that of a pullet. Its colour when first laid is white, sometimes spotted with pale cinereous, but it soon becomes soiled and dirty from its immediate contact with the earth, no materials being collected for a nest at the end of a burrow. The young are hatched after a month's incubation, and are then covered with a long blackish down above, which gradually gives place to the feathered plumage; so that at the end of a month or five weeks they are able to quit the burrow, and follow their parents to the open sea. Soon after this time, or about the second week in August, the whole leave our coasts."

Willy wanted to know what these birds feed on, and whether they are good divers. Puffins feed on small fish and various crustacea. Mr. Yarrell states he has seen old birds, when they had a young one to feed, returning to the rocks with several small fish hanging by the head from the angle of the gape of the mouth. Puffins are capital divers. Mr. John Macgillivray says, "that at St. Kilda many puffins are taken when sitting on the rocks, by means of a noose of horse-hair attached to a slender rod of bambooThis mode is most successful in wet weather, as the puffins then sit best upon the rocks, allowing a person to approach within a few yards, and as many as three hundred may be taken in the course of one day by an expert bird-catcher."

cane.

Well, we have rested long enough, and must proceed on our walk. Now, May, gather some more plants. Here is the lesser meadow Rue (Thalictrum

* "Ash-coloured,” from cinis, “ashes.”

minus); look at the quantity of stamens, like little tufts of golden threads. What, May, you do not admire the odour? It is unpleasant, I grant. Here is the Bloody Crane'sbill (Geraneum sanguineum), with its bright purple flowers and deeply-cut leaves; and here in abundance is Lady's Fingers (Anthyllis vulneraria); the white calyxes are covered with woolly down, and in some places, on this account, the plant is called Lamb's Toes. The specific name of vulneraria, from the Latin word vulnus, " a wound," was given to it from its having been formerly used to staunch wounds. But we must now make the best of our way to Llandudno station, though I should much like to prolong our stay here in search of more wild flowers.

Happy, in my judgment,

The wandering herbalist, who, clear alike

From vain, and that worse evil, vexing thoughts,
Casts on these uncouth forms a slight regard
Of transitory interest, and peeps round
For some rare flow'ret of the hills, or plant
Of craggy fountain; what he hopes for wins,
Or learns, at least, that 'tis not to be won:
Then, keen and eager as a fine-nosed hound,
By soul-engrossing instinct driven along
Through wood or open field, the harmless man
Departs intent upon his onward quest !

No flow'ret blooms

Throughout the lofty range of these rough hills
Or in the woods, that could from him conceal
Its birthplace.

WALK VII.

E will have another stroll on the shore to-day. But before we start, let us go into the town and see what the fishmonger has for sale. I want, too, to buy a sponge. Soles, salmon, kippered herrings, all which, I believe, are supplied from Rhyl, are on the slab; we will buy a bit of salmon for dinner, and a few kippered herrings for breakfast. And now for the druggist's shop for a sponge. This one will do well; do you see how full of sand it is? But, besides sand, sponges contain some very beautiful microscopic objects, called Foraminifera. They vary much in size, but all are minute. The name is derived from foramen, "a hole," and fero, "I carry," in

FORAMINIFERA.

allusion to the number of small holes with which many of the calcareous shells are pierced. What I see through my lens are merely empty cases. But once they were inhabited by little jelly-like creatures, of low organization, that lived in the sea. They possess a number

of long, thread-like processes, which may be seen issuing from the numerous apertures of the shell. These processes act as feet, and serve for locomotion. The shells are made chiefly of carbonate of lime, but the texture varies considerably. In some it is opaque, like porcelain, and in these there are no perforations; in others there are numerous little holes; in others again, the structure is transparent, like glass. Some forms remind one strongly of the nautilus, and formerly the creatures that dwelt inside them were considered to belong to the molluscous order, and to be related to the nautilus. It has, however, long ago been shown that the foraminifera are not at all like little molluscs, except in the external shape of some of

FORAMINIFERA.

the shells. But minute and unimportant as these foraminifera may appear to be, I must tell you that they have played a very important part in nature. "The geological chalk formations, which here and there rise in long chains of mountains, are due to agglomerations of animalcules with calcareous carapaces, and in spite of the size of their layers, are nevertheless composed of the debris of microscopic foraminifera. It is they that encircle England with the immense rampart of beautiful white, to which it