Oct. 1, 1869.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOS SI P. 



217 



WITH THE MICBOSCOPE AT SOUTHEND. 



r, doubt many readers 

 »- cf Sciekce-Gossip 

 have often been 

 delighted to read 

 descriptions of 

 particularly suc- 

 cessful expedi- 

 tions to gather 

 objects for the 

 microscope, which have ap- 

 peared from time to time in 

 this paper. To many, and my- 

 self among the number, who 

 practise microscopy as a re- 

 creation, the hints which have 

 been thrown out, the advice 

 given how to proceed and 

 where to look for the invisi- 

 ble world, have been of great 

 value. These considerations 

 induce me to give some ac- 

 count of what I found and 

 saw lately at Southend, a 

 place very easy to reach from London, and where 

 many objects of great beauty and interest can be 

 gathered with ease and certainty. 



Special preparations are not requisite ; a number 

 of wide-mouthed bottles, a muslin net and a spoon, 

 in lieu of which one of the mussel-shells may be 

 used with advantage, are all that are required. One 

 thing, however, is indispensable, and that is the 

 microscope itself, as some of the most lovely objects 

 cannot be kept longer than a few hours. 



The chief characteristic of Southend is that the 

 tide runs out more than a mile, and leaves the 

 muddy bottom of the sea exposed to view for several 

 hours, and the pier has in consequence a length of a 

 mile and a quarter. This feature certainly does not 

 add to the beauty of the place as a bathing-place, 

 but offers great advantages to the collector of ob- 

 jects. When the sun shines on the numerous little 

 pools and cavities, he draws the diatoms to the sur- 

 No. 58. 



face of the water left in them, and when on a quiet 

 day the tide comes slowly creeping up, it forms a 

 yellowish-looking froth, which is carried to near high- 

 water mark. If this froth is put into a bottle by 

 means of a spoon, and examined, it will be found to 

 contain about twenty different kinds of diatoms, 

 among which three or four Pleuros'ujma, a number 

 of Navicula, and sometimes Triceratium. The last 

 named I did not find myself, but know from good 

 authority that it is met with. 



If the tide is near its maximum height, the yel- 

 lowish froth disappears through the breaking of the 

 waves against the stones, and is replaced by whitish 

 foam, which does not contain any diatoms. Nearly 

 all these diatoms are alive, and their peculiar jerking 

 movements can be examined at leisure. 



Next, if we take a rowing boat when the tide is 

 up, and pick up by means of a net or a stick the 

 stray bits of the finer seaweeds swimming about, 

 we find again diatoms and many beautifully 

 branched vorticellidse ; but by far the finest objects 

 are obtained in the following manner : two flights 

 of stairs lead down from the pier to the bottom, one 

 about at one-third of its length from shore, the 

 second at about two-thirds. At low tide we can 

 walk under the pier without inconvenience, and 

 two large flagstones will be found at the bottom of 

 each of the stairs, which in former times served as a 

 rest for them. In these stones are cavities of the 

 size of a washing-basin, and they contain a 

 miniature forest of the most lovely little zoophytes 

 and polypes. Some of them must be carefully cut 

 out and transferred to the bottle with some sea- 

 water. In other holes we may find similar growth 

 attached to little stones, which can be dropped into 

 the bottle without disturbing them. These must 

 be carried home without shaking, and they furnish, 

 on examination, for some hours a sight which defies 

 description. When a small tree is placed in a 

 cell as carefully as possible, we see at each end of a 

 branch a transparent cup-shaped vessel, from whicb 

 presently a number of hydra-like animals protrude, 



