New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001904337 Plate V. *. Laurencia plnnatifolia. 2. Polysplionia parasitica. 3. UlvalaUssima. 4. Rhodymonia lacinata. 5, Graeilaria confervo!dea. G. Codium bursa. 7. Crida-a edulis. 3. Zonaria parvula. 9. Ectocarpus tomcntosui. lu. uoraUina nffltinalis. SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND CO.'S NEW AND FOETHOOMINQ Illustrated Presentation Works. A SSRIEB OF CHOICE EDITIONS OF CHOICE BOOKS, ILLUSTRATED IX THE FIMST STYLE OFABT, ST MTRKET FOSTEM, GILBERT, PICKSRSOILL, DUNCAN, CORE, THOMAS, WEIR, UACQ.UOID, WEHNERT, ETC.. ETC. An uniform Series, printed on the best toned paper, bound in cloth extra, bevelled boards, 7s. M. each ; or in morocco, 1 2s. {Stbjperiidended by Joseph Cundall.) 1. An Elegy Written in a Country Chwrchywrd. By Thomas Gray. 2. The Deserted Village. By Oliver Q-oldsmith. 3. The Pleasures of Sope. By Thomas Campbell. 4. The Eve of St. Agnes, By John Keats. 5. The Mime of the Ancient Mariner. By S. T. Coleridge. 6. Songs of the Brave. By Campbell, Byron, Tennyson, Wolfe, etc., etc. 7. The Farmer's Boy. A Sural Poem. By Robert Bloomfield. NEW AXD POBTHCOMING WOEKS. nil. Sabhath Bells Chimed by the Poets. Illustrated with Sixteen JEngravings printed in colours, after the original drawings by Birlcet Foster. Small ito, 2ls. IX. Shgmes and Motmdelayes in Praise of a Country Life. Written by Poets of mam/ Lands. Adorned on almost every page with Pictures by Foster, Ansdell, Duncan, F. Taylor, Dodgson, Sulme, Absolon, Weir, llacqimd, Humphreys, etc. Small ito, 2\s. The Vicar of Wakefield. By Oliver Goldsmilh. Bichly illustrated by George Thomas, and printed in a very superior style, forming the most elegant edition of this classic Tale. Crown Soo, price 10s. Gd. ; morocco gilt, 21s. XL The Poetical Works of Fdgar Allan Foe. With Sixty Engravings on Wood, from Designs by Pi^Jcersgill, Cope, Birlcet Foster, Darley, Harrison Weir. Ungraved hy Linton. (In preparation.) XII. Poems by William Cvllen Bryant. Collected and arranged by the Axdhor. Illti^t rated with Seventy-one Engravings on Wood h^ tJie Brothers Dalziel, from Drawings by eminent Artists. Small ito, bound elegantly in cloth, gilt, fin preparation.) XIIL The Boole of Celebrated Poems. Comprising Forty-one of the most celebrated Poems in the English Language unabridged, mith Eighty Illustrations from Designs by C. JC. Cope, Kenny Meadows, Dodgson, and Furgusson. Demy 8«o, cloth elegant, 15*. ; or morocco, Ws. xir. The Life of Oeorge Washington. By Washington Irving, author of the " Sketch Boole," and "Life of Columbus." Illustrated Library Edition, with Twenty-four Steel Engravings and numerous Jfoodcuts. Imperial Bvo, doth extra. Vol. 1 now ready, 21s. (To be completed in Fonr volumes). ' SAMPSON LOW, SON, & CO., 47, LUDGATE HILL. OCEAN GARDENS f he listorg 0f tl]C "^lariiic |iq«m«m, THE BEST METHODS NOW ADOPTED POE IIS ESTABLISHMENT AND PEESERVATION. H. NOEL HUMPHREYS, AL'THOE OF "BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS; *' BRITISH WOTHS AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS;" *' INSECT changes;*' tic. SECOND EDITION, ENLAEGED AST) COBEECTrD BX THE AUIHOIt. LONDON- SAMPSON LOW, SOI^, AND CO., 47, LUDGATE HILL^ MDCCCLVII. LONDON : THOIIAS HATIEILD, PRINTER, SALISBrRT SQTTABB, FLEET STBKET. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. PAGE Inteodtjction .... . . 1 CHAPTEE II. The Flooe oe ihe Ocean .... 9 CHAPTEE III. The Aqt7aeit7m . . 20 CHAPTEE IV. The Vegetation or the Maeine AauAEiuM . 40 CHAPTEE V. The Zoophytes 53 CHAPTEE VI. The Molluscs, etc 67 "' CONTEXTS. CHAPTEE VII. PAGE The Ascidians, Baes-acles, Sea-Ctjcujibees, jS'aked Mol- luscs, Sea-Woems, etc. ... . 89 CHAPTEE VIII. The Fish and CRrsxACEAKs of the AQUAEnjii 98 CHAPTEE IX. CONCLTJSIOK- . . ... 110 9-1)4- LIST OF PLATES. No. 1. 2. Functaria latifolia . . 3. Chordaria flagelliformis 4. Vauclieria suhmarina . 5. Hildenhrandtia rubra . PLATE I. SEA-WEEDS. The Crimson Delesseria . The Broad-leaved Punctaria The "Whip-like Chordaria . The Submariae Vaucheria . The Eed Hildenhrandtia PAGE 46 46 46 47 46 PLATE II. 1. Bamgia fusco-prirpurea . 2. Codium tomentosum . . 3. Bryopsis plumosa . . 4. Callithamnion arhuscula ■5. Leathesia Berkleyi . . 6. Laminaria pjiyllitia . SEA-WEEDS. . The Dark-purple Bangia 47 . The Closely-haired Codium . 47 . The Feathery Bryopsis . 42, 47 . The Tree-like Callithamnion 47 . Berkley's Leathesia . . 47 . The Leafy Laminaria . 47 1 . Porphyra vulga/ria . 2. Dumontia filiformis . 3. Asperococous Turneri 4. RytipluBa pinastris . PLATE III. . . The Common Porphyra . . 47 . . The Slender Dumontia . 48 . . Turner's Asperococcus . 48 . . The Pine-like Eytiphffia . 48 LIST OF PLATES. 5. Chrysemenia rosea . 6. Peyssonetia Buhji . 1. Choria/ria divaricata 8. Eetocarpus siliculosus 9. Nemdleon multifida . 10. Nytophyllum punctatum The Kose-colouredCkrysemema Duty's Peyssonetia . . . • Tlie Minutely-branching Clior- daria The Podded Eetocarpus . . The Many-cleft jS'emaleon . The Spotted Nytophyllum . 48 48 48 47 47 48 1. Chondrus crispus 2. Oigartina acicuhris . 3. Ceramium sfrictum . 4. Taonia atomaria 5. Plocamium coccineum PLATE IV. SEA-A^^;EDS. . . The Curly Chondrus . . f The Needle-shaped or Pointed ' [ Gigartina . . The Pink Ceramium . . . . The Speckled Taonia . . . . The Scarlet Plocamium . . 42 49 49 48 48 1 . Lav/rencia pinnatifolia 2. Poly spjwnia parasitica 3. Ulva latissima . . 4. RJiodymenia lacinata 5. Gracilaria confervoides 6. Codimn bursa 7. Iridcea edulis . 8. Zonaria parvula . . 9. Hetocarpm tomentosus 10. Gorallina officinalis . PLATE V. SEA-WEEDS. f The Pitmate-leaved Lauren- 43, 49 "I cia . . . The Parasitic Polysphonia . . 50 . The Broad-leaved Ulva ... 49 . The Lace-edged Ehodymenia 43, 49 . The Sponge-Hke Gracilaria . 50 . The Purse-lLke Codium . . 50 . The Eatable Iridea .... 49 The Lesser Zonaria . . 50 . The Hairy Eetocarpus . 50 . The Common Corallina . . 50 LIST OF PLATES. No. 1 . Oeniaster equestres . . 2. Asterina gihhosa . . . 3. Palmipes memhranaceus 4. Crilella oculata . . 5. Palmmon serrattcs . . 6. Edwardsia vestita . . PLATE VI. SEA-ANEMONIES, STAE-FISIE, ETC. The SmaU Scarlet Star-fish The aihhous Star-fish . The Bird's-foot Star . The Eyed Star-fish . . The Common Pra-wn. The Clothed Sea- Anemone PLATE YII. 1 . Actinia clavafa .... The Nailed Sea- Anemone . 2. Pennatuh phosphorea, . . The Phosphoric Sea-pen . 3. A. Gtow^ oi Ascidians 4. A Shell of the Common'] "Whelk, on which are two I The Acorn-shell . specimens of Bdlanus . j PLATE VIII. 1 & 2. Actinia mesembrt/an- (The Carnation -like Sea-Ane-" themum I mone of different colours 3. Actinia gemmacea . . . The Gemmed Sea- Anemone 4. JDuccrnaria auricula . . The Auricula-Hke Lucemaria 5. Virgularia mirahilis . . The Eod-like Sea-Pen . . PAGE 104 104 104 104 102 56 57 63 89 91 59 57 61 65 1 . Actinia anguieoma . 2. Alyconium ddgitatum 3. JEchinus sphara . . 4. Cucumis hgalinus . 59 PLATE IX. ■ The Serpent-haired Sea-Ane- I mone . . The Many-fingered Alyconium 63 . . The Common Sea-Egg . . .107 . The Glassy Sea-Cucumber . . 92 LIST OF PLATES. PLATE X. PACK I The Twisted Serpula 90 1 . A group of Serpula contor- tupUoata . . . ^ , ,. . . . (The Thick-homed Sea-Ane-) 2. Achnia crassworniB . • ■{ 1-59 (. mone PLATE XI. A Design for a Plainly-moiuited Aquarium . 3o PLATE XII. A Design for an Aquarium mounted in handsome Rustic-work 35 OCEAN GARDENS ; OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. CHAPTER I. rNIEODUCTIOlSr. HAT the vast majority of our migra- tory flocks of summer and autumnal p idlers generally do and think at the sea-side, cannot be better exempli- fied than by reference to the clever sketches which are found occupying entire pages of our illustrated periodicals and news- papers, during the season of marine migra- tion. But the habits and customs of the annual shoal of visitors to our watering-places may be , still more intimately comprehended through the me- dium of the sprightly essays which generally accom- pany those truly artistic delineations. And is there really nothing better to do — ^no OCEAN GAEDENS; better regime to go through, than the daily repetition of the monotonous programme of entertainment thus playfully described and ridiculed'? Sm-ely the visitor at the sea-side is in reach of something more pleasant and profitable than such a routine ! Do not the sublime aspects of the ocean — the sound of its deep ceaseless voice — the eternal on- coming of its waves, now in calm imdulations, and now in hurtling wildness against the base of those cliffs whose white brows are "svreathed with perennial flowers — suggest other matters both for reflection and amusement? Surely the very whispering of the breeze that has travelled so far over that vast moving surface of the fathomless deep, and wliich seems muttering of its mysteries, while laden mth its sweet sahne odour — •" ce parfum acre de la mer" as Dumas has termed it — might lead us towards other and higher trains of thought. Surely those voices in the wind, mingling with the strange mur- mur of the waves as they break in cadenced regu- larity upon the shore, ought to arouse, in the feelings of those who hear them for the first time, or after a long absence, strange sensations of admiration, and curiosity, and wonder. But no ; to most of the idle crowd those sights and sounds are invisible and OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. unheard. Their ears have not been tutored to understand the word-music of Nature's language, nor to read the brightly written signs on its glorious page. To appreciate either Nature or Art, the mind requires a special education, without which the eye and the ear perceive but little of the miracles passing before them. To the eye of the common observer, the farthest field in a landscape is as green as the nearest, in the scene outspread before him ; while to the practised glance of the accom- plished artist, every yard of distance lends its new tone of colour to the tints of the herbage, till, through a thousand delicate gradations, the brightest verdure at last mingles with the atmospheric hue, and is eventually lost in the pervading azure. If, then, the ordinary aspects of Nature may not be fully interpreted by the untutored eye, how should her more hidden mysteries be felt or understood, or even guessed af? And, ia fact, they are not, or the visitor to the sea-side, looking over that wide tremu- lous expanse of water that covers so many mysteries, would feel, like the chUd taken for the first time within the walls of a theatre, an intense anxiety to raise the dark green curtain which conceals the scene of fairy wonders he is greedily longing to OCEAN GARDENS ; behold and enjoy. But the lounger at the sea-side does not guess at the wonders concealed by the dark green curtain of the ocean, and, consequently, never dreams of wishing to peep beneath its waving folds, to gratify a curiosity which, in fact, he does not feel. When, however, the