286 APPEAL TO THE FISHERMEN. CHAP. xrv. 



Though it might be of no use to them, it might prove 

 of great use to science. " Oh !" said the fishermen, 

 " we canna tell what the fellow wants : we get so 

 muckle trash upon our lines. Are we to keep it all ?" 



" Yes/' replied Edward, " keep it all. Lay it care- 

 fully aside, and I or my daughters will call for it." 

 A few of the fishermen did what Edward told them 

 to do ; but the others " couldna be fashed." 



Edward published his advice to the fishermen in 

 the Banffshire Journal. " How little trouble," he 

 said, " would it be for any fisherman who might find 

 a rare fish, crab, shell, or zoophyte, or such like object 

 attached to his lines, to get it examined and named, 

 so that its occurrence might be recorded. This could 

 be done, and then he could, if so minded, dispose of 

 it to the best advantage. Or what great * fash' could 

 it be for them to keep the cleanings of their lines for 

 a like scientific purpose ? 



" It is quite astonishing what amazing numbers of 

 minute creatures are at times to be found amongst 

 the refuse of only one boat's lines. No one would 

 believe it, except those who are in the habit of care- 

 fully examining such things. The ocean is, as it 

 were, one vast and boundless expanse of life, and the 

 inhabitants thereof about as numberless as the sands 

 by the sea-shore. I have myself, and that too under 

 the most disadvantageous circumstances, picked off 

 from a dead valve of Cyprina Islandica nine distinct 

 species of shells, three different kinds of starfish, and 



