METHODS OF CAPTURE aT 
are, however, unstinted riches of natural history which 
the ordinary student may obtain with comparatively simple 
means. By the use of the towing-net from a boat, espe- 
cially after sunset in warm and calm weather, numerous 
larval forms of Crustacea are to be obtained, as well as 
adult forms of various orders. By dredging in a few 
fathoms, or even in a few feet, of water, species enough 
to occupy weeks and months of study may often readily 
be secured. For this work sheltered bays and inlets 
are favourable. When the dredge brings up apparently 
nothing but rugged pebbles and the worn shells of departed 
molluscs, these are not to be despised. Among them may 
be found the little crabs of the genus Hbalia, at the first 
glance perhaps rejected as if pebbles themselves. Rare 
Tanaids may come creeping out of the crevices of an old 
oyster shell. When sea-weeds are brought up in the 
dredge, they are not to be cast aside after a hasty exami- 
nation as unproductive. They should be placed in a 
vessel of shallow water, and, though the crafty inhabitants 
lie close, they will eventually come forth. Sand and 
muddy ooze scraped from the bottom requires to be passed 
through a sieve or stirred about in a pailful of sea-water. 
After the stirring, and before the animals have time to 
regain the sand, the water must be poured off through a 
muslin bag which will retain the desired specimens. Some 
species, besides the edible ones, may be obtained by a sort 
of systematic fishing. A dead crab, for instance, let down 
in a lobster-pot, will attract one species or another accord- 
ing to the locality, the clan trooping to the feast in hun- 
dreds and thousands till they have consumed every par: 
ticle of the dainty repast. The voracity, indeed, of some 
among the smaller Crustacea is such, and their numbers in 
some places so enormous, that they have been known in a 
single night to clear all the flesh off a dead seal. To such 
appetites almost any carrion is a sufficiently alluring bait. 
There is little need for surprise, under the circumstances, 
at the label on certain museum specimens, irtimating that 
they were ‘ pulled off the head ofa bear let down to the 
bottom to be cleaned.’ Some of the Amphipoda attack the 
