THE SEA-SIDE NAfUEALIST 



allow the easy entrance of moderately large crustaceans and other 

 creatures, while at the same time they served as a barrier to their 

 escape. Such a trap, baited with pieces of fish, and let down to a 

 rocky bottom, will enable the young naturalist to secure specimens 

 that are seldom seen between the tide-marks ; and the animals 

 thus obtained will include not only those larger ones for which the 

 opening was made, but also a variety of smaller creatures that may 

 enter between the* wires of the cage. Some of the latter may, of 

 course, escape by the same way as the trap is being hauled up for 

 examination, but this is not so likely 

 to occur if the canvas bottom is of a 

 material so loosely woven that water 

 can pass through it very freely. It 

 will, of course, occur to the reader that 

 the insertion of a stone or other weight 

 will assist in sinking the trap ; also 

 that the ordinary door of the cage 

 forms a ready means by which the 

 captives may be removed. 



One thing more : make it a rule 

 never to go out collecting natural ob- 

 jects of any kind without a note-book 

 and pencil. This, to the beginner who 

 is anxious to get to his work, with the 

 idea only too prevalent with the ama- 

 teur that the success of his labours is to 

 be measured only by the number of 

 specimens obtained, may seem quite 

 an unnecessary part of the equipment. 

 But it must be remembered that there 

 is much to observe as well as much to 

 collect on a well-selected coast ; and 



that without the aid of the book and pencil a great many of the obser- 

 vations made will be forgotten, and thus much interest that would 

 otherwise be attached to the objects permanently preserved will 

 be lacking. 



The above appliances include the only necessary equipment 

 of the sea-side naturalist, with the exception of a few required 

 for occasional use in connection with the species of a somewhat 

 restricted habitat, and the outfit of the sea angler. The former will 

 be dealt with in the chapters where the species concerned are 



FIG. 21. AN OLD BIBD-CAGE 

 USED AS A CEAB-POT 



