430 The Collection of Fishes 



The collector can, if he thinks best, use all kinds of fishing 

 tackle for himself. In Japan he can use the "dabonawa" long 

 lines, and secure the fishes which were otherwise dredged by 

 the Challenger and Albatross. If dredges or trawls are at his 

 hand he can hire them and use them for scientific purposes. 

 He should neglect no kind of bottom, no conditions of fish life 

 which he can reach. 



Especially important is the fauna of the tide-pools, neg- 

 lected by almost all collectors. As the tide goes down, espe- 

 cially on rocky capes which project into the sea, myriads of 

 little fishes will remain in the rock-pools, the algae, and the clefts 

 of rock. In regions like California, where the rocks are buried 

 with kelp, blennies will lie in the kelp as quiescent as the 

 branches of the algae themselves until the flow of water returns. 



A sharp three-tined fork will help in spearing them. The 

 water in pools can be poisoned on the coast of Mexico with the 

 milky juice of the "hava" tree, a tree which yields strychnine. 

 In default of this, pools can be poisoned by chloride of lime, 

 sulphate of copper, or, if small enough, by formaline. Of 

 all poisons the commercial chloride of lime seems to be most 

 effective. By such means the contents of the pool can be 

 secured and the next tide carries away the poison. The 

 water in pools can be bailed out, or, better, emptied by a 

 siphon made of small garden-hose or rubber tubing. On 

 rocky shores, dynamite can be used to advantage if the col- 

 lector or his assistant dare risk it and if the laws of the 

 country do no prevent. 



Most effective in rock-pool work is the help of the small 

 boy. In all lands the collector will do well to take him into 

 his pay and confidence. Of the hundred or more new species 

 of rock-pool fishes lately secured by the writer in Japan, fully 

 two-thirds were obtained by the Japanese boys. Equally 

 effective is the "muchacho" on the coasts of Mexico. 



Masses of coral, sponges, tunicates, and other porous or 

 hollow organisms often contain small fishes and should be care- 

 fully examined. On the coral reefs the breaking up of large 

 masses is often most remunerative. 



The importance of securing the young of pelagic fishes by 

 tow-nets and otherwise cannot be too strongly emphasized. 



