258 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [CHAP. VI. 
is the reverse. The smooth heavy shells are rarely 
brought up, while frequently the tangles loaded with 
the spiny spheres of OCidaris, great white-bearded 
Holtenie, elistening coils of Hyalonema, relieved by 
the crimson stars of Astropecten and Brisinga, pre- 
sent as remarkable an appearance as can well be 
imagined. On one occasion, to which I have already 
referred, I am sure not fewer than 20,000 examples 
of Lchinus norvegicus came up on the tangles at 
one haul. They were warped through and through 
the hempen fibres, and actually filled the tangles 
so that we could not get them out, and they hung 
for days round the bulwarks like nets of pickling 
onions in a greengrocer’s shop. The use of the 
tangles, which seem so singularly well adapted to 
their capture, gives therefore a totally unfair advan- 
tage to the radiate groups and the sponges, and this 
must always be taken into account in estimating 
their proportion in the fauna of a particular area. 
The tangles certainly make a sad mess of the 
specimens; and the first feeling is one of woe, as we 
undertake the almost hopeless task of clipping out 
with a pair of short nail-scissors the mangled remains 
of sea-pens, the legs of rare crabs, and the dismem- 
bered disks and separated arms of delicate crinoids 
and ophiurids. We must console ourselves with the 
comparatively few things which come up entire, 
sticking to the outer fibres; and with the reflection 
that had we not used this somewhat ruthless means 
of capture, the mutilated specimens would have re- 
mained unknown to us at the bottom of the sea. 
The dredge comes up variously freighted according 
to the locality. Usually, if dexterously managed, 
