298 COLLECTING ANIMALS. 



next to impossible to see with sufficient clearness to 

 direct tlie assault. 



As the plants are detached, they are placed one by 

 one in security. The finer and more delicate ones, as 

 the Delesseria for instance, are immediately dropped 

 into a jar of water ; for only a few minutes' exposure 

 of their lovely crimson fronds to the air, would turn 

 them to that dull orange colour already mentioned as 

 the sign of incipient decay. The hardier sorts are 

 laid in the basket, — a layer of damp refuse weed 

 being first put in to receive them, — and covered 

 lightly with damp weed. The degree of moisture 

 thus secured is sufficient to preserve many species 

 from injury for hours. Thus they are brought home. 



Collecting Animals. — I have been speaking of 

 the haunts of the living Algce^ and of the manner of 

 procuring them ; because in sequence of idea these 

 come first into consideration. But, in point of fact, 

 the search for animals goes on simultaneously with 

 the process just described; the same haunts which 

 are affected by the marine plants conceal various 

 animals ; and it is one of the great charms of collect- 

 ing, that you never know what you may obtain at 

 any moment. The expectation is always kept on the 

 stretch : something new, or at least unthought of, 

 frequently strikes the eye, and keeps the attention on 

 the qui vive. 



Close examination of the fissures of the pools, of 

 the rough and corroded stones that have been fished 

 up, and even of the sea-plants themselves, reveals 

 many curious creatures of various kinds and forms, 

 each of which, when found, is seized and consigned 



