Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/133

92 the offending substance, conceals its points and roughnesses, and in process of time, becomes round by the addition of successive coats of pearl.

May not the Christian learn the happy art of converting every "thorn in the flesh" into a pearl for his heavenly diadem? "For these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

The shore of the Bay known by the name of Belmont, curving between the Nothe and Byng-Cliff, consists of a series of low ledges almost horizontal, running east and west, with a very gentle dip to the southward. They are for the most part densely covered with a matted drapery of Fucus serratus and canaliculatus, which hangs over the northern edges, and conceals the narrow clefts that traverse them. If we go at low water as far down as we can reach, and lift the heavy masses from the ledges, and from the clefts, we shall find them no unprofitable hunting ground. Many kinds of delicate sea-weeds grow under the shadow of the coarse olive Fuci, and among them crawl many Nudibranch Mollusca and other interesting creatures.

It was here that I met with the Goblet Lucernaria (L. cyathiformis), apparently a rare species, since it seems to have been seen by only two observers, the Norwegian zoologist Sars, who first described it, and Dr. Landsborough, who gave it a place in the British Fauna, by finding it on the coast of Arran. Dr. Johnston has given in his British Zoophytes, p. 475,