HALF AN HOUR WITH PREPARATIONS. 29 



A few mornings spent in this manner will have 

 furnished you with objects enough, and have given 

 you a good idea of the littoral zoology of the neigh- 

 bourhood. To vary your amusement as well as your 

 study, you may desire to have a sail, an engagement 

 which, depend upon it, you have already been 

 solicited about by the amphibious-looking boatmen, 

 who eye your studies with hardly concealed con- 

 tempt, and pass their own satire and small jokes 

 upon them. Extend your sail over a few hours, 

 morning or afternoon, only, if possible, select a time 

 when the tide is flowing, not ebbing. A great many 

 objects of interest and value may be obtained by your 

 using a towing-net, Fig. 5, let out behind your boat. 

 This is a capital method of getting the jelly-fish, &c., 



Fig. 5. 



Major Holland's home-made Towing-net. 



creatures which otherwise you will only meet with 

 in the stranded and half-putrifying condition. The 

 construction of a towing-net is a very easy ta$k, and 

 its outlay very inexpensive. Get a child's wooden 

 hoop, about two feet in diameter, at some toy shop. 

 Next procure some strong, coarse linen, a yard wide, 



