Page:Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria.djvu/80

61 CHAPTER VIII.

" I have my books," says that eloquent writer, Jonathan Freke Slingsby, "I have old friends, whose cheering looks make amends for coldness in men;" and we echo his thoughts, for no matter what our toils may have been, mentally or bodily, throughout the day, there is always a quiet hour or so before retiring to rest, which we invariably devote to our books, and it is particularly enjoyable too after a day's rambling, such as is described in our last chapter, when with wearied limbs we draw our chair a trifle nearer to the fire,—for have one we must, and a cigar too, after wading for so many hours,—and acquaint ourselves with the habits of such creatures as may hitherto have been unknown to us, or comparing our own observations on them with those of other writers, our Microscope at our elbow, should any important point have to be cleared up or any specimen require aid to decide its status in society.

We had laid aside from our former gatherings, some very lovely specimens of the Echinodermata, and we have them now before us for examination. Amongst these Echinodermata, or hedgehog—skinned creatures, belonging to the division Radiata, we have first the large spiny Starfish, taken from near the bathing houses at Geelong, and a splendid fellow he is, measuring as much as eight inches from the tip of one ray to the extremity of another, each (and he has ten)