THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 161 
and a couple of buckets, to receive the large lumps 
of oysters and serpule which you will probably bring 
to the surface. 
As for a dredging ground, one may be found, I 
suppose, off every watering-place. The most fertile 
spots are in rough ground, in not less than five 
fathoms water. The deeper the water, the rarer and 
more interesting will the animals generally be: but 
a greater depth than fifteen fathoms is not easily 
reached on this side of Plymouth; and, on the 
whole, the beginner will find enough in seven or 
eight fathoms to stock an aquarium rivalling any 
of those in the “Tank-house” at the Zoological 
Gardens. 
In general, the south coast of England, to the 
eastward of Portland, affords bad dredging ground. 
The friable cliffs, of comparatively recent formations, 
keep the sea shallow, and the bottom smooth and 
bare, by the vast deposits of sand and gravel. Yet 
round the Isle of Wight, especially at the back of 
the Needles, there ought to be fertile spots; and 
Weymouth, according to Mr. Gosse and other well- 
M 
