? and what is explained by the phrase? Where then does life begin ? In that foot-pan you see a dozen lovely Medusce, swimming to and fro with their laborious pulsating movements — are not those movements the finger-posts of vitality ? Well, then, now attend : yesterday I was dissecting some of these, and, while examining the exquisite fringe of tentacles which hangs from the border of the disc, I observed every one of these polyp-like tentacles move to and fro, now pro- truded, now withdrawn into the substance of the disc, each with independent action, and this on a portion of WHAT IS LIFE? 61 the disc which had been many hours separated from the animal. The fringe does no more when the animal is vigorous on the warm surface of the tranquil sea ; it does no less now that the animal is in shreds. Look in that saucer, and you will observe the fragment of another Medusa ; the animal is dead, and almost melt- ed away. I have already cut out two of the ovarial chambers, yet you see the oval tentacles are twisting about as if seeking prey. This is not ciliarity, but contractility. This is life, unless you restrict the term life to the meanino- it carries in its hio-hest formula. If it is motion, it is vital motion. Can motion, alone, be taken as the index of life ? Certainly not. But let us try to be precise in our language. Life is a complex term, indicating complex phenomena. In its highest formula, expressing all the requisite generality of what is included in the term, it indicates the triple unity of Nutrition, Reproduction, and Decay. An animal grows, reproduces, and dies ; these are the three capital and cardinal facts of its organism. Out of these issue many derivative and secondary phenomena, one of which is Motion. In some animals, motion can scarcely be said to have any existence. The Ascidians, for example, although of rather complex structure, have nothing which ap- proaches it, unless we should so designate the occa- sional contraction and dilatation of their two orifices. We may therefore conceive Life without Motion, and Motion without Life ; and thus, with some plausi- bility, ask whether the movements exhibited by the 62 * SEA-SIDE STUDIES. tentacles of the Terehella and Medusa onglit to be received as indications of life ? Here I get myself into a fix. The thought arises that what I observe in these tentacles is owing to a surj)lus residue of vitality, retained by them, not to any central source of self- renewing vitality, such as the organism possesses ; consequently, inasmuch as these tentacles neither grow, nor reproduce themselves, they fail to fulfil the primary conditions of Life ; in other words, they are not alive, in spite of movements, apparently sponta- neous, during a wdiole week of independent existence. In arguing with one's-self, one has always a respect- ful antagonist, to whose objections every attention is given. Having given due attention to myself, I now turn round upon myself, and remark with some em- phasis : Very true ; but you overlook the important fact that in speaking of Life as the triple unity of Nutrition, Eeproduction, and Decay, you are speaking of the ivliole organism ; whereas in the tentacles of Terehella and Medusa, we were considering an organ, not an organism ; and to apply your definition to an organ, would be to deny its vitality altogether. The animal cannot be considered as wantino- in either of the triple terms ; but the very essence of an organ is that it specialises a function — that is to say, takes upon itself to do something for the benefit of the whole animal, in return for which it is absolved from doing many things which the animal must do. In the earliest forms of Life, as in the earliest states of Society, all do everything, each does all. There is THE TEREBELLA. 63 no separate digestive system, no sej^arate resjDii'atory system, no muscular system, no nervous system. Every part of the animal assimilates, respires, con- tracts, moves ; just as in barbarian tribes every man is liis own tailor, liis own purveyor, his own architect, and his own lawyer. At last the principle of Division of Labour emerges ; then that which is true of the whole organism ceases to be true of an organ ; and we have no more right to demand that an arm should digest food, than that Moses & Son should preside over the deliberations of Downing Street, or cook the Whitebait dinner ; we have no more right to ask the lungs to produce offspring, than to ask Mr Cobden to take command of the Baltic fleet, and Mr Bright to perform the operation for stone. Each no longer does all. When, therefore, we look at these arms of the Terehella, which wriggle after a week's separation from the body, we see them manifest as much of life as they manifested a week since. They would grow if they had food ; unhappily they have lost the power of pre- paring food, and they die at length from starvation. But put down that j^hial, and look at this which contains another and far more beautiful species of Terebella, by name Nebulosa (Plate VII., fig. 1.) It makes itself a solid tube of earth, which it cements by a mucus exuded from its surface ; and in this tube, but not attached to it, the Terebella lives, merely putting forth its long tentacles into the water. I have taken it from its tube to watch its beauty and its manners. Professor Rymer Jones, in the last edition of his Animal 64 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Kingdom, says, that " our knowledge of these animals has been until recently very limited ;"' and he adds, "the zootomist who should enjoy favourable oppor- tunities of inspecting the larger species in a fresh state, could hardly make a more valuable contribution to our science than by giving an account of the organisation of these interesting animals/' My opportunities of observing the larger species have been null ; but hav- ing dredged up many of the smaller species off Tenby and Caldy, I studied those with great eagerness ; and although my observations had, for the most part, already been included in the more elaborate investigations of Milne Edwards and Dr AVilliams, I have yet something new to offer, little though it be. No one, I believe, has yet recorded the fact of the Terebella multiplying itself by the process of gemma- tion, which is known to occur in the case of some other Annelids — such as the Nais (Plate IV., fig. 3), the Syllis^ and the Myriana, and of which the reader will find all the details in the accessible works cited below.* When the animal reproduces by this budding process, it begins to form a second head near the extremity of its body. After this head, other segments are in turn developed, the tail, or final segment, being the identical tail of the mother, but pushed forward by the young segments, and now" belonging to the child, and only vicariously to the mother. In this state we have two * QuATREFAGES : Annales des Sciences, 3"^® serie, i. 22; Souvenirs d'un Naturaliste, i. 247. Rymer Jones: Animal Kingdom. Owen : Comparative A natomy, vol. i. ANNELIDS BUDDING, LIKE PLANTS. 65 worms and one tail. It is as if a head were suddenly to be developed out of your lumbar vertebrae, yet still remain attached to the column, and thus produce a double-headed monster, more fantastic than fable. Or suppose you were to cut a caterpillar in half, fashion a head for the tail half, and then fasten this head to the cut end of the other half — this would give you an image of the Syllis budding. But in some worms the process does not stop here. What the mother did, the child does, and you may see at last six worms forming one continuous line, with only one tail for the six. The tail indeed is the family inheritance ; but reversing the laws of primogeniture, it always descends to the youngest : like that elaborate display of baby linen which was worked with such fondness for the first-born, and has become in turns the costume of successive pledges, as they appeared on this scene of life with a constant diminendo of interest in all but parental eyes. Such, in a few words, is the budding of Annelids. I omit differences, and many curious details, only desiring to fix the reader's attention on the cardinal fact. The separation finally takes place, and then we perceive the children and grandchildren are not quite the same as their ancestor. The fact has not been observed at all hitherto in the group of Annelids named Tahicola ; yet two of my Terebellce gave me a sight of it. The first died before the separation took place. The second, after a day or two's captivity, separated itself from its appendix of a baby, and seemed all the livelier for the loss of a juvenile which had been literally in that con- E 66 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. dition of " hanging to its mother's tail," which I have heard applied in metaphorical sarcasm to small boys anxious to be with their mothers. The young one only hved four days. This spontaneous self-division of worms is a curi- ous fact, first observed and accurately described by the Genevese naturalist, Charles Bonnet,* whose discoveries in reproduction we shall have to consider in a sub- sequent chapter. He found the fresh-water Nais frequently double, and saw the separation take place. He also cut the worm into several pieces, and observed each piece reproduce its head, and gTow into a perfect worm. One observation he made is worth repeating here.-|- He cut a Nais transversely, but not entirely in two ; that is to say, the two portions were held together by a mere thread ; in less than an hour after- wards the two were again perfectly united, and no trace remained of the operation, except a slight con- striction, and an interruption in the continuity of the vessels and viscera. This interruption was very similar to such as he had observed in several worms in their ordinary condition ; and if we compare the observation with that made by M. Peltier, j we shall see that they confirm each other. " In those species,'' says M. Peltier, " which have a dorsal contractile vessel, in which the course of the nutritive fluid can be traced, we see that in proportion as the fluid becomes poorer, the contraction becomes feebler, and is arrested at the * Bonnet : Traite iV Insectologie, 1745, vol. ii. f Ibid. ii. 133. X See Conqjfes Henchis des Seances deV Academie, 1844, Jan. 22. p. 161. Peltier's observations on annelids. 67 point where the fluid, having been already absorbed, ceases to arrive. Here we see in the middle of the body, at the very point where the nutritive fluid is arrested, a constriction of the dorsal vessel, and two large absorbing vesicles are formed, which collect, for the benefit of the posterior half of the animal, the aliment no longer fm^- nished by the anterior half. As soon as these vesicles begin to act, the posterior half of the dorsal vessel re- assumes its contractile movements. These contractions have their origin in the vesicles, and have no connection with the anterior half, nor are they synchronous in their movements with it. In front of these vesicles a con- striction takes place which finishes by separating the two portions into two distinct animals. If one of these be kept alive in the same drop of water for some days, the aliment gradually diminishing, the process is re- peated, and this again may be repeated, so that six dis- tinct individuals are produced from one, solely by the deficiency of food, which causes a constriction of the dorsal vessel." What an argument in favour of those who maintain starvation to be a cause of over-popula- tion ! Quatrefages has noticed an analogous case in the Synapta. " Hunger is the sole cause of the spon- taneous amputations," he says. " It would incline one to say that the animal, feeling himself unable to find food for his whole body, successively suppresses those parts which cost too much."* It is right to add, that a very great authority on all questions relating to the Annelids — Dr Thomas Williams * Quatrefages, Souvenirs dj'iin Naturaliste, i. 62. 68 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. of Swansea — emphatically denies the whole of the "fables'' originated by Bonnet, and accepted by all successors. He says* there is not one word of truth in the statements, and he laughs at Professor Owen for repeating them. I have examined the point, as regards the Nais, since reading his denial, and am at a loss to understand how that denial could have been made in terms so sweeping. In the Na'is prohoscidca the spontaneous separation is preceded by the formation of a head, with the unmistakable proboscis ; as any one may observe who mil collect a few specimens from a neighbouring pond. The Na'is prohoscidea is a convincing instance, be- cause the long proboscis may easily be seen projecting from the segment where the separation will take place ; and its presence removes all possible doubt as to the formation of a new head. Disposed as I am to allow due weight to the opinions of Dr Williams, I am sur- prised to find him saying : " The tail-fragment never, as can be proved by easy observation, produces a single new ring or segment of the body. If this be true, how completely improbable must be the statement, that the headless piece is capable of constructing a new head!" No one can read Bonnet's own account of his observa- tions and experiments, recorded with great minuteness and precision, without feeling considerable surprise at such a remark. If Dr WiUiams were correct, his con- tradiction would throw a doubt on the observations of * Williams — Report on British Annelida, 1851 — In Reports of British Association, 1852, p. 247. CONFIRMATION OF BONNET'S EXPERIMENTS. 69 any naturalist ; because if Bonnet is not to be trusted, on a point so easy of verification, when his statements are so j^recise, and his observations so numerous and minute, no one can be trusted. Fortunately, however, Bonnet is rigorously correct. I have verified his observations under the impulse of Dr Williams's denial; and at the very moment of writing this, I have two Naids in separate vessels, who have reproduced their heads and probosces under the follomng circumstances. The two worms were first cut in half, the fragments which bore the heads were thrown away, and those which bore the tails were placed in vessels, with nothing but water and a little mud, in which, as I had scrupulously ascertained, no worm or other visible animal was concealed. In a few days the complete heads were formed ; the heads were examined daily during their formation. When the animals were quite perfect I once more cut them in two, threw away the head-fragments, and replaced the tail-fragments in their vessels. A second time the heads were formed. A third time the experiment was repeated ; and the worms are now lively, after their fourth section, so that before this passage is printed, I have little doubt they will pre- sent the fourth reproduction of head and proboscis.* Amateurs are not fond of worms ; nor, until they have seen Serpulce, Sabellce, and Terehellce^ expanding and waving their beautiful tentacles in the water, can they understand why we should take so much trouble to * One died a few days afterwards, but the other made itself a new head as before ; it died, however, after a fifth division. 70 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. secure them. And yet, apart from their beauty, the worms deserve our study. Their structure is full of interest. Let us for a moment consider their blood. That some animals have red blood, and others blood not red (which made Aristotle say that some have blood and others none at all), you know perfectly well ; but that the worms have blood of various colours, is probably news to you. Swammerdamm '' was the first who broke down the Aristotelian division, by showing that the blood of the earthworm was red ; and Cuvier extended this observation to a whole class of worms, to which he gave the name of Vei^s a sang rouge ; but this was vehemently criticised by de Blainville ; and recent researches, especially those of Milne Edwards, Quatre- fages and Williams, have shown that a great diversity in colour exists. Thus the Sea-mouse (Aphrodita) has colourless blood ; the Polynoe pale yellow ; the Sahella olive green ; and one species of Sahella, dark red. But this diS'erence of colour is trifling compared with the absence of corpuscles from the blood of all Annelids. The corpuscles, as you know, are the floating solids of the blood, and on them devolve the most important physiological functions ; but the blood of all Annelids is entirely destitute of them ; and Milne Edwards, in noticing the fact, remarks that this liquid resembles the imperfect blood of the vertebrate embryo in the early periods of development. •[* * Swammerdamm : BihliaNaturce, i. 119. t Milne Edwards : Lemons sur la Phys. et VAnat. Compar^e, 1857 ; vol. i. p. 107. COLOUKING MATTER OF THE BLOOD. 71 There is one remark I wish to make in passing, respecting the colomiess blood of the majority of in- vertebrate animals, and that is the proof it affords of the error, not uncommon, in attributing the colouring matter of animals to the colouring matter of their blood. It is now known that the colour of the muscles is due to a peculiar pigment, far more than to the blood which is in them. It is quite clear that the purple fluid ejected by the Sea-hare, or the inky fluid ejected by the Cuttle-fish, cannot derive their colour from colourless blood. There are muscles in several Molluscs — for instance, those of the oesophagus in the Slug and Water-snail — which are of reddish hue, yet the blood of these animals has no colour. And, as a final argument, the integument of the Anemones is richly coloured, yet they have no blood at all. To return to our Annelids. If we grant that the fluid hitherto universally regarded as blood is truly blood, we shall have to acknowledge that these Anne- lids have two different kinds of blood ; for over and above the fluid which we see circulating in the vessels, there is a fluid circulating, or, more correctly speaking, oscillating, in the general cavity of the body, and this fluid carries with it what are called the blood- corpuscles. It consists of albumen and sea water ; and is by Dr Williams named the " Chylaqueous fluid,'' the simplest form in which blood makes its appearance, distin- guished from the " Blood-proper,'' in not being a fluid cii'culating in a system of closed vessels, but a fluid 72 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. which carries the chyle directly to the tissues. An image may render the mechanism intelligible. Sup- pose a worm suspended in a phial of water. Let the worm represent the intestinal canal, and the glass phial represent the external integument, the water will then represent the chylaqueous fluid, which moves with every motion of the intestine, and fills up every cavity made by its motions. The albuminous and corpuscular nature of the chylaqueous fluid prove it to be subser- vient to the purposes of nutrition. It also serves an- other purpose, acting as an internal skeleton. You are surprised at the idea of a liquid skeleton .? yet you sit on a cushion of air, without the least astonish- ment. The fact is positive : the Annehd employs its chylaqueous fluid as a fulcrum by which it moves ; let the fluid out, and all power of locomotion vanishes. The two bloods have two methods of aeration. The " chylaqueous fluid " rushes into the lovely tentacles which in many species wave above the head, and there is aerated, aided by the action of the cilia which line the inner surface of the tentacles. The " blood '' is carried to those arborescent tufts without cilia, which branch from each side of the head beneath the ten- tacles. But although the respiratory process does un- doubtedly take place in these organs, yet in animals so simply constructed, each organ performs more than one function. Let us hear Dr Williams on the tentacles : — " From theii' extreme length and vast number they expose an extensive aggregate surface to the agency of the surrounding medium. They consist of hollow, FUNCTION OF THE TENTACLES. 73 flattened, tubular filaments, furnished with strong mus- cular parietes. Each of these hollow band-like ten- tacles may be rolled longitudinally into a cylindrical form, so as to enclose a semicircular space, if they only imperfectly meet. This inimitable mechanism enables each filament to take up and firmly grasp, at any point of its length, a molecule of sand, or, if placed in a linear series, a row of molecules. But so perfect is the disposition of the muscular fibres at the extreme end of each filament, that it is gifted with the twofold power of acting on the sucking and on the muscular principle. In addition to the two important uses already assigned to these tentacles, they constitute also the real agents of locomotion. They are first out- stretched by the forcible ejection into them of the peritoneal fluid, they are then fixed like so many slender cables to a distant surface ; and then, shorten- ing in their lengths, they haid forward the helpless carcass of the worm." * The carcass of the worm is by no means so helpless as here described. It is true that the tentacles are employed to drag the animal along. You observe how that one is crawling up the sides of the glass, and now hangs suspended to the floating weed : but you may also observe him wrig- gling about his body with great activity, and by these contractions he is enabled to make progress, even when deprived of his tentacles. There is a more serious objection, however, to be made to the passage I have just abridged. Dr * Williams : Report, p. 194. 74 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Williams — in common with most, if not all, anatom- ists — speaks of the muscular parietes of these ten- tacles. I venture to suggest that there is great inaccuracy in the term ; and that the existence of these muscles is a pure assumption, assumed to explain the Contractility of these organs, in the same way as a nervous system is constantly assumed to explain some phenomena of Sensibility, although not a trace of a nerve can be detected by the highest powers of the microscope. The assumption is in each case perfectly needless, and very misleading. It is against all philo- sophy thus to assume the existence of a tissue no one can detect, to explain a phenomenon which may be otherwise explained. Nor is anything gained by de- clarinoj that the nervous tissue is in a " diffused state." This is making an assumption, and conceaHng it in a phrase. If I were to declare that gun cotton contained nitre, because gunpowder contains it ; and if, when my statement was answered by repeated analyses proving no nitre to be there, I were to reply, " the nitre may not be detected by your analysis, because it is in a diffused state," you would shrug contempt at such chemistry. But this is precisely analogous to what is done daily with respect to nervous tissue. Men assume that all animals must have nerves ; if the nerves are not visible, it is because they are " diffused.'' Now, this reasoning is not only vicious as logic, it is particularly vicious in Biology, where structure is of equal import- ance with composition. Nerve is a specific thing, having a specific composition, and a specific structure ; ARE NERVES EVER " DIFFUSED " ? 75 to talk of this thiiio: as " difFiised/' is to talk of it as wanting one of its constituent characters ; it is like talking of fluid crystals, or square circles. All this Dr Williams, I am sure, would be the first to admit, for he doubts the existence of nerves even in the Echinodermata ; and I would ask him whether the tentacles of the Terebella are not assumed to have muscles, in accordance with the cm-rent notions that wherever there is Contractility the existence of mus- cles must be inferred ? I put the question as a ques- tion merely. My own observations utterly failed to detect muscular fibres in the tentacles of the spe- cies I examined. On one occasion, indeed, they pre- sented the aspect of circular fibres, which I thought must be the muscles Dr Williams refers to ; but, on applying a power of 300 diameters, these fibres resolved themselves into simple corrugations of the investing membrane ; and I can very confidently assert that in no single species of Terebella which has fallen in my way was there the slightest trace of muscle. But enough of anatomy for this morning ! The lovely lanes of Ilfracombe invite us, and we may cool our over-heated brows by a delicious breeze blowing- over the Tors ; or perhaps the noble sweep of Tenby sands seduces us to walk to Giltar Point. A bottle or two will be useful in either expedition ; a small basket will be worth the trouble of carriasje if we take the sands, for there was a gale last night, and who knows what may have been thrown up by it ? And if you 76 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. trust to your hands to carry all you may find, you will, perhaps, be the " observed of all observers," as I was, carrying a large Cuttle-fish in each hand, while some compassionate sailors superfluously assured me, " Them's not good to eat, sir !" Another day I trans- ported a Dogfish through the streets — much to the horror of all the flounces, and the ineffable scorn of all the pink shirts and telescopes. You may be as indif- ferent to the stares and the scorns of flounces and telescopes as I was, but still I say, out of mere conve- nience, carry a phial, if not a basket. On one memor- able afternoon we came upon, and almost stepped upon, an adder lying just outside the hedge. All is grist to the anatomist's mill, so I cut off* the adder's head, and wrapped it in my pocket-handkerchief Presently we came to a pleasant pond, the surface of which, with its varied greenth of scum, was so full of promise that there burst from me a sudden Oh I which startled, and not a little puzzled, a lazy countryman, taking his siesta by looking at nothing over a gate. " Here's a pond ! " I exclaimed, when reason got the better of emotion. " Ah ! " responded my companion, profoundly sym- pathetic. The countryman was bewildered. Were we insane ? or only Cockneys? There was a pond, sure enough, and as dirty a bit o' water as you'd wish to see ; and what then? Were we frogs from the desert, that a pond should agitate us ? While he was cracking this very hard nut, harder ILFRACOMBE LANES. 77 than his owii Devonshire skull, I had emerged from the bitterness of self-reproach at having forgotten a phial, into the clearness of triumphant resource. Seizing; a lar^e dock-leaf and converting it into the rude resemblance of a bag, I hooked up mth my stick a string of tempting scum, packed it up in the leaf, and walked away wealthy. To his dying day that countryman will recount, to all who will listen, the inconceivable fancy of the gentry folks, who carried off the filth of a pond in a dock-leaf. A queer start, warn't it ? Where shall we ramble ? At Ilfracombe the ques- tion is really puzzling, because so many lovely walks solicit you. Go where you will, you cannot miss a lovely walk, that is some comfort ; but there is an em- barrassment of riches. Towards the close of spring, when the trees are in full leaf, but still keep their deli- cate varieties of colour — varieties lost in the fulness of summer, to be regained with even greater beauty in autumn, — at this time, when the furze is in all its golden glory, perpetually tempting one to pluck a tuft of blossoms as the largest specimen ever seen, and scenting the air all round, Ilfracombe is enchanting. So it is in summer ; but the loss of the furze is almost like the fading away of the evening red. Contempo- rary with the furze is the lovely primrose, here seen to perfection, covering the hill-sides with pale stars, almost as plentifully as butter-cups and daisies else- where. In such a season, the walk to Lee seduces with its beauties of rocky coast and wooded inland 78 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. hill ; or the woods of Chambercombe lure you into their coolness. When the sun is broiling in cloudless blue, the coolness of a wood, in which the sunbeams only flicker through branches, and elicit all their beauties, forms a pleasant retreat ; and before you reach Chambercombe the eye has been delighted with perpetual landscapes. There is a lane leading into a farmyard — a Devonshire lane, remember — which will long hold a place in my memory. Close to the gate of this farmyard there is a spring which is a perfect miniature of some Swiss " falls." It spreads itself like a crystal fan on successive ledges of the hedge-bank, until it reaches a much broader ledge, where it forms a little lake on a bed of brown pebbles ; then down it goes again till it reaches the road, where it runs along a tiny, happy, babbling stream. One of the endless charms of these lanes — as of all mountainous districts — is the frequency of the springs, glossy with liverwort and feathery with fern, making a pleasant music day and night. Passing through the farmyard, where the pigs wallow, and grunt sensual satisfaction, and the cows look at you with bovine stupidity, you come upon a widening of the lane, where several gateways meet, and here the exquisite mid-flowers, everywhere so abundant, seem more than ever luxuriant. What a perfect bit of foreground is that ! A few rough mossy trunks Ijning against the tufts of fern, and a quiet don- key stretched across the lane in " maiden meditation, fancy free ;" it is one of those exquisite nothings which somehow affect you more than a fine landscape. At ILFRACOMBE LANES. 79 least it so affected ns ; and this was surpassed a little further on, when we came to a spot where a brook runs brawling across the lane, and a wooden bridge allows those to pass who prefer not wetting their feet. A rough hurdle is fixed up where the brook gushes from the field into the lane, over brown stones, which it polishes into agate. Against the little bridge rises a tree, and all round its roots by the brook-side are varied tufts of fern, and gems of wild-flowers. How I wished to be a painter that I might sketch such "bits" as these, and not let enthusiasm evaporate in ohs ! From this brook a step or two brought us to a shabby- house, bearing the reputation of being haunted, its broken windows rag-mended. I never saw the ghost ; but I always saw a huge, divinely-awkward puppy, as happy and affectionate as puppies usually are. I could not get my companions to sympathise with me in my love for puppies in general, or in my wish to encourage the advances of this one in particular. De gustihus. There are people who don't like poetry ; there are others indiff'erent to puppies. After a valedictory caress to this floppy acquaintance, we passed on into the woods, and while seated under delicious " umbra- geosity," I soothed myself with a Latakia cigar, and contemplated a beautiful caterpillar spending its tran- sitional life on a branch, happily knowing nothing of transitions. Pleasant was the murmurous sound of insects, pleasant the ripple of water, pleasant the glint- ing sunlight, and the broad reposing shade, but plea- sant above all was the charm of interchanging thoughts. 80 BEA-SIDE STUDIES. Yes, Nature is very lovely, and speaks to us in sooth- ing tones ; but Human Nature has a holier accent still. Another favourite walk was to Watermouth and Berryn Narbor, over the edges of majestic cliffs, reveal- ing inlet after inlet, each differing in its wealth of colour, each a picture, till we passed into what are called the "meadows/' really a noble park, through which runs a stream fringed with wild-flowers, and clear as crystal ; every twenty or thirty yards the stream falls over an artificial precipice of stones, mak- ing a dulcet music. The slopes on each side are richly wooded ; and the sequestered silence of this spot adds to its many charms. Who has not felt the deep peace which settles on the soul, when one is lying in the long grass beside a stream, under a summer sun, no sound of traffic, contention, or care to vex or sadden ? Who has not sat upon a gate, less to rest than to enjoy the peaceful idleness of noon, and looked upon the mar- vellous forms of life active around him, dreaming all the while of pleasant scenes, which revisit the memory, or of pleasant hopes rising, "like exhalations of the dawn." In such a mood we one day rested on a gate under the trees beside this stream ; presently a blind man felt his way also to the gate, and rested there. We spoke to him ; he told us with that sluggish iteration characteristic of the countryman, that this was a fine healthy spot . . . yes, a very healthy spot . . . a healthy spot. And he held down his head ; alas ! it was useless for him to hold it erect, fronting the lovely scene. Saddened by his presence, we soon moved on, PLEASANT RAMBLES. 81 and returning over the cliffs, we came upon another human being, with eyes closed to the beauty around, but closed in sleep, not blindness. A little girl, not more than eight years old, was stretched along the path, her rosy cheek resting on her little arm, which rested on the bare rock. How fast she was ! but, as Shakespeare says, "Weariness will snore upon a flint," and here was wearied innocence sleeping on a flint, the summer sun pouring down its rays upon her, and also on the milk, which stood in a can by her side, and which perhaps was not much benefited by this rest in the sun. All I know is, that the picture was very touching, and I placed a penny in the child's half- closed hand that she might find it on awaking. She would think some fairy placed it there. On reachino' home there was dinner, to which two words had to be said, not contemptuous, believe me ; and then cofi*ee and cigar, with the serenities thereon attending : and then a stroll among the vases, for the inspection of my pets ; and a stroll in the garden where I could inspect the pans under the verandah ; and then study ; and then with limbs weary and eyes drooping, to bed : " So runs the round of life from hour to hour.'' CHAPTER III. LIVE ANIMALS SENT BY POST— THE MORTE STONE — "WANTED, A TIN canister!" — THE BORING MOLLUSCS, PHOLAS, TEREDO, AND SAXI- CAVA — HOW IS THE BORING EFFECTED ? — APPLICATION OP EMBRYO- LOGY TO PRACTICAL PURPOSES — RESPIRATION OF THE PHOLAS — DREDGING — THE SEA A PASSION — THE DEAD CEPHALOPOD AND ITS COLOUR-SPECS — NEED OF A DOCTRINE — MORMON PREACHER— LOGIC OP ZOOLOGISTS — CLEOPATRA'S PEARL — PRODUCE OF A GALE— THE EOLIS : ITS STRUCTURE ; HOW DOES IT BREATHE ? REASONS FOR REMOVING THE EOLTS FROM THE NUDIBRANCHIATES — WATER MINGLING WITH THE BLOOD. Do you ever send live animals through the Post- office? The question may startle, perhaps, but the thing is often done. Only three days ago a brother naturalist sent me a couple of dozen Sea- Anemones, stowed among weed in a tin canister, which formerly contained a powder unblushingiy sold behind a Chris- tian counter as veritable coffee. The process is simple enoufyh, when tin canisters are at hand, little as the excellent Rowland Hill contemplated such an adapta- tion of his postal reform to the exigencies of natu- ralists ; but the process is less simple when you are temporarily abiding in a place so utterly provincial that little in the nature of tin boxes is to be had for money, and nothing at all for love. Such a i3lace is Tenby. THE MORTE STONE. 83 But, first, let me tell you what made me desiderative of tin boxes, and indignant with Tenby for its want of resources. At Ilfracombe the orange-tentacled and orange -disked Anemones, by Mr Gosse christened Actinia aurora and Actinia venusta, are unknown, and, of course, prized all the more on that account. Is not everything valued for its rarity ? There is, how- ever, not many miles from Ilfracombe, a terrible reef runnino- far out into the sea, bearino- the sombre name of the Morte Stone, on which many a tall ship has been wrecked, and which, inaccessible from the land, is visited only by naturalists and gulls. We — I mean the naturalists, not the gulls — found Morte Stone well worth the visit ; and w^hile scrambling over its desolate ridges, the spray of a heavy sea dashing from either side in our faces, and a noonday sun pouring down its fierce passion upon our heads, as we clambered over rocks so black with mussels that you could not for yards have inserted a penknife between them. A., with his coat off, emerged from under a ledge, meeting B., no less jubilant, both holding up specimens of the orange-tentacled Anemone, hitherto supposed to be- long exclusively to Tenby. This was the first time I saw the sunset-flame on the tentacles of this Anemone ; and when at Tenby, remembering the delight with which B. carried home the novelty, it was natural that I should wish to send him a few of the beauties ex- panding their tentacles in my vases. But how ? One cannot wrap a moist and mucose animal in note-paper, and expect it to reach its destination like an invitation 84 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. for dinner, or the request for a " trifling loan ; '" and the damp sea-weed which will keep the animal alive, requires some covering to keep itself damp. I tried a card-board box, well padded with weed, wrapped it in paper, and committed it to the tenderness of a paternal Government and a reformed Post-office, with this warn- ing inscribed in majestic calhgraphy — WITH CAEE : LIVE ANIMALS ! I thought the Lacedemonian brevity and the note of admiration might have their efl'ect. But, it is painful to confess, that Post-office clerks appear to be imper- fectly versed in the rudiments of zoology ; or perhaps they pay slight attention to the literature of Inscrip- tions ; at any rate they stamped with a vigour which completely squashed the card-board box. The next time, I determined to follow my friend's advice, and send the animals in a tin box, which, of course, seemed the easiest thing in the world, until the trial was made. I ransacked Tenby in vain. I asked everywhere — I asked at impossible shops — I even tried the bootmaker : he could not supply me. I offered money, and hinted love ; but no tin box could Tenby produce. The article was mythical. Tenby had mus- taches and parasols in prodigal abundance ; pony- chaises and sailing-boats obtruded themselves at every corner ; the streets were full of formidable young gen- tlemen from the fashionable parts (of Bristol), and nur- serymaids with prize babies ; these, and much more that was sublimely useless, Tenby had at your service ; ANIMALS SENT BY POST. 85 but a tin box it knew not, except by vague report. Tenby has not even a banker ; to get a cheque changed you must ride to Pembroke ; why, then, expect it will have a tinman ? Imagine my impatience, my disgust ! I'm afraid I used strong language. At last a brilliant conception made my pathway clear. In a grocer's shop there were cases of ginger-nuts for sale ; these cases were of tin ; they were larger, much, than my require- ments ; but this was no occasion for di^awing fine lines. The nuts were edible, the case transportable. An in- vestment was straightway made, and my agitated mind was once more at peace. The case was large enough to contain, besides a quantity of Anemones, a wide-mouthed bottle, in which I had consigned a fine specimen of that boring bivalve named Pholas dactylus (Plate II., fig. 3), three of which had been brought to me in a lump of wood, wherein they had bored themselves a local habitation. Although these MoUuscs live in rocks and wood, they seem to flourish perfectly when removed, and left in sea water. I risked one in the exjDeriment, and was imeasy, next morning, at finding he had elongated him- self to more than half aoain his original size ; but ob- serving the currents were still active from his siphon, and that, on being touched, he shrunk to his original size with gTeat sensitiveness, I concluded he was healthy, — a conclusion supported by observing pre- cisely the same phenomena exhibited by the two Pholades still in the wood. As, therefore, the Pholas lived out of his woody home, and as I had three speci- 86 , SEA-SIDE STUDIES. mens, I could do no less than send one of them to an amateur ; and thus it came that I despatched the wide- mouthed bottle in the tin case, which arrived without accident. After keeping my two borers for some time, one of them fell a victim to anatomical curiosity ; as for the third, Vappetit vient en maiigeaiitj' and I dis- sected him also. The reader has doubtless heard about the boring Molluscs, of which there are several different kinds, all curious to the philosopher, but none very interest- ing to keep. One species, the Teredo navalis (Piaffe 11, fig. 5), is a formidable fellow, unloved of ship- owners, since many a ship has been known to split in the open sea, no one on board having suspected that the planks had been thoroughly drilled through and through by this patient borer. The hardest oak, nay, even teak and sissoo woods, are no obstacles to this mollusc. The chemical process which protects timber against decay is no protection against the Teredo. The animal always tunnels in the direction of the grain of the wood, and if in its course it meets with another gentleman engaged in the same process, it alters the direction of its course, so that a piece of wood attacked by many Teredos becomes completely honey-combed. In dockyards the defence has been to cover the wood- work under water with iron nails ; and you may ima- gine how necessary some protection is, since not only have docks been perforated^ but many years ago Hol- land was thrown into terrible alarm by discovering that the piles of her embankments had been riddled by these THE BORING MOLLUSCS. 87 silent molluscs, and all Europe tliouglit that the United Provinces were doomed. Other borers choose rock for their operations ; and many a solid-seeming mass is so perforated by them, that the dashing of a stormy sea may scatter it in fragments along the coast. The fact of boring is familiar enough to every one who has noticed the Eed-nose [Saxicava rugosa) peering from a thousand holes in the hard limestone, and squirting water as it retires on the first application of the ham- mer; but while the fact is undisputed, the source of the animal's power is still an unsettled question. How these bivalves bore their way has been a mys- tery, mainly because zoologists have allowed them- selves to be thrown off their balance by contemplating the stupendous results produced by creatures so in- significant. But after learning the history of the formation of coral reefs and islands, we begin to ap- preciate the influence of minute agencies continued through long spaces of time. The Teredo and the Pho- las have no powerful organs, but they have patience ; and as far as I understand the matter, it is clear that the disputes on this subject have been perplexed by the desire to bring forward some organ so powerful as at once to explain the animal's success in boring. Thus the latest writer, M. Aucapitaine,* imagines he explains the phenomenon, by bringing forward the hypothesis of an acid secreted by the animal, which corrodes the rock, or wood, and which is then rasped away by a slow rotatory motion of the shell. The * Annates des Sciences Naturelles, 4'™= s^rie, 1854 ; ii. 367. 88 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. boring is tlins supposed to be a combination of chemi- cal and mechanical agencies. There is, however, one little difficulty in accepting this explanation, which the author has overlooked, as speculators are wont to overlook fatal objections : the existence of this acid has yet to be proved ; its presence is indispensable to the theory, but, unfortunately, the fact of its presence is hypothetical. And when we have got tangible hold of the acid, we must prove that, while it has the property of attacking wood and rock, it has not the property of attacking the calcareous shell of the animal. Very different, and far more philosophical, is the explanation of Professor Owen, whose opinion on all points carries authority. He shows * that the com- bined action of the muscular disc and the valves of the shell will produce the phenomenon. It may be paradoxical, and you will probably shake a dubious head on seeing the cavities bored by these Molluscs, and on being told that the^soft muscular disc of the animal perforated them ; you have no conception that, by licking limestone with never so much energy, you could wear it away ; and yet, as Owen quietly remarks, "it is certain that the perpetual renewal of a softer substance will render it capable of wearing away a harder one, subject to the friction of such softer sur- face, and not like it susceptible of being repaired." Yes, here lies the whole mystery : the soft muscular disc is perpetually renewed, and the hard limestone * Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, i. 520. PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THEORY. 89 has no self-renovating power ; and thus, just as falling water wears away granite, by the incessant repetition of gentle blows, so do these Molluscs excavate rock, or wood, by the incessant repetition of muscular friction* Some practical man, who does me the honour to re- lax his serious mind over these pages, here declares himself supremely indifferent to this anatomical dis- cussion. What does it signify to him hoiv the Teredo bores into the wood ? He is none the better for that. It is enough for him that the nasty beast does it, and unless he can be told how it is to be prevented, he wants to hear nothing about the matter. As a prac- tical man, he wants practical applications ; as for " theories,'' he doesn't care a silver fourpence for them. I will not turn round and humiliate him, by proving that of all blind theorists none are blinder than the "practical men;" but will rather captivate his confi- dence, by showing him how the result he so earnestly desires is only to be obtained after a remote excursion into the obscure regions of science. He need not make the excm^sion, but he must wait till it be made ; for it is amusing to think that even so simple a matter as the destruction of these vermin defied all ingenuity, until Embryology came to our aid. I carefully abstain from mentioning that unusual term in his presence, but address a question to him : — " Are these animals of separate sexes ?" * Victor Carus — Jahresbericht ilher die im Gehiete d. Zootomie ersch- ienenen Arbeiten, i. 110 — gives a dozen references to papers on this question. 90 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. He looks rather huffed, as he replies : " How should I know ? and what does it matter V " It matters everything. And for your satisfaction I can tell you that they are of separate sexes/' " Humph r' " A French naturalist, Quatrefages by name, has found that at certain seasons the female carries the eggs in the folds of her respiratory organs/' " The deuce she does !" " And there they remain till the milt of the male, floating in the water, is washed over them, and fecund- ates them. Now this same Naturalist has brought his knowledge to bear upon the very question you are so interested in. He finds that a weak solution of mercury thrown into the water destroys this milt, and consequently prevents the fecundation of the eggs, nipping the young molluscs in the bud. By thus be- coming a zoological Herod, and destroying the inno- cents wholesale, in a few seasons you may clear the docks of every individual Teredo, and your ships will be safe." I see by the intelligent twinkle of his eye that he has seized this notion with decisive approbation, and from this moment begins to think there may be some use, after all, in Natural History. I almost feel tempted to show him my Pholas, although it is not a very interesting animal to watch. There is a somnolent lethargy, an otiosity of do-nothingism in its demean- our, surprising in one who bores through rocks as we tunnel the Jura. He will not even bore now. I have ^ THE SIPHON OF THE PHOLAS. 91 tried him in vain. He lolls his great length at the bottom of the pan, and declines the Imnp of wood placed before him. In fact, he does notliing but suck in the water at one tube of his siphon, and squirt it out of the other. Do observe that siphon or double tube, like a double-barrelled gun, the lining membrane of which is covered with vibratile cilia. The incessant action of these cilia draws the water in at the orifice of the upper and larger tube, along which it passes and reaches the gills, where the blood is aerated ; and then the water makes its exit from the under tube, in a steady current, visible to the naked eye. How this is performed is to me a mystery, for my dissections wholly failed in tracing any direct communication between the two tubes ; but that there must be some indirect communication is certain, since the evidence of the two currents, one of entrance, and one of exit, is unequivocal.* Look at the orifice of the uj^per tube, what a beautiful arborescent fringe encircles it ! * This disputed question has beeu finally settled by the investiga- tions of Messrs Alder and Hancock, who find the communication takes place through minute apertures between the meshes of the gills them- selves. "Each of the gill-plates consists of two laminae united at the ventral margin, and likewise attached to each other in transverse lines running across the gills throughout their whole extent, and forming, in the interspaces, a series of parallel tubes which open into the dorsal chamber, and are thus in communication with the excurrent siphon. The minute reticiolated blood-vessels of the branchial laminae forming the walls of these tubes, are found, when examined by a high power of the microscope, to be open between the meshes, which are minutely ciliated, allowing the passage of the water into the tubes, and from thence into the anal chamber." — Report of British Association, 1851 ; Sections, p. 75. 92 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. ^ You may see a picture of it in Mr Gosse's Rambles on the Devonshire Coast very well delineated. "The tentacular filaments," he says, " are numerous, each forming a little tree with pinnate branches, bearing no small resemblance to the flower of feathery branchiae that expands round the mouth of a Holothuria. These branched tentacles are ordinarily bent down across the mouth of the tube, the longest of them just meeting in the centre ; alternating with these are placed others of similar structure but inferior size ; and the inter- spaces are occupied by others smaller still, and simply pinnate ; so that when the whole occupy theii^ ordin- ary transverse position, the smaller ones fill up the angles of the larger, and the branches of all form a network of exquisite tracery, spread across the orifice, throuoh the interstices or meshes of which the current of entering water freely percolates, while they exclude all except the most minute floating atoms of extraneous matter." The boatman has just called to say the boat is ready, and the Dredge at our service. In the jDrevious chap- ters I described our hunting on the rocks, and picking up what gales might have thrown upon the shore ; and the amateur generally contents himself with these resources, unless his desires, enlarging with his know- ledge, urge him, as they did me, to follow more ambi- tious naturalists, and try dredging. He knows that in depths never laid bare by retiring tides there are animals of price. He knows that the oyster-beds are hunting-grounds where a single venture will bring DREDGING. 