

THE SEASHORE 175 



the " catch.' ' Unless there is a school aquarium, as there ought 

 to be, the scholars should not be encouraged to carry home living 

 animals. This practice usually ends in " smells " and in a dis- 

 agreeable appendix to the pleasant impressions of the day. (5) It 

 is useful to have a small collecting net and bottle on the end 

 of a long stick for reaching things out of the sea, and a spade 

 for digging in the sand and shingle. (6) Many of the most 

 beautiful shore animals sea-worms (e.g. Nereis virens, Phyl- 

 lodoce\ bivalves (e.g. spout-fish or Solen, Tellina tenuis\ some 

 sea-urchins (e.g. the yellow heart-urchin, Echinocardium cor- 

 datum), etc. are burro wers in the sand, and the successful 

 shore-collector must be able to dig. (7) To turn over stones is 

 indispensable, so many animals lurk underneath. It is very 

 important to replace these stones in their original position, or 

 some approximation to it. Otherwise the shore is deteriorated. 

 If the stones are left upside down, the rich growth of seaweed 

 which has been turned down rots and makes the surrounding 

 sand obnoxious to many kinds of animals. The upturned under 

 surface had also its rich growth of hydroids and the like, and 

 these are left to die. Many good localities near large scientific 

 centres have been spoiled by systematic careless collecting by 

 enthusiastic but improvident students. 



At High Tide. As we have said, a shore excursion should 

 be arranged for the time of low tide, when the conditions for dis- 

 covering things are most favourable. But it is very useful also to 

 go down to the rocks at high tide and to set the young explorers the 

 task of finding at least a dozen animals before they have their game 

 or their swim. Let us name a likely dozen, (i) Acorn-shells or 

 barnacles (Balanus balanoides) encrusting the rocks (" A Barnacle," 

 Huxley wrote, " may be said to be a crustacean fixed by its head, 

 and kicking the food into its mouth with its legs ") ; (2) common 

 periwinkles (Littorina littorea) ; and (3) the small yellow, red, olive 

 and otherwise coloured small periwinkles (Littorina rudis) ; 

 (4) the limpet (Patella vulgata), holding tightly to the niche its 

 shell has grown to fit ; (5) the carnivorous dog-whelk (Purpura 

 lapillus ; (6) young specimens of the edible mussel (Mytilus 

 edulis) ; (7) the commonest amphipod (Gammarus locusta), 

 working busily underneath the stones, tireless scavengers of the 