language of Nature is learnt, and her voice is no longer a confused mur- mur to the ear, but becomes a brUliant series of eloquent words, full of deep and exquisite meaning, then the student will see as well as hear; but tUl then, in his intercourse with Nature, he is both deaf and blind. " Speak," said Socrates to a youth ; " say something, that I may see you." Socrates could not see a silent man; and those who do not hear and understand Nature's language, cannot see her wondrous beauty. The mill-Hke repetition of worldly affairs brings on a torpor of mind, in regard to aU without the narrow circle of selfish interests and easily pur- chased pleasures, which it is very difficult to wake up from. But I would Avarn the suff"ering victims of that baneful, though secret, presence ; for with the consciousness of its existence, the first step will have been taken towards its eradication. I would remind aU those thus suffering from inac- OR, aLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. tivity of mind, of the wholesome dread of that kind of mental torpor entertained by the Gymnosophists ; who, as Apuleius tells us, when they met at meals, required that each should be able to narrate the particulars of some discovery, or original thought, or good action, in default of which, it was deemed that he did not exhibit a sufficient claim for being allowed to consume a share of the viands, and he was conse- quently excluded from the repast. Were each of our most idle sea-side loungers to impose upon himself the necessity of a discovery, or an original thought, before he considered himself entitled to dine, that torpor, so deadening to the natural capacities of his mind, would soon give way to a state of activity, which, were it only from the brightness of the con- trast, would be found highly agreeable, to say nothing of its advantages, or of the elevating and refining trains of thought to which it would necessarily give rise. I know of nothing more likely to stimulate the mind to healthy exertion, and take it out of the immediate track of commonplace interests and plea- sures, the monotony of which is so oppressive, than the study of natural history in some of its least ex- plored fields ; especially those which recent discovery and investigation have rendered so attractive in OCEAN G-ABDENS; connection with tlie waters of the ocean. And yet, how few there are who seek that charming mode of dissipating the dreary monotony of social life, such as it is made by the routine of fashion or habit ! A popular love of natural history, even in its best known divisions, is, in fact, of quite recent growth. Indeed, the very existence of such a science has been, till recently, altogether ignored in our great national seats of learning. The earnest investigators, who have done so much to lay bare its wonders, were either openly ridiculed, or treated with but small respect — as useless dreamers upon very smaU and insignificant matters. The very names of such true labourers in the mine of science as our glorious old naturalist Ra)-, or his follower Pulteney, or the indefatigable Ellis, the first detector of the true nature of Zoophytes, who measured pens with the giant LinuEBus, received no academic honour; and those of their yet undiscoiuraged successors were rarely heard, cither in our imiAersities or among our general public, till the vast discoveries of geo- logy and other allied branches of science, in our own times, at last aroused attention to the importance of their investigations. A popular knowledge of that branch of natural history which especially concerns our seas and OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. shores, is indeed of very recent date. The subject, in fact, is but even now beginning to develope itself beneath the pens of an enterprising band of marine naturalists, with such leaders as Johnston, Harvey, John Edward Gray, the indefatigable Gosse, and the revered shade of the lamented Forbes at their head. A truly popular knowledge even of the more accessible regions of our woods and fields, is but little more ancient ; for, till Gilbert White had m.ade the story of such knowledge as attractive as romance, in his " Natural History of Selborne," few guessed what an arena of ever new interests and discoveries it presented. Through the fascinating interpretation of the good Gilbert, many now understand the attraction of those branches of natural history which he so curi- ously investigated ; but few are willing to admit that it is as easy to make the natural features of some obscure fishing village, with no herbage on its bare rocks, and no bush, no blade of grass, no bird to be seen or heard, equally interesting ; yet I can assure them, that by lifting even the mere border of that great green curtain of the ocean, or by awaiting its unveihngs, as the retiring tide bears back its folds, a host of wonders will be revealed, sufficient to stir the most torpid mind of the most inactive idler OCEAN GAEDENS, ETC. to earnest and deeply inquiring contemplation, and arouse him to their devout admiration, as among the most exquisite miracles of that creative and sustaining Power which is the source of their existence. CHAPTER II. THE FLOOR OF THE OCEAN. The wonders of the ocean floor do not reveal them- selves to vulgar eyes. As the oracle was inaudible to sacrilegious listeners, and as none but poetic ears heard the cadenced beating of the feet that danced to unearthly music, near the fountain haunted by the Muses of classic fable — so, none but the initiated can see the myriad miracles that each receding tide reveals on the ocean floor. The initiation, however, is not mysterious ; there are no dark rites to observe — no Herculean labours to accomplish, as I have said, before entering upon the noviciate, which at once opens a large area of unexpected pleasures, and an ample field for admiration and investigation. A few elementary works carefully studied, or even this present little book attentively perused, would supply the first helps towards seeing, at all events, a portion of the " wonders of the shore," as the brilliant author of " Glaucus" has eloquently termed those revelations of the retiring deep. It is the seeing that is everything. But let none OCEAJSr GARDENS ; despair of acquiring that power. " The name of the Devonshire squire, Colonel George Montague" (thus wrote the late Professor Edward Forbes), " might have become one of the greatest in the whole range of British science, had his whole career been devoted to marine physiology;" and that mainly be- cause, from a sincere devotion to a favourite pursuit of his leisure, he acquired the art of seeing — an art sought by so few, though open to aU who will earnestly seek it. Each department of science requires a separate and distinct kind of sight. The astute merchant deciphers at a glance the precise state of the most intricate accounts, in the midst of thousands of seemingly con- flicting figures ; but of the thousand interesting and wonderful things connected with the existence of the little beetle that crosses his path in his country walk, he is incapable of seeing any single particle. But the despised entomologist, Avhom he has con- temptuously observed turning over the stones at the road side, and peering curiously beneath them, could tell him a tale of wonder, could preach him a sermon upon that tiny tjqoe, such as would assuredly de- velope many latent and unsuspected powers in his mind, that Avould enable him to see wonders where aU had previously been blank, and teach him that OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. there are things well worthy of investigation beyond the region of money-making, and the attractive but narrow circle distinguished by the fascinating cha- racters, £ s. d. Those who cannot see Nature, who cannot see more than an unclean thing in the Httle creeping beetle, are like one gazing at the carved record of an obelisk, who perceives, in the hierogl}'phic scarabaeus, simply the sculptured figure of a beetle, and no more — they are in a state of "Egyptian darkness" as regards one of the highest and most enchanting fields of human research. But to those who have acquired this rare though easy art, and learned to see Xature, even to a moderate extent (for in that art are an infinite number of degrees and grada- tions), the aspect of the ocean floor must present an appearance as beautiful and strange, and seemingly as supernatural, as the wildest imagination could depicture. When poets woidd travel, in their inventive flights, to other floating and revolving worlds !han ours, they describe rosy skies, instead of azure, and trees Uke branching crystals, with jewel-like fruits ghttering on every stem. They present us vsdth pictures, in short, in which aU the ordinary aspects of our planet are reversed, or metamorphosed, in the 11 OCEAJSr aAEDENS ; region of their invention; yet in their wildest and most fanciful pictures they do not surpass in strange- ness the wonders of the world beneath the sea. On the land, we have, as the ordinary aspect of Nature, the green herbaceous mantle of the earth below the eye, and the azure sky above; while a spectator, standing beneath the water on the ocean floor, woidd see these features more than reversed : he would see above him a liquid atmosphere of green, and below, an herbage of red or of purple hue, exhibiting strange yet exquisite forms, such as no terrestrial vegetation displays. Roseate shrubs of jointed stone, and arborets of filmy glass, and crea- tures fiUl of active, energetic life, whose forms are stranger still, both in structure and in appearance; mere worms, whose colours are gorgeous as the tints of the butterfly's wing, or the peacock's tail, or the humming-bird's breast. What scenery is formed by those miniature forests of Delesseria sangttinea, so lovely in their tones of soft* rich crimson; and those fan-like shrubs, the crisply graceful tufts of the brightly tinted and sin- gularly formed Padma pavonia : the tree-like masses of Callithamnion arbuscula, the delicate JPtilota plumosa, and the purple-tinted Corallines, forming themselves into those OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE "WATERS. "Arboreta of jointed stone," SO exquisitely described by a recent poet. And then there are the high waving fronds of the grandly graceful Torphyra vulgaris, the deep carmine of the Iridcea eduUs, the nacreous tinges of the Chondrus crispus, and the blood-red of the splendid JRhody- menia lacmata, with its embroidered and lace-hke edges- these, with the gorgeous tufts of the rich purple Bangia, and other objects which form the elements of still life in a submarine landscape, surely cannot be siirpassed, either for magnificence of colour or variety of structure. But to these features must be added others more extraordinary — ^forms that the elder naturalists ima- gined to be links between the animal and vegetable creation, but which