32 Thomas Henry Huxley 



pelagic and have colourless blood, and pale, transparent, 

 gelatinous or cartilaginous skeletons. The tadpole- 

 like stages of the sea-squirts, which in adult life are to 

 be found attached to rocks like weeds, drift about in 

 the surface waters until their time conies for settling 

 down in life. Man}' other Ascidians pass their whole 

 life as pelagic creatures. A few molluscs, many kinds of 

 worms, echinoderms, and their allies, crab and lobster- 

 like creatures in innumerable different stages of de- 

 velopment, are to be found there, while unnumbered 

 polyps and jelly-fish are always present. It would be 

 difficult to imagine a better training for the naturalist 

 than to spend j^ears, as Huxley did, working at this 

 varied assortment of living creatures. Huxley de- 

 clared that the difficulties of examining such flimsy 

 creatures had been exaggerated. 



" At least, with a good liglit aud a good microscope, with the 

 ship tolerably stead\-, I never failed in procuring all the inform- 

 ation I required. The great matter is to obtain a good succes- 

 sive supply of specimens, as the more delicate oceanic species 

 are usually unfit for examination within a few hours after they 

 are taken." 



Da}' after da}', as the Raitlcsnake crept from island to 

 island, Huxley examined the animals brought up by 

 his tow-net. He made endless dissections, and gradually 

 accumulated a large portfolio of drawings. Mtich of 

 the time he passed at Sydney was spent in libraries and 

 museums, comparing his own observations with the re- 

 corded observations of earlier workers, and receiving 

 from the combination of his own work and the .work of 

 others new ideas for his future investigations. It was 

 all entirely a labour of love ; it lay outside the profes- 

 sional duties by which he made his living, and for a 



