- 
26 
of the collections made resulted in securing a few diatoms and a 
good deal of mud. The efforts to get rid of the fine silt were 
usually so vexatious that the whole lot was often thrown away in 
disgust. The collector should learn that it pays to gather speci- 
mens as free from extraneous matter as possible. It is far easier 
to do this on the spot than to depend upon the various devices 
used for getting rid of sand, etc., after cleaning. It is not diffi- 
cult to make clean collections when one has learned where to 
look, when to look, and how to collect. 
Along the coast of New Jersey and Long Island extends a 
series of shallow bays or sounds, which are separated from the 
sea by strips of sandy beaches. These bays abound in spots 
where various species of marine alge flourish luxuriantly, and 
upon these algzee many species of marine diatoms frequently 
occur in great abundance. Frequent inlets connect the bays 
mentioned with the ocean, and it is at the mouths of these inlets, 
between tide marks, that the richest and purest gatherings of 
marine forms may often be obtained. Sand bars which are bare 
at low tide are often prolific spots, but the best places are usually 
in the little coves which are always found near the mouths of the 
inlets. Here the water forms gentle eddies, and the diatoms 
have a chance to settle. At the time of lowest tide, the sand 
ripples may often be found densely packed with diatoms, forming 
a deposit which varies, according to the species, from a light 
brown to a dark chestnut color. This deposit, with as little sand 
as possible, should be scraped up and put into a wide-mouthed 
bottle until it is perhaps one-third full. Then fill up with water 
and shake vigorously. Allow the sand to settle for a few 
moments, and pour off the water, which is now quite brown in 
color on account of the diatoms it retains. Again fill the bottle 
with water, shake, let settle and pour off as before. A number 
of bottles can be filled in succession in this way, and if those first 
filled are allowed to stand for fifteen or twenty minutes, the 
diatoms, unless they are some of the very small species, settle to 
the bottom. The supernatant water can then be poured off and 
the bottles again filled successively. In this way, a large collec- 
tion of very clean material may frequently be made at one spot, 
during a single tide. A little collecting lens is almost indispens- 
