HALF AN HOUR WITH PREPARATIONS. 27 



the only way of obtaining them, and you have to be 

 very careful in doing it, so as not to injure the base 

 of the animal its only vulnerable part. Hammer- 

 ing away, of course your transparent rock-pool is 

 soon converted into a filthy, muddy puddle ; and 

 you may depend upon it, its tenants, who may have 

 occupied it for generations, are in no small stew as 

 to what is the matter. Before you disturbed the 

 water, you saw a good ledge where you could place 

 the point of your chisel, and you knew you had only 

 to keep it here to detach the fragment of rock, 

 with the anemone attached to it. It was well you 

 noticed this, as you cannot see anything after you 

 have given a few blows, and you are obliged to feel 

 for the anemone (which has long ago drawn in its 

 tentacles, and is silently awaiting its fate). Every 

 now and then an ill-directed blow splashes your 

 face with salt water, and your eyes smart with the 

 unusual and unexpected application. At length 

 perseverance is rewarded, for the last blow has 

 detached the piece of rock, and perhaps your hand 

 has slipped and got scratched. Taking little or no 

 notice of this for it is what you may expect, and 

 therefore what you may, in a great measure, guard 

 against you grope along the bottom until you find 

 the specimen. Can that insignificant, ugly lump of 

 jelly adhering to it, be the brightly-coloured creature 

 whose tentacles made it appear like some gorgeous 

 flower? Yes, such it is, and such anemones will 

 always look after rough usage like that your par- 