93 him more than a month can properly examine. It is true that he may also know that he will be sick ; but, as Schiller says, — "Es wachst der Mensch mit seinen grossem Zwecken ; " (Our stature heightens with our heightening aims), — and the hope of Molluscs makes man's stomach equal to the occasion. Our boatmen told us of one well- known Anatomist, who went out every day during his stay at Tenby, dredging as if dredging were his daily bread, always sick, no matter how calm the sea ; always suffering, but never daunted by wind or storm. Very amusing it was to notice the puzzlement of these honest boatmen at what they evidently considered a sort of inexplicable eccentricity in our thus throwing away our days, our money — and our breakfasts — in the pursuit of worms, oyster-shells, and weeds. Had we gone fishing, they could have entered into our hopes and enthusiasm ; had we sought for pearls in the oyster- shells, their sympathy would have been ready ; but that any sane man should be anxious for the rubbish which they nightly threw away when their nets were hauled in, and this not to eat the worms, not to sell them, but to put them in vases, and finally cut them open, that was inexplicable. As we sailed through the sparkling waters, wafted by a pleasant breeze, we talked to the men, and tried to make them understand the kind of things which they might always bring us, and be certain of pur- chasers ; but although willing to oblige, and not at all indisposed to accept silver for a little trouble, 94 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. although one of the men had once picked up a bunch of sea-grapes (eggs of the cuttle-fish), for which a gentleman gave him half-a-cro^vn (a mad gentleman, clearly), these stolid fellows always fell back upon their ignorance. " Ah ! if we only knowed the things." In fact, no bribe mil move them. They cannot realise to themselves the conception that what they have for years thrown away as rubbish can possibly contain anything worth money. I repeatedly urged on them these simple instructions : Bring me anything alive (except fish) that you find in the net, and the chances are that I shall buy it. One Calamary (Loligo) was all that came. We have reached the oyster-beds, and the Dredge is dropped into the water, plunging some fifteen or twenty fathoms, like a diver knowing what is required of him. On we sail, the line runnino- out, the dredo-e raking the oyster-beds, and considerably retarding our progress in spite of a stiff breeze. At length it is time to haul in, and the men pull strenuously, till the Dredge appears, and a portentous mass of oyster-shells, dirt, stones, and Sea-Urchins is emptied in the bottom of the boat. We pounce on it, while the Dredge is once more cast into the water. Up to this moment we have been suj^erb seamen ; Britons are the boys for ruling the waves ! The colour has not changed on the cheek of the lady naturalist, who, astonished at her own fortitude (of stomach), declares dredging preferable to hunting on the rocks. But suddenly a change comes. This stooping to PRODUCE OF THE DREDGE. 95 examine our treasures disturbs our pleasant serenity, and the well-known head-swimming and nausea which ensue, categorically tell us that, let Schiller declaim as he will, poetry won't control the liver ; and however successfully Britons may rule the waves, the waves are extremely disrespectful to their rulers. Que voulez- vous ? The brain may be confident, but the liver is upset ; heroism is futile against a chopping sea. We can't pretend to be superior to these weaknesses, and so we resign ourselves to sitting quiet, while the boat- men turn over the mass, and hand us objects for in- spection, upon which we decide whether they shall be placed in the bucket of sea water, or returned to the oyster-beds. Very droll it was, even in my languid state, to observe Jack stooping and fumbling among the oyster- shells, not knowing what his insane party might possi- bly think worth carrying home, and for his part think- ing the whole as big a heap of rubbish as ever he saw. " This here any use, sir ? " he inquires, handing me a huge oyster with an unexpressed sarcasm in the question. I turn my green countenance towards it, and suddenly forget the qualms, exclaiming — " Use, my dear fellow ! of course it is. Why, it is a perfect colony of animals.'' " Well, sir, you knows." And he drops it into the bucket, plunging his hands once more among the mass. That oyster, besides the Polypes and Sponges growing on it, bore at least a 96 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. dozen Terebellae, an Ascidian of exquisite colour, in- numerable Serpulae, and a beautiful Sabella. " Stop ! what is that you're going to throw away ? " " Only a bit of dirt, sir." " Let me see it. I have known bits of dirt turn out to be curious animals.'' Jack, now fairly bewildered, and expecting probably that the next thing he will be asked to hand me will be a bubble of foam, stretches out his honest fist, and places on the seat a small lump of sand, having no definite shape, and looking no more like an animated creature than the mud-pie which ingenious youth delights to construct. I know it at a glance to be an Ascidian {Molgula arenosa), for only last week, while scrambling over the rocks, I looked into a shallow pool, on the sandy bottom of which there was one of these sand-lumps alone in its glory. I cannot tell what made me suspect it to be an animal. The mind sees what the eye cannot. Do we not distinguish a friend by a certain undefinable something long before he is near enouoh for us to distinojuish his dress or his features ? With the same mental perception one learns to dis- tinguish an animal, even when one has never seen it before. I had never seen or read of this Ascidian. I did not know it to be an Ascidian ; but, detaching it from the rock, I popped it in my bottle, convinced that it was an animal of some kind ; and on coming home, I began to scrape away the sand till I came down to a membrane. I then cut the mass open, and found an Ascidian, which had so completely coated FASCINATION OF THE SEA. 97 itself with sand, that the sand became part of its integument. Having turned over the heap, and shown me one by one every shell or weed, Jack now began to clear the boat, and to haul in the Dredge once more. After a few hauls, our bucket was sufficiently stocked, and we sailed homewards, skimming the surface with a net in the hope of capturing some jellyfish, but none ap- peared. We ought to have been in high spirits ; but whatever consolation may have been in the thought of the bucket, we were not hilarious, I pledge you my word, as we scudded along, green and silent. We reached the pier-steps at last. Jack carried the bucket after us, and the perplexed vassal at the lodging-house brought down a foot-pan, into which the contents of the bucket were emptied. I should not like to inquire too closely into that vassal's private opinion of me and my pursuits. The next day, when I met Jack, he was gratified to learn that the result of our dredging had been highly satisfactory, as indeed it was ; for besides abundance of known animals, I had found two entirely new genera of Annelids. Sea-sickness is not an agreeable sensation. While enduring it, we all vow never again to brave it without urgent necessity; and yet the next day we forget our resolution, and step lightly on board, mentally sinojino^ — " The sea ! the sea ! the open sea ! I am where I would ever be ! " And if we do this merely for the sake of running to G 98 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. France or Germany, where we have been before, it may be expected that the more powerful attraction of marine treasures will entirely conquer hesitation. The fact is, the sea is a passion. Its fascination, like all true fascination, makes us reckless of conse- quences. The sea is like a woman : she lures us, and we run madly after her ; she ill-uses us, and we adore her ; beautiful, capricious, tender, and terrible ! There is no satiety in this love ; there never is satiety in true affection. The sea is the first thing which meets my eyes in the morning, placidly sunning herself under my window; her many voices beckoning me, her gently-heaving breast alluring me, her face beaming with unutterable delight. All through the day I wanton with her ; and the last thing at night, I see the long shimmering track of light from the distant beacon thrown across her tranquU surface — dark now, and solemn, made more desolate by the dark and silent hulls of anchored vessels, but beautiful even in her sombre and forlorn condition. I hear her mighty sighs answering the wailing night-winds. She lures me to her. I cannot go to bed, but wander along the sands, and gaze upon the solemn gloom, stretching mysteriously afar. I walk down to the quay ; all is silent, except in one boat, where a knot of men are just about to start for their night's fishing. They will be out all night, toiling through the terrible waters to gain a few shillings. I bid Jack bring me a cuttle- fish if he can. " Good night, sir.'' — " Good night, and good cheer." And away the boat speeds into the CONTRACTILITY OF COLOUR-SPECS. 99 night. It is soon invisible ; the plash of the oars ceases to reach my ears. There is something pathetic in the thought of these men nightly braving what they brave, and totally insensible to the poetry of their situation, which might make it something better than a mere venture for a few pence. My thoughts are sad to-night. I wander on, and the waves come to greet me, but the image of that boat disappearing through the darkness will not leave me. Life seems so sad, so transitory, so ineffectual, and Nature so pitiless and calm. The next morning all such thoughts have vanished like uneasy dreams. Nature is joyous, clear, sunny ; my mistress yonder is sparkling and singing in the light ; white sails dot the distance ; the busy hum of men rises on every side. I go out on the sands, and at my feet the tide throws a Calamary {Loligo) with which I rush back to my lodgings in great glee. A pie-dish of sea water receives the welcome Cephalopod; but he is dead, and will show none of his ways. Yet what is this? the colour-specs are coming out on the skin, like stars appearing at night ; and now the whole surface, which was pearly- white, is of a variegated hue. I had heard of this fact before, but actual observa- tion gives one very different feelings from those of mere acquiescence in a fact. The colour-specs continued to come and go, muchto my puzzlement ; nor could I gain much light from any books at hand. M. Alcide d'Orbigny, who has studied Molluscs for twenty years, especially the Cephalopoda, ought, of course, to be con- sulted, and you shall hear what he says : " The col- 100 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. our is as unchangeable as the diverse impressions of the animal. It consists of a complicated system of globules of various colours, red, brown, and yellow, placed under the first layer of the epidermis. These globules have each a pupil which contracts and dilates, forming now a large irregular spot, and now diminish- ing to a mere point. It is easy to understand, there- fore, how the animal which, when the globules are dilated, is of a dark colour, becomes almost white when these globules are contracted. The contractabil- ity of these globules tlierefore always depends on the will of the animal ; and he varies his colour from brown to white with remarkable vivacity according to his own will." * Attention is called to this passage, as one among the numerous illustrations of that serious want of a doctrine to guide investigations, w^hich is the greatest obstacle Zoology has now to contend with. The mass of facts which has been accumulated is of astonishing extent ; but the philosophy which should be evolved from them, which should co-ordinate them, and serve as a torch to guide zoologists in all inquiries, is still in the most meagre condition. To confine ourselves, for the present, to the case before us, is it not remarkable that a man so eminent as M. d"Orbigny should have written, and some other men acquiesced in, a passage so preposterous as the one just cited? Where was the biological philosophy which could conceive the contrac- tility of pigment globules as dependent on the "will of * D'Orbignt : Mollusques vivanU etfossiles, p. 113. CONTRACTILITY OF COLOUR-SPECS. 101 the animal ;" especially when such a leap in logic had to be taken as is taken at the " therefore V Physiolo- gists are, indeed, extremely facile in their admission of " the will " to explain what they do not understand ; but we must marvel that direct observation did not utterly discountenance its introduction here ; for it is quite certain that hundreds must have seen, if they did not ohserve, what most attracted me in the matter — namely, the appearance and disappearance of the colour-specs in the skin of the dead animal ; and even the most metaphysical of zoologists would hardly attri- bute volition to a corpse. The observation of this one fact mio'ht have led to further investio-ation. On placing a small strip of the skin under the Microscope, I was surprised to find two or three of these colour- specs expanding and contracting with great vigour. At first I thought it must be an optical illusion, but on close attention it became too decided for doubt ; and not suspecting the truth, I concluded that some ani- malcidae were imbedded in the tissue, and that their movements produced this apparent activity of the globules. To settle these doubts, two other strips underwent examination ; in both of these, all, or al- most all, the specs were in activity, shooting out pro- longations, and retracting again — two specs sometimes seeming to run into one, but really overlapping each other, and sometimes a point not bigger than a millet seed expanding to the size of a sixpence, growing fainter in colour as it expanded. This was decisive. If the globules in a strip of skin taken from the dead 102 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. animal manifest precisely the same contractions and expansions wliicli they manifest on the living animal, it is clear that their activity does not depend upon the " will," — a conclusion which elementary principles of Biology ought to have made self-evident a priori.^ But it is not in Zoology only that logic is courage- ously assaulted by man's " large discourse of reason." If ''reasoning correctly on false premises" be the true definition of madness, we are all more or less mad- men ; although we are all " astonished '' at the insanity which we do not share. Last evening this was brought before me in half-sad, half-ludicrous aspect. We were smoking, in the indolent beatitude of digestion, when * Delle Chiaje, in his Descrizione e notomia degli animali inverte- hrati della Sicilia Citeriore, i. p. 15, says that the expansion of these colour-specs is due to an expansile liquid, allied to blood — espansile umore {ematosina 1) which is contained in the vesicles, and which is pro- bably in relation with the blood-vessels and the rete Mal'pighi ; and he suggests that its contractions and expansions may depend on respira- tion. But the fact, recorded in the text, of a strip of skin taken from the dead animal exhibiting the same contractions and expansions as those exhibited by the skin of the living animal, shows that the con- tractility of these vesicles is independent of any such cause, Kolliker has shown that the contractions are produced by pale muscular fibres. Some doubt, however, is permissible respecting their muscular nature. As Charles Robin says, they are perfectly homogeneous and extremely fine ; moreover, they are not capable of being isolated as fibres, " en sorte qu'il serait plus juste de dire que les chromatophores (co}o\ired specs) sent entoures d'une substance homogene contractile, fibroide ; les fibres non isolables, et dont par suite le diamfetre exact ne peut etre donne, sent disposees par faisceaux." f No one has explained how these retain their contractility so long after all the other muscles. t Note communicated by Lebert in his •'Memoire sur la Formation des Muscles." — Annales des Sciences, 1850, p. 172. MORMON PREACHERS. 103 a choral howl disturbed the quiet of the evening air. P., lolling over the balcony, and allowing the " demure travel of his regard " to sweep the horizon in search of the yacht which was to fetch him away, informed us that the howling came from three itinerant preachers about to edify a group of fishermen on the quay. I begged him to shut the window ; this being my pro- tection against the outrage of a German Band, which daily for six weeks had played " Partant pour la Syrie," " The low-backed car/' " The Red and the Blue/' and " Gk)d save the Queen " — never anything else, and always pitilessly out of tune. But P.'s sense of the ludicrous overcame his musical susceptibility, and con- demned us to hear the hymn. Shortly afterwards, the preaching began, and as we ascertained that it was Mormonism then being expounded, we resolved to go out and be edified. It was worth the effort. Standing on a chair was a young man, scarcely above twenty, swinging his arms about, and flinging forth in harsh ejaculations a torrent of repetitions and abstractions, quite distressing to listen to, from the total want of anything that coidd arrest the interest of his audience. Open-air preaching is meant to coerce the attention of those who will not go to church ; but this Mormon preacher never once alighted upon a phrase which could awaken an idea in the minds of those he ad- dressed; so that we marvelled why he should have been chosen as a preacher of a doctrine which ad- dresses the worldly interests. On each side of him stood an Elder— and I wish I could paint the portraits 104 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. of these Caryatides of imbecility. One was a well- washed middle-aged man, who may have been a senti- mental tailor ; he rested his elbow on the chair which served as a pulpit, and, inclining his head, allowed his finger to indent his cheek. The other was a short, tawny, grey-haired man, who must have been a cobbler troubled with metaphysical misgivings. It is to be presumed that they were edified by the preacher's rhapsodies and repetitions ; the audience was utterly unimpressed. Indeed there was what P. called a troublesome foreground of boys and girls, fighting, laughing, jeering, beating tin kettles, and otherwise exhibiting the moderate sensibility of their fibre reli- gieux ; but the background of men and women (of course with babies) was more orderly. They listened in respectful silence, but with no appearance of sym- pathy. A grey-haired fisherman standing beside me said to a woman at his left : " He doesn't speak accord- ing to Scripter. Some things is according to Scripter ; but some is not." He spoke in a quiet assured tone of authority, and his was the only criticism I heard. . This is a digression, and has only a remote connec- tion with the imperfect logic of zoologists, a subject on which, if I had greater authority, I would discourse at length. Not that I suppose zoologists to be less logical than other men ; but simply that the Science of Life being so much more diflicult than any of the Physical Sciences, it is more in need of a rigorous code of principles. The Astronomer, the Physicist, and the Chemist, are subject to restraints which the Biologist OUR GREGARIOUSNESS IN ERROR. 105 seldom condescends to regard. No speculative Chemist is allowed to call a substance an acid which will unite with no base, which exhibits none of the properties of an acid ; no Physicist is allowed to assume the exist- ence of electricity, where none of the conditions of electricity exist, and none of the phenomena (except those to be explained) are manifest. But we who study Biology in any dejDartment, whether Physiology, Zoology, or Botany, are allowed by the laxity of current practice, and the want of a doctrine, to call a coloured spec an eye, in the absence of all proof of its having the structure or functions of an eye ; we are allowed to assume the existence of nerves, where no trace of a nerve is discernible ; we are allowed to drag in " elec- tricity," or the " will,'' as efficient causes of anything we do not understand ; and we fill Text-books and Treatises with errors which give way before the first sceptic who investigates them. We are very sheep in our gregariousness in error. When one bold or stupid mutton takes a lea]), all leap after him. It is rare to find men doubtino; facts, still rarer to find them doubting whether the facts be cor- rectly co-ordinated. Our books are crowded with unexamined statements, which we never think of ex- amininoj. Do we not all believe that the mamiificent Cleopatra, regardless of expense, dissolved in her wine- cup a pearl of great price, as if it had been a lump of sugar ? Is not the " fact '' familiar to every one ? Yet, if you test it, you will find the fact to be that pearls are not soluble in wine ; the most powerful vinegar 106 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. attacks them but very slowly, and never entirely dis- solves them ; for the organic matter remains behind, in the shape of a spongy mass larger than the original pearl. " Forewarned, forearmed/' Students once having their attention called to the necessity of scepticism in Zoology, will soon find abundant occasion for its exer- cise. We should as much as possible keep the mind in a state of loose moorings, not firmly anchoring on any ground, unless our charts are full of explicit detail ; not believing (but simply acquiescing, and that in a provisional way) in any fact which is not clear in the light of its own evidence, or which, in default of our having verified it for ourselves, has the trustworthy verification of another. This sounds like a truism, but it is not my fault if it be necessary to enforce a truism. The adoption of such a rigorous scepticism would revolutionise Zoology. It will not be adopted by the majority, because it will give great trouble, and men dislike trouble ; but the more restless and rebellious spirits, of which there is always a proportion in every sphere, will " scorn delights and live laborious days," in subjecting accepted statements to rigorous verifi- cation. I came down to the coast as an amateur, ignorant, but anxious to learn, and not simply to seem to learn. For this purpose it was not enough that I should know what was said respecting the simpler organisms, but it was necessary, as far as possible, to understand the grounds on which each statement was made. Many SCEPTICISM OF ZOOLOGY. 107 and many an horn- was spent, but not uselessly, in verifying what every tyro knew to be the fact ; but also many an hour was spent in making clear to my- self, not only that certain accepted statements were errors, but how they became accepted. As an example may be mentioned the respiration of sea- slugs (Folids), in the investigation of which I was favoured by fortune as not many are favoured, namely, by, having abund- ance of material to work on. There had been a heavy gale all night, and the wind was still high ; down we went to the Tunnel Rocks to watch the tide come in. It was a glorious sight to contemplate the impetuous sea plunging upon the shore with ever-accelerated^ velocity, rising in wrath, and leaping over the reefs with mighty bounds, roar- ing, hissing, groaning, sighing. We stood with our backs leaning against a wall of rock, the spray leaping up into our faces. At length a black mass appeared upon the swelling height, to be lost again in the ridge of foam, and then to reappear ; onwards it came, struojoiino' with the waves which tossed it and tumbled it to and fro, till we descried it to be a bit of wreck. In one instant the sense of the picturesque was sub- merged by a rush of zoological expectation. We sprang down on the shore, anxiously awaiting till the prize should be flung at our feet. It turned out to be the bit of an old cask, which must have been long under water, for it was as black as ebony, and literally covered with Polypes and eggs of Eolids. You may be sure it was welcomed with jubilant shouts, as were the 108 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. masses of weed thrown up at the same time, also covered with Polypes and ova. We departed with the feelings of men who have just heard of a legacy. Next morning I found the treasures greater than our expec- tation ; not only were there thousands of ova, but scores of delicate and tiny EoHds of different species were found floating in the water, or crawling among the Pol}^es. It took hours to remove these delicate crea- tures into separate vases and bottles, and then to con- template them with hungry enthusiasm — which you wiU appreciate if you have been ever fascinated by the study of Development, and suddenly seen abundant material within reach ; or, if you have been anxious to solve some problem which only abundant observation could help you to solve. I was troubled about the respiration of the Eolis, not feeling at all satisfied with what is taught in the schools ; and here were more Eolids thrown into my hands than most men ever see in a lifetime. The Eolis (Plate II., fig. 1) is a sea-slug, but in sj^ite of this ill-sounding name, the sea has few creatures more elegant in form, more exquisite in colour. In size it ranges from one-tenth of an inch to three inches in length. The commonest and least handsome species, E. impillosa, is about an inch or an inch and a half long, the back being densely studded with slate- coloured club-like projections, called branchial papillae, so like in colour to the rock it crawls over, that often only an experienced eye can detect it. The more elegant species, such as Eolis pellucida or elegans, or THE EOLIS. 109 Lansbergii, should be sought for every Aquarium, care being taken to keep them out of the way of the Ane- mones, which they mercilessly attack. Believe in no woodcut representations of these exquisite creatures ; all woodcuts are libels. The plates of Alder and Han- cock's magnificent monograph approach as near to the beauty of nature as can be expected of plates ; but even they necessarily fall short of the delicacy of tissue and witchery of colour often displayed by these animals. There is nothing but actual possession which ought to satisfy you ; and possession is not difficult. We delicately lay open the back to expose the stomach, which lies on the dorsal, not the ventral surface. We shall find the Eolis rejoicing in a diges- tive apparatus as perfect as that of an Alderman, but somewhat difi'erent in structure. Stomach, properly so called, it can hardly venture to claim; for that pyri- form pouch which you observe, is rather an expansion of the intestinal tube than a distinct organ. Observe how this tube is continued along the whole length of the body : in some species it is wide and tapering ; in the one before us it is more constricted ; and be par- ticular in noticing how this tube gives off pairs of branches, which again subdivide into smaller branches, and run up into those club -like projections, called dorsal or branchial papillae, the cavities of which they almost entirely fill, sometimes as mere dilations, some- times with shrub -like arborescence. Having thus traced the stomach, the intestine and its ramifications, we must now look out for the next important organ of no SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the digestive apparatus, the Liver. It is useless seek- ing for it ; the Eolis has not reached that stage of animal development which imperiously demands a special biliary organ ; it can transact all digestive re- quirements by the aid of biliary vesicles scattered alono: the linino^ membrane of those intestinal branches which we saw filling the cavities of the papillae. In a word, we here meet with the rudimentary and initial condition of the liver, nothing more than a few hepatic cells. You understand, therefore, that these papillae cover- ing the back, and bristling up like quills upon the fretful porcupine when the Eolis is irritated, are hol- low tubes, containing prolongations of the intestine, and biliary cells. By many anatomists it is thought that these tubes are biliary ducts, and perhaps in some species this may be so, but that it is not so in all, I have positive evidence. I was one day examining some Polypes, when my attention was diverted by something granular, contractile, indistinguishable in shape. On extricating it from the branches of the Polype, I found it to be a white oblong jelly-like creature, about the size of a pin's head. On placing it under the micro- scope, I saw that it was an Eolis, but whether of a yet undescribed species, or only the young of some known species, imperfect knowledge did not enable me to decide. The extreme transparency of its tissues was such that I could observe it with satisfactory precision. It had only eight papillae on either side, but these were very large, each of the central ones measuring at ANATOMY OF THE EOLIS. Ill least a sixth of the whole animal. This was another fortunate circumstance, enabling me to detect the pas- sao-e of the dark o-ranules which almost filled the cav- ities, to and fro from the intestine, with which these cavities were in dii^ect communication. All doubt was impossible : there was the food oscillating from the intestine into the papillae, and back from the papillse into the intestine ; and this oscillation, I observed, did in nowise depend on the contractions and expansions of the papillae, but wholly on the contractions and ex- pansions of the body ; for sometimes the grannies ran up into the cavities when the papillae expanded, but sometimes they remained in their previous position. You see that the papillae are gastro-hepatic organs, or, to speak less technically, that they are parts of the intestinal and biliary apparatus ; but you see nothing to warrant the accepted notion that they are respiratory organs. I certainly saw nothing of the kind. It was a doubt which early forced itself upon me. Zoologists class the Eolis among Nudibranchiates, but I could detect nothing like a gill in these said naked-gilled molluscs ; and a series of dissections served to trans- form doubt into a conviction, and satisfactorily proved the term " branchial papillae" to be altogether erro- neous. These papillae have neither the specific struc- ture, nor the anatomical connection of gills. Various as gills are, they have uniformly a system of vessels carrying the blood to them for aeration, and a system of vessels carrying the aerated blood from them. Have the papillae of the Eolis such vessels ? Nothing of the 112 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. kind. The blood they receive, which is not more than other parts, is received into sinuses, as it is in the cavities of the body ; and it is not more aerated there than it is in every other part of the mantle from which the papillse rise. If, therefore, w^e can detect in these papillse neither the ordinary structure of gills, nor the vessels which carry blood to and from gills, it is emin- ently unphilosophic to call them gills, and to class the Eolids among Nudibranchiates. Do but examine one of the other Nudibranchiates — say a Doris — and you will there find the very charac- teristics wantino- in the Eolis. It has a gill, distinct, unmistakable ; although even here the gill performs but a small part in the aeration of the whole blood. According to Alder and Hancock, only that portion of the blood which supplies the liver-mass goes to the gill ; but small as the part may be, the organ is dis- tinctly recognisable, and to compare it with the dorsal papillae of the Eolis is to demonstrate that two such dissimilar organs cannot play the same part. Indeed, the Doris seems to me higher in the scale of orga- nisation than the Eolis, although less active in its movements. It has a sj)ecialised liver, a more perfect vascular system, the commencement of a respiratory system ; and it has not the arborescent intestines which the Eolis has in common with the Planarice and Pycnogonidce. I should propose, therefore, to remove the Eolis from the Nudibranchiates, and call it Abran- chiate. How, then, does the Eolis breathe? He does not HOW DOES THE EOLIS BREATHE? 113 breathe at all. But lest this paradox should disturb you too much, I will soften the blow by adding, that when we talk of an animal breathing, we mean, or ought to mean, that it employs an organ, or group of organs, for the aeration of its blood ; and when the animal is of so simple an organisation that it possesses no such organ, although the aeration takes place quite as well, it does so in a different manner. Eespiration as an animal function, and Eespiration as a general properti/ of tissue, are incessantly confounded in our loose language ; but the distinction should always be borne in mind. The ultimate fact of Eespiration is the interchange of gases, and this may be effected in many ways ; but although the final result is similar, there is great difference between the property which all living tissues, animal and vegetable, have of exchanging car- bonic acid for oxygen, and the function of the special apparatus by which the exchange is brought about ; just as there is a wide distinction between the general pro- perty of Assimilation, and the special function of Digestion. The Eolis we are considering must have its blood aerated ; but the means by which it is aerated do not come under the term " breathing." In many of the lower animals aeration is performed entirely by the surface, the air or water directly bathing the deli- cate tissues, and bringing to them the necessary supply of oxygen, without the intervention of any special apparatus ; just as food is brought to their tissues without the preparatory labour of arduous digestion. The Eolis has not only a delicate surface, covered with H 114 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. vibratile cilia, which permits the aeration of all the blood circulating at the surface, but it has also a sys- tem of water-carrying vessels round the margin of its broad foot, or fleshy disc, through which water is car- ried into the cavities of the bodv, and there aerates the blood, — at least I assume this latter j)art of the descrip- tion to be true of all Eolids, as it is of the Doris, although I only observed the vessels in one species, not having thought of seeking them until my last animal was under the scalpel. Having made thus much clear to myself, I found that I was not so heretical as I fancied, but that, for the main facts on which my argument rested, the authority of even Alder and Hancock could be claimed. These admirable authors distinctly say, " the respiratory func- tion appears to be partially specialised in the dorsal papillse, which, usually exposing a large surface, are covered with strong and vigorous vibratile cilia. [Not so strong as the cilia of the foot, however.] But as the blood in its return to the heart appears to pass almost entirely through the skm, which is thin and delicate, and also covered with cilia, there can be little doubt that the luliole surface of the body assists in aeration.'^ After this, it seems to me that these authors need only reflect a moment on the absence of giU-structure in the papiUae, to perceive at once the impropriety of designating those organs as branchial, and of including the Eolis among Nudibranchiates. Por although the papillae expose a large surface to the air, they only do so in common with the rest of the skin ; mere extent of EOLIS NOT A NUDIB RANCH. 115 surface does not constitute a gill ; nor will a merely resjDiratory surface constitute one. The frog, for ex- ample, respires by the skin, as well as by the lungs, but we do not call its skin a lung, because a lung has a specific structure, widely differing from the structure of the skin. In their monograph, IMessrs Alder and Hancock say : " The order Nudibranchiata is restricted to those ani- mals bearing the character assigned to it by Cuvier ; namely, the j^ossessioji of distinct external and uncov- ered gills." But we have just seen that it is precisely this character which is wanting in the Eolids ; nor do I understand how these learned authors come to include Eolids among the Nudibranchiates, unless they also proposed to annihilate the very terms of their defini- tion. If the Eolids have not distinct external and uncovered gills — if they have no gills at all, in fact — they cannot lawfully claim a place among the Naked- giUed Molluscs. The reader will understand that at the coast, where these dissections were made, I had but a scanty supply of books to aid me, and that on returning home a dili- gent search was made, with a view of ascertaining what had been already noted on this point. Owen and Siebold assured me that I was right in denying the Eolids anything properly to be styled a gill. The former says : " In certain small shell-less marine gen- era — e. g. Rhodoj)e, Tergipes, Eolidina — no distinct respiratory organs have been detected ; these form the order Apneusta!' Professor Owen enters into no de- 116 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. tails ; lie simply asserts the fact, that no distinct organs exist. Siebold follows Kolliker, who establishes the order Apneusta, " in opposition to the other Gastero- poda, which have distinct respiratory organs." But the only reason adduced by him seems to me far from cogent ; and I can understand how Alder and Han- cock, who must have been perfectly aware of the posi- tion taken by Kolliker and Siebold, might altogether disregard it. Siebold says that the opinion respecting the branchial nature of the papillae " is untenable, since it has been shown that they contain prolongations of the digestive canal."'' I believe it to be untenable, simply because the papillae contain none of the dis- tinctive characters of gills ; did they possess these, the fact of their also containing digestive prolongations would not deprive them of their rank as gills ; any more than the fact of the heart, in some Molluscs, allowing the intestine to pass through it, deprives it of cardiac dignity. Quitting this discussion for topics more surprising, let us fix our attention on one fact, cursorily indicated on a preceding page, namely, the existence, in the foot of the Doris, of a system of pores through which the water enters into the general cavity of the body. It is a fact w^hich has not excited sufficient notice. Con- sider it, for a moment, and you will remark that water entering the general cavity must mingle with the blood, and that largely. But if it mingles thus freely with the blood, on its entrance, will it not also on its * Siebold— Comp. Anat, English Trans., p. 249. WATER ENTERING THE BLOOD. 117 exit carry away a portion of the blood ? It will, and does, as any one may i^rove experimentally. Agassiz has described it in detail, apropos of the 3Iactra/' and suggests that the pores of the fish may have a similar office. In the Actinice and Acalephce the free passage of water to and fro is well known. In several Anne- lids (Eunice, Nereis, &c.), I have little doubt that the openings which exist on each side of the body, between every two feet, and which permit the passage of the ova into the surrounding water, are aquiferous tubes, through which the water passes to and fro. These openings were first described by Eathke ; and Siebold admits that through them the water may probably pass. M. Quatrefages, however, a great authority on the sub- ject of Annelids, is disposed to deny the existence of these openings : " J'ai vu chez TEunice sanguine des apparences rappelant un pen 1' observation de Rathk^ ; mais ces orifices, s'ils existent, ont evidemment pour objet de servir a la sortie des oeufs ; c'est la du moins ce que Tanalogie permet d'admettre. Je n'ai jamais vu pondre on ^jaculer une Annelide errante."*)* What M. Quatrefages has not been fortunate enough to have seen, has several times been witnessed by me. I have seen the eggs issuing from these openings, the exist- ence of which he is inclined to dispute ; and inasmuch as these eggs may be seen floating in the general cavity of the body, before they issue through the openings at the side, there seems little room for doubt on the * Siebold U. KoLUKER—ZeitschnJi./. Wissen. Zoolog. vii. 176. t Quatrefages in Annales des Sciences Nat., 1850 ; xiv. 298. 118 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. point. As to there being an habitual communication between the general cavity and the external water, through these openings, M. Quatrefages peremptorily denies it, without assionino- his reasons. His mere as- sertion is of weight ; but for the present I am strongly inclined to believe there is an habitual communication, because, besides ova, I have seen the diffusion of chyl- aqueous globules in the water, on the glass slide bear- ing a Nereid. That an animal should suck up water into his body is intelligible enough ; the water may serve for pm-poses of aeration, nutrition, locomotion, &c. : it may give the blood its oxygen, the tissues its organic substances in solution, the shell its salts, and it may serve as a ful- crum for the animal's progression. But when it is pressed out of the body — as in some animals it is with great frequency and raj^idity — will there not be a spon- taneous phlebotomy, of a rather dangerous nature ? That is the question. Hereafter (Part IH., Chap. H.) we shall have to consider more closely the relation of sea water to the circulating nutritive fluids ; for the present let us be content with the idea that, in at Least three divisions of the animal kingdom, water directly mingles with the blood, and quits it en masse, csnTying some blood with it. . PAKT 11. SEA ANEMONES. CHAPTER I. SUDDEN ENTHUSIASM FOR THE ANEMONES — IMPERFECT STATE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE — LITERATURE OP THE SUBJECT — NO DISTINCTION BE- TWEEN ANIMAL AND PLANT : SENSITIVENESS, LOCOMOTION, AND CAPTURE OF FOOD — VORACITY OF THE ANEMONE — ITS PARALYSING POWER DENIED— HABITS AND INSTINCTS— IS IT VIVIPAROUS ONLY ? — VARIATIONS OF COLOUR. Since the British mind was all alive and trembling with the zoological fervour excited by the appearance of the hippopotamus in Regent's Park, no animal has touched it to such fine issues, and such exuberant en- thusiasm, as the lovely Sea- Anemone, now the orna- ment of countless drawing-rooms, studies, and back parlours, as well as the delight of unnumbered ama- teurs. In glass tanks and elegant vases of various device, in finger-glasses and common tumblers, the lovely creature may be seen expanding its coronal of tentacles, on mimic rocks, amid mimic forests of algas, in mimic oceans — of pump-water and certain mixtures of chlorides and carbonates, regulated by a " specific gravity test." Fairy fingers minister to its wants, removing dirt and slime from its body, feeding it with bits of limpet or raw beef ; fingers, not of fairies, pull it about with the remorseless curiosity of science, and 122 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. experiment on it, according to the suggestion of the moment. At once pet, ornament, and "subject for dissection," the Sea-Anemone has a well-established popularity in the British family-circle ; having the advantage over the hippopotamus of being somewhat less expensive, and less troublesome, to keep. Were Sea-cows as plentiful as Anemones, one could not make pets of them with the same comfort. There would be objections to Potty in the drawing-room. There would be embarrassments in the commissariat. There would be insurgents among the domestics ; for the best-tempered Jane might find it impossible to endure the presence of such a pet, and might resolutely refuse to bring up his water, and clean out his crib ; whereas, although the red-armed Jane thinks you a little cracked when you introduce "them worm things" into your house, she keeps her opinions within the circle of the kitchen, and consents to receive her wages with- out a murmur. It is difficult to say what occasioned this sudden en- thusiasm for Anemones : lovely, indeed, but by no means the most lovely, and certainly not the most interesting wonders of the deep. Mr Gosse by his pleasant books, and Mr Mitchell by his tanks in the Kegent's Park Zoological Gardens, have mainly contri- buted to the diffusion of the enthusiasm ; and now that enterprise has made a commercial branch of it, we may consider the taste estabhshed, for at least some years. One good result of this diffusion will be an extension of our knowledge, not only of these, but of many other ERRORS ABOUT ANEMONES. 123 of the simpler animals. For several years the writings of zoologists have given a place to observations on the Anemones ; but the observations have been incomplete, and all handbooks and treatises vp'hich repeat these observations are very naturally crowded with errors. To give the reader an idea of the state of ciuTent opin- ion on this one topic, it is enough to mention that in one admirable handbook, the second page, devoted to a description of the habits of the Anemone, contains six distinct errors : yet this is no fault of the compiler ; he states what preceding writers state, and his excellent summary of what is known bears the date of 1855. If the habits have been so imperfectly observed, you may gaiess what a chaos the anatomy and physiology of this animal present. Such being the state of the case, we may hope that the wide diffusion of a taste for vivaria will in a little while furnish Science with ample material ; and meanwhile, as many of my readers are possessors of vivaria, actual or potential, and will cer- tainly not content themselves with blank wonderment, but will do their utmost to rightly understand the Anemones, even if they make no wider incursions on the domains of the zoologist, they will perhaps be in- terested if I group together the residts of investiga- tions, pursued at Ilfracombe and Tenby during the summer of 1856, and, with less energy, because with less prodigality of specimens, during the autumn and winter at home ; adding thereto some corrections de- rived during the spring and summer of 1857. In the present state of knowledge, the independent observa- 124 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. tions of every one who has had any experience cannot but be welcome. The literature of the subject is extensive if we in- clude all the passing notices made by naturalists from Aristotle downwards ; but the capital works are few. What Aristotle says of them is accurate enough for the most part,* although the details are scanty. Owing to his commentators being less accurately informed than he was, they have misunderstood the passage wherein he sjDeaks of the sea-nettles quitting their rocks in quest of food at night, and have supposed that he alluded to the Medusf<^. But by a-/,a'K7i(pri he indu- bitably meant the Actiniae as well as the Medusas ; and he was right in saying they sometimes quitted the rocks to which they had fixed themselves. Rondelet adopted Aristotle's term of Urticce "marince, adding to it the epithet oiadfixce^to distinguish them from the errant Medusae. Reaumur in 1710 began to investigate them more seriously than any of his predecessors had done ; but the Abbe Dicquemare must be counted as the first good authority on the subject. • He furnished the most extensive and reliable information, in three papers of the PhilosopJiical Transactions for the years 1773, 1775, and 1777. The name of Actinia was adopted by Linnaeus from Patrick Brown, and has since been universally accepted. The reader will understand, therefore, that Sea- Anemone and Actinia are convert- * Aristotle : Hist. Animal, lib. i. c. i. 8, and lib. iv. c. vi., 4. There are probably other passages, but these are all I have been able to find. ANEMONE LITERATURE. 125 ible terms, and may be employed indifFerently. In 1809, Spix published an account of the anatomy of the Actinia, which was, however, very faulty ; its announce- ment of the discovery of a nervous system has long been rejected. It was not even accepted by Delle Cilia je, the next writer of authority, whose Memoi'ie sulla storia e notoinia dcgli animali invertebrati del regno di Napoli, 1822-29,* is still quoted by syste- matic writers. There are some errors in this work ; among them is that of Spix, who imagined he had dis- covered a vascular system ; but in spite of inaccu- racies, Delle Chiaje's account is worth studying. The next, and up to that time the most important publica- tion, was that of Professor Eapp,-|- which may still be read with profit, and was only displaced by Dr John- ston's elaborate History of British Zoojyhytes ; and this in turn wdll have to give way to Mr Gosse's " Mo- nograph on Sea- Anemones," when that much-expected work makes its appearance ;| meanwhile his Rambles of a Naturalist, and his Tenby, contain valuable * I have not seen this book, but I found the magnificent work, Descrizione e notomia degli animali invertebrati della Sicilia Cileriore (published in 8 vols, folio; Naples, 1841-44), on the shelves of Mr Triibner io Paternoster Row. It was too costly for an author's purse ; but Mr Tiiibner, with characteristic generosity, insisted on lending it to me for some weeks ; the offer was too tempting to be refused. It is a book to make a naturalist languish with desire. 'j' Ueher die Pohjpen im Allgemeinen und die Actinien ins besondere, 1829. This work contains three coloured plates, which were thought admirable in those days, but which our progress in the art of illustra- tion throws into the shade. J Since published. 126 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. notices. Mr Tugwell's Manual of the Sea-Anemones usually found on the English Coast is specially- addressed to amateurs, and contains useful information pleasantly conveyed, and coloured plates of rare excel- lence. Of a rigorously scientific character are the two memoirs published by M. HoUard, one " On the anatomy of the Actinia,"* and the other Etudes Zoologiques sur le genre Actinia.