158 The Collection of Fishes 
The collector can, if he thinks best, use all kinds of fishing ° 
tackle for himself. In Japan he can use the “dabonawa”’ long 
lines, and secure the fishes which were otherwise dredged by 
the Challenger and Albatross. If dredges or trawls are at his 
hand he can hire them and use them for scientific purposes. 
He should neglect no kind of bottom, no conditions of fish life 
which he can reach. 
Especially important is the fauna of the tide-pools, neg- 
lected by almost all collectors. As the tide goes down, espe- 
cially on rocky capes which project into the sea, myriads of 
little fishes will remain in the rock-pools, the algee, and the clefts 
of rock. In regions like California, where the rocks are buried 
with kelp, blennies will lie in the kelp as quiescent as the 
branches of the alge themselves until the flow of water returns. 
A sharp three-tined fork will help in spearing them. The 
water in pools can be poisoned on the coast of Mexico with the 
milky juice of the “‘hava”’ tree, a tree which yields strychnine. 
In default of this, pools can be poisoned by chloride of lime, 
sulphate of copper, or, if small enough, by formalin. Of 
all poisons the commercial chloride of lime seems to be most 
effective. By such means the contents of the pool can be 
secured and the next tide carries away the poison. The 
water in pools can be bailed out, or, better, emptied by a 
siphon made of small garden-hose or rubber tubing. On 
rocky shores, dynamite can be used to advantage if the col- 
lector or his assistant dare risk it and if the laws of the 
country do no prevent. 
Most effective in rock-pool work is the help of the small 
boy. In all lands the collector will do well to take him into 
his pay and confidence. Of the hundred or more new species 
of rock-pool fishes lately secured by the writer in Japan, fully 
two-thirds were obtained by the Japanese boys. Equally 
effective is the ‘‘muchacho” on the coasts of Mexico. 
Masses of coral, sponges, tunicates, and other porous or 
hollow organisms often contain small fishes and should be care- 
fully examined. On the coral reefs the breaking up of large 
masses is often most remunerative. 
The importance of securing the young of pelagic fishes by 
tow-nets and otherwise cannot be too strongly emphasized. 
