into view, I beheld, for the first time, the splendid spectacle of this living fountain vomiting forth from a circular cavity an impetuous torrent of liquid matter, and hurling along in rapid succession opaque masses, which it strewed every where around. The beauty and novelty of such a scene in the animal kingdom long arrested my attention, but, after twenty-five minutes' of constant observation, I was obliged to withdraw my eye from fatigue, without having seen the torrent for one instant change its direction, or diminish in the slightest degree the rapidity of its course. I continued to watch the same orifice at short intervals for five hours, sometimes observing it for a quarter of an hour at a time, but still the stream rolled on with a constant and equal velocity. About the end of this time, however, I observed the current become perceptibly languid; the small opaque flakes which had been thrown out with so much impetuosity at the beginning were now propelled to a shorter distance from the orifice, and fell to the bottom of the fluid within the sphere of vision; and in one hour more the current had entirely ceased." From numerous experiments on many species, Dr. Grant infers that all Sponges in a living state exhibit this

sort of circulation, imbibing the untainted water by the pores, and propelling it in regular currents through the wide canals.

The Halichondria oculata may be found hanging from the under surface of rocks about the low-water mark of spring tides. A very curious specimen of this

houses were inimitably cut, having loop-holes for the eyes, and ridges on which the dorsal legs were fixed. The sponge does not lose its vitality, though it is probably cut and modelled by the Crab, a circumstance which would assist it in deceiving the animal on which it feeds."*

A few species of the Ulve family are used at table. The Laciniated Purple Laver (Porphyralaciniata), belonging to a genus distinguished by the delicacy of colour and glossy hue of the frond, is very abundant on rocks and stones. This and the Common Purple Laver (P. vulgaris), if indeed they are not both the same plant distinguished only by size, is much eaten in many places, particularly in the south of England, pickled with salt, and preserved in jars, and, when brought to table, served up with lemon-juice and Cayenne pepper. It requires a little courage, perhaps, at first to taste it, but it is in general very much liked by those who once eat it. The collecting and preparing it affords occupation to many families on the north coast of Devonshire.

According to Lightfoot, the inhabitants of the Western Islands gather it in the month of March, Zoological Journal.

*

and, after pounding and macerating it with a little water, eat it with pepper, vinegar, and butter. Others stew it with leeks and onions. In Scotland and Ireland it is called Sloke or Slokaun.

A green species, most abundant, called Green Laver, or Oyster-green (Ulva latissima), is also served at table in the same manner as the former. This diet is esteemed good, as almost all esculent vegetables are, for scrofulous habits. Lightfoot says that the islanders ascribe to it an anodyne virtue, and bind it about the forehead and temples to assuage head-ache in fevers and to procure sleep.

A singular species, named Ulva thermalis, from its place of growth, was found flourishing in the hot-springs of Gastein, where the water was of the temperature of 117° Fahrenheit.

This plant, also, which is attached to the stem of the Tangle, belongs to a genus of exceedingly delicate, rose-coloured plants, marked occasionally with faint veins towards the base; the surface of its frond is also very glossy: it derives its name, Dotted Nitophyllum (Nitophyllum punctatum), from the seed spots which are scattered about the frond. Another common species, the Lacerated Nitophyl