-f Nor, although I have not been able to procure it, should MrTeale's paper on the Anatomy of the Act. coriacea in the " Leeds Philosophical Transactions" be forgotten, since it has formed the authority for subsequent writers. Separate points have been treated by Erdl, Quatrefages, Wagner, Kolliker, Leuckart, and others ; but the five works just mentioned are, I believe, all the reliable original sources of information on the structure and habits of the Sea- Anemones ; and they all contradict each other with great freedom, so that the student need not be surprised if he, in turn, is forced to oppose a flat denial to many a positive assertion. In the course of the present pages such flat denials will be frequent. It must be assumed at startino^ that the reader knows what a Sea- Anemone is, in aspect at least. No description will avail, in default of direct observation ; even pictures only give an approximate idea ; while to those who have seen neither picture nor animal it will be of little use to declare that the ''Actinia is a fleshy cylinder, attached by one extremity to a * Annales des Sciences Nat, 1851, vol. xv. "f Revue et Magazin de Zoologie, 1854. No. 4. WHAT IS AN Aiv^MAL? 127 rock, Avhile the free end is surmounted by numerous tentacula arranged in several rows, which, when ex- panded, give the animal the appearance of a flower/' Assuming, then, that you know the general aspect of the Actinia, you may follow my description of the animal's bearing and habits. Hoiu do I know that it is an animal, and not a flower, which it so much resembles ? No one yet has been able to distinguish, in the face of severe critical precision, between the animal and plant-organisation, so as to be able authoritatively to say, " This is exclu- sively animal/' To distinguish a cow from a cucum- ber requires, indeed, no profound inauguration into biological mysteries ; we can " venture fearlessly to assert'' (with that utterly uncalled-for temerity exhi- bited by bad writers in cases when no peril whatever is hanging over the assertion) that the cow and cucumber are not allied — no common parentage links them to- gether, even through remote relationship ; but to say what is an animal, presupposes a knowledge of what is essentially and exclusively animal ; and this know- ledge unhappily has never yet been reached. Much hot, and not wise, discussion has occupied the hours of philosophers in trying to map out the distinct confines of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, when all the while Nature knows of no such demarcating lines. The Animal does not exist ; nor does the Vegetable : both words are abstractions, general terms, such as Virtue, Goodness, Colour, used to designate certain groups of particulars, but having only a mental exist- 128 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. ence. "Who lias been fortunate enough to see the Animal? We have seen cows, cats, jackasses, and camelopards ; but the "rare monster" Animal is visible in no menagerie. If you are tempted to call this me- taphysical trifling, I beg you to read the discussions published on the vegetable or animal nature of Diatomacese, Volvocinae, &c., or to attend to what is said in any text-book on the distinctions betw^een animals and vegetables ; and you will then see there is something more than metaphysics in the paradox. In the simpler organisms there is no mark which can absolutely distinguish the animal from the vegetable ; and if in the higher organisms a greater amount of characteristic diff'erences may be traced, so that we may, for purposes of convenience, consider a certain group of indications as entitling the object to be classed under the Animal division, we must never forget that such classifications are purely arbitrary, and as the phi- losophers say — subjective. Now what are the characteristic marks of the Sea- Anemone, w^hich entitle it to be removed from the hands of the botanist, and placed in those of the zoolo- gist ? Eymer Jones declares that its animal nature " is soon rendered evident," this evidence being the mani- festation of sensibility, '' A cloud veiling the sun will cause their tentacles to fold as though apprehensive of danger from the passing shadows." Unhappily, the fact alleged is a pure fiction ; and, were it true, would not distinguish the Actiniae from those plants which close their petals in the dark. A fiction, however, it is, as PLANTS FEEL AND CAPTURE FOOD. 129 any one may verify. If Actinise have been seen to fold up their tentacles when a cloud has passed before the sun, this has been a coincidence, not a causal relation ; so far from light being the necessary condition of their expansion, they are in perfect expansion in the dark- ness ; and if the venturous naturalist will, with the solemn chimes of midnight as accompaniment, take his lantern on the rocks, he will find all the Ane- mones in full 'blossom. I said that Rapp might still be read with profit. Hear him on this point. " Many Zoophytes, although without eyes, possess the power of distinguishing light from darkness. This has long been asserted of the Actiniae, nevertheless, on some species, it appeared to me that neither light nor dark- ness exercised any appreciable influence. Actinia plumosa^ which I often watched on the western coast of Norway, expanded its tentacles equally in the dark, as when I removed it suddenly from darkness into direct sunlight. The Actinia depressa suddenly collapsed when direct sunlight was allowed to fall on it." I have repeatedly tried the experiment of over- shadowing the pool in which the Actiniae were expand- ed, but never saw them retract their tentacles in consequence. The reader will not suppose that I mean to deny the sensitiveness of the Actiniae. I am merely answering an argument which several writers have repeated respecting the alarm felt by the Actinise when a cloud veils the sun, or a shadow affects them. But the Anemone must be an animal, you suggest, because it is seen to catch and swallow other animals. I 130 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. This, however, is no proof. Although the Anemone entraps its prey, or anything else that may come in contact with its tentacles, this is no proof of animality ; the sensitive plant, known as the Mytrap of Venus (Dioncea muscipula), has a precisely analogous power ; any insect, touching the sensitive hairs on the surface of its leaf, instantly causes the leaf to shut up and enclose the insect, as in a trap ; nor is this all : a mucilaginous secretion acts like a gastric juice on the captive, digests it, and renders it assimilable by the plant, which thus feeds on the victim, as the Actinia feeds on the Annehd or Crustacean it may entrap. Where, then, is the difference ? Neither seeks its food : place the food within a line's breadth of the tentacles, or of the sensitive hairs, and so long as actual contact is avoided, the grasping of the food will not take place. But you object, perhaps, that this mode of feeding is normal with the Actinia, exceptional with the Flytrap. The plant, you say, is nourished by the earth and air, the animal depends on what it can secure. Not so. For granting — what, in fact, I sturdily dispute — that the Flytrap is in no way dependent upon such insect food as may fall into its clutch, we shall still observe the Actinia in similar independence. Keep the water free from all visible food, and the Actiniae continue to flourish and propagate just as if they daily clutched an unhappy worm. The fact is well known, and is cur- rently, but erroneously, adduced as illustration of the animal's power of fasting. But there is no fasting in the matter. In this water free from visible aliment LOCOMOTION OF THE ANEMOXE. 131 there is abundance of invisible aliment, — infusoria, spores, organic j^articles, &c., which the animal assimi- lates, much in the same way as plants assimilate the organic material diffused through the soil and atmo- sphere. Filter the water carefully, and remove from it all growing vegetation, and you will find the animal speed- ily dying, however freely oxygen may be supplied. It is on this account that when we make artificial sea- water, it is necessary to allow alga3 to grow in it for some two or three weeks before putting in the animals ; the water becomes charoed with oro-anic material. Mere sensibility and capture of food, therefore, are not the distinguishing marks we seek, since the plant is found to possess them as perfectly as the animal. Is spontaneous locomotion a sufficient mark ? No ; and for these two reasons : Some animals have ?io such power ; some plants, and all spores, have it. There are - animals which no botanist has ever claimed — the Ascidians, for example, which can scarcely be said to exhibit any motion at all (the rhythmic contraction and expansion of their orifices not deserving the name) ; their whole lives are spent rooted to the rock or shell, as firmly as the plant is rooted in the earth. Nay, even with regard to the Anemones, it is said by Dr Landsborough, Dr Carpenter, and others, that they will not move towards the water, should the vessel be gradually emptied, or the water evaporate, not even if their tentacles can reach its surface. This is incorrect ; but I mention it as one of the difficulties which would meet the student in the way of distinguishing the 132 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Anemone from plants. It is one of the many inaccm-ate statements grounded on imjDerfect observation, which are repeated in handbooks. The original observer probably noticed an Anemone some time out of the water, making no effort to return ; had the observation been continued, the doubt would have been solved. Some Anemones, especially the Common Smooth species {Meseinhryanthcmum), are accustomed daily to be left out of water by the receding tide, so that in captivity they may be supposed rather to eujoy an occasional air-bath. I have repeatedly seen mine crawl out of the water and settle on the edo-e of the o'lass, or pan, high and dry ; but they descended again after a few hours. The locomotion of the Anemones is, how- ever, various in various species. I do not think the " Trogs " ever move ; nor do the " Gems " seem migra- tory ; but the " Antheas " and the " Smooths " are somewhat restless. '•' The Actiniae," says Rymer Jones, " possess the power of changing their position ; they often elongate their bodies, and, remaining fixed by the base, stretch from side to side, as if seeking food at a distance ; they can even change their place by gliding upon the disc that suj)ports them, or detaching them- selves entirely, and swelling themselves with water, they become nearly of the same specific gravity as the element they inhabit, and the least agitation is sufficient to drive them elsewhere. Reaumur even asserts, that they can turn themselves so as to use their tentacles as feet, crawling upon the bottom of the sea ; but this mode of progression has not been observed by subse- VORACITY OF THE ANEMONE. 133 qiient naturalists." Yes, Dr Johnston once saw it ; I also witnessed an Anthea moving thus ; but I suspect it is only the Anthea which has the power, and this it probably owes to its more solid tentacles.* Again the question recurs, How then do we know the Anemone to be an animal ? — in other words, what characteristic marks guide zoologists in classing it in that division ? I really know of none but purely ana- tomical marks."]- These, however, suffice, and if you please we will continue to speak of the Anemone as an animal, and, what is more, a very carnivorous animal, eating most things that come within reach, from limpets to worms, from fish to roast beef It has even a repu- tation for voracity, not to say gourmandise ; in the matter of shell-fish it would put even Dando to the blush. Dr Johnston, in his valuable History of British Zoophytes, relates this anecdote : " I had once brought * Rapp, loc. cit. p. 44, says he has often witnessed it ; but he only mentions the Anthea as possessing the power. Aristotle, as we have seen, makes special mention of it. 't'lt is unnecessary to particularise these anatomical marks, which will occur to the mind of every student, as belonging exclusively to that division of animated beings which manifest the group of phenomena baptised by the name of Animality. Wherever you find muscular tissue, or an alimentary canal, you are absolutely certain that nothing belonging to what finds its place in the group of marks which indicate the vegetable kingdom, is before you. In function there is often con- siderable resemblance between Plant and Animal ; but in structure the differences early manifest themselves, growing greater as the scale ascends. Although, therefore, at the bottom of the scale no dis- tinguished characteristic isolates animals from plants, as we ascend the scale we find many definite marks by which the two groups may be known. 134 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. to me a specimen of Actinia crassicornis tliat might originally have been two inches in diameter, and that had somehow contrived to swallow a valve of Pecten maximus of the size of an ordinary saucer. The shell fixed within the stomach was so placed as to divide it completely into two halves, so that the body stretched tensely over had become thin and flattened like a pan- cake. All communication between the inferior portion of the stomach and the mouth was of course prevented ; yet instead of emaciating and dying of an atrophy, the animal had availed itself of what had undoubtedly been a very untoward accident, to increase its enjoyments and its chance of double fare. A new mouth furnished with two rows of numerous tentacles was opened uj^on what had been the base, and led to the under stomach — the individual had become a sort of Siamese Twin, but with greater intimacy and extent in its unions/' Such is the blind voracity of this animal, that anything and everything is carried straightway into its stomach to be there tried, and rejected only on proved incom- patibility. One day, while sorting and distributing to their re- spective jars the animals captured during the morning's hunt, I was called into the balcony by the agitated en- treaties of lovely Sixteen, exclaiming, " Oh, do come ! do come, and rescue this green Anemone from a great nasty beetle." I went to the rescue, and found a large beetle struggling in the clutches of a green Antliea. " The beetle is the victim,'' I quietly told Sixteen ; who, not having profound sympathies with beetles, was DO THE ANEMONES STING? 135 pacified as she saw the struggling insect slowly passing into the stomach of the Anthea, his struggles growing fainter and fainter, and finally ceasing altogether, till at last we saw him with head and thorax engulfed in the ravenous maw, his abdomen sticking up in the air. A question of great interest and some intricacy here presents itself: Was the beetle jKiralysed by some peculiar poison secreted from the tentacles of the Ane- mone ? — a question which opens into this wider one : Have the Polypes the mysterious power, almost uni- versally attributed to them, of paralysing with a touch the victims they may grasp, so that, should the victim escape from their grasp, it is only to die presently from the fatal touch ? The power of fascination possessed by some animals, of j^oisoning possessed by others, of electrical discharges possessed by others, naturally lead men to interpret certain observations made on the Polypes, as proofs that they, too, possess some such power: and this suggestion gains a more ready cre- dence from the tendency in most minds to welcome every unexplained phenomenon as indicating an occult cause. This mtch-like power of fascination, — this power of paralysing with a touch, appeals to our imagination, and gains easy access to belief. But the spirit of sci- entific scepticism forces me to declare that, as far as my observations and experiments extend, there is no- thing like evidence in favour of this power, much evidence against it. Some Anemones certainly appear to sting — as some jellyfish sting — although the major- ity have no such effect upon om* hands, which every one 136 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. knows who has handled them. I never perceived this stinging sensation myself ; and Dr Landsborough says : " From my own experience I can say nothing as to this stinging power ; for though I have handled not only the commoner Actiniae, but also the larger and less common Anthea, I never felt anything approaching to stinging ; but I never touched a tentaculum without perceiving the tip of it had some prehensile property by which it took a slight hold of the skin of the finger, causing a kind of rasping feeling when withdrawn. It may be, however, that the fangs had not fair play with my fingers, if somehow or other they are sting-proof."* He then makes the following quotation from Mrs Pratt's Chapters on the Common Things of the Sea-side, which I reproduce as positive and direct testimony : " It appears that different persons are variously affect- ed even by touching the same Actinias. The author had placed in a vessel of sea water a fine specimen of the fig marygold sea-anemone, which she was accus- tomed to touch many times during the day. The tentacula closed immediately round the intruding finger, producing only a slight tingling. Her surprise was great at finding that the same anemone, on being touched by another person, communicated a more powerful sensation, which her friend assured her was felt up the whole of the arm. More than twenty per- sons touched this Anemone ; and the writer was amused by observing how variously they were affected, some being only slightly tingled, while others started * Popular History of British Zoophytes, p. 239. CAN THE ANEMONES PARALYSE? 137 back as if stung by a nettle. " I think, in the face of testimony so precise as this, we may waive all negative evidence, and accept the fact of stinging as proven * But now comes the question : Is this stinging produced by poison- vesicles and spicula, as the great majority of writers maintain ; or is it no more poisonous than the pricking of a thorn ? Those who maintain the former opinion, explain by it the alleged cases of paralysis ex- hibited by the animals which have escaped in the struggle ; and the incident just related of the beetle killed, but not swallowed, seems entirely to favour such a conclusion. Nevertheless, from subsequent investi- gations, I am led to oppose the opinion in toto. Sir John Dalyell — one of the best authorities — thinks that the Anemone conquers its prey by mere strength, and not by any poisonous fluid. He is somewhat exagger- ated, however, in the statement of his opinion. " No- thing," he says, " can escape their deadly touch. Every animated being that comes in slightest contact is instantly caught, retained, and mercilessly devoured." This is mere rhetoric : animals, even such as form their natural prey, constantly touch the tentacles — nay, are even caught, and yet escape. "Neither strength nor size, nor the resistance of the victim, can daunt the ravenous captor. It will readily grasp an animal which, if en- dowed with similar strength, advantage, and resolution, could certainly rend its body asunder. It is in the highest degree carnivorous. Thence do all the varieties * Aristotle, lib. iv. c. vi. 4, mentions their stinging, ovtws ^arc 138 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. of the smaller finny tribes, the fiercest of the Crustacea, the whole vermicular race, and the softer tenants among the testacea, fall a prey to the ActiniaB/' One is aston- ished to meet with such a passage from so accurate an observer. It is pure exaggeration, which succeeding writers have accepted as literal truth. Thus, Eymer Jones says, that " no sooner are the tentacles touched by a jDassing animal, than it is seized and held with unfaiHng pertinacity/' Had the professor given his attention to Anemones he would know that, so far from the grasj) being " unfailing," it as often fails as succeeds, when the captive is of tolerable activity ; and very noticeable is the fact, that when the animals escape, they escape unhurt ; a fact in direct contradic- tion to the belief in a poison secreted by the tentacles. I resolved to bring this question to the test, and dropped a tiny crab, rather smaller than a fourpenny piece, on the tentacles of my largest Crassicornis (nearly as large as a glass tumbler). He was clutched at once, and the tentacles began to close round him ; he struggled vigorously, and freed himself after a few seconds. Placed there a second time, he again got away. I waited to see if any symptoms of paralysis would declare themselves after this contact, but he was as lively as ever. Later in the day I j)laced him on the tentacles of the voracious Anthea, the most power- ful of all the Anemones, and the only one which seems to sting ; but the crab was too active, or too little appetising ; he got away as before. I tried another Anthea and a Daisy (Actinia hellis), but with the CRABS IX THE STOMACH OF ANEMONES. 139 same result. In each case the crab was clutched, but in each case he got away unhurt. I then chose another crab, not more than half the size of the former, and certainly no match in point of strength for the Ane- mone, yet after being embraced and carried to the mouth, I observed the crab slowly appear from the un- folding tentacles, and scuttle away with great activity. This experiment casts a doubt on what is asserted by all writers, namely, that Anemones feed on crabs. Eymer Jones records that " they will devour a crab as large as a hen's egg" Has any one ever seen a Kve crab caught and eaten by an Anemone ? I confess never to have seen it, and the experiment just related disposes me to doubt : although it is quite possible that my Anemones were dainty, because not hungry, and refused food which, under less epicurean condi- tions, would have been welcome. If any one has seen the Anemone feeding on live crabs, that is enough. Meanwhile I think it right to propound the doubt, and to add to it this subsequent observation : I took a tiny Crustacean, of the shrimp family, about half an inch in length, and dropped it in a vase containing some Daisies. It soon touched the tentacles of one of these, was drawn in, but almost immediately escaped. It then swam about until it touched the largest Daisy, and was quickly engulfed. As it had entirely disap- peared, I expected it woidd be certainly killed if not eaten, but in a few moments it made its way out un- hm^t, and swam away. These Daisies had not been fed for at least a fortnight ; they had subsisted entirely on 140 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the invisible aliment floating in the water : yet they either could not, or would not, eat this Crustacean. No one can have taken Anemones from the rocks without observing fragments of small crabs, and some- times whole crabs, as big as crown pieces, in their stomachs ; but the question whether these crabs were captured alive by the Anemones is not thereby an- swered. Without absolutely denying that the Ane- mone does thus capture them, I am forced by repeated observation and experiment, to declare that the evidence all points in the direction of a denial. I remember once accidentally dropping a tiny crab on the expanded oral disc of a Crassicornis, whose mouth was wide open ; and very amusing it was to see the little creature rush into the open mouth, settle himself comfortably there, and begin twittering his antennae, as crabs do when their alarm subsides. The Grass never moved : owing to the insensibility of the stomach, he was quite undis- turbed by this refugee — in this by no means resem- bling the Cyclops of Euripides, who energetically repu- diates the idea of swallowing the satyr : " You in my stomacTi ? Horror, if I had ! Yoixr capering antics there would drive me mad." * The crab remained twittering for some minutes. I touched him, and he retreated deeper down into the cavity. Looking into the pan some time after, I found he had crawled away, so I gave him to an Anthea, 7r7j5ctij/T€S aTToAeVatr' av vtto tuv axf\!^°'-'^^'-'- — Cyclops, V. 220. EXPERIMENTS ON HYDR^. 141 who clutched, but soon released him. I then gave him to another Grass, who swallowed him, but in a little while slowly unclosed his tentacles and let him escape ; being apparently of the Cyclopean opinion that the capering antics would produce a gastric fever. Now, it is quite possible that the Anemone, having clutched the carcass of a dead crab washed on to its tentacles, and having swallowed it, as it swallows most objects once clutched, may retain the carcass in its stomach, and quietly digest the flesh thereof, as far as digestion is jDOSsible,'" yet be unwilling to retain the live crab under similar circumstances, because of the incessant struggles of the victim ; and I direct the attention of students to the point, because if any one mtnesses the capture and digestion, it will be enough to destroy all negative evidence. On the question of food we may mthhold our opinion till some more decisive evidence is adduced ; but on the question of the paralysing power said to reside in the tentacles, these experiments surely determine a negative. In spite of the beetle, so completely van- quished, there is the evidence of crabs and shrimps being in repeated contact with the tentacles, and in nowise afi'ected. While preparing these notes for the press, I have been led to extend the experiments ; because, although it would by no means necessarily follow that whatever was true of the Hydroid Poljrpes must also be true of * In Part III., Chap. I., the reader will see that digestion, in the strict sense of the word, is not possible. 142 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the Anemones, yet a very plausible suspicion might arise — and did indeed arise in my mind — throwing doubt on results which were in contradiction to what was reported of the fresh-water Polypes. Eead this passage from the last edition of Owen's Lectures, bear- ing the date 1855 : " That the tentacula have the power of communicating some benumbing or noxious influence to the hving animals which constitute the food of the hydra, is evident from the effect produced, for example, upon an entomostracan, which may have been touched, but not seized, by one of these organs. The little active crustacean is arrested in the midst of its rapid darting motion, and sinks apparently lifeless for some distance ; then slowly recovers itself, and resumes its ordinary movement. Siebold states, that when a Nais, a Daphnia, or the larva of a Cheironomus, have been wounded by the darts, they do not recover, but die. These and other active inhabitants of fresh waters, whose powers should be equivalent to rend asunder the delicate gelatinous arms of their low- organised captor, seem paralysed almost immediately after they have been seized, and so countenance the opmion of Corda, that the secretion of a poison enters the wounds." Such statements can only be set aside by direct experiment ; and the superiority of Experi- ment over mere Observation needs no argument. As a matter of observation, I too had been struck with the fact noticed by Owen. I saw the tiny Water- fleas drop apparently lifeless to the bottom of the phial, after being some time held by the tentacle of EXPERIMENTS ON HYDR^. 143 the Hydra ; and, intently watching them, I saw them at last swim away again as lively as before. I removed a Hydra from the phial, in a little water, and placing it on a slip of glass, allowed it to settle and expand there for two hours, when I added several water-fleas {CypyHdce) to the little pond, and patiently watched them swimming to and fro. Eepeatedly they touched the tentacles in their course, but were not hurt, were even not arrested. At length one was caught, and held for some seconds ; it then fell to the bottom, and remained motionless for at least two minutes, after which it started up, and was off" as if its course had never been arrested. This certainly had very much the appearance of a case of slight paralysis ; the animal seemed arrested by some benumbing influence, which for two minutes rendered it powerless ; at the expiration of that time it seemed to have sufficiently recovered itself to swim away. If Observation alone sufficed, in questions so complex as those of Biology, this observation would have confirmed the statements of Siebold, Corda, and Owen. But observation alone does not suffice. I bethought me of a simple experi- ment. With a needle I gently arrested one of these water-fleas ; it suddenly sank motionless, remained thus for more than a minute, and then darted off" again. Thrice I repeated this act, and each time with similar result. Will any one say the needle had a paralysing power, or a benumbing poison which was secreted, when the animal came in contact with it ? And does not the reader at once recognise in this sudden motion- 144 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. lessness of the animal a very familiar phenomenon? The spider, the crab, the oniscus, and very many animals " sham dead/' as schoolboys know, when danger threatens ; these water-fleas " sham dead " when the Polype or the needle touches them. I might have rested my incredulity of the alleged paralysing influ- ence on this one experiment ; but I confirmed it in other ways. Dropping the larva of an Ephemeron into the phial containing the Hydrse, I observed it thrice caught by three diflerent Hydrae ; it did not " sham dead," but tore itself away without visible hurt. Nay, I also observed one of those animalcules known as " paste-eels " for some time in contact with the ten- tacle of a Hydra, on the stage of the microscope, but, in sj)ite of its having no shell to j^rotect it from the poison, it was unhurt by the contact. Not having a Nais, I could not test what Siebold says of it ; but what has already been mentioned must, I think, suffice to convince the reader that the current opinion is an error, founded on Observation unverified by Experi- ment. It was only by verification, according to the demands of inductive scepticism, that the error became obvious.* Had Trembley's celebrated work on the fresh-water Polypes been read by one in a hundred of those who * The day this was written I could not rest till I had dredged a favourite pond, and brought home a supply of Na'ids, with which, on the following morning, I tested Siebold's statement. First, I placed a Xalsfiliformis in a glass cell with a Hydra viridis; but although its wriggling constantly brought it into contact with the tentacles, it was never grasj)ed. I then placed a Nais in the phial containing many MORALS AND MANNERS. 145 cite it, the error just noticed would never have gained currency ; the observations of that very accurate ob- server would have suggested a fallacy in the interpre- tation. " J'ai vu souvent des Pucerons (water-fleas) qui parvenoient a se mettre en liberte. II ni'a paru qu'ils le pouvoient plus facilement que les Millepieds (Naids). Comnie ils sont fort petit s, et surtout que leurs corps n'est pas allong^ ils risquent nioins que les vers de s'engager dans les bras des Polypes en se debattant.'' * And he nowhere mentions that the escaped animals died, or gave any signs of having been paralysed by contact with the tentacles. To sum up this discussion, we may say that ample testimony is afi*orded in proof of the position that Anemones have a certain stinging power ^ the nature of which is not yet ascertained, but which is pro- bably a minor degree of that possessed by some Jelly- fish. Direct experiment and observation prove that neither the Anemones, nor the fresh-tuater Polypes, possess in any degree the power of paralysing other animals. " But do tell us something about the habits and in- stincts of these Anemones," some light-minded reader Hydrse ; it was instantly caught by one, and held for some time till it struggled itself free. Not only was it apparently unhurt by this con- tact, but -to-day it is as lively as it was three days ago, just before the experiment. With two other Naids the same result was observed. This completes the overthrow of the current opinion respecting the Hydra's paralysing power. * Trembley : Memoires pour servir d Vkist. des Polypes dCean douce. 1744, p. 92. K 146 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. suggests, impatient of all discussion, and su23remely indifferent to all considerations save those of a moral order. Unhappily my story is not ampler in detail, nor finer in complexity of movement, than the story of Canning's "Knife-grinder" — who had none to tell. The Anemone is lovely, but even its warmest admirers must confess it is a little monotonous in its manifesta- tions. Existence suffices it. It expands its coronal of tentacles, eats when chance favours it, produces offspring, which it sends forth, leaving them, borne by the many currents of the sea, to settle where they list, without any fear of i3arental supervision, and thus lives to a good old age, if no one nudges the elbow of Atropos, and causes that grim lady suddenly to cut the thread.'"' Nor is it easy to nudge the old lady's elbow. The Anemone has more lives than a cat. We have already seen (j3. 21) how it will resist slashing and amputation ; and, except zoologists and the fierce little Eolis, I know no animal which, finding its flavour agreeable, cares to make a meal of it. Yet, curiously enough, this Anemone, whose vitality is so remarkable, who may be hacked and hewed without appearing to suffer from it, dies almost immediately if removed from salt water to fresh. It will live for days out of water, but in fresh water it will not live at all. There * The age to which an Actinia may live has not yet been definitely ascertained ; but Professor Fleming at Edinburgh has [Oct. 1857] one in his possession, which was taken at North Berwick in 1828 ; so that, at the very least, it must be twenty-eight years old, that period having been passed in confinement. ARE ANEMONES OVIPAROUS? 147 is a problem for the physiologist. He will probably see in it the effect of endosmosis, by which all the fluids in the tissue of the Actinia are suddenly so diluted as to be rendered unfit for the vital processes. The Anemone has little more than beauty to recom- mend it ; the indications of intelligence being of by no means a powerful order. What then ? Is beauty nothing ? Beauty is the subtle charm which draws us from the side of the enlightened Miss Grosser to that of the lovely though " quite unintellectual " Caroline, whose conversation is not of a brilliant kind ; whereas Miss Grosser has read a whole En cyclopaedia, and is so obliging as to retail many pages of it freely in her con- versation. Besides, if the monotony of the Anemone wearies you, there is always this variety in reserve : you can eat it ! The Italians do ; they boil it in sea water with great satisfaction. Thus boiled, it has "a shivering texture, somewhat like calf s-foot jeUy ; the smell is somewhat like that of a warm crab or lobster,'' and it is eaten with savoury sauce. Mr Gosse describes his frying them in butter, if I remember rightly ; and although he felt a little difficulty in swallowing the first mouthfid — probably remorse, and zoological ten- derness, gave him what the Italians call a " knot in the throat " — yet, having vanquished his scruples, he ate with some relish. Lady Jane is "horrified'' at the idea of eating her pets ; but now that horse-flesh is publicly sold in the markets of Vienna and other German towns, and public banquets of hij^pophagists 148 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. are frequent in France/"" will Anemones long escape the frying-pan ? It was hinted just now that the Anemone was but an indifferent parent. Having given birth to her oflF- spring, she spends no anxious hours over the episodes of infancy. When I say She, I might as well say He, or It, for no distinction of sex exists, as we shall see presently ; and probably it is to this cause that the parental indifference may be traced ; how, indeed, can maternal tenderness and ceaseless vigilance be expected, when the maternal individual is as yet undeveloped ? The Actiniae are viviparous. Indeed I suspect they are only viviparous, and not at all oviparous. Rymer Jones seems to hesitate on the j)oint, adding, " but it is asserted by numerous authorities that the young are not unfrequently born alive." I not only assert this, but ask whether any one has ever seen the contrary ? It startled me, however, when, on opening an Anemone, I for the first time saw a young one drop out, and im- mediately expand its tentacles ; and some days after- wards, as I was carrying home a lovely " Gem," I saw first one, then two, three, four, seven young ones issue from its mouth, fix themselves at the bottom of the vase, and make themselves at home ; they were of various sizes, and in various stages of development. Since then, I have repeatedly witnessed this mode of birth ; and one day, seeing something in the inside of the tentacle of a Daisy, I snipped the tentacle off, and found a young Daisy there. Some writers imagine that the young * See Physiology of Common Life, vol. i. p. 162. ARE ANEMONES OVIPAROUS? 149 issue through orifices at the tips of the tentacles — a supposition not very credible. The truth is, that at the bottom of the stomach there is a large opening — not several minute openings as we see figm-ed in books — through which the young pass from the general cavity into the water ; and this appears to me the only exit for the young. Without absolutely denying that the ova are extruded, and their early development carried on out of the parent's body, I have never been able to detect ova, except "vvithin the parent. I leave this passage as it originally appeared, al- though, at Jersey, I was subsequently convinced that, with respect to one species at least, the doubt expressed should be withdrawn. In the water of a pan containing, among other animals, specimens of Actinia parasitica, I twice noticed abundance of light-purple ova floating at the surface. Some of these were placed in a vase by themselves, and others left in the pan ; but no further development took place. One day dissecting a Parasitica^ I found in its ovaries the same kind of purple ova. This seems very like evidence that the Parasitica, if no other species, is oviparous ; and it is strengthened by the fact that, as far as my experience extends — and I have had scores of specimens — the Parasitica is not viviparous. The point needs eluci- dation, and the student may amuse himself with it — first by endeavouring to prove the other species to be really oviparous, as well as viviparous ; secondly, by ascertaining whether the Parasitica is viviparous. 150 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. In the visceral cavity of a smooth Anemone a young one as large as a cherry was found ; and to complete the marvel, it was faintly striped with green, like the well-known "green-striped variety," although its parent was of a dark-brown hue. Could the old one have swallowed an errant youth by mistake ? No. It had been many weeks in captivity, where no such errant youths were within reach : besides. Anemones do not swallow each other, or if they should, imr distraction, make a mouthful of a friend, they would quickly throw him up again : cannibalism belongs to a higher grade of social development. Apropos of this peculiarity of colour, I may remark on the great variations observable in the colour of Anemones, and the impropriety of making colour the distinguishing mark of species. Thus, to select a striking example, Mr Gosse makes two distinct sjDecies of the Orange-disked and Orange- tentacled Anemones, naming them Venusta and Aurora ; but as if to prove the indifference of all such character- istics, I brought with me from Tenby an Orange-disked — and only one — which, before it had been home a fortnight, I discovered, T\dth great surprise, was changed into an Orange-tentacled — disc and tentacles being of a rich orange hue, the only traces of white remaining just at the tips. If there had been any other specimen in the vase I might have doubted ; but having only one in company with a white Daisy, and a Smooth Ane- mone, there was no avoiding the conclusion. I have had an Anthea, with brilliant green tentacles, turn to a pale grey in the course of two days, and COLOUR NO SPECIFIC MARK. 151 back again to green : and a Weymouth Anemone turn from pearly-white to a soft reddish-brown. In fact the changes of colour, except in the Crassicornis, which appears to me to retain its hues with tolerable con- stancy, are far too frequent to admit of colour forming a specific character. CHAPTER II. DESIRES FOR ABUNDANCE — THE THREAD-CAPSULES: ARE THEY NET- TLING ORGANS? — FUTILITY OF OBSERVATION UNCONTROLLED BY EXPERIMENT — STRUCTURE OF AN ANEMONE — GENERAL LAW OP DEVELOPMENT — DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN HAND— REPRODUC- TION OF ANEMONES — THEIR OVARIES AND SPERMATOZOA — ARE ANEMONES OF SEPARATE SEXES? Chaeles Lamb, in one of liis exquisitely humorous letters, remembering the prodigal command of paper which he enjoyed as a clerk in the India House, and comparing it with his forced stinginess in that article now he is no longer clerk, refers to the probable feelings of Adam when purchasing a pennyworth of apples, ''from an applewoman's stall in Mesopotamia," and recalling the prodigal abundance of Paradise. Dr Johnson said that never but once in his life had he found himself possessor of as much wall-fruit as he could eat. These two lingering retrospects of former jDlenty appeal to me forcibly : it is true that in the particular case of apples, a matured taste, fortified by philosophy and modified by dyspepsia, renders one tolerably resigned to poverty — and in the case of wall- fruit, the reader, terrified by absurd rumours as to the cholera-influences supposed inevitably to issue from ADVANTAGES OF ABUNDANCE. 153 plums, peaches, apricots, and nectarines, may be inclined to consider a limitation of quantity in the light of a benefit — yet, as an abstract question, every one must admit the significance which lies in an unstinted, noble, prodigal abundance. Books, for example : can we have too many of them, provided they be well selected ? Dogs : can they be too populous in our grounds ? or horses — in our stables ? or friends — at convenient dis- tances? or children — in the nursery? or creditors, — no, not creditors, unless gathered together in a general cataclysm. In a word, is not abundance in and for itself a grand advantage? Painfully the truth obtrudes itself upon me as I sit eyeing the solitary Anemone which mopes in a single vase upon my table, the last rose of sum- mer, all its blooming companions dissected and dead. My thoughts take wing to Hfracombe and Tenby, where foot-pans, pie-dishes, soup-plates, and vases, were crowded with specimens of every variety of form and colour. I think of that paradisaic abundance, and sigh over this one unhappy animal — the mere Meso- 230tamian pennyivorth — partly because I love plenteous- ness in all things, but mainly because it is only with abundant specimens at command that Nature can be pro- perly interrogated. Fortunately I made good use of my specimens, but not so much as I could make now ; and from my notes I will select a few points for the student's consideration ; but as they will refer solely to questions of anatomy and physiology, the reader is advised to skip the chapter, unless he feel some interest in such questions. 154 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Perhaps nothing has excited more surprise on the part of the public, and nothing has been more unani- mously believed by anatomists, than the hypothesis that certain minute organs found in all Polypes, and variously styled thread- cap sides, filiferous-capsides, or urticating cells (Plate III. fig. 5), are organs of urtica- tion, or stinging. The uncritical laxity with which this hypothesis has been accepted may point a lesson. I do not allude to the acceptance of the fact that certain capsules containing threads are found in Polypes ; but to the acceptance of the alleged purpose, or function, of these capsules. The things are there, sure enough ; but whether they serve the urticating purpose, is an- other matter. Ever since they were first described by Wagner,"'' Erdl,t Quatrefages, and Siebold,| they have passed without challenge. They have been detected in the whole group of Polypes, in Jellyfishes, in the papillae of Eolids, and, according to Van der Hoeven, in Planarise ; yet, as far as my reading extends, not one single experiment has been made to prove the function so unanimously admitted, not a single test has been applied to strengthen or controvert what was, indeed, very plausible, but only plausible, not j^^'oven. Accordingly, no sooner did I submit the question to that rigorous verification which Science imperiously requires, than it became clear to me that my illustri- ous predecessors — Wagner, Erdl, Siebold, Quatrefages, *Wiegmann's ^rc/wv., 1835, ii. p. 215. t Mueller's Archiv., 1841, p. 423. % Comp. Anat., i. p. 39 (English Trans). THREAD-CAPSULES. 155 Ehrenberg, Agassiz, and Owen — men whom the most presumptuous would be slow to contradict, had admit- ted the point without proof, because it wore so plausible an air. Let me hope the reader will accuse me of no immodesty in thus controverting men so eminent ; he will see that whereas they have only hypothesis on their side, I have the accumulated and overwhelming weight of experimental evidence. What are these " capsules," or " urticating cells ? " The uninstructed reader maybe told that all the Polypes are supposed to urticate, or sting, like nettles ; and the nettling organs, or urticating cells, are supposed to be minute suboval microscopic capsules, quite transparent, containing within them threads coiled uj), which, on pressure, dart out to many times the length of the capsule, into which they never return. This thread Agassiz likens to a lasso thrown by the Polype to se- cure its prey. I will not enter here into minute details of structure, which would only confuse the reader, who, if curious, will find all that is known in the works of Mr Gosse, or in the treatises of Owen, Siebold, and Eymer Jones. Any one who has once seen these threads under the microscope darting out with light- ning rapidity, especially if he uses a high power, will at once admit that the hypothesis of the " netthng" or "urtication'' being performed by these threads is an hypothesis so obvious, an explanation so natural, that — it should be doubted. In all complex matters, we should mistrust the obvious explanation ; I do not say that we should disregard, or reject it, but mistrust it. 156 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. When we know, on the one hand, that the Jellyfish stings, and when, on the other hand, we know that it is furnished with numerous capsules, in which are coiled threads, to be seen darting out when pressed, the idea of connecting the stinging with these threads is inevitable ; but this is not enough for Science : it is only a preparatory guess, which ])^^oves nothing ; it may be right, it may be wrong. I believe it is alto- gether wrong. We have already seen how erroneous was the supposition that Polypes paralysed their vic- tims with a touch, and that poison was secreted by their tentacles ; yet for this supposition there was at least the evidence of partial observation, whereas, for the suj)position we have now to consider, there is abso- lutely no evidence at all. On a survey of the places where these " urticating cells" are present, we stumble upon an unlucky fact, and one in itself enough to excite suspicion. They are present in a few Jellyfish — which urticate ; in Actiniae ■ — which urticate ; and in all Polypes — which, if they do not urticate, are popularly supposed to do so, and at any rate possess some peculiar power of adhesion. In all these cases, organ and function may be said to go together. But the cells are also present in the majority of Jellyfish, which do not urticate ; in Eolids — which do not urticate ; and in Planariae — which do not urti- cate. Here, then, we have the organ, without any corresponding function ; " urticatiug cells," but no ur- tication ! The cautious mind of Owen had already warned us that there was something not quite satisfac- DISPROOF OF URTICATING POWER. 157 tory in our supposition ; " some superacklition to the thread-cell would seem to be essential to the urticat- ing faculty," he says, when speaking of the Jellyfish, " since these cells are present in species and parts that do not stino:." It is to be resetted that he was not moved by this doubt to a closer examination of the evidence on which the urticating faculty rested ; he would assuredly have been led to the belief that no superaddition to the thread- capsule will account for the phenomenon. But I waive the argument derived from such a source, and, confining myself to the Anemones, ask the reader what he thinks of this awkward fact, namely, that these urticating capsules are most abundant in parts which do not urticate ? Only the tentacles have this power, and although they have numerous capsules, the m'tication cannot well be attributed to them, since these capsules are more abundant in the " convoluted bands," in the lining wall of the stomach, and in the blue spots which surround the oral disc in the Smooth Anemone — these spots, indeed, being made up of such capsules and small granules — yet in not one of these parts can the slio;htest urtication be traced ! How is this ? If these capsules are the nettling organs, why do they not nettle in those parts where they are most abund- ant ? No one has thought of asking this question. It thus appears that many animals having the cap- sules, have none of the power attributed to the capsules ; and that even in those animals which have the power, it is only present in the tentacles, where the capsules 158 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. are mucli less abundant than in parts not manifesting the power : the conckision, therefore, presses on us that the power does not depend upon these capsules. And this conclusion is strengthened every step we take. Thus the Anthea is of all Anemones the most powerfully m^ticating ; yet, if we compare its capsules with those of other Anemones, we find them greatly inferior in quantity to those of the Daisy and Dian- thus, and much inferior in size to those of Crassicornis, as well as less easily made to uncoil their threads. It has not been remarked, that whereas according to theory, the thread should dart out almost instantane- ously on the slightest pressm^e ; in point of fact it frequently cannot be pressed out at all, even when the whole force of the finger is exerted on the two pieces of glass between which it lies. From the very capri- cious way in which the threads dart out while under the microscope, and not under pressure, and from the frequent impossibility of pressing them out, I suspect that pressure has really nothing normally to do with the ejection of the thread. Hitherto we have merely considered facts of Obser- vation ; we shall now see them confirmed by Experi- ment. Mr Gosse proposes to establish a new genus, named Sagartia, on this purely hypothetical function ; including in it all those Anemones which, like the Daisy and Dianthus, possess an abundance of peculiar white filaments, visible to the naked eye, which are protruded from the pores of the body and the mouth, when the animal is roughly handled. These filaments EXPERIMENTS ON THE THREAD- CAPSULES. 159 are seen, on examination, to be chiefly composed of the "mlicating cells." Mr Gosse names the genus Sa- gartia, because Herodotus says of the Sagartians, that " when they engage with the enemy they throw out ropes which have nooses at the end, and whatever any one catches he drags towards himself, and they that are entangled in the coils are put to death." The name, you perceive, is aptly chosen, — that is, it would be, if the hypothesis of the filaments were not a figment. The filaments have no such lasso-like and murderous power. This Mr Gosse would deny ; and I remember he somewhere records an observation which would j^er- haps quite satisfy him that his denial has good ground to stand on. He relates that he once saw a small fish in the convidsions of agony, with one of these filaments in its mouth ; it shortly expii^ed. It is a matter of surprise and regret that Mr Gosse, having once made such an observation, did not feel the imperative neces- sity of repeating and varying it, so as to be sure that the death was not a mere coincidence. If the filament had the power which this single observation fairly seemed to suggest, nothing could be easier than to establish the fact by experiment. But, I repeat, no one has seen the necessity for the verification of an hypo- thesis so plausible ; and Mr Gosse, like all his prede- cessors, was content with recording his observation, as if it carried the point.'"" Not being so content, I tested * How little reliance is to be placed on such an observation may be gathered from the following : One evening, at the Scilly Isles, I was startled from my reading by a commotion in the pan on the work- 160 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. it thus : After irritatinof a Dianthus till it sent out a great many filaments, I dropped a very tiny Annelid among them, and entangled it completely in their meshes. Yet lo ! these filaments, which are said to .possess so powerful a faculty of urtication that even vertebrate animals are killed by them, had no other effect upon a soft Annelid than that of detaining it in their meshes, from which it shortly freed itself, and wriggled away unhurt. Nor was I yet satisfied ; plac- ing a tiny Crustacean, of the shrimp family, among the filaments of another Dian thus, I saw it remain there en- veloped, but apparently quite comfortable, not in the least so desii'ous of escaping as one would expect if it were being " nettled" all over ; and, when the jar lurched, it swam away.