Page:Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria.djvu/83

64 —when so, the jaws may be replaced in a layer of cotton wool.

In turning over the broken fragments of Algae thrown up in heaps on the coast, we not unfrequently find an oblong, leathery, red, shapeless substance, which will no doubt puzzle some of our readers, as to whether it may be regarded as animal or vegetable;—take it up and not unlikely you may have a jet of water squirted into your face. Would you believe now that this is one of the Mollusca, and of the class Tunicata, or Tunic-clad, having, instead of a shelly case to its body, a strong coriaceous covering, with certain orifices—generally two—one branchial, the other anal? They lead an apathetic kind of life, seldom moving from the stones or seaweeds to which they may have attached themselves, but deriving nourishment from the microscopic creatures contained in the currents of water, which they draw in by means of their ciliated respiratory organs, below which is the mouth; the stomach according to Woodward, (Manual, p. 336,) contains chiefly minute particles of the articulated seaweeds, and diatomaceæ. These animals are not unaptly called "Ascidians," from askos, a flask or skin bottle, and are vulgarly known as "Sea-squirts." The rocks at the Barwon Heads, left dry by the retreating tide, are covered with them, and no Aquarium should be without a specimen or two.

Whilst sauntering along the beach at Corio Bay a few days since, we noticed a pair of the delicate little Storm Petrels flitting about over the waves, just skimming them, and dipping their tiny feet into the water as they paused awhile to secure the small fishes,