194 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1870. 



(not a broad thin flat one, but one that measures 

 about three-quarters of an inch in breadth and 

 thickness, and is planed smooth), for this we pay 

 sixpence ; at the draper's, next door, we get two 

 yards of dairymaid's "cheese-cloth," thirty-six 

 inches wide, for ninepence ; and the joiner over- 

 the-way sells us four yards of "sash-line" for two- 

 pence. Having secured tbese our materials, we run 

 home, and borrow one of granny's long darning- 

 needles and some strong whitybrown thread ; we 

 spread out the cheese-cloth on the table, then fold 

 it in the middle, so as to bring the two ends to- 

 gether, and then sew up the sides, remembering to 

 stitch these side-seams on the outside. Now we 

 have got a bag of an open-meshed material, some- 

 thing like bunting, a yard deep and a yard wide, 

 with no seam at the bottom, and consequently with 

 no fear of stitches giving way when the strain 

 comes, and with no ridges, and puckers, and fag- 

 ends at the sides to entangle and hide the frail tiny 

 things we hope to catch in it. We place the 

 hoop outside the mouth of the bag, turn the edges 

 of the latter well over and under it, so as to cover 

 it completely, and sew it close and tight all round, 

 so that the bag may hang free from the lower inner 

 edge of the hoop. We cut the sash-line in two, we" 

 lay the two pieces evenly side by side, and taking 

 them both together exactly in the centre, and let- 

 ting the four ends hang down, we make an over- 

 hand knot of all parts, five inches below the bend, 

 which gives us a loop, or rather two precisely equal 

 loops, above the one knot; the four pendent ends we 

 put through four little holes in the bag, placed ac- 

 curately at equal distances from each other, close 

 up under the hoop, and passing the ends from in 

 out, we bring them up over the outside of the hoop, 

 and secure each one to its own part by a double 

 hitch, and there is an end of the job. If we have 

 done our work at all deftly, the hoop will be exactly 

 horizontal and evenly balanced, the bag hanging 

 straight when we hold out our home-made contri- 

 vance by the top loops at arm's length, and we 

 shall have provided ourselves with a first-rate net 

 for our purpose, of the largest convenient dimen- 

 sions, all for the sum of seventeen-pence. 



Fig. 175. The home-made Towing-net. 



As we intend to make our first essay within half 

 a mile of the beach, and not far from the harbour's 



mouth, and prefer that our inaugural haul should 

 not consist chiefly of old corks, cabbage-leaves, 

 shavings, dead cats, and other unsavoury items from 

 ships .and sewers, we studiously avoid the hours of 

 the ebb, and as we know that there are compara- 

 tively but few things to be found near the surface 

 during daylight, whereas a very world of life wakes 

 up with the bats and owls, and rises from the gloomy 

 depths to revel beneath the pale stars ; we consult 

 the almanack, and select an evening when there will 

 be but little moonlight, and the tide sweeping in 

 from the pure open sea, laden with deep-water 

 creatures, will have risen to about "three-quarters 

 flood," one hour after sunset. 



Before we set out we take care to have a spare 

 aquarium or a good-sized earthenware footpan filled 

 with clean salt-water, ready to receive the living 

 things we hope to bring back ; two or three com- 

 mon gardener's bell glasses, professionally styled 

 " propagators," fitted with wooden stands to act as 

 small aquariums, are also very useful for keeping the 

 things separate after they have been sorted out. 

 They can be purchased, glasses and stands complete, 

 for about eighteen-pence at almost any plumber's or 

 glass-dealer's shop. Ours were procured at Mr. 

 Walker's, 125, Queen Street, Portsea. Arrayed in 

 our oldest clothes, and provided with cloaks to 

 wear in the boat, for in this chilly England of ours 

 it is cold on the water after sundown, even in the dog- 

 days, we repair tothe appointed trysting-place, taking 

 with us in addition to the net, a stable lantern, some 

 candle-ends and matches, the largest common wash- 

 ing basiu we can find, half a dozen wide-mouthed 

 pickle- bottles that have been well scalded out, a 

 kitchen table-spoon, and a rough towel to dry our 

 hands upon. Our trusty Palinurus, William Lam- 

 beth, waterman, of 15, King Street, Gosport, is 

 waiting for us with his son and his boat on the 

 beach ; it is a glorious evening for our sport, calm 

 and still ; there is not a ripple on the dark waters, 

 which look as black as Erebus beneath the sombre 

 canopy of Night. 



The blades of our oars light up ten thousand 

 times ten thousand phosphorescent lamps, and the 

 trail left by the keel in our wake is one gleaming 

 furrow of pale ghostly unearthly-looking flame. 



We bend the end of the main sheet on to the 

 loops of our net, and as soon as we are well out in the 

 tideway we put the boat's head against the stream 

 and drop the net quietly overboard, giving it about 

 ten feet scope astern, bidding our oarsmen pull 

 steadily, so that the water shall pass through the 

 net at the rate of three knots an hour, a speed just 

 sufficient to keep about half the hoop above the sur- 

 face, and to prevent the larger captives from making 

 their escape ; a greater speed would drown many of 

 the things caught, and wash the more delicate and 

 fragile into "immortal smash." We know for cer- 

 tain that we shall catch a large assortment of the 