* I have since repeated this experiment with Ento- mostraca and Annelids, without once detecting the table, which contained a couple of fish, a Doris, and a few Polypes, but no Sagartia. On investigation, it turned out that the commotion was produced by a fish {Ophidium) six or seven inches long, in the convulsions of death. In its mouth there was a sliyht strip of Ulva. As the weed dangled from its mouth, I was forcibly reminded of Mr Gosse's dying fish, with its filament of the Actinia dangling from its mouth. Should I have been justified in attributing to the sea-weed the power Mr Gosse attributed to the filament ? Clearly not. In both cases the relation observed was one of coincidence, not of causality. * Since the publication of the First Edition, I have learned from Mr Cooper of London, and Mr Broderick of Ilfracombe, that they have observed the tentacles of an Anemone wither up after coming in con- tact with the body of a Dianthus, and causing it to emit its filaments. I think it right to record such contradictions to my own observations, although I cannot reconcile them, nor pretend to unsay what has been said. The subject is worth a rigorous investigation. OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT. 161 slightest indication of their being more incommoded by the filaments than they wonld have been by threads of silk. Mr Gosse, indeed, not only maintains that these filaments are weapons of off'ence, but he actually suggests that the blue sj^herules which surroundthe disc of the Mesembryanthemum may " represent the function of these missile filaments" because they are composed of the thread-capsules. The hypothesis which assigns to the thread-capsules a function of urtication, or prehension, is an hypothesis without a single fact to warrant it, and is contradicted by the various facts I have just adduced. Ehrenberg has very unwarrantably given an ideal figure of a Hydra in the act of seizing its prey, with the hooks of the thread-cell extended ; but, as Siebold truly remarks, the animal is never seen thus. Having sho^^^l that the parts most abundantly sup- plied vdth these " urticating cells " do not urticate, I can now remove the last vestige of doubt by the fact that the capsule itself from the tentacle of an Anemone, when seen to eject the thread and touch an animalcule, does not kill or disable that animalcule ; a fact I wit- nessed when examining the capsules under the micro- scope. This not only gives the coup-de-grace to the general hypothesis, but even sets aside that suggestion of Professor Owen's respecting the probable superaddi- tion to the " urticatino; cell" which is to distino-uish it from " cells " in those parts destitute of the power ; because here we see the capsule taken from an urticat- ing animal does not urticate. 162 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. The foregoing discussion has had a purpose beyond that of rectifying an universal error — the purpose of pointing a lesson in Comparative Anatomy. The greatest living experimental physiologist, Claude Ber- nard, has recently insisted with emphasis on the importance of recognising " anatomical deduction " to be a fruitful source of error.* He warns us against attempting to deduce a function from mere inspection of the organ, without seeing that organ in operation, and applying to it the test of experiment. As a case of pure deduction, this hypothesis of the " urticating cells" seemed to command, and did command, instantaneous assent ; but on submitting it to verification, we find the hypothesis to be an error. To the philosophical mind, therefore, there will have been an interest in the fore- going discussion greater than any interest issuing out of the mere conclusion respecting the thread-capsules. Amon^ other thinos, it will illustrate the need there is for rigorous scepticism, and extended observation, on the part of zoological students. So long as we unsus- pectingly accept what is repeated in books, without being assured that the statements are made on suf- ficient evidence, and so long as we have eyes but observe not, zoological progress will necessarily be slow, in spite of the vast number of excellent observers and workers, who do accelerate our progress by genuine work. When I insist on the necessity for circumspect doubt, and verified observation, the reader must not understand me as implying that this necessity is not * Legons de Physiologie Ex2oerimentale,Yo\. ii. : 1856. STRUCTURE OF THE ANEMONE. 1G3 vividty present to the mind of many zoologists, and of every real worker ; for in truth, only by such methods can any solid result be reached, and no one even super- ficially acquainted with the present state of Zoology will be disposed to underrate the importance and extent of that band of distinguished investigators whose re- searches daily unfold fresh discoveries. Not, there- fore, as throwing any shadow of scorn on these men and their methods, nor as if I were brinoino- a neglected principle into prominence, am I tempted to insist on the only method of successful pursuit in these studies ; but simply to distinguish those students of Zoology who wish to increase the circle of knowledge by some small addition of new fact, from students who wish merely to ascertain what is known. In Zoolooy as in all other departments of intellectual activity, there are men contented with ''information,^' whose ambition never passes beyond erudition. They want to know what is known. Others there are who, less solicitous, it may be, about what is known, are intensely moved to know for themselves ; and these are the workers who extend the cii^cle of the known. What is known of the reproductive system of Anemones ? Not much, and that little confusedly. Our English text-books are somewhat precise ; but the pre- cision is for the most part that of error. I carried with me to the coast this amount of definite error, which gradually revealed itself as error in the course of a series of investigations. That the reader may follow clearly the course of reasoning presently to be 164 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. traced, it is necessary to begin with a few explanations, which the better-instructed will pardon. Let us first fix in our minds a definite idea of the structure of the Anemone, as far as it will be involved in the subsequent remarks. Imagine a glove expanded into a perfect cylinder by air, the thumb being re- moved, and the fingers encircling, in two or three rows, the summit of the cylinder, while at the base the glove is closed by a flat surface of leather. If now on that disc which lies within the circle of fingers we press down the centre, and so force the elastic leather to fold inwards, and form a sort of sac suspended in the cylinder, we have by this means made a mouth and stomach ; ' we then cut a small hole at the bottom of the sac, and thus make a free communication with the general cavity. AVe then divide this general cavity by numerous partitions of card attached to the wall of the cavity, and form a number of separate chambers called the inter septal spaces. Just as the cavity of the finger is continuous with the cavity of the glove, so are the cavities of the tentacles continuous with the interseptal spaces. In these spaces will be found long coils, which are sometimes seen lolling out of the mouth, and always bulge out when the Anemone is cut open ; these are called the convoluted hands, and to them attention is particularly directed. If the reader will now look at the diagram given in Plate III. fig. 1 (wrong in several details), and also fig. 2, which is an accurate section, and shows a portion of the stomach, the convoluted bands, and under them the ovaries — he IMPORTANCE OF THE ANIMAL ENVELOPE. 165 will have a tolerably accurate conception of the general structure of an Actinia. Having given a rough outline of the principal characters of the Actinia's internal structure, sufficient to render intelhgible what will hereafter be referred to, I must direct the student anxious for more precise details, to the Memoire by M. HoUard,* as the latest and best anatomical essay ; noticing, by the way, that there still remains to be written a coinpa7mtive ana- tomy of the various Actinicie, some of which differ in imjDortant characters from the others. In the Anthea, for example, the tentacles have an abundance of round yellow-brown globules, which make them incapable of being retracted under normal conditions ; and the same is noticeable in the two horn-like tentacles in Actinia hellis. What are these globules ? There are several other points of difference to be noted, but I content myself with indicating the desideratum of a careful comparison, to complete our knowledge of the anatomy of this genus. Meanwhile let us endeavour to form some distinct conception of the mode of Ee- production exhibited by the Actiniae. Certain general facts must be borne in mind. First, let me call attention to the fact that in all animals, the highest as the lowest, the envelope is of eminent importance, its predominance bearing a precise ratio to the simplicity of the organism. The simplest organisms breathe, exliale, secrete, absorb, and repro- duce by their envelopes alone ; and if the more cora- * Annates des Sciences, 1851. 166 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. plex organisms perform each of these functions by a special apparatus of organs, yet these organs them- selves are originally ^QYoio^^di from the envelope. We may, ideally, reduce even a mammal to a cylindrical envelope folded inwards at each end ; from the en- folded skin are developed all nutritive and reproductive organs, while the nervous system and its osseous sheath are developed in the space between the outer and inner walls of the envelope. "We may, in an ideal manner," says Professor Draper, " conceive the production of the more elemen- tary animal forms, as arising from a simple sac or bag, which, furnishing a starting-point, exhibits its first acquirement of localisation of function, by the doubling of one half into the other, thereby giving rise to a cup or pocket-shape form, so that respiration and digestion, which were confusedly and conjointly carried forward upon the same surface, are now parted from each other, the outside of the cup being devoted to the one, and the inside to the other. Increased endow- ments are obtained by crimping or dividing the edge of the cup, ]3rehensile organs of less or greater length and power arising thereby ; and this in reality is the structure of the Hydra. Another advance is made by the preparation of new and complicated structures, fashioned out in the substance between the inner and the outer wall, and in this manner arise the various mechanisms for respiration and reproduction. Such a state of things is presented by the Actinia."* What * Draper : Human Physiology, 1856, p. 501. FORMATION OF THE HUMAN HAND. 167 is here said respecting Eespiration is very questionable, but the general idea of an increasing specialisation of function, in the increasing separation of the parts, is well expressed. It is indeed a fundamental law that every advance in complexity of organisation takes place through a gradual differentiation, or specialisation, of the general envelope. These important synonyms, differentiation and specialisation, I will explain by illustrating the law to which they point — namely, the law of animal development first enunciated by Goethe, and strikingly applied by Von Baer * : — Development is ahvays from the General to the Par- ticular^ from the Homogeneous to the Heterogeneous^ from the Simple to the Complex; and this by a gradual series of differentiations. When we say an organ has been formed out of a tissue, we say a differentiation has taken place ; and the function, e. g. resj)iration, which before was per- formed by the general tissue, is now specialised, i. e. performed by that special organ. A homogeneous mass of organic matter, such as the Amoeba, which has no organ whatever, performs all the functions of Assi- milation, Respiration, Locomotion, and Reproduction, by its general mass, not by any special organs. The process of differentiation by which special or- gans are gradually developed in the ascending scale of the animal series, is equally exhibited in any parti- cular case of development. Thus if we follow the * Goethe : Werke, xxxvi., Zur Morplwlogie, 1807. Von Baer : Zut Enhoiclcelungsgeschichte. 1828. I. 153. 168 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. formation of the human hand, we find first a differen- tiation between the carpus, or wrist, and the meta- carpus, or hand ; next the fingers are difi'erentiated, but, without any division into separate segments — this takes place later ; then we have a separation between the soft and hard parts, the cartilage separ- ating from the plastic mass ; then these cartilages become osseous ; and in the soft plastic mass we dis- tinguish differentiations into muscle, tendon, skin, &c. ; when the single tissues are thus separated we may begin to trace differentiations in the skin, such as the papillae, the secreting glands, and so forth : till, from a homogeneous mass of cells, we have traced the development of that marvellous and complex structure, the human hand. Applying this torch to the obscure question of the reproductive system of the Anemones, it at once dis- closes to us that the Anemone, being of a very simple organisation, we shall be wrong if we expect to find in it a high complexity of special organs. Anatomists, indeed, have often neglected such a consideration, and have worried themselves in the search after organs, which a priori were not likely to be present. They have sought for and "discovered'' nerves and ganglia, each discoverer scornfully rejecting the alleged dis- covery of his predecessor, and declaring the nerves were in a totally different locality, while no one ana- tomist could find them anywhere after another. They have worried themselves about the Respiration of the Anemone, not perceiving that Respiration, like Circu- DISCOVERY OF THE OVARIES. 169 lation and other functions elsewhere dependent on a special apparatus, was here performed in a direct and general manner. They have not suspected that Re- production takes place in the Anemone, much in the same way as in the fresh-water Polyj)e — not in any special and 'permanent aj^paratus of organs, such as ovary, oviduct, &c., but by a temjporary specialisation of the general envelope, including an accumulation of germ-cells and sperm-cells. I am aware that special organs called ovaries are described in all books, and that some writers describe an oviduct — which only exists in their imagination, for no duct of any kind is found. Of course, no philosoj^hical a priori conclu- sion could be permitted to stand up in contradiction to observed fact ; if the organs are there, it is of no use deductively establishing their non-existence. But are they there ? When I first commenced the investigation of Ane- mones, I had no reason whatever to doubt the statement so generally and confidently made, that the convoluted hands were the organs in question. — (Plate III, fig. 3, represents a convoluted band attached to the border of the membrane called the mesentery ; the grape-like mass is the ovary.) At the end of the first week my doubts began. These convoluted bands contained no trace of ova, but instead thereof they contained vast quantities of those thread-capsules which I then be- lieved to be urticating cells. This was the last place in the world where one might expect to find offensive weapons ; and misled by the belief in these ceUs, I 170 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. was led to question the function of the convohited bands. Questioning, of course, meant something more than supine doubt. I began on the 14th May to examine closely into the evidence, and on the 12th June I was fortunate enough to confirm all doubts by the discovery of the real ovaries (such as they are) in a large Crassicornis : here there were no thread-capsules, but abundance of unmistakable ova, each with its " ves- icle of Purkinje." The thrill of delight with which the assurance broke upon me may be conceived.* At that time I, of course, believed that the grape-like cluster in which the ova were lying were true and permanent ovaries ; but having since been frequently unable to detect them in adult specimens, and never in young specimens, I came to the conclusion that these ovaries are temjporary organs, formed by an accumulation of germ-cells in various parts of the free border of the septa ; that, in fact, they represent the first rudimentary state of what in higher animals be- comes the special organ. This conclusion is, however, purely theoretical, and I will now state what any one may see who examines an adult fresh from the rock- pool or tank. With a rapid but not deep incision we lay open the envelope from the outside; the convoluted * I subsequently ascertained that Mr Teale and M. Hollard had de- scribed these ovaries ; I only claim priority in the elucidation of their structure and function, as temporary organs, similar to those of the Hydra. [Since this was published, it has been found that the sexual organs of the smaller Na'ids are also only temporary, and disappear after the ova and spermatozoa are extended. — See Gegenbaur: Ver- glelcliende Anaiomie, 1859, p. 183.] SEPARATE SEXES? 171 bands will bulge through the opening ; but if we are vigilant and brush these aside, we shall perceive certain lobular or grape-like masses of darker colour, almost entirely hidden by these bands, but growing from the septa. — (Plate III, fig. 2, represents a section of the Actinia, showing the ovaries lying under the con- voluted bands, and attached to the septum ; fig. 3, the (jvary, when spread out on a glass slide.) They are not situated in any precise spot ; near the base, about the centre, and close to the disc, they may be found : nor are they on every septum ; sometimtes we may make three or four incisions before detecting them. Such are the ovaries of the Ci^assicornis : but are they entitled to the name ? Are they organs at all ? A minute inspection of them will confirm what I said just now that they are not " organs," properly so called ; that is to say, they are not, like the ovaries of higher animals, permanent organs having a definite and specific structure ; they are, in truth, nothing but accumulations of germ-cells in a delicate membrane. They have none of the essential characteristics of an ovary. It is true that Spix, Delle Chiaje, Rapp, de Blainville, Van der Hoeven, and others, describe what they call oviducts, without, however, agreeing as to their disposition. But Mr Teale and M. Hollard have been unable to find them, and I also can confidently assert that no duct whatever, nor anything distantly resembling it, exists ; but, as I have convinced myself by scores of dissections, the whole structure of the ovary is limited to a delicate membranous stroma, 172 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. in which the ova are imbedded. When the ova are matured, it is most probable that this stroma bursts to set them free, and they fall into the general cavity, where their further development takes place. It would be justly considered an unwarrantable laxity in scien- tific language if the temporary accumulation of germ- cells beneath the investing membrane of the Hydra were designated as an ovary ; and no less unwarrant- able is it to call a somewhat similar accumulation of germ-cells in the Actinia, an ovary. The pretended " organ " is not permanent, it is not even constant in its locality, for it may be found at any part of the free border of the septum ; and, finally, it has no specific structure, which distinguishes it from any other part of the lining membrane ; its grape-like form is owing entirely to the ova imbedded in it. The reader perceives that I regard the organisation of the Actinia as much simpler than other ^vATiters seem willing to admit, and that, in consequence, I in- terpret its functions more in accordance with the laws which regulate the simpler organisms. He will here- after see that such a point of view led me to examine and disprove the current notions respecting the Digestion and Nutrition of the Actinise,"' and he will now see that it led me to the discovery of their true sexual character. The universal belief is that the Actiniae are of separate sexes, and Kolliker, to whom most subsequent writers refer, asserts that the males are about as nume- rous as the females. The great difiiculties in the way * Part. III., Chaps. I. and II. SPERMATOZOA MIXGLED WITH OVA. 173 of observation can only be estimated by those who have tried it. Eapp declared there was no trace of the male organs. " All the Actiniae are females/' he says boldly. Wagner having discovered, as he thought, sper- matozoa in the convoluted bands, pronounced those bands to be the reproductive organs of the male ; and this statement was accepted and repeated from book to book. It is now known that Wagner was mistaken ;* perhaps he had removed a portion of the ovary with the convoluted band, and in that case he might have seen true spermatozoa. " What !" exclaims the reader, " spermatozoa in the ovary ? And pray, sir, how gat they there ?" They were generated there, is my simple answer ; but before such an answer will be received a few remarks are necessary. Believing in the simplicity of this animal's organis- ation, and disbelieving in the existence of any proper ovary, I was naturally led a priori to disbelieve in the existence of male reproductive organs. If a temporary specialisation of the lining membrane sufficed as an ovaiy, would not a similar specialisation suffice as a testis ? Meditating on this point, it occurred to me as very probable that the same spot of the lining mem- brane might subserve both purposes. What said Fact to so plausible a Theory ? At first it answered by what seemed like blank negatives ; on three fortunate occa- sions, however, it seemed to answer in unequivocal affirmation, for I found real spermatozoa moving amid * This leaves the function of the convohited bands a mystery. In Part III. Chap. II., towards the close, the question is touched on. 174 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the ova on the stage of the Microscope. The observa- tions were neither sufficiently extensive nor sufficiently removed from opposite interpretations to admit of a very positive statement on the point ; accordingly I contented myself with indicating my belief* that ova and spermatozoa were intermingled in the same stroma, announcing my intention of more attentively investi- gating the point when next at the coast. Meanwhile, I had read the Memoire on the Cerianthus, an animal nearly allied to our Anemones, published by M. Jules Haime,i* in which there is a detailed description, with diagrams, of this yerj disposition of ova and sperma- tozoa in the same " organ ;" so that if it had not been for the positive statement of Kolliker, respecting the separation of the sexes, I should have conceived the point placed beyond dispute. At the Scilly Isles and Jersey my investigations were renewed, for a long time with the discouraging and paradoxical result of finding ova and nothing else. It seemed as if Kapp's statement would turn out to be correct, and only females were to be found. But then, whence the spermatozoa seen at Tenby ? \\Tience those described by KoUiker ? That the absence of sperma- tozoa did not, in the simpler organisms, by any means imply the absence of reproduction, but that females were capable of propagating, unaided, I knew well enough.J This did not answer the question raised. The * Blachwood s Magazine, Jan. 1857. i" Annales des Sciences, 1854. J See examples in Part IV., Chap. I. SPERMATOZOA MINGLED WITH OVA. 175 fact that there were sometimes spermatozoa seemed beyond dispute ; Kolliker had seen them, and asserted them to be as numerous as ova. The solution of the difficulty dawned upon me when I discovered that the spermatozoa were contained in vesicles, so like ova in the early stage as to be easily mistaken for them. It is only by crushing these that the spermatozoa are seen escaping. Thus it became inteUigible that I might have had spermatic vesicles in the ovaries under obser- vation, where I thought there were only ova ; and all my females might have been hermaphrodite. Unhappily this clue was detected at a period when I was so deeply engrossed with the nervous system of the Mollusca, that I had little time to devote to the unravelling of the whole mystery. But I made a few direct and con- clusive observations, which assured me that ova and spermatozoa were intermingled in the same stroma ; and the student may easily verify these observations when informed that the ova are distinguishable from the spermatic vesicles by their darker colour ; he has only to spread out, on a glass slide, a fold of the mem- brane containing the ova, and he will perceive among them polyhedral and oval bodies of a paler colour : if these are crushed, the spermatozoa will be seen escap- ing from them. How can this be reconciled with Kolliker's and HoUard's statement of the sexes being separate ? If I could have devoted the requisite time to the point, when specimens were abundant, I might, perhaps, have answered positively what I can now only answer 176 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. hypotlietically. As it is, I propound a suggestion, which the researches of some more fortunate inquirer may confirm, or rectify. First, be it remembered that the ova and spermatozoa are developed in precisely the same portion of the lining membrane on the free border of the septum. This is the statement of Kolliker and HoUard, who further remark that it is only by the difference of colour that the testis is distinguished from the ovary. If these anatomists found ova in one animal, and spermatozoa in another, whereas I found both in one and the same animal, four possible explan- ations suggest themselves : 1st. There are Actiniae in whom the ova and sperma- tozoa are intermingled ; that is to say, one grape-like cluster will contain both kinds of cells. 2d. There may be others in whom the spermatozoa accumulate on one part of the septum, and the ova on another part of the same septum ; or different septa may bear different kinds of cells. 3d. There may be others — and this has its parallel in other Polypes, in Crustacea, and in Insects — which produce nothing hut ova ; and these ova may develop into embryos, without the concom^se of spermatozoa at all. 4th. Or finally, the slight indication of the sejDara- tion of sex, which is presented when one side of the septum, or one of the septa, develops only one kind of cell, may be further carried out in some species, and in them the complete separation of sexes takes place. Of these four possible forms, I have positive obser- DR WRIGHT'S OBSERVATIONS. 177 vation only of the first, and am strongly inclined to believe in the third ; there is, however, nothing at all improbable in the second and fourth, and either, or both, may be ascertained by careful investigation, which would rectify or confirm the observations of Kolliker and Hollard. But it must not be forgotten that, al- though a single case of distinct separation — a single Actinia found bearing spermatozoa only on all its septa — would suffice to establish the truth of the fourth proposition ; yet for this to be established, the inquirer must be rigorously certain that all the septa bear the spermatozoa, the ova being everywhere absent ; and even then no amount of such evidence will invalidate the fact announced in the first proposition, that in some cases the ova and spermatozoa are mingled ; a fact I have quite recently discovered also in the fresh-water Polype. Whether Actiniae are, or aie not, in general, of separate sexes — and I think they are never or very rarely so — the fact remains that they are also herma- phrodite. Nor can this surprise us now we know that even fish, which are almost universally of separate sexes, also present hermaphroditism as a normal phe- nomenon in the Perch genus.'^ To sum up the various points we have just been considering, it appears that the Actiniae are of very simple organisation ; that they have no sexual organs ♦See DuFOSSE, in Annales des Sciences, 1857. Compare also Huxley, On a hermaphrodite and fissiparous species of Tubicolar Anne- lid, in the Edinburgh New Pkiloso^^hical Journal : January 1855, pp. 11-12. M ]78 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. at all ; and that tlie temporary organ produced by an accumulation of cells in a part of the lining membrane, contains both the male and female elements, although i:)ossibly some indication of a separation of sexes does occasionally present itself A proof of the great simplicity of their organisation, and an argument against the separation of their sexes, is seen in the fact of their being able to reproduce themselves from a mere fragment. In a letter received from Mr R Q. Couch, of Penzance, there is the follow- ing passage : " It is said by some that the sexes in these creatures are separate, but I rather think this will be found not to be the case. Speaking of reproduction, I may mention that the small specimen of Actinia dianthiis which you saw is thriving (Mr Couch refers to a tiny Actinia which had grown from a shred of the base which adhered to a stone when the Dianthus was torn away), and that the day you left I made four small cuttings from the bases of the red and white varieties, which, at the present moment, are adorned with two rows of tentacles.'' And the follomng re23ort of a com- munication made by Dr Strethill Wright to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, which is taken from the Ediiihurgh Philosophical Journal, will be read with great interest : — " The author stated that Actinia dianthus, the Plumose Sea- Anemone of Daly ell, was found on the shores of the Firth of Forth, generally on rocks which were uncovered by the sea only at very low tides. Its habitat was not extensive ; it is gregarious, great num- DR Wright's observations. 179 bers being frequently found in a very limited space. At Arran he had seen several hundreds closely aggre- gated together, clothing the roof of a wide low cave, and hanging down like so many membranous bags half filled with water. A similar colony had existed on the perpendicular surface of a single large stone opposite to the Baths at Seafield ; and again, another on the under surface of a laro-e overhano-ino; rock at Wardie. It had been a matter of question w^ith the author, how the young of these Actinias, if ejected from the mouth, as in Actinia meseinhryanthemiiyn, troglodytes, hellis, and gemmacea, were able to attach themselves to the rocks, instead of falling down and being washed away by the tide. It was known that Actinia mesemhry- anthemum, troglodytes, and hellis were exceedingly prolific. Sir John Dalyell and Dr Cobbold having seen twenty or thirty produced at a single litter from the first species, and yet the number of very young Acti- nias found in situations where old specimens abounded was very small, and certainly bore no proportion to the number generated. The cave at Arran was very diffi- cult of access, on account of its shallowness and the floor being covered by a pool of water ; and the Acti- nias were only to be reached by assuming a posture which could not be maintained for more than a few minutes. A number were, however, obtained, which, being attached to sponges, were easily stripped from the rock, and with them were associated a great num- ber of very small specimens. Not long afterwards the author noticed a number of young surrounding a large 180 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. wliite dianiJius in the Vivarium of a friend at Leith, and was told that the Actinia, while moving round the tank, had left behind it small white bodies, which separated themselves from the foot or sucker and be- came young Actinias. Sir John Dalyell had described a similar mode of multiplication in Actinia lacerata, and HoUard in Actinia rosea (?) The former writer had observed that Actinia lacerata protruded from all parts of its foot, stolons or suckers, which became detached, and presently put forth tentacles, and were developed into minute Actinias. After reading Sir John Dalyell's account of Actinia lacerata, Dr Wright was anxious to ascertain whether there might not be included in the prolongations separated from the foot, either true ova or germs, or some tissue specialised for the production of young. In the hydroid zoophytes, such as Hydra, Goryne, &c., the walls of the body consisted of three elements or layers, — a dermal or in- tegumental, an areolar or muscular, and a mucous or intestmal layer ; and when gemmation took place in these animals, it occurred by the protrusion of a simple diverticulum or sac from the canal of the body, formed of all the three elements. This diverticulum was de- veloped into a polype body, with mouth and tentacles like those of the polype, from which it pullulated ; the two bodies having the digestive canal and all the tissues continuous with each other. In Hydra tuba multipli- cation took place by stolons, which extended to some distance from the body before the new polype bodies sprouted from them ; but in that case also a prolonga- DR Wright's observations. 181 tion of the intestinal element passed through the stolon from the old into the new body. These new polypes were not young ; their production was a simple increase of the individual, becoming afterwards a multiplication, either by accident, in some cases, or in others by a natural process of absorption. The structure of the helianthoid zoophytes or Actinias was more compli- cated in its development than that of the hydroid polypi, but it consists of the same three elements, The dermal coat was succeeded by the muscular element, which constituted the chief part of the external wall of the body and tentacles, and then passed inward to the stomach, in the form of septa or partitions, which sus- pended that viscus in the centre of the body, and divided the intervening spaces into numerous cham- bers. The mucous or intestinal element existed as a flattened sac or stomach, which appeared, when viewed edgeways, as a mere line extending down about half the centre of the body. The stomach communicated freely with the general cavity of the body. This cavity, which corresponded to the water- vascular system of the Acalephse, was single below, but as it passed upward it formed a number of chambers divided from each other by the septa before mentioned, and finally communi- cated with the tentacles, each chamber termmating in the cavity of a single tentacle. " The whole of the general cavity and its chambers was lined with cilia, by which a constant circulation of the fluid was sustained, and the functions of nutrition, respiration, and excretion were all carried on simulta- 182 SEA- SIDE STUDIES. neously. From the lining membrane of the general cavity, the male and female reproductive organs were also developed, and there, in some species, the ova were hatched, and the young (at first mere shapeless, ciliated germs, swimming rapidly in the fluids of the cavity, chambers, and tentacles) became fully formed, passed into the stomach of the parent, and were ejected from the mouth as perfect Actinias, with mouth, tentacles, and suctorial foot. The author had thought it possible that the prolongations from the foot of Actinia lace- rafa might contain one of these hatched germs in its imperfect state, and that it might be thus deposited on the surface occupied by the parent, and its safety in- sured. Having some specimens of dianthus in his possession, he had waited for some time in vain for their multiplication by fissure ; he therefore determined to try an ex2jerimentu7)i crucis, and for that purpose having placed the specimen in a jar of sea water, and fed it until it had become fully distended, he examined the edge of the foot, which was perfectly transparent, with a powerful lens, and convinced himself that no ovum or germ existed in that situation. He then sepa- rated a piece about a line in length, by half a line in breadth, from the edge of the foot. The parts imme- diately receded from each other, and the next day he found that the separated portion had crept to a consi- derable distance along the glass. In two or three days it had raised its divided edge from the surface to which it was attached, and had become a curved column ; in a fortnight tentacles had appeared ; and in three weeks FRAGMENTS BECOMING ANIMALS. 183 it had become a perfect Actinia, with a single row of beautiful long tentacles. From the foot of this small Actinia he cut two other exceedingly minute slips, which also became Actinias ; and from the foot of the original Actinia he also separated, at various times, fourteen other slips, all of which became developed as the first. The author stated that this case of gemnii- parous increase was an instance of the development of a perfect and very complicated organism, from a minute fragment of one similar to itself, all that was essential to the process being apparently the existence of a por- tion of each of the three elemental tissues of the ori- ginal, the dermal, the muscular, and the mucous tissue, — the last being represented by the lining membrane of the general cavity. And it appeared to be analogous to the instance of gemmation from the water-vascular system observed by the late Professor Edward Forbes, in Sarsia prolifera, in which animal the young me- dusae pullulated forth from the hollow bulbs which supported the tentacles." It should be borne in mind, however, that the Ac- tiniae are far less capable of reproduction from frag- ments than the fresh- water Polypes are. Delle Chiaje, indeed, emphatically denies that they can do more than reproduce their tentacles.* This, as we have just seen, is not the case ; and it is somewhat curious that Delle Chiaje should confine the reproductive power to the tentacles, when we remember that, according to Owen, * Delle Chiaje : Descrizione e notomia degli animali inverteb. delta Sicilia, iv. p. 130. 184 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the tentacles are the only portions of the fresh-water Polype which are incapable of reproducing the whole organism when separated from it.* But we must bid adieu to the Anemones for the present, attractive as they are. These pages will have shown that much yet remains to be done before a clear and positive account of their stnicture and func- tions can be written ; and as they are just now " the rage," we may hope that abundant experience will issue in some satisfactory result. * I am informed by Mr Bohn, of Essex Street, that, in the tank of one of his customers, an Anthea spontaneously divided itself into two — "both mother and child doing as well as can be expected." Mr Beck, the optician, also informs me that he has watched the process of self-division in the Anthea, beginning at the base, and ending in the production of two perfect animals. PAET III. THE SCILLY ISLES, CHAPTER I. THE LION THAT HAS EATEN A MAN, AND THE ZOOLOGIST WHO HAS BEEN AT THE COAST — TROUBLESOME DESIRES — CHOICE OF THE SCILLT ISLES — PENZANCE LODGINGS — THE SAIL TO SCILLY : PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES — FIRST SIGHT OP THE ISLANDS — THEIR AREA AND POPULATION — THEIR PICTURESQUENESS — THE CHANGEABLENESS OF ROCKS — ANTIQUITIES OF SCILLY — THE IN- HABITANTS — PRIMITIVE STATE OF THE COMMERCE — DINNER DIFFI- CULTIES — HOW THE TEN THOUSAND SALUTED THE SEA — LOVE OF THE ENGLISH FOR THE SEA — HOMER— OUR FIRST DAT ON THE ROCKS — THE NYMPHON GRACILE — THE COMATULA — ON OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT IN BIOLOGY— DO THE ANEMONES DIGEST? — MEANING OF DIGESTION — ASSIMILATION AND DIGESTION — THE ACTINOPHRYS — FOOD AND BLOOD — EXPERIMENTS ON THE ANEMONES — FOOD AND KNOWLEDGE, Between the lion that has once eaten a man — once tasted the glory and ambrosial delight of man-beef — and the lion remotely ignorant of that flavour, there lies a chasm. Only in zoological text-books can the two animals be considered as of the same species. In profounder characteristics, in the complexion of their souls, they differ as the Caucasian differs from the Hottentot. The lion who has once fed on man, carries with him an unforgettable experience ; he has supped with the gods, and Homeric rhythms murmur in his 188 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. ears. Visions of that ecstatic hour hover before him in his lair, accompany his moonlight marches through the mountain-gorge, thrill him with retrospective fla- vours as he laps the moonlit lake, and fill with a certain blissful torment all his leisure moments. These visions, like the after-glow of sunset on the Alps, tinge his mental horizon, and create a gustatory after-glow which warms his- whole frame. Haunted by such recollec- tions, tormented by the appetites they develop, his nature undergoes mysterious, modif}dng influences ; new and grander ferocities are awakened, which, in turn, develop fiercer daring, and render him ten times more formidable. Hitherto he has wanted somethino; of the darino^ commensurate with his strenoth. He has al- ways avoided personal combat with an European, when honourably the challenge could be ignored. But now the case is very difl'erent ; now, the scent of human blood thrills along every fibre ; and when sight reveals the proximity of his noble foe, then flashes the tawny eye with sombre fire, the terrible talons tear up the earth, he dresses his mighty mane, and prepares for the fight in slow, solemn, concentrated wrath, clearly fore- seeing that two issues, and only two, remain open for him — man-beef, or a tomb. Not less profound, although not quite so terrible to his enemies, is the diff'erence between the man who has once tasted of a noble sea-side passion, once lived with his microscope for a few months on the wealthy shores of some secluded spot, indulging in a new pursuit — THE LION WHO HAS EATEN A MAN. 189 and the common man, utterly remote from all such experience, walled out from it by blank negation, in- capable of even conceiving the heights and depths of such a passion. Visions of those ecstatic hours for ever accompany the happy man. He may return to his home, and resume the labours of his profession, which secures him pudding, and, it may be, praise : he con- tinues the daily round, but not as before. He is a chano;ed man. The direction of his thoughts is con- stantly seawards. Murmurs of old ocean linger in his soul, as they murmur in a shell long since taken from the deep, and now condemned to ornament the man- tel-jDiece of some lodging-house, the daily witness of prosaisms and peculations. To the casual eye he may not seem changed ; but read his soul, and you will find he is another man. At least it was thus with me. I had suj^ped with the gods, and grew fastidious over my shilling ordinary. If work imperiously claimed my attention, if I was forced to trouble myself with "proofs," commentators, old writers, dreary philosophies, and multiform affairs, the glass vases on my table, ^perpetually reminding me of Ilfracombe and Tenby, aggravated the oppression. The iodine of the sea-breezes had entered me. I felt that I had " suffered a sea change '' into sometliing zoological and strange. Men began to aj^pear like molluscs ; and their ways the ways of creatures in a larger rock-pool. When forced to endure the conversa- tion of some "friend of the family," with well-waxed 190 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. whiskers and imperturbable shirt-front, I caught myself speculating as to what sort of figure he would make in the vivarium — not always to his glorification. In a word, it was painfully evident that London wearied me, and that I was troubled in my mind. I had tasted of a new delight ; and the hungiy soul of man leaps on a new passion to master, or be mastered by it. " Chacun veut en sagesse eriger sa folie" says Boileau, and I was willing enough to demonstrate to all recusants that my passion had a most rational basis. Meanwhile it was the torment of intellectual hunger ; and I make it a rule always to satisfy hunger — on philosophical principles. If you don't content it, it will torment you ; it obtrudes on work and duty, perplexing the one, and obstructing the other : it can't be. starved into silence. When pastry-cooks hire new boys, they wisely permit . an unrestricted glut of tarts. The young gluttons fall on, tooth and nail, and in a week are surfeited ; whereas a stealthy and re- stricted aj)petite would have lasted them for years, much to the damage of the pastry-cook. In this j^hilo- sophic forethought I resolved to give myself a glut of zoology, to let loose the reins of desire, and afterwards, if the fates so willed it, settle once more into a student of books, and writer thereof It was really time. For seven long months I had been separated from the coast ; and like the Cyclops of Euripides, I had grown weary of feeding on daily butcher's meat and game, just like other stray mortals in the Strand ; and smacked ZOOLOGICAL YEARNINGS. " 191 my lips at the prospect of man-beef. ^Yitll the Cyclops I exclaimed : — " I am quite sick of the wild mountain-game ; Of stags and lions I have gorged enough, And I grow hungry for the flesh of men."* March was already come, the equinoctial gales were near, and the Isles of Scilly beckoned like syrens from their dangerous shores. The weather was intensely unlike summer, the snow and hail freely falling ; so that, on a first blush, there did seem a shadow of reason for the astonishment of friends, who looked upon departure at such a time, and for such a place, as indicating something like insanity. But great wits to madness nearly are allied, and this alliance with great wits will perhaps be granted to me. At any rate there was method in the madness, for unless I reached the coast before the equinox, the passage would be more than usually perilous ; and just after the equinox, as everybody knows, the spring-tides recede to greater depths, and offer the finest opportunities for rock-hunt- ing ; moreover, the gales at this period throw welcome treasures on the beach. The ] 5th of March, therefore, was the very latest date I could afford for departure ; and on that day the journey began. Why the Isles of Scilly were obstinately selected, * This is Shelley's translation. [The reader who has not quite forgot- ten his Greek may like to have the original : — 'Xls eK7rA.ec6s 76 Sairds et^t' opsaKSov 'E\d(pcDy re, xpoyi-os 5' ei;U air avQpaTtuv fiopas. 192 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. may not be so easily explained. I had a fixed idea on this point ; no argument could make me swerve from it. The main attraction was doubtless lurking in my profound geographical ignorance, which invested these Isles with a mysterious halo. In days when ladies take pleasure-trips to Algiers, and reach it in four days, or run up the Nile, as formerly they scampered through France, any real bit of untravelled country necessarily creates an interest ; and for travellers, in the adven- turous or pleasure-hunting sense, Scilly is as virgin ground as Timbuctoo. Vessels in abundance touch there ; but who goes there ? Indeed, on entering a shop to make a small purchase, the bland woman compas- sionately inquired whether I had been " driven by contrary winds " to this unfrequented spot ; evidently never conceiving the possibility of a sane English- man coining here. They are also difficult of access : " a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried/' Ten days, owing to contrary winds, were consumed in getting here ; and under the most favourable conjuncture of trains, coaches, and winds, three days would be the very shortest time required. This difficulty secures the place from the nuisance of " visitors." Moreover, I had an idea of its being a good spot for zoological research ; and with these two advantages, I could afford to listen unmoved to the sarcastic questions pelted at me, such as : Can you get anything to eat there ? Are the Islands in- habited ? Do the people speak English ? Are they civilised ? PENZANCE LODGINGS. 193 Contrary winds, and what sailors call ''dirty weather," detained me a week at Penzance, where I was stranded in a lodging-house, kept by a middle-aged Harpy, rear- ing a brood of young Harpies, and rendered all the more fierce in lodging-house instincts by her condition of widowhood, which, you may have observed, generally throws a woman on the naked ferocities of her nature. Were you ever in nautical lodgings ? Do you remem- ber their ornaments, — the cases of stuffed birds and fish, the shells on the mantelpiece, and the engravings irradiating the walls : a " Sailor s Departure," with whimpering v/ife and sentimental off'spring ; a "Sailor's Eeturn," with joyous wife and capering juveniles ? 'All these adorned my rooms, which were further adorn- ed by a correct misrepresentation of the brig Triton, as she appeared entering an impossible harbour of Marseilles, flanked by a portrait of* the defunct hus- band, master of the aforesaid brig, painted in the well-known style : a resplendent shirt-front with a head attached, sternly inexpressive, on a mahogany background. The defunct mariner seemed blank with astonishment at my courage in coming to such a house — a ruin, not a lodging. Everything in it was afflicted with the rickets. The chair-backs creaked in harmonious threats, if you incautiously leaned against them. The fire-irons fell continually from their un- stable rests. The bed-pole tumbled at my feet when I attempted to draw the curtain. The doors wouldn't shut. Even the teapot had a wohhly top, which resist- ed all closing. Nay — and this will surprise you — in N 194 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the moral world I noticed a similar dilapidation. The discrepancies were painful. In the " bill/' arrange- ments were made which showed fiscal genius : and when a suggestion was offered that the remains of yesterday's fowl might serve for to-day's luncheon, a look of pained reproach passed over the widow's face, followed by a gulp, and a silence which was broken only by diversion of the dialogue into quite other direc- tions — the look, the gulp, the silence expressed, as plainly as words, the mean opinion which the widow entertained of her victim. Low as her opinion had placed him before, it had not reached such depths as that; the request for a paltry remnant of fowl, in- deed, was answerable only by profound silence. Thus it tuas answered. I never gazed upon that bird again. Weather-bound in such a place — the equinoctial gales hurrying d!i — boxes corded, soul unquiet — you may imagine the alacrity with which I sprang out of bed, the morning when a sailor came up from the packet to say that anchor was weighed, and we should start as soon as I could slip on my things. This was at six in the morning, and, by half-past, the Ariadne, formerly Lord Godolphin's yacht, but now the property of Captain Tregarthen, who runs it between Scilly and Penzance as the mail and sole communication, left the harbour, and reached Scilly by one o'clock. This was on Thursday, 26th March 1857. A century ago, on the 25th May 1752, Borlase, the admirable anti- quarian, whose Observations on the Ancient and Pre- sent State of the Scilly Islands was among my BORLASES VISIT TO SCILLY. 