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 Cidaris, great white-bearded 

 Holtenice, glistening 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 Echinus norvegicm 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 dismembered 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 re- 

 flection that had we not used this somewhat ruthless 

 means of capture the mutilated specimens would have 

 remained unknown to us at the bottom of the sea. 



The dredge comes up variously freighted according 

 to the locality. Usually, if dexterously managed, 