are now known to have no affinity whatever with plants, though they exhibit, under many aspects, all the appearance of expanded flowers of various hues, displaying the forms of the Carnation, the Anemone, the Mesembryanthemum, and the blos- soms of other beautiful flowers whose names they bear. These curiously beautiful Zoophytes, the won- derful Actiniae, exhibit every tone of colour, from purple and scarlet, to green and white, and might be taken in their picturesquely placed groups for rare exotic flowers, planted among the rosy-tinted shrubs OCEAN GARDENS; expressly to add the last touch of richness and effect to the scenery of an ocean flower-show. Yet they are not flowers, but animals — sea mon- sters, whose seeming dehcate petals are but their thousand Briarean arms, disguised as the petals of a flower, and expanded to seize the unconscious victim as he passes near the beautiful form — fatal to him as the crater of a -solcano ; in which he is soon engulphed by the closing tentacles of his unsuspected enemy. And if he pass not near enough for that deadly floral embrace, and escape the fatally beaiitiful petals, those pretty crimson tubercles that dot so gracefully the seeming stalk, beneath the seeming flower, can shoot forth a thread, armed, like the fisher's line, with a barbed hook, which strikes and secures the distant prey; and so the unwary Annelid or lyifusory is captured and devoured. In this capacity the Syren actinea has been compared to Pope's spider, who " Feels at each tTiread, and lives along the Line." But then the lining thread of the Actinia (or of the Cirriped, AAhich has a similar power) is a fact, while the sensitive gossamer of the poet is a fiction. But notwithstanding these ogre-like attributes, the lovely Actinia long deceived even our naturalists as to its true nature — and of course the poets — from OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. whom his flower-like disc and petaloid tentacles completely concealed his grosser nature. Then, as the tide recedes, he so meekly closes his beautiful oubliette, with so much grace, and looking so much like those slirinking flowers that close at eve, as though they dared not to look on the black darkness of the night, that it is no wonder poets were beguiled, and that the romantic Southey sings of the Actinia as of some lily of the deep that, on the retiring of the ocean, " Sinks down within its purple stem to sleep." To add to the wonders of this strange landscape come the creeping Nudibranchs and Tectibranchs, gliding over the gracefully waving Algce ; their ele- gant forms decorated with their external breathing apparatus, so delicate and fragile, that it looks hke a spectral star gliding above them, or hke the pale skeleton of some deHcate flower, so fine are its milk- white filaments, arranged nearly always in a sym- metrical and star-like form. And then there are the singular and shadowy Medusce fioating past, in the form of parachutes, vnth low suspended cars, just as though the science of ballooning had been carried to perfection under the sea; and that they were made of elastic glass, instead of silk, though richly fiushed with iridescent and varying tinges, sometimes of 15 OCEAN aAEDENS; metallic azure, and anon of emerald green ; hues that seem added by some delicate process which the glass- blowers above the water have not yet discovered. Some of these creatures are fragile as a soap-bubble, to which their transparency and prismatic flashes of colour give them a curious resemblance ; and their ephemeral existence, dependent upon the will of exen an angry ripple of the element in which they live, is doubtless as brief. The deep has even its butterflies, as well as the land: for the fluttering of the fins of some small and brightly coloured fish has been compared to the action of the wings of moths — as have also the locomotive membranes of some of the animals of the univalve shells. Then there are minute phosphorescent animals, which represent the fire-flies of the south, pouring a living flood of light through the water as they glide along — some emitting silvery, and others golden flashes, like floating lamps that seem hurrying to light up the darkness of the far ocean depths. Even the worms are gorgeous and wonderful in this subaqueous world. The Serpulce, with their radiating coronets of crimson braticMce ; the Fecti- naria, with its golden comb, glittering in burnished brightness; and the Nereis, with white and crimson stripes — are all wonderful as well as beautiful objects. OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. But the Salithea, or sea-goddess, as Lamarck has named it, from the extraordinary beauty and the gorgeous colotu's that radiate from the silky hairs with which it is clothed, surpasses them all. These, and other wonders of stUl greater beauty, wUl reward the persevering student who learns to see them ; but then he must learn. Even the intellectual giant, Shakspeare, could not see clearly many of the minuter things of Nature. In his linQ upon the slow-worm, for instance, vulgarly called the blind- worm, which he describes as " The eyeless, venomed worm," are concentrated two mistakes : in the first place, the minute eyes of this little creature are brilliant in the extreme, and not very diificult to discover, to the naturalist who has learnt to observe Nature ; and, in the second place, it has no venom, its tiny bite being perfectly harmless. In another place he speaks of "The blind-worm's stinff." But it is useless to multiply examples of the phy- siological errors of great men who had not learned to see Nature ; or MUton's errors in regard to the leaf of the Banyan-tree, and many others, might be readily cited. OCEAJif aAHDENS ; There are, as I have endeavoured to show, many glorious things to he seen in the ocean, but we ha^"e to learn to see them ; and those who find they cannot see with their own eyes, must do so through the more gifted sense of others. To many — how many, un- guided by an able cicerone — the fields round Selborne would appear common and uninterestiag enough ; but guided by a Gilbert White, whose searching eye knew where to seek the hidden forms of plants, whose ear at once distinguished and classified the song of bii'ds, and even the buzz of insects — guided by him, thiags assume a far diff'erent aspect ; like another Prospero, he waves his wand, and every object begins to brighten, and a thousand new and beautiful fea- tures develope themselves under the magic of his descriptions ; crowds of marvels springing up around, as from enchanted ground. In like manner, guided by the fascinating science of a Johnston or a Harvey, or the persuasive industry of a Gosse, or the elo- quently glowing descriptions of a Kingsley, students, who have not the energy or leisure to work for them- selves, will find the dark ocean glow with an unex- pected light ; and the charmed explorer will long for the power to renew the impressions of his sea-side rambles after his return to his inland home, perhaps in the heart of a densely populated city. Even this OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH TECE WATEES. he may now do through the medium of the marine Aquarium, within the narrow boiindaries of which he may, with a little care and experience, estabhsh in healthy existence some of the most beautiful of the animal and vegetable forms that people the caves and depths of the ocean, making its watery world a region of wonders. CHAPTER III. THE AQUARIUM. JHE successful treatment of aquatic plants and animals, in the confined space of a glass Aquarium, depends entirely upon the dis- covery that there exists in Nature a self-adjusting balance between the supply of oxygen created in water with the quantity consumed by aquatic animals. Without the knowledge of these facts, and the prin- ciples by which they are regulated, it would ha^ e been impossible to establish such a marine Aquarium as that we may now any day examine in the Regent's Park; where, in a few glass tanks of very moderate size, we may see examples of some of the most curious forms of animal and vegetable life peculiar to the depths of the ocean — forms so singular, that their first exhibition created a sense of wonder little less intense than that which must have been caused, long years ago, by the first public display of the mountain form of the elephant to the people of cold northern countries ; and much more so than the recent introduction of the giraffe or liippopotamus, although. OCEAN GARDENS, ETC. till the beginning of the present century, they had never been seen in Europe since the days of the Romans. Those principles, the knowledge of which was requisite to enable us thus to view the wonders of the ocean in their living state in an Aquarium, were not mastered at once, or by one man, or in one generation. The nature of certain relations between animal and vegetable life, upon which they are founded, was first advanced by Priestley, towards the close of the last century, who proved that plants give forth the oxygen necessary to animal life. The learned Ingenhauss, a native of Breda, but who prin- cipally resided in England, defined this principle stiU. more clearly, in a work the title of which pretty fully explains the entire nature of his discovery. It was published in French, at Leyden, in 1778, and in London, in English, in 1779. The French edition is before me, the title of which may be thus trans- lated, " Experiments upon Plants, which prove their important influence in the purification of the atmo- spheric air when they are exposed to the rays of the sun, and the contrary results which ensue when they are placed in the shade, or during the night." The action of the sun's rays in disengaging the oxygen generated in plants is thus clearly announced, and OCEAJSr GARDENS; the knowledge of this principle is one of those which have mainly conduced, as I have said, to the successful estahlishment of Aquaria. In the course of his essay Ingenhauss states, stiU more directly, that plants " immersed in water," when exposed to the action of light, emit an air which he announces as oxygen gas; and this idea is the key- stone of the Aquarium. But, although the discovery of Ingenhauss at once rendered the thing practicable. Aquaria did not then come into fashion. The science of natural history was not at that time sufficiently advanced; for the specimens, even in public museums, were merely heterogeneous collections, assembled without the slightest regard to classification, or any other useful purpose, A stufi'ed cat with nine legs, stood, perhaps, next to a bottled snake, followed by the skin of a crocodile, to be succeeded in turn by a very moth-eaten specimen of a King Charles spaniel, " sup- posed, upon good authority, to have belonged to Nell Gwynne." A few scores of such objects, with the addition of an ostrich egg and a few sea-shells, without any attempt at name or description, formed, with a few