22 COLLECTING SEA-WEEDS. 



though there for ever so brief a stay, may enjoy with 

 the least possible trouble, the amoenities of zoolo- 

 gical study in a soup-plate, or even iu a tumbler. It is 

 easy to knock off with a hammer, or even to dislodge 

 with a strong clasp-knife, a fragment of rock on which 

 a minute sea-weed is growing, proportioning the sur- 

 face of leaf to the volume of water, — and you have 

 an Aquarium. A wide-mouthed phial, — such, for in- 

 stance, as those in which Sulphate of Quinine is 

 commonly sold by the chymists, — affords a capital 

 opportunity for studying the minute Zoophytes, 

 Bryozoa, Nudibranch Mollusca, &c. as they may be 

 examined through the clear glass sides with perfect 

 ease, by the aid of a pocket-lens. The influence of 

 light should be allowed to operate on the sea-weed, 

 to promote the elaboration of oxygen, but at the same 

 time, if the weather be warm, care must be taken 

 that the subjects be not killed by the sun's heat. 



Let me describe my ordinary mode of obtaining 

 the sea-weeds which I transmitted to London. 



Suppose the time to be the first or second day after 

 full or new moon, when the tide recedes to its greatest 

 extent, laying bare large tracts of surface that are or- 

 dinarily covered by the sea. This is the most suitable 

 time for procuring sea- weeds, for these must be taken 

 in a growing state ; and hence the specimens which 

 are washed on shore, and which serve very well for 

 laying out on paper, are utterly useless for our 

 purpose. 



With a large covered collecting basket, a couple 

 of wide- mouthed stone jars, a similar one of glass, 

 two or three smaller phials, a couple of strong 



