10 BRITISH COPEPODA. 



or in the clear water, and the results, when cleared 

 from coarse debris and extraneous materials, may either 

 be put at once into spirit or, if it is wished to keep 

 the Entomostraca alive, into water, fresh or salt as 

 the case may be. Marine surface-swimmers may be 

 taken in a similar way by working the net from the 

 side of a boat, or a tow net may be thrown over and 

 attached to the boat by a cord. A tow net put over- 

 board from a vessel anchored for the night in a tide- 

 way will often be found in the morning to have made 

 good captures. And it may be noted that surface net 

 gatherings made during the hours of dusk or darkness 

 are commonly of much greater interest than those 

 taken in daytime ; it seems certain that many marine 

 Crustacea which are found near the surface at night 

 recede towards the bottom on the approach of day- 

 light. Some of the pleasantest and most profitable 

 hours which I have ever spent have been when, after 

 a day's dredging, I have set out at sunset on a quiet 

 boating excursion for the purpose of capturing such 

 prey as could be got in the surface net. Many hours 

 of this kind spent in the company of my old friend 

 Mr. David Robertson, amongst the Scilly Islands, on 

 the Firth of Clyde, on the sheltered bays of Round- 

 stone and Westport, or on the stormier coasts of 

 Northumbria will long live in my memory, not only 

 by their results in the acquisition of valuable speci- 

 mens, but as times of unalloyed delight in the 

 contemplation of nature under a different guise from 

 that in which we usually see her. 



The washing of fronds and roots of Larninarise, 