strildng exceptions, a very respectable museum in those times ; and we may therefore easUy conceive that (in so far as experiments illustrative of OE, GLIJIPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. natural science were concerned) the suggestions of Ingenhauss remained tolerably dormant. It was not tUl the year 1833 that Professor Daubeny communicated, to the British Association at Cambridge, a paper concerning some new researches prosecuted in the same direction; and not tUl 1837 that Mr. Ward became the first to apply the prin- ciple to any purpose analogous to that of the Aqua- rium. In that year he made a report to the British Association, on the hermetically closed glass cases in which he had succeeded in growing many classes of plants, and keeping them in a healthy state without any fresh supply of air. He stated, at the same time, his belief that certain classes of animals would live and thrive under similar circumstances. This was the first direct hint towards the formation of a closed Vivarium, whether atmospheric or aquatic. In 1842, Dr. Johnston satisfactorily proved the true vegetable nature of Corallines, by observing their growth in a vessel containing sea- water; and thus was established the first true Aquarium, With the experimental tuft of Coralline was a small frond of a green JJlva, and numerous Sissoce, etc., and several Annelids afterwards appeared, having been, no doubt, attached to the branches of the Coralline, or the fronds of the Ulva. At the end of four Aveeks !3 OCEAN G-AEDENS ; the water was still pure, the Molluscs and other animals alive, and the Confervse grown; the Coral- line itself having thrown out several additional articu- lations. After eight weeks, the water still remained sweet. But had any animal, of even the lowest order, been so confined, without the accompanying presence of vegetables giving off' oxygen, aU of that vital gas contained in so small a quantity of water would have been quickly exhausted, and the water would have become corrupt, ammoniacal, and poison- ous to the life of any living thing. But the author of this experiment had not in view the testing of the possibility of preserving the forms of ocean Ufe in a healthy state in confinement ; his business had been to settle an important point connected with the classification of the Corallines ; and ha^dng success- fully decided that question, the embryo Aquarium was abandoned. In 1849 Mr. Ward stated, at a meeting of the British Association at Oxford, that he had succeeded, not only in growing sea-weeds in sea-water, but in sea-water artificially made. On the 4th of June, 1850, Mr. R. Warrington communicated to the Chemical Society a series of observations on the adjustment of certain relations between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, still more important to Our 24 OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. present purpose. Two small gold-fish were placed in a glass receiver, a small plant of Valisneria spiralis being planted at the same time in some earth, beneath a layer of sand in the same vessel. All went on Avell by this arrangement, without any necessity for changing the water; the oxygen given ofi" by the plant proving itself sufficient for the supply of its animal co-tenants, and the water therefore remaining clean and pure, until some de- caying leaves of the Valisneria caused turbidity, and confervoid growth began to accumulate on the sides of the vessel. To remedy this evil, Mr. Warring- ton brought to bear the results of previous obser- vations on water in natural ponds under analogous circumstances ; and, guided by these observations and their results, he placed a few common pond-snails in the vessel containing his gold-fish and plant of Valis- neria. The new inmates, immediately upon their intro- duction, began to feed greedily upon the decaying vegetable matter, and all was quickly restored to a healthy state. They proved, indeed, of stUl further advantage, for the masses of eggs which they de- posited evidently presented a kind of food natural to the fishes, which was eagerly devoured by them, so that the snails became not only the scavengers OCEAN GAEDENS; but also the feeders of the little colony. And so this first of true Aquaria prospered; the animals and plants proving of mutual value and support to each other. The snails disposed of the decaying leaves, which would have tainted the water and rendered it unfit for the healthy existence of the plant, and the plant in turn gave forth, under the rays of sun- light, the supply of oxygen necessary to both fish and snails. In January, 1852, Mr. Warrington commenced a series of similar experiments with sea-water; which were, at first, not so satisfactory, but in the end proved as entirely successful. In the course of his experiments, he found the red and brown AlgtB, or sea-weed, less proper for the formation of oxygen than the green. Of the latter class he procured spe- cimens of Enteromorpha compressa and Ulva latis- sima, which he chiselled from the rocks about Broad- stau's, along with the pieces of chalk or flint to which they Avere attached ; and, when he placed them in his own marine Aquarium, he put in along with them, to represent the pond-snails in the fresh- water tank, some of the common sea-snail, better known as the Periwinkle [Littorina littorea). These proved, it appears, insufiicient for the destruction of the mucous and gelatinous matter that arose from 26 OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. the rapid decay of nearly all the red sea-weeds, which, however, I have no doubt may yet be cultivated with equal success with the green ; this has, indeed, been subsequently proved by their successful culture by Mr. Alford Lloyd. Under the then existing difficulty, however, it was found necessary to aerate the water by other means, many processes being equally avail- able ; such as injecting fresh water from a syringe, or estabhshing a drip, of some height, from a vessel containing a supply of entirely fresh Avater. Mr. Warrington also discovered, in the course of these experiments, the necessity that the light should pass directly through the surface of the water to the plants, as in natural ponds and seas — a very im- portant step in the successful management of Aquaria ; and he therefore had a slab of slate adjusted to the side of his tank which stood next to the light, to pre- vent the sun-rays from penetrating to the plants in a lateral direction. These successful experiments, both in fresh-water and marine Aquaria, assign to Mr. Warrington, beyond dispute, the credit of being the practical originator, or inventor, if the term may be so used, of these charming additions to our conservatories, corridors, and even living-rooms, to which they are certainly a much more attractive and instructive 27 OCEAN aABDENS; addition than the old globe of blank water, with its pair of gold-fish swimming round and round in ceaseless gyrations, tiresome to behold, in the vain hope of escaping from their glaring and incon- venient prison ; in which they would inevitably have perished very shortly but for the daily change of water, which, previous to onr knowledge of air- emitting plants and their use, was absolutely neces- sary. But another experimentalist was now in the field. Mr. Gosse, whose charming works upon Aquaria, and other subjects connected with natural science, have perhaps made his name more widely kno-ivn than that of his predecessor, Mr. Warrington, commenced a series of experiments on the subject of the marine Aquarium, about the same time as the last-named gentleman, in the beginning of January, 1852. His attempts were croAvned with such com- plete success, that he was induced to put himself in communication with Mr. David Mitchell, the enterprising Secretary of the Zoological Society, the result of which was the removal of the collection of Annelids and Zoophytes which Mr. Gosse had formed, to the gardens of the Society in the Re- gent's Park, Avhere it formed the nucleus from which has grown the magnificent series of Aquaria OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. in tlie building recently constructed for their recep- tion. These marine Aquaria at once became a subject of public a.s well as private interest, and the Aquarium house was so crowded daily with its curious visitors, that it became difficult to get a glimpse of the wonders of the " ocean floor," and its zoophytic denizens, which were so successfully exhibited there ; principally through the skilful aid and untiring in- dustry of Mr. Gosse, through whose hands above five thousand specimens passed at the time, collected at the request of the Zoological Society. In his interesting record of his early essays, Mr. Gosse gives us many valuable particulars con- cerning his successive experiments, and the various disappointments to which he was at first subjected ; many of them from causes now too well understood to require repetition. His principal difficulty arose from over-crowding, although his tank did not appear, as he states, too much fiUed. Another disappoint- ment was caused by putting in animals before the smell of the putty, with which the glass sides were fixed, had sufficiently gone oif. Mr. Gosse's tank was made with a slate bottom, and birch pillars, in which were grooves to receive the glass ; and its dimensions were, two feet long by one foot six wide, the depth not being mentioned. 29 OCEAN aAEDENS ; Taking these dimensions into consideration, it will be easy to conceive, when the following list of specimens which Mr. Gosse introduced into his Aquariimi is examined, that his population was too dense for the extent of his province, although the space might not have appeared too much fiUed for picturesque effect. Of vegetable specimens, he in- troduced at once the following : — 1. A tuft of Furcellaria fdsti- giata. 2. Two oi Wiodi/menia palmata. 3. One of Dictyota dicliotoma. 4. A small Fucus serratus. 5. One Laminaria digitata. 6. Two tufts of Fadiiiapavonia. 7. Several masses of Corallina officinalis. 8. One GriffitJisia setacea. 9. One Delesseria alata. 10. One Plocamiuin coccineum. 11. One Phylopliora rubens. 12. One Zostera marina. In a few days the water in wliich these specimens were placed became- clear as pale green crystal, the pale green tmge being too slight to obscure the colour of any object seen through its medium. From these weeds alone, before any supply of Zoophytes or Molluscs were intentionally added, a whole host of minute animal hfe swarmed forth; some, doubtless, issuing from eggs newly hatched; others from the shelter of the matted ramifications of some of the sea-weeds, in which they had been taken, as in a net. Among these swarming crea- OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. tures were Annelids of the genus Syllis, Hissoce, and other minute shell-fish, but principally Isopodous and Entomostracotis Crustacea, many of them being so minute as not to be perceived without the use of a powerful lens. Of the animals next placed in this tank, of only two feet by one foot six inches, the following is the list given : — FISH. 1. Fifteen, Spined Stickleback . . Qasterosteus spinachia. 