157 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Collecting-Basket for the Sea-side. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Claremont Lodge, Park Street, Camberwell, 

 July 18, 1859. 



Gentlemen, — I beg to communicate the description of a basket, 

 the contrivance of a friend, which I have found very convenient for 

 shore-collecting (especially when an assistant to carry tools, &c., 

 cannot be easily obtained), and which 1 believe will be acceptable to 

 those of your readers who contemplate a visit to the sea-side at this 

 season. 



The foundation of the basket consists of the creel used by anglers, 

 in the lower part of which is placed a lining of sheet gutta-percha 

 divided into three compartments by partitions of the same material 

 made water-tight and fitting into the right-hand side of the basket 

 (represented in situ, fig. 1 A), and leaving space in the left-hand side 



for packing a pickle-bottle, B. A bag of canvas, stitched into three 

 divisions, is sewn to the back of the basket at C, for the purpose 

 of receiving three wide-mouthed bottles : two or three chisels, &c., 

 can be laid across the gutta-percha partitions ; and the hammer, 

 if not carried in a belt, can rest on the centre division, with the 

 handle through the hole in the lid. The whole contrivance can 

 readily be fitted by any person able to join the pieces of gutta- 

 percha : it is carried by a strap slung over the shoulders, after the 

 manner of the botanist's vasculum. 



I used the basket last autumn at Torquay, and found it very con- 

 venient, as it left the hands free and unencumbered — a very desirable 

 matter in climbing among the rocks. 



I am. Gentlemen, 



Yours truly, 



W. T. Suffolk. 



