COLLECTING 7 



The study of biology has great fascination, and the subject 

 seldom fails to awaken interest as soon as the habit of observa- 

 tion is formed. Jellyfishes, hardly more dense than the water 

 and almost as limpid, swimming about with graceful motion, 

 often illuminating the water at night with their phosphorescence, 

 showing sensitiveness, volition, and order in their lives, cannot 

 fail to excite wonder in even the most careless observer. Not 

 less interesting are the thousands of other animals which crowd 

 the shores, lying just beneath the surface of the sand, filling 

 crevices in the rocks, hiding under every projection, or boldly 

 perhaps timidly, who shall say ? lying in full view, yet so incpn- 

 spicuous that they are easily passed by unnoticed. 



To find these creatures, to study their habits and organization, 

 to consider the wonderful order of nature, leads through delight- 

 ful paths into the realms of science. But even without scientific 

 study the simple observation of the curious objects which lie at 

 one's feet as one walks along the beach is a delightful pastime. 



The features which separate the classes and the orders of both 

 the plant and the animal life are so distinctive that it requires 

 but very superficial observation to know them. It is easy to 

 discriminate between mollusks, echinoderms, and polyps, and to 

 recognize the relationship between univalves and bivalves, sea- 

 urchins and starfishes, sea-anemones and corals. The equally 

 plain distinctions between the branched, unbranched, tubular, 

 and plate-like green algae make them as easy to separate. 



The pleasure of a walk through field or forest is enhanced by 

 knowing something of the trees and flowers, and in the same way 

 a visit to the sea-shore becomes doubly interesting when one has 

 some knowledge, even though it be a very superficial one, of the 

 organisms which inhabit the shore. 



ROCKY SHORES 



Rocky shores furnish an abundance and great variety of objects 

 to the collector. The seaweeds here find places of attachment, 

 and the lee and crevices of the rocks afford shelter to many ani- 

 mals which could not live in more open and exposed places. The 