2. Seven, Grey Mullet (young) . . Mugil capita. 3. One, Black Goby Qobious niger. 4. One, Corkwing Crenilabrus cornubicus. 5. One, jFive-bearded Eockling . . Motella 5-cirrata. 6. One, Great Pipe-fish (young) . . Syngnathus acus. 7. One, Worm Pipe Syngnathus lumbriformis. SHELLS, MOLLrSCS, ETC. 1. Two, Ashy Top Trochus cinerarius. 2. One, Navel Top Trochus mnbiUcatus. 3. Three, Common Perivrinkle . . . Littoriiia littorea. 4. Three, Tellow Periwinkle . . . Littorina littoralis. 5. One, Purple Purpura lapillus. 6. One, Scrobicularia. 7. One, Anomia. 8. Two, Common Cockle .... Cardivm eduJe. 9. Two, Ascidia. CEUSTACEA, ETC. 1. Two, Hermit Crab . . . . Fagurus BernJiardus. 2. One, ditto • Pagurus PriJeauxii. 31 OCEAN GAEDENS; 3. Pour, Sand Shrimp . .... Cragnon vulgaris. 4. One Prawn Palcemon serratus. 5. Three, Crown Worm Serpula triquetra. 6. Three, AVTiite-line Worm .... Nereis hilineata. ZOOPHYTES. 1. Two, Thick-horned Anemone . . . Actinia crassicornis. 2. Three, Weymouth Anemone . . . Actinia clavata. 3. Two, Parasitic Anemone .... Actinia parasitica. 4. Six, Plumose Anemone Actinia dianthus. 5. Five, Daisy Anemone Actinia bellis. There were thus above seventy specimens, animal and vegetable, already in the tank, Avithout counting the swarms of smaller creatures, some the young of large species, daily increasing in size ; yet our bold experimentahst, anxious, like another Napoleon, to conquer his "Russia" at one grand invasion, .still poured in fresh specimens. These consisted of: — risH. 1. One, ^32quorial Pipe-fish .... Sijngnatlius cequoreus. MOLLrSCS, CECSTACEAXS, ETC. 1. One, Hough Doris . . . Doris pilosa. 2. Two, ll'Acus, Top .... . . Trochus magus. 3. One, Nerit ... . . Xiitica Alderi. 4. One, Squin . Pecten opercularis. 5. One, Pholas . Pholas par vce. n. One, Pisa . Pisa teiraodon. 7. One, Cleanser Crab Portunus depiirator 8. One, Ehalia JElalia Pennantii. OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. 9. One, Hermit (small) Pagurus. 10. Three, Lobster Prawn Athanas nilesoens. STAB-riSH, ETC. 1. One, Brittle Star OpMocoma rosula. 2. One, Eyed Cribella Crihella oculata. 3. Two, Scarlet Sun-Star Solaster pwpposa. 4. One Bird's-foot Star Palmipes membranaceiis. 5. Three, Gibbous Starlet .... Asterina gibhosa. 6. One, Purple-tipped Urchin . . Echinus miliwris. 7. Seven, Scarlet Madrepore . . . Balanophillia regia. 8. Three, Cloak Anemone Adamsia palliata. These additions brought the collection np to above a hundred specimens, and no doubt the tank made a glorious show; but Mr. Gosse, though the Napo- leon of his specialty, was forced to acknowledge that there was an " impossible." Although his collection was superb, and his interesting tank did not look over-crowded, yet he soon discovered that a forbidden limit had been passed, and that the creatures of the ocean that have yards — ^fathoms — of their native ele- ment to their own separate share, cannot accommodate themselves to the allotment system, in the proportion of a square inch to each individual. To remedy this state of things, the evil effects of which soon became apparent, artificial aeration was resorted to, by means of another vessel, which kept up OCEAN GABDENSj a continuous supply of dripping fresh water. But even this assistance did not enable the crowded colony to exist more than ten days. In the first place, there were many predatory species, which destroyed their associates; these kinds must, there- fore, be excluded from an Aquarium, or kept in a separate tank. But, after all, the impossibility of providing a sufficient supply of oxygen was evi- dently the great and principal cause of failure. The Univalves and smaller Crustacea disappeared first, a disagreeable smeU giving intimation that decay was going on ; the creatures that had perished having, many of them, died in concealment, under the stones, weeds, etc., at the bottom of the Aquarium. The first signs of unpleasant efiluvia rising from the tank must, therefore, be carefully attended to ; and, in such cases, the Aquarium ought to be immediately searched for the cause ; which, when discovered, should be carefully removed. ^Ir. Gosse having taken out the whole of the specimens, dead and alive, and carefully cleansed the tank, a much smaller number was put in, which, being well selected, and having sufficient space, throve abundantly weU ; and the ingenious experimentahst was at last amply rewarded for aU his persevering exertion-s. This result benefited others as well as Plate. XII. OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. himself, for a general taste suddenly arose for this kind of pursuit, arising mainly from the various works which soon appeared on the subject; and, to gratify the new taste, a host of dealers in Aquaria also sprung up, who are aU of them driving a brisk and profitable trade. The first experiments of Mr. Gosse sufficiently poiat out the kind of cautions to be observed in the formation of a marine Aquarium. The vessel itself may be either quite plain in its framework, as shown in Plate : XL, or made more or less ornamental, to assimilate, if necessary, with surrounding objects or furniture. The rustic style of frame designed in Plate XII. has been found to accord well with the general character of the Aquarium itself, and it produces an agreeable contrast with the usual forms of the furniture of our ordinary sitting-rooms. Those made by the dealers are generally formed with slate floors and backs, and zinc columns and mountings ; the smallest and most simple, about fifteen inches long by ten inches broad, costing from a guinea to twenty-five shillings, and those of the proportion of two feet by one foot six, costing from two pounds ten to three pounds. A small syphon will be found useful, in order to remove a portion of the water, if required, without disturbance ; and also a syringe, in 35 OCEAW GARDENS; order to aerate the water when necessary, if a second reservoir of fresh water, in a suitable position, should not be convenient. A miniature landing-net is also useful for the removal of decaying matter, or occa- sionally the living specimens, when any change may be required. A layer of sand and pebbles, about three inches deep, placed upon the slate flooring, is the first step towards arranging the interior of the tank. Upon this beginning, removing portions of the sand and stones, where required in places, to procure a firm basis, the rockwork may be built ; which should be picturesque and fanciful in character, as partially sug- gested in the two Plates, leaving miniature archways and caves for the shelter of such creatures as shun the light, either constantly or occasionally. Such a dispo- sition of the rock imparts, at the same time, many pleasing efi'ects to the pictorial composition. These matters are not, however, much attended to by dealers, whose arrangements of the Aquaria they offer for sale are generally tasteless enough. But that is perhaps all the better, as it entails upon the amateur the neces- sity of providing his own taste, instead of purchasing it, which is at all times both a useful and pleasant eifort of mind, and which, moreover, leaves, after each period of exertion, a permanent trace of an increased OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. refinement, which inevitably influences the wliolc character. In the distribution of the rocks, I would always allow at least one point to project above the water, in order to afford the opportunity to those animals whose instincts lead them to seek occasional exposure to the aix the means of gratifying it by that contriv- ance. I have thought, indeed, of constructing a kind of double Aquarium, and perfecting an arrangement by means of which a large portion of water should flow gradually from one tank to the other at fixed periods, in imitation of the ebb and flow of the tide. Many interestiag phenomena would be exhibited in this manner, such as the closing of the Actmice as the water receded, and their expansion as it covered them on its return ; accompanied by a host of other effects full of interest and instruction. This alternation, too, might be found highly advantageous to the health and development of the animals whose natural habitat lies between high and low water-mark, and whose constitution is therefore framed to require entire or partial exposure to the air at certain intervals of time. I also prefer, as preserving a similar set of analogies, a sloping bottom, similar to that of the coast. For instance, if the slate back of the Aquarium be placed next the light, which is its proper position, as the hght 37 OCEA^ GAKDENS ; ought to penetrate the water entirely through its upper or horizontal surface, then I would fill the side next the slate back nearly to the top with pieces of rock, gradually reducing their height, till, at the other side, they should hardly rise above the floor of sand and pebbles, leaving, at last, a flat portion of the pebbly or sandy bottom quite level. When this form of rockwork is decided upon, the Aquarium should be of rather wider proportions than usual, in order to allow of the slope being pretty gradual. Supposing the tank to fill enthely the recess of a spare window, which is a position in which it looks exceedingly well, a solid slate back may be found to darken the vessel or the room too much ; in such a case, a glass back must be preferred, which can be shaded from the direct influence of the Hght by a blue or green shade of calico neatly fitted to the frame ; and it must be borne in mind, as essen- tial, that the Aquarium must be so placed as to receive the direct rays of light during some part of the day, being slightly screened when the sun is too powerful ; as, should the water become tepid, it would be fatal to many of the inhabitants of the miniature sea. With due observance of these precautions, the amateur may hope to frame and establish an Aqua- OE, aLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. rium in a suitable form, and in a suitable position for the reception of its inmates ; an account of which, and of the manner of their introduction will form the sub- ject of the ensuing chapters. CHAPTEE IV. THE VEGETATION OF THE MARINE AQUARIUM. S the forest must be planted before its deni- zens can luxuriate in its shades, so " the submarine shrubbery of the Aquarium must be perfected before the aquatic animals can be introduced. For it has been shown, in tracing the his- tory of the experiments which resulted in the estabhshment of the principles that regu- late the formation of Aquaria, that it is by plants only that a supply of oxygen can be kept up, suiRcient for the health and existence of all forms of animal life beneath the water.