238 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



settle for about five seconds, and then the water is 

 poured off through the net into the empty bucket. 

 This process is repeated twice or thrice, and after 

 this the end of the net is inverted into one of the 

 glass jars that has been half or two.-thirds filled with 

 sea-water. Now the sand is emptied out of the pail, 

 and, with a fresh supply, the same process is carried 

 out, and so on till the labourers are wearied of their 

 task or satisfied with its results. 



At home the contents of the jar or jars are emptied 

 into a basin or dish, and examined and sorted out 

 at leisure. Amphipods, isopods, cumacea, copepoda, 

 larval cirripedes, and small marine worms are likely 

 to be obtained by this method, and sometimes in 

 astonishing numbers. 



A solitary worker, having far to go from his home 

 to the tide, would be content with a single jar, and 

 could manage with but one bucket, but then the 

 water has to be drawn fresh for each washing, which 

 takes up much time and greatly increases the labour. 

 By having all the vessels of moderate size, the 

 difficulty of weight may be overcome. 



It must be remembered that while some animals 

 frequent the purer sand, others prefer that which is 

 mixed with mud, and in general that the more varied 

 the condition of the ground examined, the more 

 varied will the resulting collection be likely to be. 

 The adventurous collector, who will scrape the sand 

 with his bucket from under the waters themselves, 

 beyond the lowest point to which the tide retreats, 

 may hope for rarer species than any to be found on 

 the uncovered shore. 



