HALF AN HOUR WITH PREPARATIONS. 31 



capital season for zoologising you may reckon on 

 getting some good finds by the method above de- 

 scribed. After you have towed the net about ten 

 minutes or a quarter of an hour, you examine its 

 contents, dropping them one by one into the basin 

 or bottle which you have brought with you, so that 

 you may examine them at greater detail when you 

 return. 



Another capital plan of studying deeper sea life, 

 is to get up early, so that you may be on the jetty 

 when the trawl-boats come in. The " rubbish," as 

 the sailor calls it, consists of hosts of creatures which 

 the dredge has brought up, often much mangled and 

 defaced, from the bottom of the sea. You pick the 

 best, and place them in one of your bell-glasses, and 

 in a day or two they will reward you for your pains. 

 Or, if you " tip " the trawl-boatmen as they are 

 going out, so that they may put all the " rubbish " 

 in a bucket specially for you, then you may antici- 

 pate a capital harvest. A little beer goes a great 

 way with these men, and they are always pleased, 

 besides, if you take any interest in things that live 

 in the sea. If you can stand the pitching and toss- 

 ing, the wet and the cold, and are thoroughly proof 

 against sea-sickness ; if you are proof against the vile 

 smells that reek in trawl-boats, compounds of pitch, 

 rum, bacon, and fish ; then bribe the captain to let 

 you go with them for a night ! If you can bear all 

 we have described, and a good deal more it is im- 

 possible to describe, you will come into contact with 



