THE DREDGE. 55 



possession of the mighty sea. The greater the recess 

 of the tide, the more curious, varied, and abundant are 

 the creatures he discovers ; — if then any mode could 

 he devised to scrape the floor of the sea itself at differ- 

 ent depths, and to secure the materials thus collected, 

 how important might he the result. The dredge is 

 the implement that does this. It is a strong bag with 

 an iron frame around the mouth, which is dragged 

 over the sea-bottom by a rope fastened to the boat, 

 by which also it is drawn in when full. 



The rudest form of the instrument is that used for 

 procuring oysters for market. The hag is generally 

 made of iron rings linked together, and the mouth, 

 which is a four-sided frame of iron, has one of the 

 longer sides turned out to form a scraping lip. But 

 the naturalist's dredge is an improvement upon this 

 form ; the oyster-dredge, with all the care employed 

 in heaving, will frequently turn over in sinking, so 

 that the unlipped side of the frame is on the ground, 

 which will not scrape. Hence we have each of the 

 two long sides of the mouth made into a scraping lip, 

 so that the instrument cannot fall wrong. Instead of 

 rings our body is made of spunyarn (a sort of small 

 rope), or fishing-line, netted with a small mesh, or, 

 which is better still, of a raw hide, (such as those which 

 the tobacconists receive from South America inclosing 

 tobacco, the hides of the wild cattle of the Pampas) cut 

 into thongs, and netted in like manner. Sometimes the 

 hag is made of coarse sackcloth, or of canvass, but 

 the former soon wears out, and the latter is not suffi- 

 ciently pervious to water ; an important point, for if 

 there be not a free current through the bag, while on 