* It is necessary, also, that the rays of sunhght should fall upon the foliage directly through the surface of the water ; and when an Aquarium, with its plants, is placed in a position to receive the light in this manner, their fronds may be observed giving forth * Analogous principles are at work in oiit fields and forests, but we have now only to do with the submarine production of oxygen. OCEAIf GAEDEKS, ETC. the gas in small silvery bubbles and coruscations, which have a brilliant and gem-like appearance. Some marine plants appear to succeed much better than others, but I beheve that happens only from their treatment being imperfectly understood ; and I believe not only that aU the exquisitely beautiful marine Algce of our own shores may be successfully grown, but also that the more splendid varieties of the tropical seas may be made to thrive in properly heated Aquaria, and thus form one of the most attractive features of our hothouses — one that has not yet been dreamed of. In ordinary Aquaria, such as I am now treat- ing of, I shall name first those species of sea-weed recommended by Mr. Gosse and others as most easily cultivated, but I shall also point out many other species, which I feel convinced may be suc- cessfully grown under proper management; and they certainly deserve every effort that can be made to establish them in Aquaria, as they are among the most beautiful of their tribe. Most of the plants named may be purchased of dealers, but if collected by the amateur himself, care must be taken to detach a portion of the substance to which they are growing, and they must be very carefully packed in damp refuse sea-weed, and kept OCEAN aARDENSj out of their native element as short a time as pos- sible. The plants in most flourishing condition in the marine tanks of the Zoological Gardens, were at first those of the Chlorospermatous order, but others have since succeeded nearly as well. Plants of Ulva and Conferva have always done very well ; but the most successful growth has been that of a plant of the genus JBryopsis^ which entirely envelop- ing a large stone in its mossy and almost feather- like foliage, produces a very beautiful appearance. Those unlearned in scientific names will be glad, perhaps, to learn that beautiful Algce of this last- named genus derive their title from two Greek words, Bryon (^pvov), a moss, and opsis (o^'?), a resem- blance, from their likeness to some of the most deh- cate and feather-like mosses of our woods. The delineation of Bry opsis plumosa in Plate II., on the extreme left near the lower part of the Plate, wiU convey some idea of these elegant sea-weeds. Chondrus crispus is a beautiful plant, and weU suited to the Aquarium. It vidll often be found under ledges of rock, completely concealed by a pendent veil of Fucus, commonly known as the olive weed ; and, on lifting the tangled mass of its rank growth, many beautiful and unexpected plants 4S, OE, aLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. are frequently found, but none strike the explorer more than the Chondrus. Its nacreous tints, like those of a pearl shell, varying wonderfully according to situation, being very remarkable. It is the Carrageen Moss of the herb market. This plant forms the principal object in the lower part of Plate IV., to the right. Laurencia pinnatifolia is a pretty branching plant, also varying in hue according to the aspect in which it grows. In the shade, it is purple ; but when receiving the full influence of the sun's rays, it assumes a light yellow tone ; just as the I/y co- podium, known as Fortune's Moss, is purple when grown in the darkest part of a room, but becomes of an ordinary green tone when placed for some time near the light. The Lanrencia is shown at the upper part of Plate V., coloured pale violet. The splendid plant Rhodymenia palmata, with its finely coloured, semi-transparent fronds, is also recommended. It is the Dulse or Dellis, eaten by the inhabitants of our northern coasts as a delicacy. Another species, R. lacinata, forms the specimen to the left of Plate V. Its light crimson fronds, which are semi-transparent, produce a very pleasing efiect. Mr. Gosse tells us that the Rhodymenia palmata is not suited to an Aquarium, because it appears to OCEAI^ GARDENS; require the motion of the sea, and soon begins to decay in still water. If that be the case, let us attempt to provide a remedy, for this beautiful Alga is one of the most beautiful among all its lovely congeners. When a plant of the gigantic lily of the Amazon river was first introduced, it refused to flower in the tank provided for its northern home, at the Duke of Devonshire's residence at Chatsworth. But Sir Joseph Paxton, who then directed the floricultural operations of that magni- ficent abode, was not discouraged; and seeking to impart to the still water of the reservoir something of the motion of a deep and majestic river, he con- trived that a small but continuous stream of supply should, as it entered, turn a small paddle-wheel, the action of which imparted a gentle, undulating mo- tion to the water of the whole tank. The device was triumphant, and the glorious Victoria regia formed and expanded its giant flowers in the elegant house which its curator had constructed for it, the graceful plan of which eventually suggested the creation of the " Crystal Palace." Let us not despair, therefore, of cultivating successfully the beautiful Mhodymenia palmata in our Aquaria. The construction of a suitable apparatus for impart- ing motion to the too still waters vidll form a plea- 44 Plate I. 1. Delt'SserlaBaiiRUinea. 2. runctarialalifolia. 3. CliDrUuriatlagellifoi'mis. 4. Vaucheria submnriiia, n. llildrnhrandtia rubra. OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. sant passetemps for some of om- fair admirers of the pursmts of the Aquarium ; and their success would be a signal triumph. But at present the beautiful red weeds, in general, are difficult of cultivation, and when they begin to exhibit spots of orange^ — a vegetable plague-spot not to be mistaken — it is a symptom of decay which should at once cause their removal from the Aquarium, before their decomposi- tion leads to further mischief. The common Coralline, Corallina officinalis, of which a small spray is represented in the extreme lower part of Plate V., near the centre, is the " arboret of jointed stone," alluded to by the poet, and is well suited to Aquaria, thriving with httle trouble. The smaller and slenderer kind is also suitable ; but care must be taken, in collecting, not to choose the detached white fragments, which are washed up with every tide, for they are only the skeletons of the plant. It is the rosy-tinted specimens, verging to violet and purple, and stUl attached to pieces of rock, that are alone in a living state, and fit to remove to the Aquarium. The CladophorcB are also stated to be very suit- able, C. rupestris being a very useful plant for the purpose. It is of a bluish green, that harmonizes well with the tone of the sea-water, and fills up OCEAN GARDENS ; little chasms in the artificial rocks with very good effect, especially in contrast with the reddish purple tufts of Polysiphonia arceolata, which do well in an Aquarium, and are a great aid to the foliage of the little marine landscape. The elegant, fan-formed, and brightly radiated JPacUna pavonia is likewise mentioned, and should at all events be tried, as the tufts of that graceful marine plant form very singular as well as beautiful objects in the tank.* I would also recommend the trial of all the plants delineated in the five Plates devoted to the sea-weeds in this little book. In Plate I., the first, occupying the upper part, with leaf-like fronds of transparent crimson, is the beautiful and not uncommon sea-weed, Delesseria sangtiinea. The delicate pale plant below, to the right, is Tunctaria latifolia, thin as tissue paper, and speclded over its pale bufi" surface with bright but minute grains of black. To the left is a branch of Chorda ria flagelUforniis, the rich 6\i\c of which contrasts well with the red kinds of Algce. In the front, growini4' on a detached pebble, is the Lichen- Hke Hildeiihi'aiuUia rubra, rich with tinges of deep carmine, Avhich might be made to form an exquisite * A list of the plants with which ^Mr. Gosse furnished his first Aquarium is given iu Chapter III. Plate II. 1. Ranjriafusco-purpurea. 2. Codiom tomentosum. 3. Eryopsia plumoBa. 4, Callithamnion arbuficula. 5. LeatheBiaBerkleyl. 6. iJiminaria phyllitie. OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. touch of colour, if tastefully placed in the Aquarium ; and to the extreme right is a small tuft of Vaucheria submarina. In Plate II., the principal object, near the top of the Plate, is a bush of Callithamnion arbuscula, which receives its specific name from the tree-Hke aspect which it assumes more distinctly than any other of the marine Algce. Behind it, to the right, are the tall and graceful forms, with their crimped edges, of the slender Laminaria phyllitis. Below, still to the right, is a branch of Codium tomentosum, distinguished by its light, vivid green, and the edging of delicate ciliae, which have the appearance of a border of paler green, to every branchlet. Still to the right, in the extreme foreground, is a broken piece of rock, on which plants of the curious Lea- thesia Berkleyi have grown, like con^-ex kernels of bronze. To the left, are the red violet tufts of the Bangia fusco-purpurea, and behind them a branch of Bryopsis plumosa. In Plate III., the bright green feathery plant in the extreme background is JEctocarpus siliculosus ; and behind it, the violet-toned, antler-like fronds of Nemaleon muUifida. The large, gracefully bending frond of rich purple, vrith narrower and younger fronds springing from the same root, is Porphyra OCEAN GARDENS ; vulgaris, one of the commonest, but most splendid of our sea-weeds, with which, in combination with other plants of suitable contrast, the vegetation of the Aquarium may be rendered truly splendid, if it can be successfully cultivated ; of which I have no doubt, when its natural wants are sufficiently studied, and ingeniously supphed. The finely marked plant to the right, with its black maculations and richly frilled edge, is Nitophyllum pimctatum, one of our most elegant species, in front of which is the curious pale bufi", tubular plant Asperococcus Turneri. Near the foot of the Nitophyllum is a little tuft of the deh- cate Dmnontia filiformis ; and, to the extreme left, a branch of the brown-fronded MytiphcBa pinastris, which receives its specific name from the somewhat Pine-like growth it frequently assumes. Immediately beneath it, on the extreme right, is a little cluster of Chordaria lUvaricata ; and below, in the left fore- ground, are a few pink fronds of the curious Alga, Chrysemenia rosea ; while, in the foreground, to the right, on a detached pebble, is a small mass of the pale crimson Feyssonetia