TOWING. 301 



is fastened, prevents tlie fisli from escaping as tliey 

 rise. Wings on each side, loaded at the bottom, 

 sweep every hole and depression. There are other 

 improvements, which appear to me (judging, how- 

 ever, only from a small model) to fit the trawl for 

 natm-alists' use, no less than for that of fishermen. 

 For the former purpose, it might he made small, not 

 wider than a common dredge. The inventor estimates 

 that one made 30 or 36 inches in breadth of beam, 

 would not cost more than 11. 10s. or 21. 



Towing. — One more means of obtaining animals 

 remains to be mentioned, — the surface-net. This 

 may be made of stout muslin, in the form of a bag, 

 two feet deep, sewed on a thick brass ring a foot 

 in diameter, which is screwed at the end of a staff 

 six feet long. The staff should be of tough wood, 

 such as hickory or lance-wood. The net is held at 

 the surface of the sea, the collector sitting in a boat 

 rowed gently along. The afternoon and evening of a 

 calm sunny day is most productive, especially in the 

 latter part of summer and autumn, vvdien the lovely 

 Medusce, the little Beroe, and many forms of freely 

 swimming Annelida and Crustacea occur in abun- 

 dance. At frequent intervals, the bag of the net 

 must be reversed and plunged into a glass jar of 

 clear water, when the captives will float ofi" into the 

 vessel. 



Again I bid farewell to my courteous reader. 

 Again we have had fellowship together in tracing 

 some of the wonders of an Almighty Hand, but how 

 much remains unexplored ! " Lo ! these are parts of 