195 books,* set sail in the sloop Goclolpliin at seven in the morning, and about nine in the evening drew near the islands — drew near, but dared not venture nearer ; because, a " very thick fog ensuing, the sailors began to be apprehensive whether they should fall in with the proper passage into St Mary's Island or not : sometimes they thought they could see the land, but were always uncertain what part of the island it was. This determined us to continue turning off and on (in sea affairs give me leave to use sea expressions), and wait for the mornino-. Duriiio; this interval we had a very uneasy time of it, and nothing to do but to expect the daylight, which, you may be assured, was with great impatience. The day came, but the fog con- tinued so thick that we had no benefit from it." In this fog they continued beating about, in terror of getting entangled among the narrow guts ; but about six the fog cleared, and revealed to them St Mary's Island close at hand. " We were such true sailors," he says, " that we immediately lost sight of the dan- ger we had escaped, delighted as we were with the thoughts of being soon in port, and the uncommon appearance of the land (if what is mostly rocks can be called so) on each side of us as we passed. It was Crow's Sound ; and I must own the sight of it gave me much pleasure, which you will, and justly may in some measure, attribute to our sudden transition from * Thanks to that most convenient, and to all students most valuable of institutions, The London Library, which manifold experience causes me to urge every man of letters to join. 196 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. a state of uncertainty to that of safety, but not wholly ; for these islets and rocks edge this Sound in an extremely pretty and very different manner from any- thino; I had seen before. The sides of these little islands continue their greenness to the brim of the water, where they are either surrounded by rocks of different shapes, which start up here and there as you advance, like so many enchanted castles, or by a verge of sand of the brightest colour." If this was the passage made during gentle May, surely we were very fortunate, in blustering March, to have got over all our troubles in six hours. Shorter, our passage undeniably was ; whether it was also sweeter, remains a problem, towards the solution of which I will say thus much, — that under no extension of euphuism could it be called sweet. In the first place, there had been no breakfast to begin the day ; and the Ariadne offered nothing in the culinary de- partment. Cheering Souchong, or aromatic Mocha, to warm the matutinal ventrals, was not to be thought of; we were even lucky to have a dry biscuit to munch in philosophic resignation. Deprived thus of our natural fortifications against the advancing enemy, we were further disabled by the rain, which forced us to descend into the cabin, and get into our berths. In these exiguous spaces we remained until the joyful tidings of arrival flooded us with sudden energy, and flung the past hours from us like a hideous dream. Except during the brief intervals of sleep and semi- delirimn, those hours were not pleasant. The cold, not FIRST SIGHT OF SCILLY. 197 to be kept out by any amount of rugs, cloaks, and tarpaulin, seemed stealthily creeping into the very centres of life. The sensations which fly around sea- sickness need scarcely be alluded to. Constantly, when my intellect was sufficiently disentangled from these sensations to exercise itself, the thought would arise that pleasanter far was the pursuit of zoology in com- fortable homes (where Mr Lloyd of Portland Road, or Mr Bohn of Essex Street, would supply tanks and vases with the desired animals in exchange for vulgar dross, thus brins^ino; the forces of commerce and civil- isation to minister to our pursuits), compared with this harum-scarum method of trusting oneself to " sea- traversing ships," in order to become one's own pur- veyor. This thought would occur. And then the fluctuating intellect passed into self-condemnation at thoughts so base, remorse so ill-timed, cowardice so unzoological. These passing pangs, however unat- tractive, would they not inevitably pass ? And how the released spirit, in its reinstated vigour, would rejoice at having undergone such torments for such weeks of enjoyment. As I said, the joyful tidings came at. last. With alacrity I urged my staggering steps up the ladder, and emerged upon the deck, where the bright sunlight revealed a scene, which of itself was repayment and full discharge for any arrears of misery. We were in St Mary's Sound. The islands lay around us, ten times bigger than imagination had prefigured, and incomparably more beautiful. On their picturesque -198 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. varieties I might turn a green countenance and glazed eye, but tlie heart within me bounded like a leopard on his prey. This was worth coming to ! Those poor devils who sit at home at ease, and supply their tanks from commercial sources, were now the objects of pitiless sarcasms for their want of enterprise. In such a mood I hastily secured comfortable lodgings, clean as a Dutchman's, at the Post-office ; swallowed some tea and toast, to appease the baser appetites, and hurried forth to satisfy the hunger of the soul, by a survey of the Bay, and its promises. The promontory on which stands Star Castle, offered a fine breezy walk over downs resplendent ^vith golden furze,* and suffered the eye to take the widest sweep. How thor- oughly I enjoyed that walk ! The dow^is were so bril- liant that one could sympathise with the enthusiasm of Linnaeus on his arrival in Enoiand, and his first sight of furze, as he fiung himself on his knees, and thanked God for having made anything so beautifid. The downs were all aflame with their golden light. Ever and anon a rabbit started across the path, or the timid deer were seen emerging from the clumps of golden bush. A glance at the many reefs and creeks along the wavy shores raised expectation tiptoe, forcing hope into certainty of treasures abounding. Whatever drawbacks Scilly might possibly have in store, this at least was indubitable — the huntingr would be good. Not that any shadow of a drawback * The reader who has not seen the furze in Devonshire and Cornwall can form but a faint idea of its rich colour and profusion. DESCRIPTION OF SCILLY. 199 darkened the horizon ; for what could the heart de- sire more ? Here was a little archipelago, such as Greek heroes might have lived in — bold, rugged, pic- turesque, — secure from all the assaults of idle watering- place frequenters, — lovely to the eye, full of promise to the mind — health in every breeze. Ithaca was visi- bly opposite. Homer's cadences were sweetly audible. Here one might write epics finer than the Odyssey, had one but genius packed up in one's carpet-bag ; and if the genius had been forgotten, left behind (by some strange oversight), at any rate there was the micros- cope and scalpel, with which one might follow in the tracks of the " stout Stagyrite," whom the world is now beginning to recognise among the greatest of its na- turalists. Homer or Aristotle ? The modest choice lay there ; and as Montaigne says — " nous allons par la quester une friande gioire a piper le sot monde/^ (The sot monde being you, beloved reader.) It is puzzling to determine the number of the Scilly Isles, because, where the largest, St Mary's, is on a scale of no greater magnitude than nine miles in circumference, it becomes a nice point to settle how small a patch of rock is to be reckoned as an island. There are some hundred, or hundred and twenty, distinct islets ; but of inhabited islands only six. The area in statute acres is 3560, and the population in 1851 was, according to the census, 2600 in 511 houses — the females predominating in the ratio of 1439 to 1162. The average of death is 16 in 1000 ; in other parts of England it is 23 in 1000, showing a decided 200 .' SEA-SIDE STUDIES. hygienic superiority in favour of Scilly. Mucli arable land there is not, but an occasional upland smiles prosperity at you ; and in the sheltered nooks of Holy Vale you are startled with the appearance of what almost looks like a tree. In the other parts of the island no tree is discoverable — without a lens. The lanes are formed of stone hedges, as in Devonshire and Cornwall ; but these hedges are not, at this early season, prodigal of ferns and wild-flowers as they will be soon. Yet they have already abundant ornament. On the summit grows the furze, with its profuse bunches of gold ; from the crevices peep the stone- crop, the leaves of the fox-glove, pennywort, and a multitude of other wall-loving plants, dear to my eye, though unknown by name ; already the dog-violet and celandine are gay with colour, and the lichens tint the stone with delicate pale greys or greeus, deep orange, or bright gold. The grouping of the islands is very picturesque, forming several good Sounds, where vessels of great tonnage find secure anchorage, and give a pleasant aspect to the scene. Standing on any of the eminences, we gaze down upon the deep blue of the bays, the white sweep of sands, and rugged reefs, and purple masses of the opposite shores ; the plaint of the sea- gull, floating overhead, being almost the only sound audible, except the never-ending symphony of the waters. As we ramble round the coast, the successive scenes of the unfolding panorama make us long to have the artist's power of transferring them to our THE GRANITE COAST. 201 sketch-book. The rocks are entkely of granite ; and the huge wave-worn boulders, sudden pillars, and piles of broad ledges into which they have been disrupted, give endless variety to their forms. Sometimes they have a castellated aspect, as at " Giant's Castle," on the southern coast — a noble edifice of nature's cunning architecture. Beautiful are the outlines of its topmost grey shelving ledges, softened with shaggy pale-green Byssus-lichen, — beautiful its huge rectangular masses of warm light-brown, blackened here and there with the mysterious beginnings of life, and darkening down- wards to the shining deep-brown reefs that jut from the Atlantic waves, which lift their curling masses of crystal greenness into momentary splendour, and then dash, and break, and whirl in milky eddies among the ever-passive rocks. Passive are they ? Yes ; and yet passivity itself is only a slower action, which escapes our notice. The rocks, too, are mutinous with change, could our eyes but follow it. They too, grow, and change, and die, and give up their substances to the great All, returning whence they came. Changeless they seem, in contrast with the impatient waters ; and yet with reluctant concession they give up their elements to the ambient air, and to the confluent restlessness of water, gradually rounding off their angles, and softening their rugged asperities. Mysterious and beautiful law, which ordains that the stubborn skeleton shall take its moulding from the gentle pressure of the softer flesh, as the sterner asperities of life are moulded finally by tenderness and love. 202 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. The Giant's Castle — indeed, the whole of this south- ern shore — has a character of drear magnificence and massive grandeur, given to it by the disposition of its piled-up boulders and towering altitudes, not to be anticipated from the size of the islands. The truth is, we are always impressed by relative, not absolute size. Eocks, many thousands of feet in height, have a stupendous aspect only in isolation ; among others, of kindred girth and altitude, they produce no such towering impression. The eye takes its standard from the forms around. The subtle influence of proportion rouses emotions of the sublime, even on these sma.ll islands ; emotions of gentler swell are raised by every creek and valley. The rambles are delicious. They want, indeed, the charm of Devonshire, with its wondrous lanes — " Such nooks of valleys, lined -with, orchises, Fed full of noises by invisible streams." * There are no rills and rivulets intersecting the land, no affluence of vegetation making it a miracle of beauty and of life ; but the lanes have their charm, and to that charm I yielded myself After my first walk had satisfied the first cravings, and set the mind at ease respecting the wisdom of my choice in choosing Scilly, I returned to my lodgings, unpacked the book-box, arranged the working-table with its necessary jars, bottles, dissecting-implements, and microscope ; and, resting from these labours, opened Borlase, to gain from his ancient quarto some * Aiirora Leigh. THE BAPTISM OF THE ISLANDS. 203 information about the place. I will not, as some learned pundits do, pitilessly burden you with know- ledge recently obtained ; because, although I suspect you to be hopelessly ignorant on all these matters, I also suspect you to be quite comfortable in that condi- tion, and by no means hungering for information ; and at any rate, you know where such hunger can be satis- fied. But on the baptism of the islands a word may be worth hearing. Borlase pertinently asks, " How came all these islands to have their general name from so small and inconsiderable a spot as the isle of Scilly, whose cliffs hardly anything but birds can mount, and w^hose barrenness would never suffer anything but sea- birds to inhabit there ? A due observation of the shores will answer this question very satisfactorily, and con- vince us, that what is now a bare rock, about a furlong over, and separated from the lands of Guel and Brehar about half a mile, was formerly joined to them by low necks of land, and that Treskaw, St Martin's, Brehar, Samson, and the rocks and islets adjoining, made for- merly but one island." Thus it was by encroachments of the sea, according to Borlase, or by the dipping of the lands, that the one island was se2)arated into several. Scilly was the highest and most conspicuous headland, and from it the whole group derived its name. That these isles were by the Greeks called Cassiterides, and by the Romans Sigdeles, Sillincc, and Silures, may be conceded to antiquarians and topographers, or denied ; we shall trouble ourselves but slightly with the ques- tion. Certain it seems that Phoenicians and Romans 204 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. came here for tin ; still more certain that, in the tenth century, " when trade began to thrive, shipping to in- crease, and naval wars to be carried on in the western world, the commodious situation of these islands at the opening into both the Channels soon showed of what importance it was to possess them, and how dangerous they might be to the trade and safety of England if in an enemy's hand." The hungry may find in Borlase a succession of historical dates and facts from the tenth century downwards ; we will pause only at what is said of Queen Elizabeth, who saw the importance of these islands ; " and having the Spaniards, then the most powerful nation by sea in the world, to deal with, ordered Francis Godolphin (knighted by her in 1580, and made Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Cornwall) to improve this station. Star Castle was begun and finished in 1593. At the same time were built a curtain and some bastions on the same hill.'' The castle still remains ; and the fortifications — not of a very formidable aspect — manned by five invalids, still keep up the fiction of awing the enemies of England. Not being a military man, and still less a politician, it does occur to me either that Scilly is strangely neg- lected in the matter of fortifications, or else that our enemies are very easily awed. What Borlase said of it a century ago remains true to-day : " In the time of war it is of the utmost importance to England to have Scilly in its possession : if it were in an enemy's hand, the Channel trade from Ireland, Liverpool, and Bristol to London and the south of England could not subsist ; HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL IMPORTANCE. 205 for Scilly, lying at the point of England, and looking into both channels, no ship could pass, but a privateer might speak with it from one of these sounds. This the Parliament ministry in the latter end of the civil wars of Charles I. quickly experienced as soon as Sir John Granville had garrisoned and fortified Scilly. Whitelock tells us that continual complaints were made to the then managers of affairs at London, of the taking of ships by the privateers at Scilly, so that at last they were obliged to send Admiral Blake and Sir George Askue to dislodge the cavaliers from a post which gave them such opportunities of distressing their trade." Surely a post of this importance needs a stronger gar- rison than five invalids ? Five may do for the " con- tingent" of a small German prince ; nay, in one sublime instance, five is the sum total of the standing army, but in that case the principality itself is of commen- surate importance. What has been already hinted will suffice to show that these patches of rock, on which ribald Cockneys doubted whether English were spoken, and flounces worn, are islands dignified by historical and political associations. These Cockneys may be further assured that not only is English spoken here, but spoken with a purity of accent, and intelligent discrimination of diction, which I remember in no other part of the English dominion. The Scillians are a remarkably healthy, good-looking race — the black eyes and long- eyelashes of the children making one's parental fibres tingle with mysterious pleasure as the ruddy rascals *206 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. pause in their sport to look at the stranger. Their manners are gentle and dignified ; civil, not servile. Not an approach to rudeness or coarseness have I seen anywhere. In the highest sense of the word civilisation, there- fore, the notion of the place being " half-civilised " is altogether wrong. It is only on making inquiries in the direction of commerce that the mind gets familiar- ised with the consequences of the remoteness of these islands. Then it is seen that, as far as civilisation is represented by shopkeeping, Scilly is at present in an embryonic condition. To speak physiologically, there is but slight differentiation of function in the Scillian commercial tissue. Just as in the simpler organisms we see one part of the body undertaking several func- tions which in more complex organisms devolve upon separate parts, so here we perceive the same smiling individual weighing out butter and measuring yards of muslin, proposing the new cut of a cheese to your dis- criminating taste, or the new style of bonnet to your instincts of fashion ; sarsenet ribbons are flanked by mixed pickles, and the pickles thrown into relief by loaves. If you are troubled with a raging tooth," you must apply to the postmaster for his gentle services ; whether he punches it out with the letter-stamp, or employs more elaborate instruments, I know not. This want of differentiation is, however, but a slight obstacle, especially to me, who am not likely to array myself in sarsenet, and don't buy bonnets. Far otherwise is the imperfection there where it could least have been ex- MEAT AND MARKET DEPARTMENTS. 207 pected, least endured — in the meat and market depart- ments. It is probable, on zoological grounds, that the Scillians, being carnivorously organised, would eat meat with gusto could they get it. Nay, as there are several well-to-do people residing here, some shipowners and shipbuilders, and as there are no poor, it would, on a 2wiori grounds, be assumed that meat was freely assi- milated by the Scillians, they not having fallen into the fallacy of '' vegetarianism.''" But a priori conclusions force no pathway through facts ; and the stern and startling fact early obtruded itself on me, that of all things meat is one of the most unattainable in these parts. Do not imagine that by " meat " I euphuisti- cally indicate prime parts, and quick varieties ; no, I mean meat of any kind, without epicurean distinctions. Beef is obtainable — by forethought and stratagem ; but mutton is a myth. A vision of veal floats with aerial indistinctness through the Scillian mind. Poul- try, too, may be had — at Penzance ; and fish — when the weather is calm, which it never is at this season ; and when the one solitary fisherman adventurously takes out his line — which he seldom does. But market there is none. Twice a-week a vegetable cart from " the country " (which means a mile and half distance) slowly traverses the town, and if you like to gather round it, as the cats and dogs do round the London cats'-meat-man, you may stock yourself with vegetables for three days. The inhabitants, of course, know how to arrange matters for themselves, although it was evident that my landlady regarded the wish of dining 208 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. daily, and if possible on meat, as rather a metropolitan weakness, which was to be politely allowed for. The other day I should have gone meatless, but for a certain astuteness of forethought, met by a yielding benevo- lence on the part of the captain's wife. ^leat was not to be had for love or money, especially love. The " country " had been scoured for a fowl — "But no such animal the meadows cropp'd." I saw myself midway in the dilemma of going impran- sus, or of cooking my Actinise with what appetite I could — an extremity which, in a zoologist, would have been only a milder form of cannibalism. Standing thus at the point of intersection of two such paths, the pangs of prospective hunger developed in me new resources and new impudences. I went boldly to Mrs Tregar- then (observe she is not a ividoiv), and to her patheti- cally unfolded the case, on the supposition that she might not be utterly meatless, in which circumstance the loan of a chop or steak might gracefully be accorded. Meatless the gentle and generous woman w^as not. A piece of beef, killed eight days ago, and now kept fresh in salt against emergencies, would furnish me with a steak sufficient for two days, and there was a rumour that on the third day beef would be killed, when I could stock myself till next killing-time. Beef, at sevenpence a-pound, as I said, is the only meat you can reckon on, even with forethought In the time of Borlase it was just the contrary, mutton being then the meat, and beef a rarity. " About twenty years since," he says, " the inhabitants generally lived on salt ENGLISHMEN ON THE SEA. 209 victuals, which they had from England or Ireland ; and if they killed a bullock here, it was so seldom, that in one of the best houses in the islands they have kept l^art of a bullock killed in September to roast for their Christmas dinner." He adds, that in his time mutton was abundant enouo'h, but beef unattainable. SjDiritual-minded persons, indifferent to mutton, may disreo-ard this carnal inconvenience, and take refuo-e in the more ideal elements of picturesqueness, solitude, and simplicity. I cannot say that the inconvenience weighed heavily in the scale against the charms of Scilly ; the more so, as an enlarged experience proved the case not to be quite so bad as it seemed at first. After all, I came not here for sumptuous larders, but for zooloo'ical delio'hts ; and those were not wantino-. Was not the mere aspect of the sea a banquet ? Xeno- phon tells us that, when the Ten Thousand saw the sea again, they shouted. No wonder. After their weary eyes had wandered forlorn over weary parasangs of flat earth, and that earth an enemy's, wistfully yearning for the gleams of the old familiar blue, they came upon it at last, and- the heart-shaking sight was saluted by a shout still more heart-shaking. At the first flash of it there must have been a general hush, an univer- sal catching of the breath, and the next moment, like thunder leaping from hill to hill, the loosened burst of gladness ran along the ranks, reverberating from com- pany to company, swelling into a mighty symphony of rejoicing. What a sight, and what a sound ! There was more than safety in that blue expanse, there was 210 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. more than loosened fear in their joy at once again seeing the dear familiar face. The sea was a passion to the Greeks ; they took naturally to the water, like ducks, or Englishmen, who are, if we truly consider it, fonder of water than the ducks. We are sea-dogs from our birth. It is in our race — bred in the blood. Even the most inland and bucolic youth takes spontaneously to the water, as an element he is born to rule. The winds carry ocean murmurs far into the inland valleys, and awaken the old pirate instincts of the Norsemen. Boys hear them, and although they never saw a ship in their lives, these murmurs make their hearts unquiet ; and to run away from home, " to go to sea," is the inevitable result. Place a Londoner in a turnip-field, and the chances are that he wiU not know it from a field of mangold-wurzel. Place him, unfamiliar with pigskin, on a " fresh" horse, and he will not make a majestic figure. But take this same youth, and fling him into a boat, how readily he learns to feather an oar ! Nay, even when he is sea-sick — as unhappily even the Briton will sometimes be — he o-oes through it with a certain careless grace, a manly haughtiness, or at the lowest a certain " official reserve," not observable in the foreigner.''^" What can be a more abject picture than a Prenchman sufiering from sea-sickness — unless it be a German under the same hideous circumstances? Before getting out of harbour he was radiant, arrogant, * '' Had a furious gale oflF Flamborough Head ; saw many a dandy's dignity prostrated by sea-sickness ; was sick myself, hut managed to Jceep it secret" — Haydon's Journal {Life, iii. 62.) HOMER ON THE SEA. 211 self-centred ; only half an hour has passed, and he is green, cadaverous, dank, prostrate, the manhood seem- ingly spunged out of him. N.B. — In this respect T am a Frenchman. At the sio;ht of the sea the Ten Thousand shouted. At that sight I too should have shouted, had not the glorious vision come upon me through the windows of a railway carriage ; where my fellow-travellers, not comprehending such ecstasy, might have seized me as an escaped lunatic. But if my lungs were quiescent, my heart shouted tumultuously. There gleamed once more the lauohino^ lines of lioht, there heaved and broke upon the sands the many-sounding waves ; and at the sight arose the thought, obvious enough, yet carrying a sort of surprise, that even thus had the sea been glancing, dancing, laughing, breaking in uninterrupted music, ever since I had left it. While I was bustling through crowded streets, amid the " fever and the stir unprofitable," harassed by printers, bored by politicians, " The weary, weary A, and the barren, barren B," bendino' over old books, eno-ao-ed in serious work and daily frivolous talk, through all these hurrying hours, the tides had continued rising and receding, the pools had been filled and refilled, the zoophytes had quietly dedicated their beauty to the sun, the molluscs had crawled among the weeds, the currents of life had ebbed and flowed in the great systole and diastole of nature. By a mysterious law, every Thirst blindly, yet un- erringly, finds its way to the fountain. My thirst had 212 SEA- SIDE STUDIES. led me here, to the shores of that ocean which Homer, "the paragon of philosophers," as Eabelais calls him, very miphilosophically styles "unfruitful," are^ygro?. Barren it may have been to him, poor fellow, unable to use the microscope (he was blind, you know !) yet even he had intellectual vision enough to see that it was [lija-AYiTYiZ^ "abounding in marvels ;'' and he was not a man to pause open-mouthed at a slight deviation from ordinary appearances, as may be gathered from this single example : when Helen passes through the gates of Troy, under the eyes of Ucalegon and Antenor, those venerable and inspired men are by Homer seen to be "like cicadse chirping on the trees" — surely a very strange phenomenon ? — and as if this were not enough, their chirp is said to have a lily - like sound — o-^a Asimsffffav — surely a strange intonation ? If, there- fore, to Homer, familiar with sights and sounds so unusual, the sea could nevertheless be held as abound- ing in marvels, judge what it abounds in for our more easily astonished minds. Come with me to the rocks, on my first visit after arrival. The tide is not a very good one,- but in a few minutes we discover that we are in the land of marvels. Here are the snaky-armed^?z^/ieas in abundance : green with ravishing pink tips ; brown with silver-grey ten- tacles ; and a few of quaker drab. Presently a noble Crassicornis reveals himself in a cleft — impossible to get at, unfortunately. But in few minutes another, then another, then a group, at last such quantities of them make theu: appearance, that the heart palpitates THE NYMPHON GRACILE. 21^ at the wealth promised by this abundance ; and is not abundance of animals worth a few hours' discomfort on board the packet? Nay (now that it is past), what was that discomfort ? A hurricane of blows upon the chisel answers with contemptuous emphasis. It is laborious work this chiselling away of Ane- mones from the granite. The grey-slate of Ilfracombe was troublesome ; the limestone of Tenby worse ; but this granite opposes us with quite another stubbornness, and needs energetic patience to overcome it. In spite of March winds I am forced to take off my coat after a little of this hammerino- • and durino; summer heats the exercise would create a vapour bath, giving unpleasant extension to the faculty of perspiring, which is exerted by the twenty-eight miles of tubing (such is the calcu- lation) possessed by our skins. After filling our bas- kets with as many of these Anemones as satisfy present desires, we begin turning over the stones. Presently we descry two specimens of marine spiders, or daddy- long-legs {Nymphon gracile), very curious to behold. They have no body to speak of ; a mere line, not thicker than one of their legs, representing the torso. Tie a piece of silk thread, about one-fourth of an inch long, into four equidistant knots, and that will repre- sent the body ; from each of these knots let much longer pieces of the same thread dangle, and you have the legs ; split the tip of the thread into three filaments, and you have the head ; gum bits of dirty wool, about as large as a pin's head, on the second legs, and you have the egg-sacs : and with this the animal is complete. 214 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. The microscope reveals fresli wonders, the head being furnished with crab-like nippers ; the alimentary tube, instead of occupying an isolated and dignified j)Osition in the body, meanders out into each of the legs, so that the leg repeats the body in its internal structure, as well as in aspect. This ramified alimentary canal is covered with brownish yellow globules or cells, called ''hepatic cells," and supposed to represent a rudimentary liver, Mr Gosse, in his pleasant book on Tew 6^/, mistakes this intestine for the circulating system ; but the animal has 710 circulating system whatever. " Each of the long and many-jointed limbs is perforated by a central ves- sel," he says, " the walls of which contract periodically wdth a pulsation exactly resembling that of a heart, by which granides or pellucid corpuscles of some sort or other are forced forward/' It was food which Mr Gosse saw thus moved ; the blood-circulation, such as it is, he correctly saw in what he describes as the extra- vascular circulation ; only we should add, that vascu- lar circulation there is none. The blood, if blood it can be called, is outside the intestine, bathing the walls of the body, and moved to and fro by the peristaltic action of the intestine. Curious as this Nymphon gracile is, I had reason to be the more pleased at find- ing one, because while the latest authorities declare nothing to be known of the development of the Pycno- gonidce, I had been fortunate enough, at Ilfracombe, to discover some of the embryonic phases, of which I made drawings, and awaited further opportunity for pm-suing the subject. THE NYMPHON GRACILE. 215 If the reader will turn to Plate Y., fig. 3, he will see a Nymphon gracile of natural size ; and having mar- velled at its aspect, wiU marvel still more at fig. 4, which is a magnified representation of the same animal in the egg; and he may puzzle himself by trying to conceive the stages of metamorphosis through which this creature must pass before it can exchange the squab rotundity of its early shape for the slim and meagre elegance of maturity. Are Sylphs bulbous in early life ? By what modifications could a crab be sup- posed to pass into a daddy-long-legs ? Yet some such changes must take place with the Nymplion gracile, although I have not been fortunate enough to trace them beyond the point represented in fig. 4. But this is a digression ; we must continue our huntino;. Here, in a pool, we find three curious fish, one a ribbon-fish, the other two unknown to me ; and on raising the stone, behold, a queer eel-like fish, with a miniature grey-hound's head ; it is the pipe - fish, Syngnathiis anguineus (Plate VI., fig. 1). Pop him in ; also this bit of red weed, on which I observe some Polyzoa clustering. — (Plate I, fig. 1, represents a fresh- water Polyzoon, named Plumatella, exj)anded and contracted.) What is this ? a tiny Daisy on a frond of weed ? the beauty ! No, now it is in the bottle, it turns out to be an Eolis, EoUs alba, lovely among the loveliest. Stay ! here are two cowries^ and aHve ! The shells every one has seen, but few of us have seen the animals ; so the capture is very welcome. My back is aching with all this stooping and groping 216 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. and I really must get home now, content with my day's work. One farewell glance in at that pool, and I have done. Lying on my face, and dangling my feet in water, I peer scrutinisingiy for some minutes, and bear off a lovely green Adceon as a rew^ard. (The Actseon resembles an Eolis without the papillae.) Now I will turn homewards. Another day, in idler mood, we ramble along the shore in receipt of windfalls. A bottle is always ready in the pocket, and something is certain to turn up. The stem and root of that oar-weed, for example, is worth an investigating glance, certain as it is of being a colony of life. The tiny Annelids, white, green, and red, wriggle in and out among the sheltering shadows of these roots ; the Sponges and Polyzoa cluster on th-em ; and see ! what pink-and- white feathery creature is this, clasping the weed with a circle of pale pink roots ? By heavens ! it is a Comatula (Plate VI., fig. 2) ; and now that it feels the grateful sea-water again, how it expands its feathers, and reveals itself as an animal fern, marvellous to look upon. Sudden joy leaps in our hearts at the sight of this creature, hitherto known only from hazy descriptions and in- adequate engravings. There is interest in reading about Crinoidea, fossil and recent, and in learning that the Comatula is one of these, having kindred with starfishes ; but how that interest is intensified by direct inspection of the living animal ! I could not satiate myself with looking at my prize.* All the ^* J -have since had several, but utterly inferior in colour and grace to this, the first I ever saw. THE LILY-STARS. 217 way home the bottle was constantly being raised to my loving regard, that I might feast myself upon the waving grace of those pink-and- white feathers ; and I thought of the poetical passage in which Edward Forbes expresses his emotions about these Crinoidea which " raise up a vision of an early world, a world the potentates of which were not men, but animals — of seas on whose tranquil surfaces myriads of convol- uted Nautili sported, and in whose depths millions of Lily- stars waved wilfully on their slender stems. Now, the Lily- stars and Nautili are almost gone ; a few lovely stragglers of those once abounding tribes remain to evidence the wondrous forms and structures of their comrades. Other beings, not less wonderful, and scarcely less graceful, have replaced them ; while the seas in which they flourished have become lands whereon man in his columned cathedrals and mazy palaces emulates the beauty and symmetry of their fluted stems and chambered cells." * The delight of getting new animals is like the delight of childhood in any novelty, an impulse that moves the soul through the intricate paths of knowledge — know- ledge which is but broken wonder ; and this delight the naturalist has constantly awaiting him. Satiety is not possible, for Nature is inexhaustible. Knowledge unfolds vista after vista, for ever stretching inimitably distant, the horizon moving as we move. New facts connect themselves with new forms ; the most casual observation often becomes a spark of inextinguishable thought, running along trains of inflammable suggestion. * History of Br'dish Star-fishes, p. 2. 218 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. To this intent tlie naturalist should always have pencil and note-book on his working-table, in which to record every new fact, no matter how trifling it may seem at the moment ; the time will come when that and other facts will be the keys to unlock many a casket. Not that Observation alone is, as many imagine, the potent instrument of Zoology. Lists of details crowd books and journals, yet these are in themselves no better than the observations of Chaldean shepherds, which pro- duced no Astronomy in centuries of watching. They find their place in science, only as the architectm^al mind disposes them in due co-ordination. ^Miat should we think of a chemist who, on mere inspection of sub- stances, unaided by re-agents and his balance, hoped to further Chemistry ? What would lists of such observation avail? And in the far more complex science of Biology, how shall cursory inspection, super- ficial observation, avail ? We must follow the Methods which have led to certainty in the exact sciences. We must render the complex facts of Life as simple as we can, by processes of elimination. Experiment must go hand in hand with Observation, controlling it, and assuring us that we have correctly observed. Much has been done, and is daily done, in this way, yet still men too easily content themselves with observation, or, what is equally fallacious, with anatomical deduction, declaring an organ to have such and such a function, merely because it resembles an organ known to have the function ; when in most of these cases, direct experiment would show the error of the conclusion. WHAT IS DIGESTION? 219 In former chapters I have illustrated this point, and have again to do so respecting the digestive power of the Sea- Anemones. In my note-book is pencilled this brief query, " Do the Actiniae digest at all?" a doubt which, in its naked simplicity, might rouse contempt in the mind of any zoologist accidentally reading it. What 1 here is an animal notoriously carnivorous, and you ask whether it can digest ? Have not you yourself repeatedly fed these animals with limpets and cooked beef? are they not greedy of such food ? It is perfectly true. Never- theless a doubt occurred to me whether they did reaUy digest, in any proper sense of the term ; and I made a note of the doubt, as of a point to be investigated immediately on my arrival at the coast. Experiment should settle the doubt. Before narrating the experi- ments, it will be needful to settle with the reader a few generalities on the subject of Digestion ; since, in point of fact, the interest of the question falls mainly on the general subject, and only wdth a secondary importance on the digestive powers of the Anemones. What are we to understand by Digestion ? At first the question seems so easy ; yet the closer it is investi- gated, the remoter seems the possibility of answering it. Let us make a clearance by first discriminating Digestion — as a special function of the intestinal canal — from Assimilation, which is the general property possessed by all living tissues. For an animal to grow, and to repair the waste which the action of life inces- santly produces, it must assimilate, which, as the word 220 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. implies, means to separate from the external medium such substances as are like to its own substance — or can be converted into them by the vital chemistry — reject- ing all such as are unlike, or not convertible. Very simple organisms find assimilable food in the element they live in, and the process of separation is easy : they have no stomach, not even a mouth, much less glands secreting solvent fluids. Very complex organisms, on the contrary, do not, in the air they breathe, or on the earth they tread, find the variety of substances necessary to build up their bodies ; the substances have to be sought, captured, and when found, are not found in an assimilable condition, but in a condition requiring great changes, mechanical and chemical, before they are able to enter into the construction of the tissues. An example will make this plain : Let us first con- sider the process in the Actinophrys, a microscopic animal carefully studied by KoUiker.* It is a mere mass of jelly-like substance, very contractile, mthout the slightest trace of organs, perhaps also without even a distinct envelope separable from the mass.-[* * SlEBOLD ti. Kolliker's Zeitschrift fur Wissenscliaftliche Zoologie, i. 198. ■Y On the existence of a distinct membrane there is much dispute. The arguments, for and against the existence of single-celled animals, are such as, in the present state of inquiry, render decision difficult. To my mind, however, the researches of Auerbach ( Ueher die Einzel- ligheit der Amoeben, in Siebold ii. KuLLIKEr's Zeitschrift, vii. 365) ren- der extremely probable the fact that an enveloping membrane and a nucleus always exist, which afford a very strong argument in favour of the unicellular structure of these animals. Although I have been un- able^ in repeated examinations, to convince myself of the existence of a SIMPLEST FORM OF DIGESTION. 221 The outer layer is formed into long tentacular filaments, which, like the tentacles of a Polype, seize hold of young animalcules, or even minute Crustaceans. The resem- blance to the Polype is carried further : no sooner does one of the filaments seize a prey than it retracts ; all the others bend their points over the captive, and grad- ually enclose it ; they then retract, and bring the food in contact with the body of the animal. The point of contact is next seen to yield inwards, retracting as the filaments had retracted, and, as it deepens, the food sinks into the substance of the body, the edges of the cavity closing over it. In the centre of the body the soluble parts are dissolved, the body having resumed its original appearance. This done, the insoluble parts make their way out, much as they made their way in ; and thus the whole process of ingestion and egestion is accomplished. We need not pause to trace the episodes of the com- plex story of Digestion in the higher animals, episodes of mastication, insalivation, chymification, chemical transformations aiding mechanical actions ; every one is familiar with the general facts. Let us only note distinct membrane, optical delusion being easy in this matter, I cannot resist the conclusion that something of the kind does exist, inasmuch as there are currents inside the body of the Amoeba; and after watch- ing these currents, or rather oscillations, carrying the large dark glob- ules with them into the various prolongations of the body and back again, for upwards of an hour, I felt convinced that the Amoeba was a cell, or at any rate a closed cavity with liquid contents. As regards what is said in the text, the point is of no importance ; and this note is" mainly added for the sake of directing the reader's attention to Auerbach's interesting essay. 222 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. that even milk, which contains all the substances needed for the nourishment of the child, contains them in a condition perfectly useless, as far as the direct and immediate nourishment of the child is con- cerned : until the milk has undero-one the dio-estive process — namely, a succession of chemical decomposi- tions and recompositions — it is no more competent to nourish the muscles, bones, and nerves of the child, than so much chalk -and -water, which is delusively sold as milk in virtuous cities. The mutton-chop, too, which we justly reckon such excellent food, is only "food potential;" it must undergo a very curious series of changes before it can be converted into blood. Nor is the business finished there. We are errone- ously accustomed to consider blood as the final stage of food, previous to its assimilation. Physiologists trace the story of Digestion up to this point, and there leave it ; as story-writers leave their heroes married, thereby indicating that nothing more remains to be said. But just as marriage is the beginning of a new act in the drama, and the act in which all life cul- minates, so is this blood-formation but the commence- ment of a new series of changes, and these the most important. I think it can be shown that the blood itself is not more immediately and directly assimilable than the mutton-chop from which it was formed. In its passage through the walls of its vessels, it undergoes specific changes, fitting it for assimilation ; without such changes it is not assimilable ; blood, as blood, nourishes no tissue, but lies on it like any other foreign DIGESTION IS MAINLY CHEMICAL. 223 substance which must be got rid of by re-absorption into the veins — as we see when a vessel is ruptured, and the blood gets deposited in the parenchyma. Blood is, in fact, as Bergmann and Leuckart well ex- press it, " a depot of assimilable and secretory sub- stances ; and its purpose in the economy is that of a regulating apparatus, which is necessitated by the fluctuations in the procuring of food/'* Remember also, that, before Assimilation can take place, the food must be rendered soluble. Solubility is a primary condition, but not the only one. Many soluble substances have to undergo chemical changes, both of decomposition and allotropism, before they form parts of the living body. If albumen or sugar be injected into the veins, they will not be assimilated, but cast out unaltered in the excretions ; whereas, if injected into the alimentary canal, or into the portal vein, which would carry them through the laboratory of the liver, they are entirely assimilated. Thus we see that solubility and transformation are the two digestive effects, to produce which, two agen- cies are needful, the mechanical and chemical. From these tw^o points all other questions expansively radiate, to them all converge. A single fact strikingly im- presses the mind with a sense of the extent to which chemical agency reaches, namely, that in the course of four- and- twenty hours a sixth part of the whole weight of the body is poured into the alimentary canal, under * Bergmann ti.. Leuckart : Vergleichende A naiomie und Physiologie, p. 164. 224 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the form of various secretions. Much more fluid is secreted from the blood and poured into this canal during a single day, than would make up the whole mass of fluid circulating in the blood-vessels at any given period.* The reader's attention has been so fully directed to this twofold agency of Digestion, and especially to its chemical agency, that a clear view may be taken of the question which must arise as to what, in the ab- stract, is the purpose of Digestion. In the abstract we may declare it to be the jjrepai^atioii of the food, rendering it fitted for Assimilation. But if we descend from heights of abstraction, and approach concrete questions, we soon find this ansv/er including several processes in the higher animals — such as the prehen- sion and mastication of food, its absorption and circu- lation, its aeration in the blood, and finally its trans- udation through the walls of the capillaries — none of which can, without great impropriety, be called diges- tive. We must be more specific. No man would confound Mastication with Digestion, or Circulation with Digestion ; and we must therefore limit the term Digestion to some specific meaning ; Mastication is the special function of the jaws, Circulation of the vessels. Respiration of the lungs, and Digestion of the alimentary canal. But even this is too vague for our jDurpose ; we must affix a still more specific character to Digestion ; and this may be expressed in the fol- lowing formula : That, and that only, is a specifically * Lehmann : Lehrbuch der Physiol. Chemie, iii. 226, 2d edit. DIGESTION A SPECIAL FUNCTION. 225 digestive act which takes place in an alimentary canal, by means of secretions capable of cheinically modifymg the food, so as to prepare it for Assimilation. The preparation of food we have seen to be both mechanical and chemical, but I select the latter as the specific characteristic of the digestive process, in order to prevent confusion. Claude Bernard says : " We can conceive an animal without any digestive apparatus, me- chanical or chemical, because living in an element which furnishes nutritive material directly ; we can also con- ceive the digestive act reduced to a simple mechanical apparatus, which has to press out certain alimentary juices capable of nourishing the tissues tuithout under- going chemical modifications ; but usually the diges- tive act is composed of two orders of phenomena, phy- sical and chemical/''' This is a brief and luminous classification as regards the whole animal series, and it well expresses the ascending complexity of that series ; but inasmuch as special functions only make their appearance at certain stages of that ascending series, inasmuch as the simpler animals have not the special functions of more complex animals, we must deny to the two first classes of M. Bernard's series any such special function as Digestion, and confine it to the third class. We do not, except in loose lati- tude of phrase, speak of the legs of an animalcule, meaning its organs of Progression ; because, a leg is a specific organ of Progression, uniform in its elements throughout the series of animals possessing legs ; nor * Claude Bernard : Legons de Physiol. Experimentale, ii. 490. P 226 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. should we, otherwise than in easy speech, talk of the Digestion of a Polype, meaning thereby its Nutri- tion. The 2^u7yose of a leg, jDrogression, is fulfilled by the cilia, which move the animalcule ; the purpose of Digestion, preparation of food, is performed by the cavity of the Polype ; but the specific organs named legs and alimentary canal, and the specific functions of those organs (Walking and Digestion), are in both cases absent. If the reader has followed me thus far, he will have understood that, when I doubted whether the Ac- tiniae digested, there was no doubt entertained of their power of preparing food, but only of their power of chemically digesting it. I doubted, in short, whether they should not be separated from the more complex animals which digest, and whether they should not rank in M. Bernard's second class. "VVe do not call a hut or group of cottages a city. We do not speak of its commerce, its government, its literature ; these are social functions developed in a complex city, not possible in a group of cottages. In the same way we should not expect to find Digestion, Respiration, or any other complex function, in animals so simple as a Sea -Anemone. Nor could the notion ever have gained currency, had there been the proper jDrecision in our zoological language, and had not the "fallacy of observation'' misled us. Now to the experiments. The first point to be settled was this : Have the Polypes anything of the DIGESTION A SPECIAL FUNCTION. 