Duhyi. In Plate IV. the principal object is a fasciculus of Taonia atomaria, rising behind the point of rock at the top of the Plate, behind which are two long fronds of the spotted Asperococcus ; to the left is the hom- OE, GLUIPSES BENEATH THE "WATEES. like Crigartina acicularis ; and in the front, to the left, the crimson tufts of a pretty weed ( Cer'amium strictum), which our engraver has made too like the Bangia fusco-p urpurea. In Plate V. the violet-toned Laurencia pinnati- folia is grouped behind the solid, deep crimson fronds of Iridcea edulis, which are often perfectly pear- shaped, somewhat resembling pieces of crimson leather neatly cut in that form; but the action of tides in rough weather often tears the edges, and wears holes through the texture of the plant, as shown in the prin- cipal frond. To the left is the bright crimson Rhody- menia lacinata — one of the most exquisitely beautiful of our marine Algce. The fronds are as thin as the finest conceivable tissue, and beautifully transparent, which is shown wherever the lacinations of the edge overlap each other, in which places the double thick- ness of the texture doubles, at the same time, the in- tensity of the colour, as indicated in the representa- tion. On the same level, to the right, is a small group of the delicate green TJlva latissimch^a. plant which has proved useful beyond all others in Aquaria, as throwing ofi", under the action of the light, a much greater profusion of silvery globules of oxygen than any other species yet known. At the same level still, on the extreme right, is a sprig of the delicately OCEAlf GABDENS; branched parasite, JPolysphonia parasitica, growing on a small mass of pale sulphur-coloured Melobesia lichenoides, the Lichen-like Melobesia. To the ex- treme left, under the beautiful Ithodymenia, is a small branch of the olive-tinted Ectocarpus tomentosus, looking much like a spray of wild Broom, and imme- diately below it, a few purple branchlets of Gracilaria confervoides ; while in the left foreground Hes a peb- ble, partly covered by a small plant of Zonaria parvnla, from beneath which straggles a little branch of the common but pretty Coralline, the Corallina officinalis; and, to the right, a globe of the curious Codium bursa, of the French coast, which might easily be added to our native species ui the Aquarium. Such are a few of our beautiful coast Algce, all of Avhich I would advise the admirers of the beauties of the marine Aquarium to try ; and if some refuse, ia the present state of oiur knowledge of their habits and requirements, to make themselves happy in their pretty " crystal palace," choosing rather to consider it a " prison of glass," still a good number of them, I am persuaded, may be coaxed into displaying their beauties very genially within its transparent walls, 'which admit the bright sun rays as freely as the pale green liquid glass which forms their native element. Plate III. i. Porphyra vulgaris. 2. Dumontia filifoiTnis. 3. Aaperococcus TamAil i. Ilytiphlaea piiiaaA 16. 5. Chryaymcnia rosea. G, PeysaonctlaDubj-i. 8. Ectocarpus siUcutnsus. 9. Nemaleon multiflda 10. Nitophylluin punctatum. Plate IV. •■TJWSp IMWPJ.MIWJ" I WJimilipiBp 1. Wiouilrus crlspus. 2- Clgartina aclcularls. i. Taonia atomaria. 5. Flocamlum coctiiicuiu. 3. Ccramiumgttictum. OE, aLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. Many have indeed been added, since the former edition of this work, to those at first successfully treated. The following being a list containing several red species, all successfully cultivated at the present time by Mr. Alford Lloyd : — Uniermorpha compressa. Ihitermorpha intestinalis. CladopTiora arcta. Cladophora rupestris. Iridcea edulis. Delesseria sanguinea (one of the most beautiful red weeds). Delesseria alata (even more beautiful) . Qracilaria confervoides. Gelidium corneum. Chondrus crispus. Fhyllopliora rubens. Ceramium rubrum. The best time for making collections at the sea- side is a day or two after the full moon, when the tide recedes to its greatest extent, and parts of the shore become exposed, where some of the finest species grow, which cannot be conveniently ap- proached at any other time. It must be borne in mind, also, that few of the floating pieces wiU grow, however fresh and seemingly washed off with their root. Certain success is only to be secured by chisel- ling off a portion of the substance on which the weed is growing — thus transplanting it with its own soU, as it were, about its roots, into the ocean garden of the Aquarium. It may here be remarked that those plants and animals found between high and low water- si OCEAN aAEDENS, ETC. mark, or the very next zone of depth, are the most adapted for healthy preservation in the Aquarium ; such as belong to the deeper vs^ater being found almost invariably unfitted for such a purpose. CHAPTER V. THE ZOOPHYTES. ^[aHE Aquarium having been furnished with its vegetation, and rendered as picturesque as possible by the well- arranged juxtaposition of felicitously contrasting forms and colours, the water must be allowed to settle for some days, untU it is as clear as pale green crystal, before the animals are introduced to their new home. When the Alpine scenery of the submarine landscape appears perfectly settled, and aU its colours and forms are seen with beautiful distinctness through the clarified waters, then the stiU life is ready to be assor' ciated with the more active organizations of animated creatures. Before speaking of MoUuscs, or Crustacea, or of Fish, suitable to the Aquarium, let us first devote all our attention to our Zoophytes, those singular creatures whose strange instincts and anomalous forms have been mainly instrumental in attracting the atten- tion of many classes of the public to that curious in- OCEAN GARDENS; terest in Aquaria, which is fast spreading into a mania, threatening to absorb all others ia its vortex, like Infusorice drawn within the fatal tentacles of the Actinia. First, of these Actinics, or Sea- Anemones. These flower-shaped animals were once thought to form an anomalous link between the animal and vegetable world. Many curious speculations, based upon that idea, were put forth, among which the gradations sup- posed to exist between man and the inferior animals, and between quadrupeds and fishes, were asserted in further illustration of the former theory. But the deceptiveness of superficial knowledge, based upon imperfect observations, was never more strikingly exemplified than in those speculations. It was thought that because these creatures were found attached to rocks, they necessarily drew their nourishment prin- cipally through the medium of roots, as all true plants do ; more accurate observation, however, has shown that they are not permanently fixed to the rocks, and that they have the power of moving from one place to another, and attaching themselves anew, whenever a sufiiciently disturbing cause renders such removal desirable. Again, oysters and mussels remain fixed to rocks without being considered allied to plants on that account ; and even some fish have the power of at- 61 Plate VII. 1. Actinia clavata. 3. Pennatula phoaphorca. 5. A gioup of Ascidhuis. i A Rhpll (if thp CommonWhelk. On which arc tWOSDCCimensof Balalius. OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. taching themselves to similar substances by means of curiously formed ventral fins, peculiarly fitted for the purpose. The pretty little tv?o-spotted sucker, Lepir dogaster bimaculatus, possesses this faculty. But the flower-like form into which the arms, or food-seizers, of the Actinice are spread, radiating from a centre, like the petals of a flower, was the main reason for supposing a close analogy between these strange creatures and plants — a fancy now utterly abandoned, as it is quite evident that they are fur- nished with a mouth and stomach, like all true animals, and with a set of arms called tentacles, for seizing their prey; and perhaps, at the same time^ through the medium of delicate cilise with which the tentacles are connected, with a breathing apparatus, through which a current of water is taken in, and discharged after its oxygen has been abstracted. The discovery of the true nature of these singular creatures, however, still leaves their flower-like appear- ance very remarkable, and to a superflcial observer is as deceptive as ever ; and few (not professed natu- ralists), meeting vdth these singular Zoophytes for the first time, would hesitate to pronounce them a kind of sea-plant. Let us turn, for example, to Plate VIII., and note the appearance of the two varieties oi Actinia dianthus OCEAN GARDENS; — the carnation-like Actinia, as its name imports — and we shall easily excuse our early naturalists their pretty but erroneous fancies concerning them. This species is more subject than many others to vary in colour, like the flower after which it is named, being found of every tone between snow-white, orange, pale scarlet, and blood-red — while some specimens take duskier tints, from a dull brown to a kind of orange- green. But we will describe our illustrations of this curious family in regular succession, noting what is most peculiar in the subject of each Plate. Plate VI. contains a representation of one of the last discovered species of Actinia — one which displays a habit that distinguishes it from all its congeners hitherto described by naturalists, and which has en- titled it to be classed in a separate genus, and distin- guished as Edioardsia vestita. The generic designation is from that of a well-known naturalist, and the specific name, vestita, from its habit of forming for itself a shell, or clothing, into which it has the faculty of retiring at pleasure ; or, if an inhabitant of the shallow water, when the tide recedes, and leaves it inconveniently exposed to the air. This species, unless it have the power of quitting its shell, like some Molluscs, is of necessity permanently fixed and confined to the posi- tion in which the egg from which it was hatched was Plate VIII. 1. Attiilifl gemmutea. ■iHi, Aainiamcaembryaiulicn.mn. 3- Luccrnaiia auricula. 