OF SEA-ANEMONES. 31 



are to be discovered at ver}- low water — so low that 

 we can only disturb their haunts once in every fort- 

 night, and very many of them live at a stiU lower 

 level. I do not mean to sa}^ that in ground which 

 has not been previously searched we shall not meet 

 with isolated specimens of most varieties at an ordi- 

 nary state of low tide, but that if we mean to ensure 

 success we ought to select those rocks which are only 

 uncovered at the lowest tides. Now at new and full 

 moon the "spring tides" occur, and then the sea 

 rises higher and falls lower than at any other time, 

 and at these periods it is " low water" on our western 

 coast about twelve o*clock at noon; whilst, at the 

 moon's second and fourth quarters, we meet with 

 the " neap tides," and then the rise and fall of the 

 sea is comparatively trifling. Therefore, if we in- 

 tend to hold a grand field-day at any time we shall 

 do well to select those three or four days wliich 

 occur twice a month, when, according to the almanac, 

 the moon is either new or full; and then, about 

 twelve o'clock,* with the aid of our able-bodied 



* If the naturalist be sufficiently entei-prising to go down at 

 twelve o'clock at night with a lantern to the rocks, he will be repaid 

 for his exertion. On such an expedition two facts struck me as 

 worth recording: one that all the " gems" were in full blossom ; the 

 other that eveiy anemone, and especially the thick-skinned, were 

 much more easily detached than in the day time : though in perfect 

 flower and in full acti\ity, they readily yielded to the slightest force. 

 In about half-an-hour my collection exceeded that of an ordinary 

 afternoon. 