227 nature of a solvent fluid secreted by their stomachs ? " It is obvious," says Dr Carpenter, the latest writer on this subject, "that a powerfully solvent fluid is secreted from the walls of the gastric cavity ; for the soft parts of the food which is drawn into it are gradually dissolved, and this without the assistance of any mechanical trituration/' Obvious, indeed, the fact seems, until it is interrogated a little more closely, and then we find, 1st, that no solvent fluid is secreted ; 2d, that the food is not dissolved, but only the juices .pressed out. My first experiment was to test the presence or absence of a secretion, which was accomplished thus : Tying a narrow strip of litmus-paper round a small piece of recently caught fish, and fastening it to a thread, I gave it to an Anthea cereus, who greedily swallowed it ; another thin slice of the same fish was folded longitudinally over a similar bit of litmus-paper, and given to a Crassicornis. If any acid secretion were present, the paper would redden ; if not, the blue colour would remain. On the following morning the ejected morsels were examined, but not a trace of acid reaction was visible. Eepeating the experiment several times under varying conditions, I came to the conclusion that no acid fluid is present in the digestive process of the Actinise. There still remained a doubt. Solvent secretions are either acid or alkaUne. It was necessary to make similar experiments with an alkaline re-agent. This was done, and with similar results. 228 SEA -SIDE STUDIES. It is worth noting that M. Hollard equally failed in detecting an acid or alkaline reaction/"" which is a con- firmation of my experiments. The Actinise do not effect their preparation of nutri- ment by chemical means ; and in our strict sense of the term, they cannot be said to digest. I was anxious to see how far mechanical means were employed, and for this Reaumur's admirable experiment was a guide. In his day it was supposed that digestion was a purely mechanical oj)eration, the food being ground into a pulp in the stomach. He took hollow silver balls, perforated with holes, and filling them with meat, caused them to be swallowed by a dog. When they had remained a suitable period in the animal's stomach, they were withdrawn by the thread attached to them. If the digestive process were mechanical, the meat would be protected from all grinding action, by the silver covering ; if chemical, the meat would be di- gested ; and digested (or rather chymified) it proved to be ; showing that a solvent fluid had penetrated the holes, and dissolved the meat. I took two pieces of quill, of about half an inch in length, open at both ends, and having six good openings cut in the sides, thus afi"ording ample means for any solvent fluid to exert its action on the roast-beef enclosed in the quill. On examination of the ejected quills, I found no ap- ■*• " II est remarquable, et je m'en suis souvent assure, que les papiers reactifs plonges dans cet organe, et dans la cavite inferieure, soit au moment de la digestion, soit chez I'animal k jeftn, ne donnent aucun indice d'acidite, ni d'alcalinite." — ''Etudes Zoologiques sur le genre Actinia." — Revue et Magazin de Zoologie, No. 4. ISo-J. DIGESTION IN THE ANIMAL SERIES. 229 preciable difference between tlie contained meat, and similar pieces of meat left in the water during the same period ; in one of them which had the meat pro- truding somewhat from each end of the quill, there was a maceration of the protruded ends, which looked like a digestive effect ; but on submitting it to the microscope, I found the muscle-fibres not at all disin- tegrated, the stride being as perfect as in any other part, and the maceration obviously of a purely mecha- nical nature. A similar appearance is presented by meat, after its ejection by the Actiniae : it is pulpy, colourless, but the muscles are not disintegrated. Mr E. Q. Couch, of Penzance, was good enough to repeat these experiments for me. " I folded por- tions of whiting in test-papers," he writes, '' and gave them to the Actinise. After 12 hours the whole was ejected without the papers being either broken or discoloured. I placed bits of mackerel in gutta-percha silk with the same result. Taking other specimens, which I kept fasting for a fortnight, I gave each a portion of the silvery part of a mackerel, measured its leno;th, and weiarhed it in a delicate balance. In one case the fish was ejected after 23 hours, and in another 32 hours, and in several others about 18 and 20 hours. The parts were folded on each other, and compressed into oval masses which, with the point of a pen, I could unravel easily. In measure they were precisely as I had given them. In weight there was a difference : in one case, 9 grs. were reduced to 5 J grs. ; in others, 8 grs. to 5 ; 11 grs. to 5 ; 7 grains to 3 J. 230 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. In one piece from which I had expressed all the fluid I could, the decrease was slight, and the food was soon rejected. But in every case the delicate skin of the ventral portions of the mackerel and whiting were uninjured. The fine metallic lustre was untouched, and the skin unbroken ; showing that the digestion does not consist in appropriating the substance of the food given, but in expressing the juices contained therein." I dare not pause now to touch upon the many topics which are suggested by the conclusion to which these investigations led me. It will be enough just to note here the progressive complication of the digestive function in the progressive complexity of the animal series. Starting from the simple cell, which draws its nutriment from the plasma surrounding it, by a simple process of endosmosis, we first arrive at the mouthless Actinophrys, or the Amoeba, which, folding its own substance over the food, presses out such nutriment as it can ; we then reach the Infusory with a mouth, but without stomach of any kind ;* and the Polype, which has a portion of its integument folded in, serv- ing both for mouth and stomach, but not anatomic- ally differing from the external integument, nor phy- siologically differing in its action from that of the Amoeba's gelatinous substance ;-|- we then ascend to * Nobody now beHeves in Ehrenberg's Polygastrica, or many- stomached animalcules. + Trembley turned a Hydra inside out, and found the outside per- form the function of a stomach. This has been held as proof that a mucous membrane is only a reflection of the skin. But from what has DIGESTION IN THE ANIMAL SERIES. 231 Annelids having a real intestine, lying free in the general cavity, but only moderately, when at all, fur- nished with secretory apparatus ; and so on, till at length we reach the Mammalia, with their marvel- lously complex digestive aj^paratus. Corresponding with this increasing complexity of the organs is the increasing complexity of the food which the animals digest, from simple gases up to meat. If all were not so marvellous in Nature, would not the marvellous fact that food itself exists, arrest us ? Food is what the organism can separate from the world around it, converting what it separates into its own life. We may consider Life itself as an ever- increasing identification with Nature. The simple cell, from which the plant or animal arises, must draw light and heat from the sun, nutriment from the surround- ing world, or else it will remain quiescent, not alive, although latent with life ; the grains in Egyptian tombs, after lying thousands of years quiescent in those sepulchres, are placed in the earth, and then smile forth as golden wheat. What we call growth, is it not a perpetual absorption of Nature, the identifi- cation of the individual with the universal ? And may we not in speculative moods consider Death as the grand impatience of the soul to free itself from the been advanced in this chapter, the reader may suspect that, inasmuch as the polype has no mucous membrane whatever, the so-called stomach not being anatomically distinguishable from the external skin, and the process of digestion being wholly mechanical, the current opinion is not proved by Trembley's experiment. 232 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. circle of individual activity, — the yearning of the crea- ture to be united with the Creator ? As with Life, so also with Knowledge, which is in- tellectual life. In the early days of man's history, Nature and her marvellous ongoings were regarded with but a casual and careless eye, or else T^dth the merest wonder. It was late before profound and re- verent study of her laws could wean men from im- patient speculations ; and now, what is our intellectual activity based on, except on the more thorough mental absorption of Nature ? When that absorption is com- pleted, the mystic drama will be sunny clear, and all Nature's i^rocesses wiU be visible to man, as a divine Effluence and Life. CHAPTEE IL DRUIDICAL REMAINS— A WRECK OFF SCILLY— GEOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY OP THE ISLES— EFFECT OF LIGHT ON PLANTS AND ANIMALS : HISTORY OF ITS DISCOVERY — THE PIPE-FISH AND ITS INCUBA- TION — FISH PARADOXES — AN AQUARIUM— SUICIDE OF THE STAR- FISH — THE PLEUROBRANCHUS — DEVELOPMENT OF EOLIS, DORIS, AND ACTiEON — SHELL AND NO SHELL — THE PEDICELLINA : IS IT VIVI- PAROUS? — THE SAGITTA: a PUZZLE TO ZOOLOGISTS — WHERE THERE IS NO RESPIRATION THERE WILL BE NO CIRCULATION — THE CHYL- AQUEOUS FLUID OF ANEMONES PROVED NOT TO EXIST — EARLIEST STAGE OF A NUTRITIVE FLUID — FUNCTION OF THE '' CONVOLUTED bands"— DELIGHTS OF LITERATURE. The traveller's first wish is Shakespeare's — '' I pray you, let us satisfy our eyes With the memorials and the things of fame That do renown this city." At Scilly there is no city, and this non-existent city boasts " no things of fame,'' unless we choose so to consider the grave where Sir Cloudesley Shovel was first interred — which crowns the negative attractions of the Isles by being no grave at all. I am quite serious. They ask you here, whether you have seen the grave ; on investigation, this renowned spot turns out to be destitute even of the rudest stone or land- mark to indicate where the bones of the wrecked admiral may imaginatively be supposed to lie ; it is 234 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. simply a strip of land on the coast, where no grass will grow by reason of the shifting sand. And yet, if " gossip report " be not wholly a fibber, somewhere in this neighbourhood lie the remains of the great admiral, who was wrecked as he returned home covered with glory, 1500 or even 2000 men perishing with him on these inhospitable rocks. This was a century and a half ago, and tradition, we know, is apt to magnify, vires acquirit eundo. Still, if they will keep up the tradition, they might put up a commemorative stone. Stones are abundant enough, in all conscience ; and, if we believe the antiquaries, some of these stones are invested with the hoar of Druidical sanctity. Druidical erudition is not common. On probing the recesses of my own knowledge on this mysterious sub- ject, I found that the principal source of my familiarity with it was the opera of Norma. For more than twenty years I had reverently followed that splendid priestess Giulia Grisi, and that majestic priest Lablache ; and if to these you add the fragments of undeniable Druidical Eemains in the persons of the very ancient virgins of the sun, forming the nightly chorus of that opera, little doubt should be thrown on the accuracy of my historical conceptions. With that erudition I had been content. But on reaching Scilly, where the re- spectable Borlase assured me Druid temples and sacred rock-basins did veritably exist, I was not a little anxious to bring my operatic erudition into direct confrontation with fact. I even cleared my throat for a pathetic burst of moriam insieme, when I should really stand NORMA A DRUIDICAL AUTHORITY. 235 beside a Tolmen, and with the mind's eye behold my casta diva about to perish, the victim of a superstition which had small sympathy with lovers. Following Borlase's directions, I soon came upon a towering altitude of stones, in solitary isolation on the shore. A less erudite eye would have seen here no- thing but a pile of stones ; but the forewarned mind descried in their symmetrical arrangement, ledge upon ledge, crag upon crag, the rude architecture of early days ; especially when it glanced at the stone-hedges and stone- cottages near at hand, which assuredly were built by human architects, and showed a less symme- trical arrangement than the towering pile. Then, again, the rock-basins, in which the pure water of heaven was received, who could doubt that their oval form and smoothly chiselled sides and bottoms were the work of man ? If the cairn of stones left vague doubts, these rock-basins veritably wei^e Druidical remains ; and thus fortified against scepticism, I indulged in the emotions which naturally accompanied the belief of being in the presence of the remnants of a great human epoch long since passed away. Having indulged in these emotions, and extracted from them all the pleasure they could yield, it was with acquiescent equanimity that I afterwards learned how little probability historical scepticism allowed to these Druidical remains. It appears that the cairns are simply cairns, and not temples. The architecture is Nature's ; and, indeed, the forms are repeated in almost every cairn along the shores. Moreover, those rock- 236 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. basins, whicli looked so convincingly human in tlieir design and execution, are proved by Science to be the result of the disinteoratinsr action of winds and waters, the uniformity of the causes producing that uniformity of result which seemed the betrayal of design. There is something almost pathetic in an acute and erudite man like Borlase (a naturalist too, and inventor of the strange worm which bears his name, Nemertes Borlasia)^ wan- dering amono' these ruo^o^ed rocks, and findino- in them the traces of an ancient religion ; noticing the oval basins, and believinoj them to be human work ; inventinoj a plausible explanation of their uses, admiring their design, and feeling a sacred awe in their presence ; whereupon arrives the geologist with his disintegrating explana- tion, and the whole erudite fabric falls to pieces. Had Borlase lived in our time, imagine the ineffable scorn with which he would have looked down upon my Dru- idical authority. Norma ; yet, you see, he is, with all his learning, quite as un veridical as Giulia Grisi, and not half so beautiful. If Norma is not a good histori- cal authority, it is at least a delightful one; and, with Voltaire, I exclaim — " On court, helas, apres la verite ; Ah ! croyez-moi, Terreura son m^rite." Scepticism refuses admission to these Druidical re- mains altogether, so that I need not occupy space with the description of them. But here is a story safe from the assaults of scepticism, and thrilling enough it is to deserve a place among moving accidents. On the 16th November 1840, the French brig Nerine, ILLUSIONS DESTROYED. 237 under Captain Pierre Everdert, with a cargo of oil and canvass, sailing from Dunkirk for Marseilles, was forced to heave to in a gale about ten leagues south-west of the Scilly Islands. The crew consisted of seven, in- cluding the captain and his nephew, a boy of fourteen. At seven in the evening a heavy sea struck the vessel, and completely capsized her — turning the keel upwards. The only man on deck at the time was drowned. In the forecastle were three men, Vincent, Yantaure, and Jean-Marie : the two former, by seizing hold of the windlass-bits, succeeded in getting up close to the keel- son, and so kept their heads above water. The unfor- tunate Jean-Marie probably got his feet entangled — at any rate, after convulsively grasping the heel of Van- taure for a few seconds, he let go his hold, and was drowned. " The other two, finding that the shock of the upset had started the bulkhead between the fore- castle and the hold, and that the cargo itself had fallen down on the deck, contrived to draw themselves on their faces close alongside the keelson towards the stern of the ship, from whence they thought they heard some voices. At the time of the accident, the captain, the mate Gallo, and the boy Nicholas, were in the cabin. The captain caught the boy in his arms, under the full im- pression that their last moment had arrived. The mate succeeded in wrenching open the trap-hatch in the cabin deck, and in clearing out some casks which were jammed in the lazarette (a sort of small triangular space between the cabin floor and the keelson, where stores are generally stowed away) : having effected this, 238 . SEA-SIDE STUDIES. he scrambled up into the vacant space, and took the boy from the hands of the cajDtain, whom he then assisted to follow them. In about an hour they were joined by Vincent and Vantaure from the forecastle. There were then five individuals closely cooped together ; as they sat, they were obliged to bend their bodies for want of heio;ht above them, whilst the water reached as hioh as their waists ; from which irksome position, one at a time obtained some relief, by stretching at full length on the barrels in the hold, squeezing himself close up to the keelson." What a situation ! To rightly con- ceive its horrors, we must know that their only means of distinguishing day from night, was by the light which struck from above into the sea, and was reflected up through the cabin skylight, and thence through the trap-hatch into the lazarette. " The day and night of Tuesday the l7th, and of Wednesday the 18th, passed without relief, without food, almost without hope ; but each encouraged the others when neither could hope for himself ; endeavouring to assuage the pangs of hunger by chewing the bark stripped off from the hoops of the casks. Want of fresh air threatening them with death from suffocation, the mate worked almost inces- santly for two days and one night, in endeavoming, with his knife, to cut a hole through the hull."" There is something very terrible in contemplating such a position, in seeing the mad energy of the mate thus to cut a hole, which would have caused instant destruction to the sufferers, since it was solely owing to this confined air that the vessel floated. Bad as the A SHIPWRECK. 239 tainted air was, and threatening life every hour, it was the sole safety of the crew. They knew nothing of this ; and when the mate's knife broke, a savage wrath at their frustrated hope must have seized them. " In the dead of the night of Wednesday, the vessel suddenly struck heavily : on the third blow the stem dropped so much that all hands were forced to make the best of their way, one by one, further towai'ds the bows ; in at- tempting which poor Vincent was caught by the water and drowned, falling down through the cabin floor and skylight. After the lapse of an hour or two, find- ing the water to ebb, Gallo got down into the cabin, and whilst seeking for the hatchet which was usually kept there, was forced to rush again for shelter to the lazarette, to avoid being drowned by the sea, which rose on him with fearful rapidity. Another hour or two of long-suffering succeeded, when they were re- joiced to see, by the dawning of the day of Thursday the 19th, that the vessel was fast on the rocks, one of which projected up through the skylight. The captain then went down into the cabin, and found that the quarter of the ship was stoved ; and, looking through the opening, he called out to his companions above, ' Grace a Dieu, mes enfans ! nous sommes sauves ! Je vois un homme a terre ! ' Immediately after this the man approached, and put in his hand, which the cap- tain seized, almost as much to the terror of the poor man as to the intense delight of the captain. Several people of the neighbourhood were soon assembled ; the side of the ship was cut open, and the four poor fellows were 240 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. liberated from a floating sepulchre, after an entomb- ment of three days and three nights in the mighty- deep." There is another curious detail in this story which must not be omitted. On Wednesday afternoon, two pilot-boats fell in with the wreck floating bottom up, at about a league and a half from the islands. They took her in tow for about an hour, when their towing- ropes broke, and as night was approaching, with a heavy sea running and bad weather threatening, they aban- doned her, not having the faintest suspicion that there were human beings alive on board a vessel which was floatino' with little more than her keel above water. Nevertheless, although they abandoned the wreck, their temporary aid had been essential ; had they not taken her in tow, the set of the current would have drifted her clear of the islands into the broad Atlantic waste.* Granite is the substance of these islands. Generally it is thought that Scilly is only a continuation of the granite of Land's End ; against which conclusion the idea of a separate and distinct range seems supported by the fact that, in dredging between the islands and the mainland, sea-weed is often brought up attached to bits of slate and greenstone ; and the Wolf Eock, which lies not far southward of a line from the Land's End to Scilly, is composed of this same greenstone. What geologists call " the strike " of the granite here is, with few exceptions, towards the north or north-north-west. * For this narrative I am indebted to North's Weel in the Isles of Scilly — a work full of valuable details for any one who may contem- plate a visit to these Isles, GEOLOGY OF SCILLY. 241 The rock itself is not always confined to the constitu- ent parts of quartz, felspar, and mica : schorl is a very common ingredient, sometimes accompanying the mica, sometimes replacing it. Hornblende is rare, chlorite still rarer. Veins of pure white quartz, of considerable size, often intersect the granite ; rose-coloured quartz, and even chalcedony, have been found ; but the general natm^e of the stone is of a coarse kind, useless for quarrying ; and the granite needed for the new light- house is brought from Cornwall. The reader will be curious to know about the zoolo- gical wealth of Scilly. Eich the place undoubtedly is, yet not so rich as I anticipated. When Dr Acland, of whom Oxford is justly proud, commenced the founda- tion of that anatomical museum over which he pre- sides, Scilly was the first place chosen by him for the collection of specimens, on account of its geographical position at the entrance of the Bristol, Irish, and Eno-- lish Channels, with Eennel's Current near. He em- ployed Victor Carus, since known by an excellent work on Morphology,'-' as his purveyor for six months, ex- ploring and dredging. Carus has contributed a little paper to North's Week at Scilhj, in which he gives expression to his opinion that the " sea is not a dense one, although there are multitudes of zoophytes and hosts of fishes ; there are only a few molluscs, some worms, and a not very large number of echinoderms." On the whole, he does not think Scilly equal to the Channel Islands. Either I have been lucky, or my * System der thierischen Morphologie. 1853. Q 242 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. wishes pointed in different directions from those of Victor Cams ; for although unable to dredge, and con- fined, therefore, to tide-pools, I have had an embarrass- ment of riches rather than a want thereof His verdict, however, is worth remembering, because, as these Isles are very inaccessible, and are hyperborean in the im- perfection of their commissariat, the naturalist should weigh advantao;es with disadvantasies before cominpj here. The attractions are manifold, as I have before explained ; but the attraction of a very rich fauna Scilly cannot boast, unless zoophytes be the main object of search. The Anemones are various, and 23ro- digally abundant. Anthea, and the noble Crassicornis, are almost as frequent as the Smooth Anemone is at Ilfracombe and Tenby. Gemmaceas abound ; Daisies are frequent ; the Dianthus is to be had ; also the Orange-dished ; and two species, probably yet unde- scribed — of which more anon. To learn the geographical position of Scilly — above all, to get a glance at the coast — you would imagine it to be a wonderful place for marine zoology. The first obstacle lies in the nature of the rock. Granite, indeed, as mere granite, is almost as bad as chalk cliffs, which let no ingenuous reader waste his holiday upon. The weeds are loth to grow there ; and where no weeds grow, no herbivorous animals wdll congregate for pas- ture ; consequently no carnivorous animals will be there to pasture on them. The large amount of silica in granite resists the decomposing action of winds and waves, and of course still more energetically resists the ZOOLOGY OF SCILLY. 243 animals, wlio require, among other things, lime for their shells. Drear and barren is many a hopeful- looking reef here : and barren they would all be, were it not for the compensating conditions of climate and tidal current. Scilly is a little to the west of the sixth degree of western longitude, and exactly in the fiftieth degree of northern latitude ; consequently it is the most southern part of the United Kingdom, if we exclude the Channel Islands. The mean temperature in summer is 58°, and in winter 45°. The prevalent wind is south-west, or west-south-west. As a conse- quence of this equable temperature, there are nmner- ous plants growing in the open air at Tresco, in the garden of Mr Smith, the lord of the isles, which at Kew are to be seen only in the hothouses. The aloes are magnificent : and rare plants from California and New Zealand flourish in profusion. From this you perceive that the climatal conditions are very favour- able, and, whenever RenneFs Current permits it, the southern forms of animal life are swept in by the Atlantic. One great condition demanded by the tide-hunter is wanting here. There are no caves, no gullies, no huge dark fissures, few overhanging ledges and rock-jDOols. It has already been noticed in these pages that dark- ness and depth seem primary conditions even on a good coast. Within the sheltering darkness of caves and fissures, these animals, impatient of the light, are to be found crowding together, and are only accident- ally found elsewhere. On such a coast as this you gain 244 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. nothing, unless yon have a man and crowbar with you to turn over the big stones. Under these stones the animals crawl and nestle, chuckling, no doubt, at your zoological despair in the helj)less endeavour to get at them, but lauo^hino^ on the other side of their mouths (by a remarkable anatomical mechanism not yet ex- plained) when they find that you have outgeneraled them, and have overturned their bastions. And yet this love of darkness is very paradoxical. Some of them, especially Annelids, are so impatient of the light that they speedily die in your jars and bottles, unless abundant shadows protect them. The Actinise are stimulated by the light ; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the effect of light upon the sea- weed oxygenates the water, and thus makes the Actiniae more vivacious. Some Actinise — the Daisies, for example — habitually flaunt in the exposed glare of sunlight ; but the majority, like all worms, Crustacea, and most Molluscs, retire into the darkest shade they can find. This has a paradoxical air, when we reflect on the paramount importance of light among vital agencies. In darkness the infusoria, it is said, will not develop. In darkness the plant withers. Try to rear a plant in darkness, and no amount of heat, air, or moistiure (the other vital agencies) will stimulate it to the processes of real growth. Deprived of light, it is deprived of food, and the possibility of food. It then lives entirely on its own substance, like a starving animal ; the store of food which was in the seed is used up, but no new LIGHT A VITAL AGENCY. 245 food can be assimilated from witliout. Nay, if the experiment be carefully conducted, you will find that your plant in darkness, in spite of appareiit growth, has really lost some of its substance, instead of increas- ing it ; weighing less, when dried, than the dry seed from which it issued. Science has proved that it is in light, and in light alone, that plants deoxidise carbonic acid — setting free the oxygen, which can then be breathed by animals, and in thus setting free the oxy- gen, releasing the carbon, which nourishes the tissues of the plant. It was thought (and is still printed in many text-books) that the green parts caused the lib- eration of oxygen in light ; but Mulder corrects this, saying that the parts do not liberate the oxygen be- cause they are green, but become green in the process.'" Eear the plant in darkness, and its leaves will be pale ; bring it into sunlight, and these pale leaves instantly decompose carbonic acid, and assume a green tint. The history of our knowledge of the relation be- tween lio'ht and oro-anisation is soon told. It was not CD O suspected until 1771, when Priestley discovered that the plant gave out an air which was capable of main- tainino; combustion. He allowed a burnino; candle to extinguish itself in a closed vessel, into which he sub- sequently introduced a living plant ; and in ten days this plant had so altered the condition of the contained air, that the candle once more ignited in it. Many * Mulder: Versuch einer Physiol. Chemie, 1851. A translation of this valuable work was published under the auspices of the late Pro- fessor Johnston. 246 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. a schoolboy can now explain this, which was then a splendid discover}^, and opened the path whereon, three years later, Priestley laid a fonndation-stone of modern chemistry. Progress in science is at times unaccountably slow. For fifteen years had Europe been acquainted with the fact that growing plants set free " oxygen," as we call it ; but no further step was taken, till Ingen- houss showed that this oxygen could only be developed by plants vjhen in sunlight. Neither he, nor any one else, suspected whence came this oxygen ; that was a mystery for another ten years, when Sennebier's work* gave to science the simple and pregnant fact, that sun- light enables the leaf to liberate oxygen from the car- bonic acid of the air. He proved that sun-heat alone would not suffice; sunliajht was the ao-ent at work. Living physiologists have even separated the particular ray of sunlight which exerts the intensest effect. Pro- fessor Draper was the first to show this. In his recent work he says : " Since the sunlight is composed of many diflTereutly coloured rays, and difi"erent principles, it becomes an interesting inquiry which of these is the immediate airent in ministerino; to the nutrition of plants. In 1843, by causing plants to efi'ect the de- composition of carbonic acid in the prismatic spectrum, I found that the yellow is by far the most eff"ective, the relative power of the various colours being as fol- lows: yellow, green, orauge, red, blue, indigo, violet. My experiments on the production of hydrochloric acid * Sennebier : Sar t Influence de la Lumiere solaire jwur metamor- liliosertAirfixeeiiAirjmrparla Vefjetation. 1783. HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY. 247 by the direct union of clilorine and hydrogen under the influence of light, both solar and artificial, conclu- sively establish the fact that the primary condition essential for the chemical action of light is the absorp- tion of some j^articular ray. If the physical condition of substances otherwise easily decomposable is such that they transmit light without absorbing any, no chemical chano'e ensues in them, and the same in cases of com- binatiou. Thus oxygen and hydrogen cannot be made to unite, even by the most intense radiation, because neither of them exerts any absorptive action ; but chlorine and hydrogen unite with energy, because the chlorine absorbs the indigo ray." * Such has been the history of this partial withdrawal of the veil which hides the mysterious connection of light with life. And now, reader, as you ramble through the cornfields, and see the shadows running over them, remember that every wandering cloud which floats in the blue deep, retards the vital activity of every plant on which its shadows fall. Look on all flowers, fruits, and leaves as air- woven children of the light, f Learn to look at the sun with other eyes, and not to think of it as remote in space, but nearly and momentarily con- nected with us and all living things. Astronomy may measure the mighty distance which separates us from that blazing pivot of life ; but Biology throw^s a lumin- ous arch, w^hich spans those millions upon millions of * Draper : Human Physiology : 1856, p. 461. f " Blumen, Blatter, Friichte, sind also aus Luft gewebte Kinder des Lichts." — MoLESCHOTT : Licht und Leben : 1856, p. 29. 248 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. miles, and brings us and the sun together. Far away blazes that great centre of force, from which issues the mystic influence, " striking the electric chain wherewith we're darkly bound." For myriads and myriads of years has this radiation ol force gone on ; and now stored-up force lies quiescent in coalfields of vast extent, which was once all pure sunlight, hurrying through the silent air, passing into primeval forests, before man was made, and now lying black, quiet, slumbering, but ready to awaken into blaz- ing activity at the bidding of human skill. From light the coalfields came, to light they return. From light come the prairies and meadow -lands, the heathery moors, the reedy swamps, the solemn forests, and the smiling cornfields, orchards, gardens; all are air-woven children of light. Not less indisjDensable is light to animals — first, as furnishing them with plants on which to feed ; secondly, as furnishing them with oxygen to breathe ; and, thirdly, as stimulating in some unexplained manner the organic processes. Light afi'ects the respiration of animals, just as it affects the respiration of plants. This is novel doctrine, but it is demonstrable. In the daytime we expire more carbonic acid than during the night; a fact long known to physiologists, who explain it as the efiect of sleep ; but tlie difference is mainly owing to the pre- sence or absence of sunlight ; for sleep, as * sleep, in- creases, instead of diminishing, the amomit of carbonic acid expired, and a man sleeping will expire more car- bonic acid than if he lies quietly awake under the same EFFECT OF LIGHT ON THE ORGANISM. 249 conditions of liglit and temperature: so that if less is expired during night than during the day, the reason cannot be sleep, but the absence of light.* Now, we understand why men are sickly and stunted who live in narrow streets, alleys, and cellars, compared with those who, under similar conditions of poverty and dirt, live in the sunlight. And to give a solid basis to such views, we have Moleschott's striking experiments, which prove that under precisely similar conditions of warmth, age, size, food, &c., the single variation in the condition of light produces an equivalent and constant variation in the amount of carbonic acid expired. In bright sunlight as much as one-fifth more carbonic acid was expired than in feeble light.-f- And have not all farmers and cattle-breeders unconsciously paid tribute to this principle, by keeping their animals in the dark to fatten them ? Returning from this wide-sweeping excursion to the point from which we started, namely, the love of dark- ness manifested by our animals, the question arises. How can the paradox be reconciled ? One might ven- ture on an hypothesis, were but the facts a little less refractory : when, however, we see one kind of Anemone flaunting in the light, and another creeping under a stone ; when we see the Crab impatient of the day, and the Prawn swimming gaily in the brilliant pool ; when * MoLESCHOTT, Liclit UTid Lehen, p. 22, citing the experiments of Booker. + See his Untersiichungen zur Nahirlelire des Menschen ^l. d. Thiere, i. 12. Also his Memoir e in the Annales des Sciences, 185G. 250 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. we see the Mussel fixing himself by his byssiis to the rock exposed to noonday suns, and another bivalve boring his way into that rock, secure from the " garish babbling day ; " when, in short, we see no constancy or parallelism in the facts, explanation becomes difficult. Let us be ignorant ! Let us acquiesce in mysteries (when we cannot penetrate them), nor vex with noisy questionings the imperturbable reserve of Natm-e ; remembering the words of the poet, that " fools rush in where gentlemen acquainted tvith zoology fear to tread." For those who enjoy mysteries and paradoxes there can be no lack of such enjoyment here. We walk amid surprises. Only ignorance keeps us from per- petual wonderment ; as we lift each corner of the veil, more and more marvellous are the vistas which reveal themselves. My vivarium is as pretty a little world of wonders as a speculative man may need. In this small vase behold two serpent-like fish, with the heads of greyhounds. That fish is named Syngnathus by naturalists ; " pipe-fish " by less erudite tongues. — (Plate VL, fig. 1.) You see nothing remarkable in it, either" as to beauty or eccentricity, and wonder why it has a place among my pets. Listen. When a Basque woman becomes a happy mother, her husband straight- way takes to his bed, and lies there in receipt of caudle and congratulations. Mrs Gamp waits on him ; while the wife pursues her household avocations. To him flock village gossips, copious no doubt in " experiences." He does the "lying-in" with all pomp and circumstance. AN INCUBATING FISH. 251 Well, our pipe-fisli is a Basque in this respect. Strange as it may sound to hear of a fish incubating like a domestic hen, it sounds still funnier to hear that the male fish performs that office, and he alone. How does he manage it ? Kemove that gentleman from under the sheltering stone, and you will observe a sort of marsupial pouch formed along his ventral surface, in which lie an immense mass of eggs in two layers of four strands, which completely fill the pouch. Each egg, you observe, is divided into two tolerably equal portions, one half being of a brilliant scarlet, the other opaque white ; and occasionally you may observe the scarlet portion divided into two. A pretty sight, is it not ? Kemove the eggs, and you will find that the pouch is a mere fold of the integument, and that the eggs are as much outside the body as those of a hen are, in the nest. So that the male fish does veritably incubate ; and I hope the Syngnathiis from this day forward will have an interest for you. Indeed, the fish-worl'd presents us with many ano- malies, which press heavily on our generalisations, and make us relinquish them one by one. As a sample, let us consider this plausible passage, wherein maternal emotions are constructed out of animal heat : " Still more remarkable is the effect of a mere exaltation of animal heat upon the instincts and affections of the different races of the Vertebrata. The fishes absolutely unable to assist in the maturation of their offspring, are content to cast their spawn into the water, and remain utterly careless of the progeny to be derived 252 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. from it. The reptile, equally incapable of appreciating the pleasures connected with maternal care, is content to leave her eggs exposed to the genial warmth of the sun until the included young escape. But no sooner does the vital heat of the parent become sufficient for the purpose designed by Nature, than all the sympa- thies of parental fondness become developed." * This is a very plausible generalisation ; but there are facts which peremptorily contradict it. On the one hand, there are cold-blooded vertebrates — fishes, such as the Hassar, Goramy, Stickleback, Lepidogaster, and Syn- gnathus — which make nests, or sit on their eggs. On the other hand, there are warm-blooded vertebrates — birds, such as the cuckoo and American cowbird, which, utterly regardless of maternal delights, leave their eggs to be hatched by other birds. The fishes contradict our generalisations on many other topics ; and a very curious passage in Natural History might be written by any one who should take the trouble to collect and group together what may be called fish-paradoxes. Thus there are fish that fly ; fish that climb {Percha scandens) ; fish that hop, like frogs, using their fins as veritable legs {Lophius) ; fish that ruminate (the carp) ; fish that discharge electricity in sufficient intensity to decompose water ; fish that migrate ; fish that make nests ; fish that in- cubate ; and fish that bring forth their young alive. Fish that sing have not yet been heard, but that some of them make an approach to vocal performances * Rymer Jones, General Outline of the Animal Kingdom, p. 615. FISH PARADOXES. 253 by emitting tones, was known to Aristotle, who speci- fies six different kinds ; and Johannes von Miiller has recently collected the literature of this subject in an interesting essay,* in which, after giving his own ob- servations, he explains the mechanism by which the sounds are produced. To these, recent researches have added facts even more amazing to the systematic mind, namely, that there are fish which normally are double-sexed ; and at least one species which undergoes metamorplioses similar to the metamorphoses of reptiles. -|- But we must not linger over the fish, when so many other animals call for notice. The Actiniae distributed among these vases and pie-dishes will convey some idea of the wealth of Scilly in such creatures. Here are Gems and Daisies, Antheas and the lovely " orange- disked," by Gosse named Venusta. The Crassicornis, you observe, is represented in every variety of splen- dour. Here is one with a rich green body and white tentacles; here another with dark -red body and bufi" tentacles ; a fourth presents his scarlet beauty to our gaze ; a fifth is ravishing with carnation tentacles barred with white. Here is a tiny Actinia nivea. Here are three of a species new to me. They stand an inch and a half in height, with a tendency to elon- gate themselves still further. They have but one row * Muller's Archiv fur Anat. u. Phi/s. : 1857, p. 249. f For the first of these, see the researches of M. Dufosse in the Annales des Sciences Naiurelles, 1857 ; for the metamorphosis of the Ammocete into the Lamprey, see Miiller s Archiv fur Anat. v,, Phys. : 1856, p. 323. 254 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. of tentacles, not retractile ; and their white bodies are encircled with rows of reddish spots, some small, others much larger, the latter surrounded with a ring of white. The colour of their tentacles is dark green, spotted with brown. They most resemble the Anemone which is found, I believe, in Weymouth Bay, of which I have one exquisite specimen — translucent white spotted with red, the spots crowding towards the base ; the tentacles pure white, with a brilliant apple- green streak running down on either side, and passing over the oral disc to the delicate pink mouth. Here is another novelty, in size about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, the body delicate French grey with white strips, and tentacles of pure white. And here is that lovely Lamp-Polype, Lucernaria, with its little knobbed tentacles contracting and expanding. Let us pass with a mere glance at those Eolids, old acquaintances, and at that solitary Ascidian, passing his existence in the somewhat monotonous opening and shutting of his two orifices (the only visible sign of life he gives), to pause for a moment over the Echinoderms. There a Goniaster is clinging to a bit of stone ; and there two Comatulm (Plate VI., fig. 2) expand tlieir feathery charms; a single Sea-ui^chin crawls up the side of the dish, and a lovely Brittle-star wrio^o^les at the bottom. To look at this brittle-star you would never imagine how sensitively alive he is to insult. Place but a finger on him, and he breaks up his dishonoured body into fragments before your eyes. He thinks no more of throwing away his legs and arms, than a young lord in London thinks of SUICIDAL STARFISH. 255 squandering his acres. The late Edward Forbes has left a humorous account of his hopeless endea- vours to secure a rare species {Luidia fragilissi- ma) in an entire condition. To understand his account, you must know that most marine animals expire immediately on being thrown into fresh water ; and you must further be informed that the pig- ment spec at the end of each arm, or leg, is the ex- tremely hypothetical " eye" of the starfish. Forbes was ready with his bucket, and, " as I expected,'' he says, " a Luidia came up — a most gorgeous speci- men. As it does not generally break up before it is raised above the surface of the sea, cautiously and anxiously I sank my bucket to a level with the dredge's mouth, and proceeded in the most gentle manner to introduce Luidia to the purer element. Whether the cold water was too much for him, or the sight of the bucket too terrific, I know not, but in a moment he proceeded to dissolve his corporation, and at every mesh of the dredge his fragments were seen escaping. In despair I grasped at the largest, and brought up the extremity of an arm with its terminating eye, the spinous eyelid of which opened and closed with some- thing exceedingly like a wink of derision." Quitting the Starfishes, let me call attention to those pretty Cowries and the naked Molluscs : — Are not those two Actceons, green, with speckles of gold, attractive? I have nothing to tell you about them, however, not having dissected one, nor submitted it to any more rigorous investigation than a casual glance of admiration. Of that magnificent Doris tubercidata, 256 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. I may have to speak hereafter ; meanwhile let us ad- mire the various colours of its cloak, and the delicate beauty of its frilled branchiae, for there is nothing in its general demeanour to admire. It has no pretty ways to captivate our hearts — a mere drawing-room beauty, large, lazy, lymphatic, and unintellectual. This other Doris has not even brilliant colours to attract notice : a dirty white cloak is thrown over its person, which, except the delicate gill-tuft, has really nothing to boast of. But as Falstaff consoled himself with the thought that his ragged troop were " mortal men, food for powder/' and as good for bullets as a troop of better men, so I estimate this Doris with an anatomi- cal eye, and find it worth attention. The Eolids are poorly represented here — only two, E. Papillosa and one E. Alba ; but there happen to be abundant speci- mens of the Fleurohranchus (see Plate VII., fig. 3), a naked mollusc of translucent buff colour, which on the rocks at first I mistook for a Doris, but found on in- spection could not be one ; and recourse to Wood- ward's MoUusca, and Gosse's Handbook, at length satisfied me of its title and position. This animal wears his gill drooping from his side, under the cloak, with the jauntiness of an ostrich feather drooping from the side of a lady's hat ; and instead of carrying his shell like a breastplate or backplate, he wears it beneath his skin, as timorous tyrants used to wear mail beneath their clothes. The Fleurobranchus was a novelty to me, and when the fisherman who accom- panied me, to turn over the stones, first pushed aside DANGERS OF FEES. 257 the stone under which it crawled, I expressed my en- thusiasm by at once promising him an enlarged fee — a most impolitic action on my part, and one which completely unsettled my companion's mind. From that moment he became a bore. Every animal I con- descended to bag, became the object of his loudest laudations, in the dim hope that somehow he might per- suade me I had secured a brilliant specimen, one caus- ing fresh overflows of generosity on my part. " Well, he be a beauty ! We arn't seen one like him before, I reckon? He's worth a sovereign, 111 bet a guinea!" This was the running accompaniment he kept up, as he handed me an Anemone or a bit of Sponge. The Sponges especially alternately excited and damped his hopes. He was constantly exclaiming " Oh 1 look here, then ! what be this?" and as constantly hearing, " Only a Sponge, Pat," which greatly moderated his ardour. One moment I thought he was going to per- suade me the Sponge was immensely valuable, but he digressed into safer admiration of the An5"»elids just captured. In fact, as I said, my outburst had been most impolitic, by rousing visions of El Dorado. From that moment his conversation pointed with fatiguing monotony in the one direction of extra fees. The next day I took another man, and we found more speci- mens of the Pleurohranchus than I had room for. A dozen were brought home ; and as — to judge from all the works accessible in Scilly — the anatomy of this mollusc has not been studied since Meckel described it, these dozen specimens will afi'ord me ample means E 258 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. of investigation : meanwhile, the account given by Professor Owen of the digestive organs is sufficiently curious to be quoted. The animal has four separate stomachs : " The first, which is membranous, receives the bile by a large orifice placed near its connection with the second digestive cavity, which is smaller and more muscular ; to this succeeds a third, the sides of which are gathered into broad longitudinal lamellae, precisely similar to those of a ruminant ; and to ren- der the analogy still more perfect, a groove is found running along the walls of the second cavity from one orifice to the other, apparently subservient to rumi- nation. The fourth stomach is thin, and its walls smooth.'' " A mollusc equipped with the ruminating series of stomachs, is paradoxical enough ; but what shall we say to this ruminating Mollusc when we find him not to be a vegetable feeder ? One of these Pleurobranchi is restins; on a whelk- shell inhabited by our friend the Hermit-crab, of whose habits we learned something at p. 49. I did not then know that the fine old naturalist Swammerdamm had argued, and very ingeniously too, against the belief that this crab inhabited the shell of another animal, which he calls a fable, and which on anatomical grounds he endeavours to disprove, declaring our friend to be a Crab-Snail."