PRESERVATION OF THE HYJDROIDA. 151 



Orme afford plenty of work at low tide, but rock-pools are 

 practically non-existent ; I have taken many good northern 

 species from the under-sides of the boulders strewn about. 

 Criccieth is a capital ground ; the rocks on the shore at the foot 

 of the Castle Hill repay the most ample attention, yielding many 

 and good species. A short distance from Criccieth are the Black 

 Rock caves, which are really a paradise for the shore collector, 

 but are only accessible at low tide. The Menai Straits, also, have 

 good collecting-spots on the rocks at the Suspension and Tubular 

 bridges, but the drawback to work thereabouts is the swiftness of 

 the tide, which makes boating difficult and risky unless accom- 

 panied by a local boatman. Pennington collected many species 

 between the two bridges. Staithes, in Yorkshire, has a good 

 shore for collecting, as the rock-pools are ample. Coming now to 

 Devonshire, with whose shores I have intimate acquaintance, we 

 reach ground made classic by the labours of Gosse, Hincks, 

 Allman, Kingsley, Montagu and many others. Ilfracombe, in 

 North Devon, has the advantage of clear rock-pools, in places an 

 almost vertical rise and fall of tide, and excellent boating and 

 dredging. As it has received its meed of praise at the hands of 

 such authorities as Hincks and Gosse, not to mention Lewes, it 

 may be considered sufficiently hall-marked. Torquay, Gosse's 

 home and hunting-ground par excellence, is indubitably an ideal 

 district ; I know no better. The collecting at the Corbon's Head 

 alone will occupy a long holiday, and the coast under Livermead, 

 Kingsley 's one-time residence, is honeycombed with charming 

 rock- pools full of hydroid life. At Brixham one gets in touch 

 with a tiawling district, and plenty of chances occur of going 

 over trawl refuse. In East Devon, from Exmouth to Sidmouth, 

 the naturalist has to set a watch on his lips, for the combination 

 of excellent rock-pools and cliffs of Keuper marl is more than the 

 average shore collector can bear unmurmuringly. At the same 

 time, the fauna of these rock-pools is both luxuriant and diversi- 

 fied ; and one has to remember that it was principally in East 

 Devon that Hincks collected both hydroids and Polyzoa. 



I would conclude with an apology for the extremely elementary 

 nature of this paper. It is a mere account of personal methods, 

 offered to the inexperienced in the hope of smoothing away some 

 of those preliminary difficulties that appear to be " commensal " 

 with the early days of all new subjects. 



