“And did it float about in the water while the young fish was growing, or was it laid on the beach?” “Neither: if it had been left to float about in the water, it would soon have been eaten by gulls, or driven ashore; and how can fishes lay their eggs on the land? No, it was left by the fish among the weed which grows at the bottom of the sea, and the hooked horns held on by the stem of one of them, until the fish had escaped. The late storm, I suppose, tore it away from the weeds and washed it ashore. I have found them with a yelk in them, but this rarely happens.” “But, papa, you said that there were weeds in the sea; are they like the weeds in gardens?” [Illustration: SEA-WEED.] Mr. Miller pointed to the rocks, some of which were covered with long bunches of tangled stems of a dark-brown or green colour, which he said were sea-weeds. Some stout stems were also lying about the shore, like horse-whips, with a bunch of roots at one end, and a tuft of leathery straps at the other. This, too, was a sea-weed. He reminded him, too, of a book which he had seen at home, filled with crimson, purple, green, and brown leaves, which he said were also sea-weeds. They do not send their roots into the ground like garden weeds, but cling to the rocks or to each other, and are nourished by the water in which they grow. [Illustration: SEA-TANGLE.] The purse of the skate was secured, to be carried home as a prize, and a stem of a large sea-weed was soon made into a whip. The next curious thing picked up was a piece of stone, so full of holes as to resemble a piece of honeycomb, except that the holes were round and not regularly placed. [Illustration: PHOLAS.] “This,” said Mr. Miller, “is a piece of limestone, which once formed a part of one of the rocks jutting into the sea. The holes were made by shell-fish, but whether made for shelter, or because the animals within feed on the lime, I cannot say. It is very clear that this piece has been washing about for a very long time, as it is worn smooth by being battered against other stones. We must call these shell-fish both useful and mischievous animals. Here they are certainly useful, for they eat away parts of the rock until they are not able to bear the force of the waves, when they break away and are driven on to the beach. I dare say that a great many years ago the rocks about this place were much higher than they are now, and were in the way of boats sailing to and fro. But when the little animals choose to make their houses in quays or sea-walls, they do much mischief by eating away the foundations. “I once came here when the water was low, and as I stepped from rock to rock I broke off several pieces with my foot. The animals were then in them and alive. They are about the size and shape of a horse-bean; they have, like oysters, two shells, which are rough, and of a dull yellow colour. There is another kind of shell-fish, larger than this, which burrows in rocks, named pholas.”