|- Although he was unquestionably wrong in this, he was right enough in laughing at Aristotle and ^lian for asserting that the crab lived with the mol- * Owen : Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, p. 558. t Swammerdamm : Bihel der Natur, p. 64, et seq. DEVELOPMENT OF EOLIDS. 259 lusc, and undertook the office of finding food for both. Passmg from the region of vases and pie-dishes, let us enter that of wide-mouthed bottles, not so attrac- tive to the imlearned eye, but full of j^romise to the mind which sees there Polypes, Polyzoa, and ova. For these we want the microscope, one of those "■ intellec- tual tubes which give thee a glance of things that visive organs reach not ; " '"' and many a blissful hour may we spend over its revelations. We may hear, indeed, that our perplexed vassal reports us as spending the day " a-squinting through a glass ; " but her sar- casm is harmless, and the revelations are thrillino-. What can be more interestino- than to watch the beo-in- nings of Life, to trace the gradual evolution of an animal from a mass of cells, each stage in the evolution present- ing not only its own characteristics, but those marks of affinity with other animals which make the whole world kin ? To watch the formation of blood-vessels, to see the heart first begin its tremulous pulsations, to note how Life is, from the first, one incessant struggle and progress — these keep us with fascinated pertinacity at our study. Among other things, I have watched the develop- ment of the Eolis and Doris with great interest ; not the less so from the fact that, in spite of the marked difi'erences between the developed animals, their course of development is so indistinguishably similar. On the rocks, or on the side of your vases, you may see a long coil of spawn, looking like delicate pearl beads enveloped * Sir Thomas Browne. 2G0 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. in a perfectly traiisi^arent membrane. The first thing which will surprise you, on commencing the investiga- tion, is that the division of the yolk-mass is unlike that of most other eggs. In the first 2:)lace, it is not s^^m- metrical ; in the next place, it is not always the same. Sometimes the division occurs in two unequal halves ;* sometimes in three, or even four, unequal parts.-f I have even counted five. The germ-mass may develo]^ into one, two, three, or even six embryos, \ all of which are seen slowly rotating in the same envelope ; and besides these, there may generally be seen various masses of granules rotating with them, or driven about within the envelope — which are probably fragments of the germ-grass insuificient to form a separate embryo. This multiplication of individuals from one egg, this production of twins, or tii'plings, is a constant fact, and may help the general question of twin births. Very curious it is to watch the increasing activity of the little embryos. At first their rotation is scarcely per- ceptible ; after a while the long cilia protruding from * In the ova of an Actceon, which spawned in my vase, I observed the same want of symmetry ; the yolk-mass divided in each case into two unequal halves. f Conip. VoGT : Annales des Sciences, 1846. I. 24. X I hesitated to record in the text what I found in my Teiiby note- book ; namely, that these embryos sometimes amount to as many as six in one chorion, because as the observation was made when I was comparatively new to the subject, and differed from what is said by others, I thought it possible some error of interpretation might have occurred. I have since satisfied myself that my original note was ac- curate, and I have at this moment a coil of Aplysia eggs in process of development, in some of which there are six, seven, and even eight em- bryos actively rotating in each chorion. SHELLS OF MOLLUSCS. 261 the shell are seen to wave with more vigour, and the animal moves quickly. Just before emerging from its crystal envelojDe, the rapidity of its motion is very great; and a wondrous spectacle it is to behold many hundreds of them whirling and whirling about till they escape into the water, where they swim to and fro like crowds of tiny Nautili disporting themselves on the ocean. The mention of Nautili reminds me that these young molluscs, which are without vestige of a shell in their mature stage, are all provided with a good- sized shell in their embryonic stage. According to the principles of Agassiz and others, which would make embryology the principal guide in zoological classification, this transitory presence of the shell would imply that the naked molluscs were higher in organisation than molluscs with shells. This conclusion will not, I think, be accepted. But the fact that the embryo has a shell, of which it is subsequently destitute, is interesting in the speculations it suggests, and will one day, doubt- less, receive its due place in science. Curious it is to think of the huge shell of the Whelk or Limpet fading off into the small shell-plate concealed beneath the skin of the Sea-hare and the Pleurohranchus, and disap- pearing altogether from the Doris and Eolis. Yet perhaps not altogether disappearing ; for may not those spiculse which are so abundant in the integument of the Doris represent the shell in a rudimentary condi- tion ? I say " represent," meaning thereby that the spicul?e are the analogous product of secretion, not the homologous " skeleton ; " for although these spicula? 262 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. i may stiffen the integument^ and in so far fulfil a pro- tective office, I find tliem in other places — for example, in the membrane which lies next the " brain/' To discover a new animal is surely a legitimate pride. We are pleased if among sand-numerous " varieties " we can alight upon even a new variety, and affix our names to it ; but a new animal — something no prying zoologist has ever seen the like of before, something no " plodding German " has described, somethmg we can call our own, and having given it a Greek name, write with modest glory milii after it, instead of Linnseus, Cuvier or Owen — is not that a pleasure and a pride ? But you must be very circumspect, or you will find, as I did, after long examination and some parental pride, that some " plodding German " has been before you. One day looking down ujijon a tuft of red sea-weed (Poli/siphonia), on which were clustered several speci- mens of Lagenella repens (one of the Ciliobrachiate Polyzoa, so thoroughly investigated by Dr Arthur Farre and Van Beneden),* I observed a quantity of tiny cups in motion. On removino- a bit of weed to the stag-e of the microscope, I fancied these cups to belong to a new Ascidian ; but many examinations gradually dispelled this notion, and left me completely puzzled. I ran- sacked my books in the vain effort of identification, and began to think the animal before me was a novelty. * Farre : Ohsei'vaiions on the Minute Structure of some of the higher forms of Polypi. (Philosophical Transactions, Part II., for 1837.) Van Beneden : Histoire Naturelle des Polypes Composes d!eau douce. 1850. J THE PEDICELLINA. 263 This suspicion grew into a conviction ; and, after bestow- ing a proper Greek name on it, I made several j^repa- rations to show admiring friends. The animal springs from a creeping stem, and stands about the tenth of an inch in heia'ht, or less. Each individual is comiected with every other by this creeping stem, and consists of a vase-shaped body, or cup, supported on a stalk. When the animal is fidly expanded, it unrolls the edge of its cup into a circle of twelve or fourteen ciliated tentacles, curled downwards like the young fern-leaf, or like the handle of a Greek vase. These tentacles are, as I said, cut out of the edge of the cup, not enclosed in the cup, like those of a polype. The alimentary canal is a long convoluted tube ; the cavity is lined with cilia, and at the bottom there is a mass of yellowish granules (hepatic cells ?) and occasionally the food may be observed rotat- ing, as if on an axis. Some weeks after convincing myself the animal was new, I dredged between the coasts of Jersey and Brit- tany a small Pecten, on the shell of which, besides other animals, there was my new friend in great activity, and of much larger size than the one got at Scilly. It was then I learned that my friend had abeady been described — that, in short, it was the Pedicellina of Sars, or at any rate differed therefrom only in such unimportant particulars (such as the retractility of the tentacles) as would at the most constitute a distinction of species. I made this out by studying the develop- ment of the animal. In Owen's Lectures there is a diagram of the embryonic phases of Pedicellina, and 264 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. some of these were what I had already drawn from my own animal. One fact, however, is worth mentioning, because, as far as I can ascertain, it is not known ; namely, that the Pedicellina is viviparous, as well as oviparous and gemmiparous. While examining a cluster of them, I saw something protruding from the mouth ; presently another something rose beside it. I watched anxiously, with a certain flutter. I sus- pected they were embryos. Slowly they emerged, and the suspicion grew stronger and stronger, till finally three ciliated embryos, in the stages of development indicated at figs. 7 and 8 in the diagram,"" swam away in the water. There could no longer be any doubt that my Scilly animal was a species of Pedicellina ; but I had the compensation of having found, instead of a new anunal, a new fact with respect to its gener- ation. This has been narrated as an illustration of the cau- tion necessary before announcing new genera and spe- cies to the world, and needlessly encumbering the already unrememberable lists of names. I was also interested by the puzzlement into which I was thrown as to the classification of my new animal (when it was thought to be new). Indeed, the assignment of animals to their proper places in systematic classification will continue to be the work of much unsuccessful ingenuity, until more rigorous and philosophical principles of classification be adopted. That present classifications are only pro- * Owen : Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, p. 152. A PUZZLE TO ZOOLOGISTS. 265 visional, will scarcely be denied. They have not the stable basis which can make future researches the simple extension and application of existing principles. A new method is inevitable ; but we may be years before it is promulgated. An instructive example of our inability to apply the present Method, otherwise than in a provisional way, is afforded by that puzzle to zoologists, the Sagitta hipunctata (Plate V., fig. 1.) Nobody knows where to place it. In aspect it is fish- like ; in some structural peculiarities it is fish-like ; in others "xi> xo molluscan ; in more it is annulose. Siebold classes it Avith mollusca ; Huxley and Krohn, with the annulosa, the former pointing out that " it presents equally strong affinities with the four principal groups — 1. The Nematoid worms; 2, The Annelida ; 3. The Lernaean Crustacea ; 4. The Arachnida."'"' Place it where we will, the animal is very interest- ing, either when darting about in a glass vase flapping the water with its tail, and fixing itself to the side of the glass (using the vent as a sucker ?), or seen on the microscope stage, where its extraordinary transpa- rency obliges a liberal use of " stops." It is then seen to have a head with a formidable set of hooks (which, however, do not seem to fulfil the office of jaws), and two large eyes. The narrow body is divided into two equal lengths (in my specimens this was so ; in the figures published by Mr Busk and Mr Gosse the an- terior portion is considerably the larger) ; in the upper half lies the straight alimentary canal, terminating in * Report of British Association, 1851. Sections, p. 78. 266 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. a ciliated orifice ; on either side of the canal lie the ova ; in the lower half, which is longitudinally divided by a septum, the whole cavities are filled with granules of various sizes, moving, by a scarcely perceptible progress, round and round, like food in the stomach ; and these granules prove to be the spermatozoa which issue from the two orifices near the caudal expansion. My species, which I have christened Sagitta Mariana, is about the quarter of an inch in length, and differs in several points from the species described and figured by Mr Gosse in his Tenhy and Handbook, and by Mr Busk in the Microscopical Journal.^ For instance, it has no anterior fins ; and the posterior fins, which arise near the oviducts, are continuous with the caudal fin, into which they expand ; that is to say, it has really but one fin on each side, with a caudal expan- sion. Another peculiarity worthy of notice is, that, in consequence of this union of the lateral and caudal fins, the orifices through which issue the spermatozoa, instead of opening directly in the integument of the body, are openings in the fin itself ; as I have con- vinced myself by repeated examination — a cu^cum- stance which leads us to suspect that the "fin" is only a membranous expansion of the integument, and not properly a fin. Other details, not mentioned, and therefore, I presume, not present in the specimens previously described, but which were constant in those found at Scilly, are the double band of light yellow * October 1855. In this paper the reader will find a summary of all that was then known on the subject. EELATION OF RESPIRATION TO CIRCULATION. 267 granules forming three sides of a parallelogram about the oesophagus, and two dark-brown irregular masses above each oviduct. The hairs, or spines, are distri- buted over the fins as well as over the body — an arrangement which has been noticed by Khron, who denies that they are setw at all, considering them to be merely epidermic processes. On what grounds he so considers them, I am not informed ; but I entirely concur with him, because I find these supposed setw very rapidly undergo decomposition, which would not be the case were they inorganic hairs or spiculse. Let me conclude these perhaps dry details with the re- mark that the delicate layer of epidermis, composed of rounded cells — the existence of which Krohn first dis- puted and then admitted — was visible in my speci- mens, although I mistook it for scales or scaly epithe- lium ; and that I can confirm Huxley's statement of the existence of a ciliated oviduct in the external part of the ovary, if the statement of so accomplished a zootomist needs confirmation. But the point of all others which in this interest- ing Sagitta excited my interest was one I have not seen noticed by others, namely, the entire absence of any vascular system. Here is an animal with a nervous system of some importance (see Prof Huxley's diagram in the Microscopical Journal) with eyes, if no other organs of sense, and with muscular fibres of the striped kind ; yet in spite of such characteristics of high organisation, it is totally without " blood, " without a trace of a vascular apparatus. So striking 268 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. a f)aradox necessarily fixed my thoughts for some time, till at length light seemed to break in obliquely from some investigations pursued respecting the rela- tion of the blood to Eespiration. These investigations are not yet sufficiently advanced for publication, but they point unequivocally to the fact, that in the animal series there is a definite relation existing between the develojwient of the vascular and respiratory systems, the specialisation of the one following the specialisa- tion of the other."' Seen by this light, the Sagitta ceases to be paradoxical ; its respnation is performed by the whole surface, without the need of any special organ such as gill or lungs, and this absence of a respiratory ap23aratus carries away with it the need of a vascular apparatus. No Eespiration, no Circulation : the one necessity creates the other. If the Sagitta is without a vascular system, it must consequently be without blood. Even so. Without " blood " it is, unless we extend the term " blood '' to every fluid fulfilling the office of a nutrient fluid ; an extension not only obliterating the whole purport of exact language in science, but finally reducing us to the state of the Irishman who saw in a lake " all the materials for punch — barring the whisky and the sugar and the lemons ; " since when we descend to the sim- plest forms of organisation, we reach a nutritive fluid which is water, and nothing more. Dr Thomas Wil- liams, to whose researches on the blood we owe * Compare on this point Bergmann ti. Leuckaet : Vergleichende Anatomic, p. 170. THE CHYL AQUEOUS FLUID. 269 grateful acknowledgment, considers tliat in the Ecliino- derniata the blood-proper first makes its appearance ; below that point there is no blood, but only chyl- aqueous fluid ; and even for several stages higher, this chylaqueous fluid continues to hold its place beside the true blood ; so that a worm, for instance, has two fluids — blood, circulating in a system of closed vessels, and chylaqueous fluid oscillating in the general cavity out- side the vessels.* It is indispensable, in philosophic zoology, to dis- criminate between hlood, a fluid of definite constitution circulating in a system of vessels, and the chylaqueous fluid, formed of "water and the products of digestion, oscillating in the general cavity. But my investiga- tions lead to a still further reduction of this latter fluid ; and instead of saying, with Dr Williams, that the simplest condition of a nutrive fluid is a " very dilute solution of albumen in sea water,'' f I am forced by facts to say that lower even than this is the earliest state of the nutritive fluid : namely, sea water carrying certain gases and organic particles, but without deflnite chyle-corpuscles, such as Dr WilKams figures — without even albumen in solution, at least as a constant ele- ment. This is the case with all the Sponges. They simply suck in sea water and expel it. The reader will, however, learn with surprise that this also is the case with the far more highly organised Actinice ; a * See page 71. t See his paper on "The Blood" in the Brit, and For. Med. Rev., Oct. 1853, p. 4S0. 270 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. fact which, when coupled with what was said in the preceding chapter respecting the non-digestive powers of these animals, may lead to many interesting specu- lations. If you have ever kept Sea- Anemones, or have even paid casual attention to them in the vases of your friends, you must have noticed their remarkable varia- tions in size. The Crassicornis which excited your cupidity by his magnificent proportions, as the eye first beheld him in the rock-pool, has collapsed to a fourth of the size before you have chiselled him off ; and in coUa]3sing he squirted continuous streams of water from his pores and tentacle-tips."'' That Gem, which an hour ago was expanded to the height of an inch, is now a mere button. The ordinary explanation of this phenomenon is that the animal swells itself with water, which it violently ejects on being " irri- tated '' or " alarmed/' But as we are just now looking with scientific seriousness at our animals, we will dis- card all anthropomorphic interpretations, like those which point to " alarm," because they not only confuse the question, but lead to awkward issues ; among others, that the Anemones have highly susceptible souls, as liable to emotions of alarm as a fine lady. When they are in undisturbed quiescence in pool or tank, the same ejection of the water takes place, only mth less rapidity. Their normal condition is that of * Those anatomists who still deny the existence of openings at the tips of the tentacles, need only ''irritate" a Crassicornis to be convinced of the fact. THE BLOOD OF ANEMONES. 271 constcantly sucking in and pouring out sea water, for on this mainly depends their nutrition. Keep one in a vase, without feeding it, without even suffering visible food to float in the water, and it will nevertheless feed and flourish simply by this absorption of water, which contains gases and invisible organic particles. I had three Daisies in a vase for nine weeks, during which time they were entirely without food, except such as the water held in solution. They were as healthy and active all the time as any others, and I believed they would have continued so to the end of the chapter. The experiment is worth trying. Far as this is from the notions current respecting the nutrition of Anemones, it is easily demonstrable. In the preceding chapter I showed that the supposed " digestion " of the Anemone was confined to the pressing out of the juices, and the rendering soluble, by maceration, of organic substance ; I have now to show that this animal is not only without "blood," in any proper sense of the term, but also without that simpler forai of blood named " chylaqueous fluid " by Dr Williams and succeeding writers. This will probably startle the reader, especially if he happen to have seen the writings of Dr Williams, who actually figures the chyle-corpuscles of the Ac- tinise, and declares that the fluid gives an albuminous reaction. But with the highest respect for that ob- server, repeated investigations, which have subsequently been confirmed by the well-known zoologist, Mr R Q. Couch, compel me to declare that no such fluid circu- 272 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. lates in the Actinia — an assertion wliich can readily be tested. The water is easily forced out of the ten- tacles, or collected by cutting open the Actiniae in a glass. Evaporate it, and you will find it to be sea water, holding sometimes organic particles in solution. Test it with concentrated nitric acid, and instead of becoming turbid, as it would if it contained albumen in solution, it remains unaltered, except that, when organic particles are present, they become distinct. Examine the fluid with the microscope, and you will find animalculse and various particles, but nothing like definite corpuscles, such as are visible in the true chylaqueous fluid. It is, in short, sea water and no- tiling more. Eeeling that in thus opposing the positive state- ments of an accomplished zoologist like Dr Williams, I might very possibly be under some error of observa- tion, or interpretation, I requested Mr R. Q. Couch to repeat the investigation, that I might either be cor- rected or confirmed. He very kindly undertook the task, and thus wrote : " I took two specimens of the spotted Mesemhryanthemum, and forced the water from the tentacula, and found, under the microscope of 300 linear, numerous infusorial creatures rapidly moving about. On treating this with nitric acid, I had a slight opalescent deposit, or rather a diffused milky cloud of very slight character. The next day I obtained several from our rocks, and again forcing the water out, I obtained two specimens of a microscopic nudibranchi- ate mollusc, and other creatui'es of similar character." THE BLOOD OF ANEMONES. 273 I may observe that the slight milky cloud here spoken of occurred once, and only once, in my exam- inations, showing it therefore to arise from an acci- dental, not a constant element. " A third and a fourth experiment," continues Mr Couch, " was made on others taken from our rocks in a contracted state, and con- sequently empty. I placed them in sea water, which I had repeatedly filtered through sand, and afterwards cloth. In this they remained till to-day, when, taking them in an expanded state, I put them to drain in a small glass dish. In this I could discover nothing organic, and it gave no cloudiness by nitric acid. As these experiments are quite in accordance with others made some years since as regards their results, I regard this fluid as merely sea water free from every admixture of secreted matter.'' Nothing can be more explicit, however startling the result. In the presence of such evidence, one is amazed to re-read Dr Williams when he says : " The surround- ing water enters the stomach, where it briefly sojourns, then passes through the opening at the bottom of the great cavity of the body : in this cavity it remains for a variable period ; it now injects the tentacles. Cor- puscles now arise in the fluid; it becomes thicker in consistence through increase of albumen : it is no longer pure lifeless sea-water; it is a corpusculated chylaqueous fluid : it is competent to serve the ends of nutrition. Whence do the floating cells proceed ?— what produces them? Certainly no solid organ; neither liver nor spleen can in this case interpose its agency. Then, is S 274 SEA- SIDE STUDIES. it possible that there can inhere in albumen a mysterious histomorphotic power in virtue of which it transmutes itself from the liquid into the solid condition ? This were only a mode of enouncing the theory of sponta- neous generation."* All these questions are super- fluous, since the fact is imaginary ; an albuminous corpusculated fluid does not circulate in the cavity of the Actiniae ; sea water, carrying whatever accident may have brought to it, is the " nutritive fluid'' of these animals. Dr Williams has, however, published drawings of the corpuscles discoverable in the fluid, and Schmarda, as I learn from Victor Carus,-|- declares that such corpuscles are constant. Can these statements be reconciled with what results from the experiments of ^Ir Couch and myself? They have the advantage of being positives against negatives, and must, one would think, have some truth in them. What is that truth ? This ques- tion, I confess, haunted me till an answer suggested itself One of my Daisies (A. Bellis) brought forth a round mass of fifteen young, agglomerated together in a ball : they were in diflerent stages of develo23ment, and being perfectly transparent, admitted of easy micro- scopic examination. In them spherical globules were distinctly visible, circulating by the action of the cilia lining the cavity; and with the globules an occasional animalcide. This w^as the case with all of them ; and * Loc. cit. p.. 483. 'I' Jahre&h&i-ickt uber die im Gebiete der Zootomie erschienenen A rbeiten, 1856, p. 25. THE BLOOD OF ANEMONES. 275 as the globules seemed most abundant in the youngest specimens, the idea occurred to me that Dr Williams had only examined the fluid of young Actinice, and had concluded that what was true of them was true of adults. This idea, however, grew less and less plausible on reflection. That a young animal should have a circu- latino' fluid hi2;her in character than the fluid of the adult, seemed unreasonable. While thus speculating, I observed a great irregularity in the size of the glob- ules ; sometimes they seemed united together in con- siderable masses. To pursue the investigation closer, I opened the cavity with a needle, and let out the fluid : to my surprise, these floating globules turned out to be no chyle-corpuscles, but the yellow spherical cells (?) abundant in the tentacles of the adult Daisy, and the tentacles of the Anthea, and which give the broT\aiish colouring to its body (see p. 165). What may be the function of these yellow spheres, I know not ; but it is certain they are not the corpuscles of a circulating fluid (they are stationary in the adult), although I must sup230se Dr Williams and Professor Schmarda have mistaken them for such, since no other definite glob- ules are discoverable ; and these circulate only in the young.* Parenthetically it may be mentioned, that in Profes- sor AUmann's recently published MonogTaph on the Fresh-iuater Polyzoa, the subject of the chylaqueous * In the Annals of Natural History, 1858, vol. i. p. 174, Mr GosSE has published observations in support of Dr Willl\ms's opinion, but his observations seem to me wanting in the requisite fulness and rigour. 276 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. fluid is thus noticed : " It is by no means homogeneous, and numerous corpuscles of very various and irregular shape may be observed to float through it and be car- ried about by its current. Some of these corpuscles are, doubtless, spermatozoa ; others are of no definite shape, and look like minute portions of the tissues separated by laceration. If it be admitted, as I think it must be, that the perigastric fluid consists mainly of water which has obtained entrance from without, it then corresponds to a true aquiferous system subser- vient to a respiratory function. But it also, without doubt, receives certain products of digestion, which had transuded through the walls of the alimentary canal ; it thus connects itself with the digestive system. It is, moreover, the only representative of a sanguiferous cir- culation, for in the Polyzoa there is certainly no trace of a heart, nor can anything referable to a true vascular system be detected.''* Eeturning to the fluid in the cavity of the Anemones, we see the necessity of a cultivated caution in the acceptance of statements in matters so comj^lex as those of Biology. The respect justly due to Dr Williams as an investigator, has caused his views respecting the " blood series " to be accepted without verification. As I make it a rule to verify every one's statements, when they fall within my own investigations — believing Tvith Harvey " how unsafe and degenerate a thing it is to be tutored by other men's commentaries, without making * Allmann : Monograjih of Ihe Fresh-ioater Polyzoa. Published by the Ray Society, p. 23. FUNCTION OF THE CONVOLUTED BANDS. 277 tryal of the things themselves, especially since Nature's Book is so open and legible"* — I determined to do so with respect to this on the fluid of the Actiniae. The result has been seen. It throws a new difficulty in the way of rightly understanding the processes of Nutrition ; but it is a step towards a right understanding, because it removes an explanation which, seemingly true, masked the real process. It also gives the final blow to those gratuitous determinations of special " organs of secre- tion '' in the Actiniae in which zoologists have revelled. If there is no blood, there can be no secretions from the blood; and all attempts at fastening a secreting function on the "convoluted bands" may a priori be dismissed : I say a priori, because no one has yet attempted, by chemical tests, to prove the presence of bile, or urea, or any other product of secretion, in these organs ; and as, therefore, the function is assigned on a priori grounds, on those gi'ounds may it be dismissed. On closer inspection this conclusion becomes more imperative. The enormous mass of these convoluted bands, forming by far the largest organ in the body, forbids the idea of its function beino- that of secretino; urea. It is true that Bergmann and Leuckart suggest this to be their function ; so does M. Hollard ; and Victor Cams speaks with some decision on the point.-|- But I would ask these eminent writers how they recon- cile such a supposition with anatomical and physio- * Haryey : Exercitations concerning the Generation of Living Crea- tures. 1653. t V. Carus: System der thier. Jlorphologie, p. 148. 278 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. logical considerations? There are no vessels in the Actiniae which would convey the products of disinte- grated tissue to these secreting organs. If such products are thrown into the fluid of the general cavity, they will be got rid of as that fluid passes out of the body, with- out undergoing a preliminary secretion in the cells of these convoluted bands. Seeing the disposition of these bands, attached to the membrane called "Mesentery" (Plate III, figs. 2 and 3), on one side, and on the other floating free in the cavity, we detect no means by which the disintegrated products, urea, &c., could reach them. Moreover, the first step in organology must be to deter- mine whether the py^oduct of the organ is present, e. g. ova in ovaries, bile in liver, urea in kidneys, and so on ; and until chemical reagents have detected urea or bile in these convoluted bands, we may rest on the assurance that these bands are neither urinary nor biliary organs. To look for such special organs in so simple an organ- ism, seems to me like seeking for a circulating library in an Esquimaux village. The mention of a library carries my thoughts, by an easy transition, to our evening studies. When the labours of the day are over, the microscoj^e is put up, the work-table is quitted, and the delicious calm of candle-light invites us to quiet intercourse with one of the great spirits of the past, or one of their worthy successors in the present. It is well thus to refresh the mind with Literature. Contact with Nature, and her inexhaustible wealth, is apt to beget an impatience at man's achievements ; and there is danger of the mind GKEATNESS OF LITERATURE. 279 becoming so immersed in details, so strained to con- temjDlation of the physical glories of the universe, as to forget the higher grandeurs of the soul, the nobler beauties of the moral universe. From this danger we are saved by the thrill of a fine poem, the swelling sympathy with a noble thought, which flood the mind anew with a sense of man's greatness, and the greatness of his aspirations. It is not wise to dwarf Man by com- parisons with Nature ; only when he grows presump- tuous, may we teach him modesty by pointing to her grandeur. At other times it is well to keep before us om- hio-h callino' and our hioh estate. Literature, in its finest moods, does this. And when I think of the delight given by every true book to generations after generations, moulding souls and humanising savage impetuosities, exalting hopes and prompting noblest deeds, I vary the poet's phrase, and exclaiin — " An honest book's the noblest work of man ! " PART IV. JEESEY. CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE FROM SCILLT — JERSEY — SCHOOLBOY RECOLLECTIONS — CHOICE OP A SPOT — PREJUDICES AGAINST DISSECTION — ZOOLOGY OF JERSEY — TRAWLING — DIFFICULTIES OF IDENTIFICATION — A STRANGE ASCIDIAN — THE TADPOLE EMBRYO OF A MOLLUSC — A PARADOX — DEVELOPMENT OF MEDUSA FROM POLYPES — ALL ANI- MALS DO NOT COME FROM EGGS — REPRODUCTION OF THE HYDRA — HISTORY OF PARTHENOGENESIS — A DISCOVERY — ANIMALS PRODUCED FROM GERM-CELLS ONLY— STEENSTRUP'S THEORY — OWEN'S THEORY —A NEW THEORY — THE THREE FORMS OF REPRODUCTION : FISSI- PAROUS, GEMMIPAROUS, AND OVIPAROUS — WHAT IS PARTHENOGEN- ESIS ? Aftee seven weeks, tlie rocks of Scilly appeared to have seen enough of me. A residence so protracted astonished and fatigued them. They knew all my vary- ing moods, and one unvarying, not pictm-esque costume. Familiar with the ring of my hammer, as it chiselled with savage pertinacity at their granite ribs, they were not less familiar with the compass of my voice, and the extent of my operatic reminiscences, as, seduced by their solitudes, to the orchestral inspiration of their waves I loosened all the power of my lungs in lyrical fervour. For seven weeks had our intimacy lasted, and now there arose the conviction that the time for separation had arrived. Nothing new could possibly be learnt about me. Their curiosity was satisfied, if not satiated ; and 284 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. my presence began to carry a certain monotony with it. Even the two or three meagre dogs, which sniffed about the pier, began to eye me with an air of supercilious weariness ; and I forbear to investigate the sentiments of the Scillians, lest they should too painfully resemble the indifference of the dogs. Decidedly it was time to pack up. I took the hint : the Granite Beauties turned a cold boulder on me, and I resolved to weary them no longer. My animals were scattered to the four winds (figuratively, of course — one of the four being the rail- way to London, which transported a coffee-tin of ane- mones to a tank-loving lady) ; my tent was struck, and after hurrying through Penzance, Falmouth, and Ply- mouth, it was once more pitched in the pretty island of Jersey. Nothing could be more charming than the welcome smiled by the rich meadow-lands and orchards there. After the bold picturesque solitudes of Scilly, it seemed like once more entering civilised nature. Every inch of ground was cultivated. Cornfields and orchards re- splendent with blossoms, sloped down to the very edge of the shore, and, by the prodigality of soil, defied the withering influence of sea-breezes. It was not amazing to me to learn afterwards that the land in the interior yields double the crop, per acre, which can be raised in most parts of England ; and that, although the rent is £10 an acre, such rent can be paid by potatoes alone. Elsewhere it is difficult to get even grass to grow close on the shore, and trees have always a look of stunted old-maidenish misery; but here the high tide almost POETS ON THE SEA. 285 washes the hedge which limits orchards that no right- minded boy could resist robbing. Jersey, indeed, is the very paradise of farmers. The Americans say that England looks like a large garden. What England is to America, that is Jersey to England. Even the high-roads have the aspect of drives through a gentleman's grounds, rather than of noisy thoroughfares ; and the by-roads and lanes are perfect pictures of embowered quiet and green seclu- sion. There are few more delightful places to ramble in. Every turn opens on some exquisite valley or wooded hill, through the cool shades and glinting lights of which the summer wanderer is tempted to stray, or to recline in the long grass, and languorously listen to the multitudinous music of the birds and in- sects above and around. Observe, I say nothing of the sea, and the succession of bays on the coast ; for what can be said at all commensurate with that subject. Even the poets, who not only contrive to say the finest things about Nature, but also teach us how to feel the finest tremors of delidit when brouoht face to face with her, have very imperfectly spoken of the sea. Homer is lauded for having called it " wine-faced." He proba- bly meant some ivy-green potation, since "wine-faced" is the epithet by which Sophocles characterises the ivy.* In any case his epithet is only an epithet, and the sea is of all colours, as it is of all forms and moods. Doubts also may be raised respecting the " giggling " which ^schylus, in a terribly-thumbed passage, attributes to * CEdijms Colon, v. 674, tou oluun avexovcra Kiaahv. 286 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the sea. The " innumerable laughter of the waves of the sea," one is apt to interpret as a giggle — an expres- sion not only unbefitting the sea, but unworthy of the occasion. Neptune was not mocking the agony of Prometheus with a school-girl's incontinence. He was too gTand and fluent for such weakness. In moments of serenest summer-calm he may be said to smile ; in moments of more leaping mirth he may be said to laugh ; but to imagine him distorting his countenance by innumerable giggles, would be at ah. times intoler- able, and at such a time perfectly indefensible. On the sea, therefore, allow me to be silent. On the great attractions of Jersey for the naturalist one word will suffice : there is no such spot in England for marine zoology. Besides all these charms, it had other charms in my eyes. Memory consecrated the ground. Eight- and-twenty years ago I was at school here. Changed as the aspect of St Heliers necessarily is, the few spots still recognisable had a pecuhar fascination for me. The Royal Square seemed to have shrunk to a third of its old dimensions, but with what strange sensations I first re-entered it ! The Theatre had by no means the ma- gical and imposing aspect which it then wore, when it seemed the centre of perfect bliss. Its yellow playbiUs no longer thrilled me, although memory wandered back to those happy nights when enchanting comedy and tearful tragedy were ushered in by the overtures to '' Tancredi," or '' Semiramide " (the only two which the orchestra ever played), and when ponderous light comedians in cashmere tights, or powerful tragedians BOYISH REMIXISCENCES. 287 '' took the stage '' with truly ideal strides. Gone, for ever gone, are those bright credulous days. Never more shall I see the School fa?' Scandal, or Pizarro, per- formed as I saw them then. Lady Teazle will never more lure me with her coquettish fan, nor Cora trans- port me with her drooping ringlets. I can't believe in the vinous gaity and good feeling of Charles Surface ; nor think Eolla the most impassioned and eloquent of beings. I know that the sentiments are as unreal as the acting, or the stage wine and " property " fruit of Charles Surface's banquet. Turning -with a retro- spective sigh into the Market-Place, I feel the breath of former years rising around me. There is the very corner where we used to " toss " the pieman for epicu- rean slices of pudding — a vulgar, but seductive form of juvenile gambling. Close by is the spot where we upset " Waddy " — an adipose comrade, much plagued by his leaner contemporaries — flat into an old woman's egg-basket. I see him now, rising covered with the squashed yolks, utterly heedless of the furious impre- cations (in unintelligible ixitois), and the furious blows (in perfectly intelligible English) with which the old lady responded ; I see his piteous contemplation of his soiled clothes, and hear once more his pathetic excla- mation, " Oh damn ! " while inextinoniishable lauo-hter shakes our leaner sides. Childhood is the Ao-e of In- nocence. Among the changes, it was pleasant to find that no longer did the Pillory disgrace the Eoyal Square ; no longer were criminals publicly whipped through the 288 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. streets, as I once saw them with shuddering disgust. Formerly women were thus publicly whipped ; but that disgraceful exhibition was put a stop to before my time ; and now Jersey has grown humanised enough to see that whipping men must be relinquished. It was in- deed a loathsome sight. The naked shrieking wretch, with a cord round his neck, halberds pointed at his breast to prevent his hurrying forwards, his back stream- ing with blood, his face turned imploringly towards the surgeon, who walked beside the executioner, and whom I once heard utter the cruel words, " Harder, Jack I " meaning that the victim had strength to withstand even harder blows — a brutal mob following without sym- pathy — the procession moving slowly from the Town- Hall to the Prison ; — this was the picture Justice fre- quently presented to the inhabitants of Jersey, and which now, thank God, will never be seen by them again, but will take its place among the brutalities of the past, a sign of the onward progress we have made. Although St Heliers, " the capital of Jersey," was the spot consecrated by memory, I took up my abode at the entrance of the fishing- village of Gorey, just four miles from St Heliers ; and as these pages are addressed to amateur naturalists, some of whom may hereafter visit Jersey, a word on the reason of my choice may not be superfluous. The attractions of the capital I do not deny, and if the visitor is in need of watering-place attractions, be will pitch his tent there ; but if his pri- mary desires be zoology and quiet, he will select Gorey, STUPIDITY OF FISHERMEN. 289 especially during summer, wlien tide-hunting is neces- sarily poor, and only by dredging and trawling can he hope to get a good stock of animals. Always go where there are fishermen, that you may have the benefit of their aid. They may bring you what you would never find. It is true there are two sources of difficulty in your way : the first is the almost impossibility of making them understand that you can set any value on things they are accustomed to throw away ; the second is, that when you have so tutored them that they know what you want, they are strangely backward in their supplies. Money is of course the only cogent argu- ment ; yet even money moves them but slowly. They go out day after day, staying out all night, and return often without a shilling's worth of fish ; yet although you offer to pay them for oyster-shells and weeds as for fish, they cannot easily be induced to throw this " re- fuse '' of their nets into a bucket, instead of throwing it overboard again. They promise to do so, but you generally wait in vain. At Tenby, in spite of urgent entreaties and liberal promises, only one Loligo was brought me; at Scilly, nothing; at Gorey, in spite of my being on the best terms with fishermen whom I had employed, and with whom T had gone trawling, five weeks passed before a bucket of refuse was brought me.* Two words — pertinacity and liberality — sum up the whole art of gaining this desirable result; when * SWAMMEEDAMM {Bibel cUr Natur, p. 34) makes the same complaint of the Dutch fishermen, and justly attributes to it the long continuance of our imperfect knowledge of marine marvels. T 290 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. gained, you will need no argument to prove the superi- ority of a fishing- village. Comfortably settled at Gorey, and my working-room set in order, I had only to await the spring-tide, once more to gather a variety of pets around me. Not that I was even then without serious occupation. Before leaving Scilly I had put up my Nudibranchs in spirits " of wine, and these were now carefully to be dissected. Make no wry face at the word " dissection " — it indi- cates a very different process from the one you conceive ; and as it is one indispensable to the naturalist, I may as well dissipate the prejudice which hangs over it. If prejudices could be satisfactorily displaced by argument, one might ask how a man can pass a butcher's shop with equanimity, yet shudder at the idea of dissecting a rabbit or a dog ; but I will admit all such incongrui- ties as facts not assailable by argument, and simply direct the reader's attention to the important differences between dissecting animals of the larger kind, and dis- secting our marine pets — it is as great as the difference between knitting a silken purse in a drawing-room, and making a ship's cable in a rope-walk. Almost all our dissections are performed under water, with needles, tweezers, and delicate scissors. There is no visible blood to suggest unpleasant ideas ; there is nothing unsightly — to the philosophic eye the sight is full of interest — and if an unsightly aspect be present, has not a noble poetess truly said : — " Be, rather, bold, and bear To look into the swarthiest face of things ACTINIA PARASITICA. 291 For God's sake who has made them. How is this, That men of science, osteologists And surgeons, beat some poets, in respect For nature — count nought common or unclean, Spend raptures upon perfect specimens Of indiu'ated veins, distorted joints, Or beautiful new cases of curved spine ; While we, we are shocked at nature's falling off — We dare to shrink back from her warts and blains — We will not, when she sneezes, look at her. Not even to say, ' God bless her.' That's our wrong." * Nay, has not the greatest of German poets, whose cul- ture of the beautiful was so devout that it has been made a reproach, given us a practical example that not only may Comparative Anatomy reveal its marvels to the delighted eye of a poet, but also that the keen glance of the poet may be that of a great discoverer in anatomy? To Goethe, bones and ligaments were no less beautiful and full of interest than flowers and streams ; he saw in them parts of the mystic scaffolding of the temple of life. And laborious and delicate as the ama- teur may find the dissection of animals to be, he will find his labour well rewarded at the close. When the spring-tide did arrive, it was unfortunately a very poor one ; and had Jersey been less wealthy, my hot labours on the rocks would have produced but a meagre result. As it was, I managed to secure an ample supply of Sea Hares, Eolids, Dorids, Solitary Ascidians, Glavellinm, Hydractinia', Pycnogonidce, Actmons, Anemones, and Polypes. In the way of * Aurora Leigh. 292 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. novelty there was only the Hydractinia (a pretty little white polype growing in clusters on the outside of a whelk shell, inside of which was a hermit-crab) and the Actinia parasitica, hitherto only known to me through pictures, but which I found transcending in beauty all power of painting. This beautiful Anemone is ex- tremely abundant here at low tide, but scarcely merits its name of Parasitica, for I find it almost as frequently on stones and on the sides of the rocks as on the whelk shells ; and in captivity it quits its shell, roaming about the pie-dish, and fixing itself to the side, or to seaweeds, like any other Anemone. The extreme sensitiveness of the Parasitica enhances its attractions ; it is for ever expanding and retracting its tentacles, elongating, curving, or retracting its stem : sometimes doubling its length, at other times assuming an hour-glass constric- tion in the middle. The filaments which contain the " thread-capsules" are poured forth in great abundance whenever the animal is disturbed. While on the sub- ject of Jersey Anemones, it may be added that, besides the ordinary species, I dredged what is probably a variety of the Actinia ornata, described and beauti- fully figured by Dr Strethill Wright in the Edinburgh Pliilosojphical Journal for July 1856, — the body white, the exterior circle of tentacles orange, the two interior circles white striped with grey, the disc orange in the centre ; very charming to behold. Having stocked my jars and dishes, I was somewhat reluctant to broil in a noonday sun amid the rocks, with little hope of finding any animal not already TRAWLIXG. 