16 K AMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



was more powerful than any which we had hitherto 

 employed. Instead of merely exploring the acces- 

 sible parts of the shore, or dredging at hap-hazard, we 

 were now about to descend to the bottom of the sea ; 

 and, in the enjoyment of perfect liberty of action, we 

 were actually going to pursue the marine animals 

 into their most hidden retreats within the recesses 

 of those rocks, which were so deeply buried beneath 

 the waves as to appear to defy all our efforts. 



The execution of this project, the idea of which 

 originated with Milne Edwards, demanded some 

 precautions. First, it was necessary to be well as- 

 sured of the working condition of our apparatus, and 

 so to combine and arrange its different parts, as to 

 foresee all possible accidents, and to secure the means 

 of remedying them, should they occur. In the course 

 of a few days, everything was arranged, and after 

 some preliminary trials, M. Milne Edwards made his 

 first submarine excursion within the harbour of Mi- 

 lazzo. For more than half an hour, he remained at 

 the bottom of the sea, which he traversed in all 

 directions, turning over the stones, examining frond 

 by frond the tufts of Algas, and collecting together 

 and observing on the spot the different zoophytes 

 which live at a depth of from ten to thirteen feet 

 below the surface of the water. After this first 

 attempt, M. Edwards descended to much greater 

 depths ; and in the Bay of Taormine and elsewhere, 

 we saw him, at a depth of upwards of twenty-five 

 feet below the surface of the water, working for 

 more than three-quarters of an hour to detach with 

 a pickaxe some of those large Panopeas of the Me- 



