COLLECTING AND PRESERVING 299 



There is an advantage in a cheese-cloth net, for many 

 small things, Mysids, Hippolytes, Isopods, and Amphipods, 

 slip through the meshes of an ordinary one. 



This equipment will suffice for any ordinary shore work. 



Shell-bearing molluscs can be put loosely in the basket ; 

 so can the larger Crustacea, and all hard things ; more 

 delicate ones can be put in water in the jars. 



Annelids should be brought home in water, so should the 

 delicate star-fishes these often break up when long dry. 



Very small and fragile things, little brittle stars, small 

 crustaceans, etc. etc., had better be dropped into the tubes 

 of spirit at once, or into the spare tubes with sea-water. 



In collecting on a large scale a garden fork and extra 

 basket, and, if possible, an assistant, are required. 



Objects holding mud or silt should be well rinsed in the 

 sea or rock pool before being placed in a receptacle. 



A corked bottle with some clear sea-water should be 

 brought home, for any zoophytes, etc. that it is required 

 to treat for the microscope, as explained in a following 

 chapter. 



Lastly, the usual word of caution : keep an eye on the 

 rising tide. If on an open shore the advance of the tide 

 marks the time and pace of retreat, but if, as on this coast, 

 the collecting ground lies on distant reefs or gravel banks, 

 sometimes a couple of miles from shore, and these banks 

 and reefs are separated from the land by channels, often 

 with swift currents, it is possible to be so engrossed as to 

 allow oneself to be cut off from shore, and this is awkward, 

 at the best. 



A sure indication of the turn of the tide before en- 

 croachment can be noticed is a thin film of floating scum 

 bits of shell,etc., at the margin. And when this is apparent 

 in such situations as just described it is time to pack up 

 and go. 



The Tow Net. So far we have considered the collection 