293 familiar ; and tlierefore contented myself with tlie less exciting and more remunerative labour of deep-water hunting. By this I got initiated into the art and mystery of trawling, having made friends with a fisher- man, master of a Trawler of about twenty tons. Pleasant it is on a bright sunny morning, with a nice breeze from the shore, to recline on the deck of a fast- sailiuo; vessel, and listen to the men retailins; their experiences, or watch them heave out and haul in the net. Away we glide towards the coast of France, Jersey melting in the distance, — " The sands untumbled, the blue waves untost, And all is stillness, save the seabird's cry And dolphin's leap." The net is at the bottom, collecting in its gaping mouth the treasures we are duly awaiting ; meanwhile, in a sort of dreamy content, we stretch ourselves in the sun till the word is given to haul in, and then anxiety dis- sipates the luxurious calm. The trawl is a huge net of somewhat conical shape, from twenty to thirty feet wide, from thirty to forty deep. Along the edge of the wide opening is a stout wooden beam, to the ends of which are fastened the trawl heads, namely, thick flat semiciixular bands of iron, which serve to keep at a distance of three feet from the beam that portion of the net meant to touch the bottom. In the net there are various pockets. When the trawl is thrown over- board, the weight of the iron carries it to the bottom, the buoyancy of the wooden beam, assisted by the per- pendicular support of the iron bands, keeping the 294 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. upper edge of the net steadily floating three feet above the ground. The rope sweeping along the bottom disturbs the fish ; up they dart in foolish distracted haste, and come in contact wdth the net overarching them ; this flurries them, and they dart sideways to escape ; in doing which they unsuspectingly swim into the net if they go one way, into the pockets if they go the other. The net, thus scraping the bottom, gathers, of course, a quantity of shells and weeds as well as fish ; this is known to naturalists as " trawl refuse," and is always worth careful overhauling. The contents are all emptied upon the deck, and while Jack is gloating over the turbot, brill, soles, skate, and gurnard, or grimly noticing the utter absence of those desirable individuals, you squat down amid the refuse, and begin a long deliberate investigation thereof. The net is once more plunging its way to the bottom, the vessel glides through the rippling music, and you are absorbed in eager inspection of shell and weed. It is probable that this stooping and peering, accompanied by the motion of the vessel, will bring on the nausea and headache, if not worse, which hitherto you have escaped. I will not pretend that this is pleasant ; but there is no help for it. None but the brave deserve the mollusc ! The pain is transient, the delight per- sists. You may return home at the close of the day probably uncomfortable, and certainly hideous ; but behind you Jack is bringing a bucketful of treasures ; and to-morrow you will only know that you have these treasures. IDEXTIFICATION OF SPOILS. 295 The first thing you have to do on the morrow is to " identify" the animals — a long and interesting, though sometimes perplexing process, owing to the exasperating system adopted by naturalists of frequently selecting, as marks, characteristics by no means obvious. For example, when you read the sentence " shell flexible," among the curt indications by which an animal is to be identified, how are you to suspect that the animal in question has no shell visible at all, until you have dis- sected it, and found the thin calcareous plate under- neath the back, coverino; the liver? That one sentence " shell flexible" prevented my identifying a Pleuro- hranchus for at least an hour. Nor have I to this day been able to identify the species of a compound Ascidian (which I only know to be an Ascidian from embryological indications), pro- bably known to naturalists, perhaps yet undescribed. It is of a bright orange colour. From a transparent gelatinous basis minute cylindrical tubes rise, each about the twentieth of an inch in height, standing in circular groups. The orifice of each tube has four de- licate processes radiating inwards, like the spokes of a wheel, or like the processes in the siphon of a cockle. This orifice is alternately protruded and retracted, but does not open and shut like that of an Ascidian ; and, moreover, the orifice is single. The heart, or pulsating sac, lies at the bottom of the visceral cavity. Imbedded in the clear gelatinous base are several branching ves- sels giving ofl" pear-shaped processes. These vessels connect the visceral cavities of the whole colony, and 296 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the globules of food are seen oscillating to and from the cavities into the pear-shaped processes. I was com- pletely puzzled what to consider this animal, until I saw a tadpole embryo escape from it, and swim away, followed by several others ; and then I knew an Asci- dian of some kind was before me. A tadpole ? Well, that is a figure of speech. The embryo of the Ascidian is more like a tadpole than anything else ; and totally unlike its parent, not only in possessing a good long tail, but in being able to swim vigorously through the water in wliich the parent is immovable. In the interior of the round body which surmounts this tail, a mass of yellowish granules (the vitellus) is observed, which extends some way down the axis of the tail. The transparent membrane smTounding the granular mass enlarges. The mass develops three processes, which act as suckers, where- with the animal finally fixes itself for life. The tail then becomes absorbed, as in the tadpole.'"' The viscera appear ; the envelope increases, and finally becomes the general basis out of which, or in which, an immense number of Ascidians are developed by the process of " budding ; " so that from this one tadpole embryo there arises a whole colony of animals, from which in turn solitary tadpoles will issue, each of which will produce its colony. Imagine a tadpole to be trans- formed into a mature frog, this frog to swell liis skin * Some writers describe this disappearance of the tail as a fission, the tail dropping off, I have not observed this. The enveloping mem- brane, as it enlarged, included the tail within it ; and the absorption took place within the sac thus formed. POLYPES PRODUCING JELLY-FISH. 297 to an indefinite extent, and under that skin to produce, by budding, some hundreds of frogs, all living harmo- niously together, each fed by all — further imagine this colony producing at last a few solitary tadpoles, and you will have some conception of the paradox presented by our compound Ascidians. Nor is this paradox without parallels. The other day I noticed the surface of the water in my pan agi- tated, as if scores of hairs were at various points thrust upwards. Nothing else was visible with eye or lens. Suspecting, from a certain pulsating motion, that it was caused by young Medusae, I dipped the zoophyte trough, and brought up a quantity of newly-hatched Medusae in great activity. They had just issued from the Polype {Laomedea geniculata), and on removing some of the Polype branches to the microscope, the young Medusae were plainly visible in the capsules, and were easily pressed out, whereupon they swam away like the others. (Plate IV., fig. 1, represents a Cam- panularian Polype with the young Medusae in the cap- sule.) Familiar as this sight was to me, it had not lost its marvellousness. Here was a Polype, which the uninstructed eye could not distinguish from a seaweed, producing scores of Jelly-fish ; and these Jelly-fish, if their days were spared, would in due time produce Polypes. Imagine a lily producing a butterfly, and the butterfly in turn producing a lily, and you would scarcely invent a marvel greater than this production of Medusse was to its first discoverers. Nay, the marvel must go further still ; the lily must first produce a whole 298 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. bed of lilies like its own fair self, before oivino- birth to the butterfly ; and this butterfly must separate itself into a crowd of butterflies before giving birth to the lily : when you have thus added marvel upon marvel, you will be ready to listen without scepticism to the phenomenon known as the " alternation of generations/' since Steenstrup so baptised it. Others have given it other names : Owen calls it " Parthenogenesis ;" Van Beneden, " Digenesis ;" and Quatrefages, " Geneage- nesis/' But while differing about the name, and the explanation of the phenomena, there is no difference as to the phenomena themselves. I will ask the reader's attention to a succinct exposition of the various facts and theories connected with this interesting subject ; premising that I have not only verified the capital ob- servations on which the marvel rests, but have some new facts to bring forward which must materially modify the current conceptions. Harvey's celebrated aphorism, Omne vivwn ex ovo (every living being issues fi'om an egg), was a prema- ture generalisation, and has for some years past been known to be so. Many animals issue not from an egg, but directly from the substance of the parent's body, by a process analogous to that of the budding of plants. To include this process and the ordinary pro- cess under one expression, Auguste Comte suggested the following modification of the aphorism, Omne vi- vum ex vivo (every living being issues from a living being) ; and as the idea of spontaneous generation be- comes every year less and less tenable, this aphorism REFRODUCTION OF POLYPES. 299 acquires the force of a law. I allude to it at starting, because, inasmuch as the course of our inquiry will conduct us to the conclusion that Generation is not essentially a distinct process from that of Growth in general, the idea of an ovum as the necessary origin of every living thing needs to be modified. The first illustration we owe to Trembley, whose Memoirs on the Hydra, or Fresh-water Polype, are so admirable in accuracy and extent of observation, that, in spite of the labours of a century, nothing of what he stated has been set aside, and very little added, except what the microscope has revealed. He taught us that the Polype, which originally comes from an Qgg, produces a quantity of other Polypes, exactly similar to itself, by a process of " budding," after the manner of a plant. He taught us, moreover, that not only is this the normal mode of multiplication, but that if we lace- rate the Polype, each lacerated fragment will become a new Polype, which in its turn may be cut into seve- ral pieces, every one of them developing into perfect Polypes. Several naturalists have repeated and con- firmed his experiments. In repeating them myself I failed at first, but subsequently succeeded, and attri- bute the first failure to the presence of impurities in the water containing the fragments. Mr E. Q. Couch made the curious observation, * that if the body of the Hydra " be merely irritated with a needle, or a ray of * Reports of the Penzance Natural History Society, 1850, p. 571. SCHLEIDEN says of the Oesneria, that a puncture iu the leaf produces a bud in a few days. The two cases are precisely similar. 300 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. the sun, a young one will sprout from tlie injured parts/' Here Harvey's dictum receives direct contra- diction : the Polype which is produced from a wound in the body of the parent, being in every respect simi- lar to the Polype which is produced from an egg. It was in 1744 that Trembley made known to the world the astonishing reproductive powers of the Hydra.* The following year*]- Bonnet published his not less astonishing revelations on the reproduction of Aphides, or plant-lice. The Aphis, a winged insect familiar to most readers, deposits its eggs in the axils of the leaves of plants at the close of summer, and these eggs are hatched in the following spring ; but the insect which issues from the egg is a Avingless, sexless insect. It was known that this wingless insect brought forth its young alive. Bonnet proved that this took place when no male insect was present — in fact, he proved that the insect was a virgin mother, and astoundingly fertile. He isolated the young Aphis as soon as it was hatched, reared it in strict seclusion, and watched it daily, almost hourly, with the patient tenacity of a naturalist of genius. He has left on record his anxieties, his tremulous agitation lest its death should supervene to frustrate his la- bours ; and his joy, after seeing the captive four times change its skin and reach its normal development, to observe that this absolute virginity did not in the least * Trembley : Memoires sur un genre de Polypes d'eav, douce, 4to, Leyden, 1744. -f- Bonnet : Traite dJInsectologie, 2 vols., 1745 ; vol. i., p. 26 et seq. A better edition is that printed at Amsterdam, 1780. REPRODUCTION OF POLYPES AND APHIDES. 301 interfere with fertility. On the eleventh day the Aphis produced a young one alive ; another succeeded, and another. Every four-and-twenty hours the brood was increased by three, four, and even ten arrivals. At the end of twenty-one days, ninety-five young ones were produced from this single Aphis.* Carrying further his observations, Bonnet found that the viroin off- spring of this virgin parent also became parents ! -f- We know that this reproduction often goes on till the eleventh generation : then this process ceases, the last generation is of inrfect insects, with separate sexes, and these produce ova which next year become the productive virgins we have just been reading of. " But why," we may ask, in the language of Professor * " Enfin pour achever I'histoire de notre pucerone je n'ai plus qu'a dire qu'ayant ete oblige de m'absenter pendant tout le 25 jusqu'au lende- main matin sur les cinq heures, j'eus le chagrin k mon retour de ne la pas trouver oti je I'avois laissee, ni dans les environs o^ je la cherchai inutilement. Comme, depuis qu'elle avoit commenc€ d'accoucher je n'avois pas cm qu'il Mt necessaire de la tenir renfermee esactement, elle en avoit sans doute profite pour aller finir ses jours ailleurs. On juge aisement que je ne fus pas insensible a cette perte. J'avois vu naltre cette pucerone, je Tavois suivie constamment pendant plus d'un mois, et je me faisois un plaisir de continuer a 1' observer jusqu'4 sa mort. Je me proposals de s^avoir au juste le nombre de pucerons dont elle auroit pent §tre encore accouche. II y a apparence qu'il n'auroit pas €te considerable, k en juger par I'extrgme diminution de sa taille. Son ventre qui lorsqu'elle n' avoit fait encore que peu de petits, gtoit ar- rondi et comme distendu, s'etoit aplati, et ^toit devenu de forme tri- angulaire."— Vol. i. p. 49. + " Si la petitesse de la pucerone de la troisibme generation m' avoit surpris, j'eus lieu de I'^tre encore davantage de celle de sa fiUe. Elle ne sembloit pas avoir atteint la moitie de la grosseur qu'ont ordinaire- ment les pucerones de cette espece lorsqu'elles commenccnt h, engen- drer."— Vol. i. p. 78. 302 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Owen, " should there be this strange combination of \dviparous generation at one season, and of oviparous generation at another in the same insect? The vivi- parous or larviparous generation effects a multiplication of the plant-lice adequate to keep pace with the rapid growth and increase of the vegetable kingdom in the spring and summer. No sooner is the weather mild enough to effect the hatching of the ovum, which may have retained its vitality through the winter, than the larva, without having to wait for the acquisition of its mature and winged form, as in other insects, forthwith begins to produce a brood as hungry and insatiable and as fertile as itself The rate of increase may be conceived by the following calculation. The aphis pro- duces each year ten larviparous broods, and one which is oviparous, and each generation averages 100 indi- viduals : — Gkneration. Produce. 1st, .... 1 Aphis. 2nd, .... 100, a hundred. 3rd, .... 10,000, ten thousand. 4th, .... 1,000,000, one million. 5th, .... 100,000,000, hundred millions. 6th, .... 10,000,000,000, ten billions. 7th, .... 1,000,000,000,000, one trillion. 8th, .... 100,000,000,000,000, hundred trillions. 9th, .... 10,000,000,000,000,000, ten quatrillions. 10th, .... 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 one quintiUion. " If the oviparous generation be added to this, you will have a thirty times greater result."* * Owen : Comparative Anatomy, p. 414. [This calculation, however, has been utterly knocked to pieces by HuXLET, in his Memoir on the Aphis, Linncean Trans, xxii. 215.] ALTERNATION OF GENERATIONS. 303 Eecovering from the stupor into which we are thrown by facts like these, let us observe that here, as in the case of the Asciclians and Polypes formerly mentioned, an alternation of generations takes place; the parent producing a child unlike itself, and that child in its tm"n finally producing one like its grand-parent. " The winged and perfect Aphis produces a wingless hexapod larva ; this wingless larva produces at last a winged and perfect insect." The reader may imagine how great was the sensation produced in the scientific world by these announcements, and how many theories were pro23ounded in explanation ; we must not pause here to consider them, but proceed with our history. The last date was 1745. In 1819 a Germanised Frenchman, known to all lovers of romance as the author of Peter Schlemil, made a discovery in Natural History which was almost as incredible as his Shadow- less Man. Whether this will endear the name of Chamisso still more to his admirers may be a question. Literary men will point with some satisfaction to the fact that a novelist was the discoverer of a form of re- production unsuspected by the profoundest zoologists. They may also remember that the luminous doctrine of plant-morphology was the discovery of the greatest of our modern poets ; and that the great Haller himself was a poet and litterateur before, in later life, he de- voted himself with such splendid success to physiology. In Chamisso's day, naturalists knew two distinct spe- cies of the curious mollusc named Scdpa, an indescrib- able animal, transparent as crystal, and of irregular 304 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Cylindrical aspect. This animal is also seen somewhat different in structure, but most obviously differing from the solitary species in being a long chain of animals. In spite of their differences, they are not two species, but two generations of the same species. The solitary Salpa produces the chain-salpa by " budding ; " and the chain-salpa by " alternation of generations '' (the phrase is Chamisso's) produces the solitary Salpa by ova. Krohn, Huxley, Leuckart, and Vogt (alas ! only one Englishman among four Germans), have since confirmed Chamisso's discovery, which, as Mr Huxley has pointed out, gives him the priority over Steenstrup, not only as to the mere phrase of " alternate generations," but as to the distinct conception of the idea implied in the phrase. Nine years afterwards, in 1828, Milne Ed- wards first announced a similar mode of reproduction among the Ascidians (such as I sketched it just now), without, however, connecting it with Chamisso's dis- covery. In 1835, the Norwegian pastor and indefa- tigable naturalist, Sars, opened that wonderful series of revelations which by himself, Loven, Lister, Dalyell, Steenstrup, Van Beneden, Allman, Forbes, and others, have established the alternation of generations in Po- lypes and Medusse. A not less surprising alternation has been discovered in the Entozoa ; but it would occupy too much space to narrate here, requiring much preliminary explanation before it could be intelligible to the general reader.* Let us continue our history. * The student will find a complete history of these phenomena in HISTORY OF PARTHENOGENESIS. 305 In 184^2, the known facts were collected, and con- nected under one generalisation by the Danish botanist Steenstrup, who brought his own quota of important facts. In this work, * a flash of light suddenly revealed the connection in which many isolated paradoxes stood to each other : a theory was proposed, which, although really nothing but a metaphorical expression of the already known facts, was very widely accepted as a perfect solution of the difficulty. In 184?9, Professor Owen published his two lectures on Parthenogenesis, in which, re-stating the results of his investigations into the reproduction of Aphides (18^3), he propounded a theory as a substitute for the metaphor of Steenstrup, and one which uj) to this time is the sole theory not open to the charge of being a merely verbal explanation. In the same year, Yictor Carus published a small work-f- containing some new observations, and an ingenious classification. In 1851 Leuckart published an essay | to prove that alternate generation was simply metamorphosis plus SlEBOLD, Ueher die Band-tind-Blasenwurmer, 1854, or in the larger woi'k of KUCHEXMEISTER, Die in lend an dera Koiyer des lebenden Menschen vorkomenenden Parasiien, 1855 ; a translation of which, by Dr Lankester, has been published recently by the Sydenham Society. Van Beneden has since published his splendid monograph Sur les Veis Intestinaux, which gained the prize oflfered by the French Academy. * On the Alternation of Genei'ations. Translated for the Ray So- ciety by Mr George Busk, 1846. -t* Zur nahern Kenntniss des Generationsivechsels, 1849. X SlEBOLD u Kolliker's Zeiischrift, iii. p. 170. He repeats the idea in his work on Comparative Anatomy, written in conjunction with Bergmann. [He has since published a valuable little work, Zur Kennt- niss des Generatiomcwechsels, 1858.] U 306 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. asexual generation — an unhappy explanation, since the peculiarity of metamorphosis is that the larva becomes a perfect insect, whereas the Polype never becomes a Medusa, it only produces it ; the wingless Aphis never becomes a perfect insect ; moreover the phrase " plus asexual generation " conceals the real difficulty In 1853, Van Beneden, to whom we owe so many important contributions, published a work * in which he modestly contents himself "vvith stating the pheno- mena, classing animals under two heads, monogenetic or sexual, and digenetic, i. e. reproducing themselves by sexual and asexual methods. In 1855 M. Quatrefages published four articles in the Revue des Deux MoJides entitled Les Meta- mo7yhoses, in which he re\4ewed the state of the question, criticised the theories, and propoimded one of his own. In 1856 another brilliant flash of light came from Germany. Von Siebold published a work f containing some starthng facts, and such as, in my opinion, will serve to dissipate all the clouds from the question. He ofiered no theory himself; and in the only remark which directly touches our subject, he desnes to lay " parti- cular stress upon the distinction between the alternation of generations and Parthenogenesis." In spite of this, I must think that the two are one, and that his facts convincingly prove them to be so. For the present. )3. * La Generation alternante et la Digenese, 18oS + On true Parthenogenesis in Moths and Bees. Translated by J. W. Dallas, 1857. HISTORY OF PARTHENOGENESIS. 307 however, we will confine onrselves to the points estab- lished in his work bearing on onr subject. Having isolated female moths, he constantly watched them in Httle vessels closed with glass lids. In due time they laid eggs. There was nothing surprising in this ; the virgin moth, as well as the female of every other insect — indeed of every other animal — lays eggs ; but what was his astonishment, " when all the eo-crs of these females, of whose virgin state I was most positively con- vinced, gave birth to young caterpillars, which looked about with the greatest avidity in search of materials ! " Imagine a brood of chickens hatched from the eggs of a virgin hen, and you will conceive Siebold's surprise. He subsequently found that bees, in like manner, produce hundreds of eggs, which, however, invariably become 'inale bees ; for it is only the fertiKsed bee-egg which will develop into a female — either worker, or queen. Uugallant physiologists, resting on the evidence of some embryological phenomena, have declared the fe- male to be only a male in arrested development; a very impertinent deduction, which was, however, flung back on them by a witty friend of mine, who, hearing that one of her own sex was fond erf reading metaphysics, and was feared to be suffering from a softened brain, drew her own conclusion as to this masculine course of study, exclaiming, " Alan is hut ivonian luith a softened hrain!'' She would have also retorted Von Siebold's facts about the bees, which point at a miserable infe- riority on the part of the males. But I must not let her 308 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. prematurely enjoy this triumph: if the imperfect bee is always a male, the imperfect moth {Psyche) is always a female ; and to reconcile both parties, we have the silk -worm moth, w^hose virgin progeny is both male and female. In conclusion, be it noted that Von Siebold's work establishes Parthenogenesis as a normal process in bees and moths, on grounds which, Funke justly says, do not permit the severest scepticism to raise a doubt worthy of notice. * He, moreover, points to the fact that among the Entomostraca there are species of which only the female is known ; again, thousands of females of the gall-fly have been examined, but not a single male has yet been found. Thus Parthenogenesis has been found to exist in Polypes, ]\Iolluscs, Annelids (by M. Quatrefages in the Syllis), and Insects. It has also been found in plants. The Gwlebogyne Ilicifolia, one of the Euphorhiacice to be seen in Kew Gardens, is a striking example. Only the female of this plant has reached England, yet it continues yearly to produce descendants, although no male has arrived, f " In fact,'' says Dr Lankester, " Parthenogenesis, in all its integrity, has now been observed in a large number of cases in the vegetable kingdom. The occurrence of seeds, independent of stamens, was first observed in a Euphorbiaceous plant in the gardens at Kew. It has subsequently been ob- * Funke. LehrhucTi der Physiologie, 1857, p. 1326. f Radlkofer : Ueher wahre Parthenogenesis bei Pflanzen, in Siebold u. KoLLlKER, Zeitschrift, viii. 458. PARTHENOGENESIS IN PLANTS. 309 served in a large number of i^lants, a list of which, with the observer of the phenomenon, we subjoin : — Chakace^ — Char a crinita. A. Braun. Cannabine^ — Cannabis sativa. Nauclin. CHENOPODiACEiE — Spifiacea oleracea. Le Cocq, EuPHOEBiACE^ — Ccdebogijne Ilicifolia. J. Smith ; Mercurialis, species. Naudin. Anaecardiace^ — Pistacia Narhonensis. Tenore ; Pistaciw, species. Bocconi. CucuRBiTACE^ — Bryonia diocia. Naudin. Datisce^ — Datisca cannahina. Fresenius.'' '"' To this list may be added the Algce, in which Pring- sheim has observed the same phenomenon. -j- Such were the facts known at the time when I re- sumed my investigation of Polype -parthenogenesis. The labours of distinguished naturalists on the genesis of Polypes may be summed up in the following schema : A. The Medusa parent i^roduces ova ; B. These ova are developed into infusoria ; C. These infusoria are developed into Polypes ; D. These Polypes produce, hy budding, the Medusse, which in turn p)'i^oduce ova. Thus D completes the cycle commenced at A. As variations from this route we have — a. The Medusa produces Medusas by budding ; /3. The Polype produces Polypes by budding '& 5 * Lankester : in Microscopical Journal, No. XX., July 1857. t Anriales des Sciences Xaturelles. 1856. 310 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 7. The Polype produces Polypes hy ova directly, i. e. without going through the Medusoid generation. Attention is called to this second series, because the facts therein registered have been too often lost sight of in the discussion of the theory. AMien, for example, so much stress is laid on the analogy between the develop- ment of a Polype into a Medusa, with that of a bud into a flower, it is apparently forgotten that, in spite of the resemblances, great differences are discoverable. No flower produces similar flowers by a process of budding, as the Medusa buds off young ]\Iedus8e from its sub- stance : a rose does not split up into a dozen roses. ■ So little have the facts registered in the second table been kept in view, that the doctrine of Alternate Generations has been persistently denied on the ground that the Polypes are not generations at all — are not, properly S23eaking, "individuals'' any more than leaf- buds are individuals. According to this argument, which has been set forth by Dr Carpenter,* only those can be truly called generations which issue from a ■ generative act, i.e. the union of a germ-cell mth a sperm-cell ; an arbitrary assumption disproved by a multitude of facts. He maintains the analogy of the Polype and the leaf-bud to be complete, and considers the multiplication of Polypes, and of Medusae from Polypes, to be alvv'ays a process of budding ; this gives his argument a superficial plausibility, which is, how- ever, totally destroyed by the fact that the Poly]3e also produces Polypes by the union of ova and spermatozoa. * Principles of Comparative Physiology, 1854. NEW FACTS. 311 I shall have to recur to this point hereafter ; mean- while I may add that, in the course of a long investi- gation into the development of the Campanularian and Plumidarian Polypes — especially P. myriophyllum (Plate IV., fig 2), from deep water off Jersey — I found that not only does the Polype produce Polypes by means of ova, but also produces Medusce in the same way ; so that instead of the production of Medusae being only one of simple budding, it resembles the production of Polypes in being sometimes a process of budding, and sometimes a process of ovij^arity. I have followed this development through all its stages ; and as what I have seen may be seen by any one who chooses to devote the requisite patience, I shall merely clear away certain theoretical obstructions which may screen the real facts. In Dr Carpenter's summary of the views held by naturalists, we read that the ovarian capsules (the large vesicles which rise from the stem of the polypidom) are improperly designated ovarian, because " they have been shown by Professor E. Porbes to be in reality metamorphosed branches." The force of this objec- tion escapes me. Wolff and Goethe have shown the stamens and pistils to be metamorphosed leaves, but no one denies them, on that account, to be reproductive organs. The capsule in question is not a branch, but a capsule, and the proof of its being an ovarian capsule is the fact that in it ova are developed. This, indeed, Dr Carpenter denies, for he continues,* " These Medusa * Principles of Coniparative Physiology, p. 552. 312 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. buds spring not from ova, but from a detached portion of the medullary substance ; '' and in a note he adds, " Although they are described by Van Beneden as developed from ova, yet it is clear from his own account that such is not the case ; and that what he called the vitellus is continuous with the medullary substance of the stem and branches of the zoophyte." Not having seen Van Beneden's Memoire, I am unable to say whether that admirable naturalist has imperfectly described what he has seen, or Dr Carpenter imperfectly comprehended what he has read ; but I have no hesi- tation in asserting that direct study of the phenomena will disclose the fact of the Medusa being, at any rate, sometimes developed from ova, although the vitellus is " continuous with the medullary substance of the stem/' The ova are there, unmistakable by any eye familiar with the ova of zoophytes ; and by cutting off the tips of the capsules we can gently press these ova out, revealing the germinal vesicle in each, and the vitelline mass surrounding it. Not only are ova there, but in some instances spermatozoa may be observed in great activity, and this at a time w^hen the circula- tion, or more properly oscillation, of medullary granules from the stem into the interior of the capsule is per- fectly visible. Sometimes, instead of these, we find simply a mass of granules and nucleated cells ; at other times, ova in various stages of segmentation, the germinal vesicle having disappeared, and a vitelline membrane being formed ; at others, we find embryos nearly ready to escape. NEW FACTS. 313 The facts which I have observed are so opposed to the current theories on this subject, that I have no expectation of their gaining acceptance, until they have been confirmed by others. But I am content to await that confirmation, assured that it must come sooner or later. Scepticism, be it never so authorita- tive, cannot alter the facts ; and as I am quite sure of what I have seen, and seen many times, I am sure it will be seen by others. Unfortunately the Myrio- phyllum is only to be had in deep water, and appears not to be common, although it is abundant off Jersey ; and there is also a possibility that the phenomenon may not be observable in tliis species, dredged from other coasts. I say possihility, because I am informed by Professor Kolliker that the same species of Polype (Eudendrmm) found off our coasts and the coast of Naples, differs in this remarkable character : the one produces eggs, and not Medusaa ; the other Medusae, and not eggs. The same great anatomist assured me that he also had seen something like what I have seen ; he had seen the same species of Cainp)anularia '^xo- ducing both eggs and Medusae, " but no one believed me," he added. The plea for scepticism being, that Professor Kolliker must have mistaken .two different species for the same species — a hazardous assertion, considering who is the observer. But this objection cannot apply to my observation, for it was on the same Polypidom that I found some of the capsules fiUed with eggs, and some with Medusas. Even more start- ling is the fact now to be mentioned. In one and the 314 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. same species [Myriophyllum), dredged at the same time and from the same place, I found the capsules containing eggs and also Medusce ; and others — but not on the same Polypidom — containing eggs and Polypes, i.e. the ciliated gemmules which we know to be the infusorial stage of the Polype. I have seen this so often that the whole history of evolution thus presents itself : Taking the medullary substance of the Polype as the analogue of the cellular basis of the plant, we may trace a somewhat similar course of evolution in each : the cellular basis becomes differentiated into leaves, stamens, pistils, germ-cells, and sperm-cells ; the medullary substance becomes dif- ferentiated into nucleated cells — these cells into germ- cells and sperm-cells, or into germ-cells alone, from which are developed, 1st, Under one set of conditions, probably of tem- perature and food, Polypes ; 2d, Under another set of conditions, Medusae. Just as a leaf-bud is developed under one set of conditions, and a flower under another set ; or as only germ-cells are developed in one plant, sperm-cells in another, or both on the same plant. Of great importance as regards the theory of Par- thenogenesis are two of the facts just indicated — namely, that the Polype produces ova which become Medusae ; and that these ova may indifferently become either Polypes or Medusae. The latter fact ceases to be so marvellous, when we consider that Agassiz has demon- strated the identity in structure of Polype and Medusa. BEARING OF THE NEW FACTS. 315 Of still greater importance as regards the theory of Parthenogenesis is the conclusion that from germ-cells only, without any influence from sperm- cells, Polypes and Medusae may be developed. Do you ask for evi- dence on which to base this conclusion ? The evidence is various. We have already noted the indubitable fact that the unfertilised eggs of Entomostraca, gall- flies, bees, moths, and silk-worms, do become developed animals ; these must spring from germ-cells only. Next we have the recent experiments in France and Germany, which place beyond a doubt that dioecious plants become fertile when their pollen is entirely removed ; and we know that female plants become fertile when no pollen-bearing plant is in the kingdom ; so that Schleiden, in the edition of his work, The Plant, just issued, says, " "VVe must now confess com- plete ignorance as to the real function of the pollen.''* To these may be added the fact that, according to my observations, spermatozoa are rarely met with in the Polypes, whereas ova are extremely abundant. All this evidence, however, is as nothing beside that which is furnished in the very remarkable researches on the reproduction of Aphides made by Professor * Schleiden, Die Pflame, 1858, p. 72. He draws the piquant con- clusion that it is precisely in those plants on which Linnaeus founded his sexual system that we have now no evidence of sexuality, whereas in the cryptogamic plants sexual distinctions have been accurately ascertained. It seems to me, however, that this paradox is more piquant than true, and that the analogous johenomena of Partheno- genesis in animals explain the difficulty, without forcing us to deny the sexuality of the -Phanerogamia. 316 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Huxley, an account of which lie read to the Linnaean Society, Nov. 5, 1857. That paper not being yet printed, I can only refer to its conclusions in as far as they bear on the present topic, and these are — First, that the virgin viviparous Aphis, which is said to produce broods of young by " internal gemmation," does really produce them from, unfertilised ova : every stage of the development of these ova, and that of the embryos having been carefully made out. Se- condly, that the female oviparous Aphis produces her young from ova fertilised by spermatozoa ; but the early stages in the development of these ova are pre- cisely sirnilar to those of the viviparous Aphis, the differences presenting themselves at a later period, when in the one case the formation of the " mulberry mass " takes place spontaneously, in the other case it is preceded by the union of the spermatozoa with the ova. As the product of both processes is identical — as the Aphis which is seen to issue from an unfertilised ovum is in all respects similar to that which issues from a fertilised ovum — the conclusion is irresistible, that Generation is possible from germ-cells only ; and the facts I have brought forward respecting the Polypes are thus seen to stand in no absolute isolation. Kesumino; in one schema the results of mv investi- gations into Polypes, with those of my predecessors, we find, — A. The Medusa parent jDroduces ova ; B. These ova are developed through an infusorial stage into Polypes ; STEENSTRUP'S THEORY. 317 C. These Polypes, in turn, produce ova ; D. (1) These ova are developed into Medusse, thus completing the cycle opened at A. T>. (2) These ova are developed into Polypes, thus completing the cycle opened at C. The budding process, which both Medusa and Polype manifest, may be eliminated from the scheme of " Alternation." We shall hereafter see that it is essentially the same as the other processes of gener- ation. Such, in brief, is the history, such are the facts, of Parthenogenesis. Let us now glance at the theories which attempt to explain them. Steenstrup — whose merits are very considerable, and who first propounded a general theory, named by him the " Alternation of generations" — encumbered the question, instead of clearing it, when he called the Polype the " wet-nurse " of the Medusa, denpng its claim to be considered as a " parent." To say that the Polype is not properly a '•' parent," but has only the germs of the Medusa con- fided to it, is, as Professor Owen justly remarked, to make a metaphor supply the place of an explanation. In reply to this objection Steenstrup boldly declares his theory is la comhinaison intime desfaits. Pro- fessor Owen convincingly shows that the theory is purely verbal ; and I would hold that it is in direct an- tagonism with the fact that the Polype sometimes pro- duces eggs without the mediation of a Medusa ; and if a Polype, issuing from an egg, and also producing an egg from which another Polype will issue, be not 318 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. regarded as a "parent," it will be difficult to specify in what parentage truly consists. Steenstrup's theory is almost identical, except in language, with that of the old writer alluded to by Quatrefages, who accounted for Bonnet's facts by a " transmitted fecundation : " "D'apres lui, les pucerons produisent toujours des oeufs aussi bien que les autres insectes, mais chez eux la fecondation, au lieu d'agir sur une generation seule- ment, etend son influence a plusieurs generations suc- cessives. Elle devient par consequent inutile jusqu'au moment oil la somme d'action transmise de mere a fiUe est totalement epuisee/' At a first glance this may be mistaken for an antici- pation of Owen's theory ; but a more rigorous inspec- tion discovers that Owen's theory differs from it by the all-important character of definiteness. Instead of throwing over the question the obscure generality of a phrase, it points directly to a specific fact, or con- dition, such as, if accepted, would indicate the terminal stage of inquiry, beyond which no intellect could hope to penetrate. It starts from the germ-cell, from which the organism arises, and, following the course of this germ-cell, it holds the Ariadne thread, which, through all the mazes of the labyrinth, conducts the mind to clear issues. Let us, in as brief a space as possible, develop this theory. Every organism, plant or animal, originates in a cell. This cell spontaneously divides into two, these two into four, these four into eight, and so on, till, instead of a solitary nucleated cell, a mass is present, known as the OWEN'S THEORY. 319 "germ mass." (Plate VI., figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.) In the Conferva, instead of a mass, a thread of cells has arisen, forming the filament which constitutes the whole plant. In the animal, the cells are not placed end to end, thread-like, but side to side, and form what is called the " mulberry mass '' (fig. 8) ; and a further dis- tinction is to be noted, namely, that each animal cell, as it formed, carries with it a portion of the yolk. From the '' germ mass " the animal is evolved. Each cell of this mass is the offspring of the primary germ- ceU, reproducing its powers and capacities. Since the animal is formed out of this mass, and by means of it (figs. 9, 10), we are forced to the conclusion that the cells have become transformed into tissues. But " not all the progeny of the primary germ-cell are required for the formation of the body in aU animals : certain of the derivative germ-cells may remain unchanged, and become included in that body wdiich has been composed of their metamorphosed and diversely com- bined or confluent brethren : so included, any deriva- tive germ-cell, or the nucleus of such, may commence and repeat the same processes of growth by imbibition, and of propagation by spontaneous fission, as those to which itself owed its origin.'' * It is this, according to Owen, which constitutes Par- thenogenesis. Some of the cells, instead of being transformed into tissues, remain, unchanged as cells, included in the body, where they rej^eat the original process of subdivision, and produce offspring as they * Owen : Parthenogenesis, p. 5. 320 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. themselves were produced. In proportion, therefore, to the complexity of the animal (that is, in proportion to the amount of cells transformed into tissues), will be its inability to reproduce itself by Parthenogenesis. In proportion to the amount of unchanged cells will be this power of reproduction. The marvels of the Hydra, as recounted by Trembley, are thus explicable ; for the Hydra retains its germ-cells unchanged everywhere, except in the tentacles and the integument, and these are incapable of reproduction. " The reproduction of parts of higher animals has also been found to depend on pre-existing cells retained as such. Mr H. D. S. Goodsir has shown that, in the lobster, so noted for the power of reproducing its claws, the regenerative faculty does not reside at any part of the claw indiffer- ently, but in a special locality at the basal end of the first joint. This joint is almost filled by a mass of nucleated cells surrounded by a fibrous and muscular band." But here the reader may ask how the cycle of gen- eration is ever completed? Why does not the Polype continue budding off fresh Polypes for ever ; why does not the Aphis -larva continue producing broods of larvse ; why does not the plant persist in sending forth leaves and buds ; why do we always see a sud- den change — a leap, as it were, into higher life — com- pleting the cycle by the Polype producing a Medusa, the larval Aphis producing an Aphis, the plant pro- ducing a flower ? To this question Owen has prepared an answer. The original cell, in its frequent subdivi- CRITICISM OF Owen's theory. 321 sion, gradually loses by dilution a portion of its plastic force. If on starting it had a force of 1 00, after fifty sub- divisions it will have no more than 2. It is this necessary dilution of power in repeated reproductions which pre- vents Parthenogenesis from being indefinitely prolonged. Such is the theory, in every way remarkable, pro- posed by our great anatomist ; and before proceeding to examine its stability, I will adduce the strongest illustration in its favour I have yet found. The theory assumes that some of the original germ-cells are re- tained untransformed in the body of the Hydra and Aphis, which cells, in virtue of their original tendency, subdivide and develop into new animals. We have for- merly seen that the germ-mass of the Eolis, Doris, and Aplysia, normally develops itself into one, two, tlu-ee, and even eight distinct animals. As this takes place contemporaneously, and in the same chorion — as one egg actually divides into several embryos, by a simple process of subdivision in the germ-mass — I do not see how Owen's position can be denied, that here at least the offspring of the original cell is actually in- cluded in each distinct mass, and that it is the origin of each embryo. Whether the cells are unchanged or not, may be a question ; it is certain that they are in- cluded : and as there can be little difference in the pro- cess, whether the progeny of one cell be developed simultaneously as in the Doris, or successively as in the Aphis, the fundamental position seems secured. I say seems, because I do not really think it is, nor do I find myself able to accept Owen's explanation. X 322 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. Quatrefages and Siebold object to the name of Par- thenogenesis as embodying an error. The larval Aphis, says the former, cannot properly be styled a virgin, because it is an incomplete organism, and "a Tidee de virginite se rattache invinciblement celle de la possi- bilite de cessation de cet etat." He objects, therefore, to the name, because, he says, Owen's conception rests on the remarkable exception of the Aphis-larva, in which reproductive organs, incomplete, but still per- fectly recognisable, have been discovered. The ob- jection, which was never very forcible, is completely silenced by Von Siebold's discovery of perfect insects, male and female, in the virgin-progeny of bee and moth. As to Von Siebold's objection to the name, that by it Owen " confounds Parthenogenesis with alterna- tion of generations,"' it is met not only by the explana- tion Owen o'ives in a note to the translation of Von Sie- hold's work (p. 11), but is further met by w^hat will pro- bablv be seen, in the followino- discussion, to be the true state of the case ; namely, that the generation of bees and moths is essentially the same as that of Ascidians, Aphides, and Pol3rpes ; and instead of confounding two distinct things in one phrase, Owen has reconciled two seeming differences. Eetaining, therefore, the name Owen has given to the phenomenon, let us examine his theory. Quatre- fages, among objections of little weight, urges one of more value when he says that the process of segment- ation in the yolk is now known to be different from that stated by Owen, being the spontaneous act of the CRITICISM OF Owen's theory. 323 ovum, whether the ovum be fertilised or not ; and farther, that the " yolk cells " are not cells at all. On this latter point it may be observed that embryologists are still divided,* the dispute turning on the correct definition of a cell — much as if men disputed whether a book " in sheets " ought properly to be called a "book." As regards Owen's theory, a sliglit modification in its terms would meet the objection. Not so the objection which must, I think, be raised against the vital point in the theory — the assumption of a definite prolific force contained in the primary germ-cell, a force which becomes diluted by subdivision of the cell, and can be renewed only through another act of fertilisation. This is the heel of Achilles ; if vulnerable here, our theorist may be pricked by any vulgar javelin. Let us try. " The physiologist," says Owen, " congratulates himself with justice when he has been able to pass from cause to cause, until he arrives at the union of the spermatozoon with the germinal vesicle as the essential condition of development — a cause ready to operate when favourable circumstances concur, and without which cause those circumstances would have no effect. What I have endeavoured to do has been, to point out the conditions which bring about the presence of the same essential cause in the cases of the development of an embryo from a parent that has not itself been impregnated. The cause is the same in kind, though not in degree ; and every successive gene- * See the latest work on the subject : Funke's Lehrhuch der Phy- siologie, p. 1366 et seq. 324 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. ration, or series of spontaneous fissions of the primary impregnated germ-cell, must weaken the spermatic force transmitted to such successive generations of cells." Quatrefages justly calls this a seductive theory; but adds, that not even the imposing authority of Owen's name has gained accej^tance for it. The first objection I should raise is, that the assumption of the " prolific force " belongs to me^a-physiology. The second objec- tion is, that it obliges us to embrace the paradox of the oreatest eff'ect arisinoj from the most diminished force, since, according to it, the seed, in its primal vigour, only produces buds — in its exhaustion, flowers ; the egg, in its primal vigour, only produces Polypes or Larv?e — in its exhaustion, Medusae or perfect Aphides. Or must we regard the Flower, Medusa, and perfect Aphis as inferior and arrested forms, of which Leaf, Polype, and Larva are the matured beings ? The cele- brated Wolfl" maintained that the Flower was an imper- fect organism — flowers and fructification, according to him, being the consequences of arrest of development;* and much may be said for this hypothesis, although we must finally reject it, when we know that there are plants which flower before they put forth leaves, and that the larval Aphis is confessedly an imperfect insect. A third, and far more fatal, objection is, that under suitable conditions the plant will continue putting forth buds, the Polype putting forth Polypes, and the larval * Wolff : Theorie vo)i der Generation, 1764. § 80, et seq. CRITICISM OF OWEN's THEORY. 325 Aphis putting forth larvae, to an indefinite extent. The "prolific force/' instead of diminishing, by Repeated subdivisions of the cells, retains its primitive fertility. Kyber kept a plant, with larval Aphides, in a room the temperature of which was constant, and saw these larv?e produce broods for four years without interrup- tion ! Whereas, had the temperature varied, these larvse would have manifested changes similar to those observed in ordinary circumstances, when the lowering of the temperature in autumn stops the production of larvae, and induces that of perfect insects. We may also refer to the observation of Sir J. G. Daly ell, who kept a strohila for several years continually budding. A fourth and last objection is, that the Polypidom, which produces both Polypes and Medusae by gemma- tion, also jDroduces eggs which become Polypes, as every one knows, and eggs which become Medusae, as I have found ; yet, aftei^ one of t