244 



THE STRAND-NET. 



On the flats and in pools free from weeds the ordinary Grey 

 Sand-Shrimp will be taken, but where these flats are covered 

 with the long tape-like sea-grass (Zostera marina), so frequent 



in many harbours and 

 roadsteads of the 

 coast, they are re- 

 placed by Prawns, for 

 which this net is 

 equally well adapted. 

 There are differ- 

 ent methods of fitting 

 these flat strand-nets, 

 but I consider that 

 which I have repre- 

 sented in the cut to 

 be the lightest and 

 most effective, and it 

 can be easily made to 

 fold up and pack in 

 line with the staff. I 

 find it more conve- 

 nient than any other. 

 For a man it 

 should not be less 

 than three and a half 

 feet in width, but for 



FIG. 75. The Strand-Net. 



a boy two and a half only, as the larger will be found of too 

 heavy draught. The width of the board four inches, thickness 

 three-quarters of an inch, the front thinned down to an edge of 

 a quarter of an inch, that it may skim the sand closely, and 

 even be capable of entering just beneath the surface where the 

 bottom is sufficiently soft. 



A stout chock of elm two and a half inches thick at the 

 back and somewhat of a heart shape, having a mortise to receive 

 a staff, must be securely screwed to the centre of the board at 

 a slight angle. This staff should be seven feet long, two and a 

 quarter inches in diameter at the bottom, and one and three- 

 quarter inch at the top, having a small cross-head or handle. 