6. VirgulaiiarairabilL*. OR, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATEES. placed by the instinct of the parent or the capiice of the waves. The other objects in Plate VI. will be described in another place. In Plate VII. we have two remarkable species of Actinia; the one with drooping tentacles of duU brick- red being a very curious variety, resembling Anthea cereus, which never withdraws those filament-Hke appendages within its body like the other species. The species below is Actinia clavata, one of the most delicately beautiful kind, which, from its briUiant whiteness, at once attracts the attention. In Plate VIII. are two varieties, previously de- scribed, of Actinia dianthus, commonly called the plumose, or feather-like. Anemone. In front, below them, is the representation of one of the most splendid of all the species, which has received the specific name gemmacea from the gem-like appearance produced by the touches of colour — blue, buff, and brovra — about the orifice of the mouth or stomach, and about its sharply pointed tentacles. Brightly tinted tuber- cles are arranged in rows upon the stem or body, the whole surface of which is clouded with pale iridescent, or rather nacreous, tones of pink and azure, varied with occasional flushes of orange. AU the species are furnished with tubercles of a similar description about the stem, but in many they are not so conspicuous, 67 OCEAN GARDENS ; and in others almost imperceptible ; yet they no doubt exist in all, as they are not merely ornamental, but essential organs, peculiar to this class of creatures ; being reservoirs from which they can shoot forth a thread, furnished with a barbed and poisoned dart, by means of which they are able to attain an enemy, or victim, far beyond the reach of their tentacles. Mr. Gosse very graphically describes the death of a small fish struck by one of these thread-borne poisoned arrows, at some distance from the offended Actinia, who launched his dart, as it seemed, for no greater provocation than a slight disturbance of the water rather nearer to his retreat than was agreeable. The Actinia gemmacea, it would appear, is a more voracious creature than most of his congeners, for Dr. Johnston, in his splendid work on the British Zoophytes, describes one of this species that had managed to swallow a shell of JPecten maximus as large as a common saucer, its own natiu-al diameter not exceeding two inches. It managed, however, to distend its elastic form sufficiently to receive the enor- mous prey ; but the shell divided the stomach into two completely separate departments, the lower one being thus perfectly shut off from its usual supphes. To meet this difficulty, the organic economy of the crea- ture adapted itself in a most extraordinary manner ; a Plate IX. 1. Actinia augnicoma. 2. Cucumis hyalinna. 3, Echinus: epbtera. 4. Alyconlum digitatum. on, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE "WATERS. new mouth was opened below the division, furnished with two rows of new tentacles, and thus the lower portion becomes provided with a means of taking in nourishment, the whole creature forming a singtdar double monster, that, not contented with its one giant mouth, surrounded with its hundred arms to supply its voracious appetite, had actually succeeded in sup- plying itself with a second, equally furnished with its formidable feeding apparatus. In Plate IX. a beautifully distinct form of this singular race of animals is very carefuUy delineated — Actinia anguicoma — which seems to be shaking loose a mass of serpent-formed hair, like another Medusa; fi-om which appearance, its specific name, anguicoma, signifying snake-haired, has doubtless been given. The tentacles of the Actinia mesembryanthemum are generally of a beautiful rosy pink, and the body of a rich warm brown. But of aU the species, A. crassicornis — represented in the lower part of Plate X. — is, perhaps, the handsomest, the orifice or mouth being of a delicate straw tone, the tentacles white, variegated with bands of delicate pink, and the body, or stem, a rich orange-brown, thickly sprinkled with tubercles of bright yellow. Tliis fine species sometimes measures five inches across, when OCEAN GABDENS ; the tentacles are fully expanded. Actinia coriacea is also a fine species, which thrives well in the Aquaria of the Zoological Gardens. When the Jctinice are in a state of repose or sleep, the tentacles are entirely drawn in, and the stem or body closes over the orifice, leaving only a slight indent to mark its existence. In this state, they might be mistaken for short-stemmed fungi, the pale-bodied species being very much like a half- groAvn mushroom, if one can imagine it placed close to the ground, Avithout any visible stem. Most of the species can be easily detached from the rocks to which they are found adhering ; yet, in some cases, it is found necessary to cut out the portion to which they cling by means of a hammer and chisel. But when this is done, and they are placed in the Aquarium, they often wilhngly leave the stone to which they are attached, -^^-hich they would not do by gentle persuasion, or any moderate amount of force ; and they then take up their station on some suitable portion of the artificial rockwork, just as those do that have been originally detached' from their native rocks. Above twenty species of Actinlai and their allies are known to British na- turalists. The Lucernarice are another class of Zoophytes, 60 OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. or plant-like creatures, as the term Zoophyte implies, being formed of the Greek word Zoon (?&)oi^), sig- nifying a thing possessed of animal life, and phyton ((^uToi/), a plant. This general term is applied to aU the creatures — some of them of very distinct character — that belong to this class, which forms a separate division of natural science known as Zoophytology. The species of Lucernaria, which has received the specific denomination of auricula, from its slight resemblance in form to the flower of that name, is de- lineated in Plate VIII., attached to a slender branch of sea- weed, just above the two large Sea- Anemones. This species of Lucernaria is generally of a light pinkish colour, and is, in general form, perhaps more like a convolvulus than an auricula. Two species have been most beautifully delineated in all their details by Mrs. Johnston, in her husband's magnificent work on British Zoophytes. These drawings are, in fact, so charmingly and, at the same time, accurately executed, that it would seem ■that the pencil ought to be guided by delicate female fingers when portraying these minutely intricate and unusual forms of animal life. The exquisite drawings by Mrs. J. E. Gray, in her work on the curious molluscous animals — whose habitations alone, OCEAN GARDENS; the beautiful sea-shells of our cabinets, were, tOl recently, aU that was known of them — afford further evidence, if it were needed, of the aptitude of the more finely-strung female capacity for this depart- ment of scientific portraitui-e. The name of Mrs. Griffiths is also honourably associated with the study of natural science, especially that connected with our marine Algm — a beautiftd division of sea-weeds having received its name, Griffithsia, in honour of the esteemed services of that accomplished lady. The JLucernaria campanulata, which is of a some- what more bell-shaped form than the preceding, is of an uniform liver colour ; and in the hollow of the flower-like cup the " mouth" projects, in a square form, in the centre. There are three known species of British iMcernarice, which would all form highly curious objects in the Aquarium; but they are ex- ct'S.si^•ely delicate and fragile creatures, hanging sus- pended from the object to which they are attached, like a mere lump of jelly, when taken out of the water, and would doubtless be very difficult of transport, and probably not capable of retaining life in a state of confinement, except for a short time. OE,' GLIMPSES Beneath the waters. The " compound Zoophytes," or, more properly, Tolyps, as being, as it were, many creatures in one, are still more curious than the two classes just described. A common example of this class is the Alyconium digitatum (Plate IX., No. 4), looking like a mass of short fingers, when the final fiorets are closed, as its specific name imports. Its popular name has also a somewhat similar signification, being sometimes called, by the fishermen of our northern coasts. Dead Men's Toes. Each finger-like cell of the general structure contains a separate creature, of which the tentacles, when expanded, form the fioret, somewhat analogous to those of the Sea- Anemones. But the most singular character of this organization, or masses of organization, is that each separate creature is vitally attached to a central polypidom, or spine, which binds the whole group into one existence. Of this class are the curious Pennatulidcs, one of which is commonly known as the Sea-Pen. The three species of this class of Folyps known to in- habit the British seas are so distinct from each other, that they form at the same time three distinct genera. The most beautiful of the three is the Fennatula pJiosphorea, the Sea-Pen, which is not uncommon 63 OCEAN GARDENS; on some parts of our northern coasts. It is represented in Plate VII. The purple branches, or pinnae, of the upper portion form the feathered part of the pen to which it is likened; the bare portion of the polypidom below having certaialy some resemblance to the quill. This curious zoophytic form is often seen in an erect position, planted, as it were, in the mud, like a miniature purple pine, though it is capable of motion through the water from place to place, by some action of its organs which has not been accurately de- tected. It is one of the handsomest of our British Zooph}tes. The polypidom, or trunk, is three or four inches long, fleshy, and of a purphsh red. It is naked at the lower end, and feathered above with long, closely set pinnae, along the margins of which the polyp-cells are placed. The pinnae are curved backward, and capable of either separate or united motion. They are supposed by some to be capable of the action of regular oars ; but this is very doubtful, though their bearing on the polypidom, which is strengthened by an internal column of calcareous or bony matter, would give them considerable power for that purpose. The creature's specific name, pJiosphorea, must not lead to the supposition that it always emits a phospho- 64 OE, GLIMPSES BENEATH THE WATERS. rescent light, for it is only when irritated that this is produced. If plunged into fresh water, it scatters a shower of phosphoric sparks in all directions, which forms a magnificent and curious spectacle, far more brilliant, no doubt, than the fabled hues of the djing dolphin. The Tlrgularia mirahlUs is another of this class of creatu.res, almost as elegant as the Sea-Pen, but more slender, and in the form of a branching rod, as its name imports. (See Plate VIII.) The Sponges form a curious class of Zoophytes, which have perhaps a much closer affinity to plants than any other. They are occasionally very singular in their forms ; and Dr. Johnston enumerates fifty-six species belonging to our coasts ; they are, however, unsuited to the Aquarium in the present state of our knowledge ; and when portions of rock are collected on the shore, for the tank, care should be taken to clear off any Sponge formations that are perceived, as their certain and rapid decay would be liable to injure the condition of the whole colony of the Aquarium. When the collector resorts to the sea-shore in search of subjects for his Aquarium, he should avoid sandy beaches. It is on the rocky shores alone that Actini