408 The American Naturalist. [May, 
not a ripple breaks the mirror of the surface, is best for this 
purpose. With a companion to take turns at rowing, or to 
hold the net, we glide off in the darkness to some point where 
a distinct current sets, or better still where two currents meet, 
for in such places pelagic larvae are most abundant. The 
apparatus for "surface collecting" as it is called, is simple 
enough. It consists of a tow net made of bolting cloth or 
coarsely woven silk, through the meshes of which the micros- 
copic animals cannot pass, and a bucket of sea water. The 
net is put out and allowed to skim the surface as the boat moves 
slowly through the water. If the place and time are very fa- 
vorable the net soon begins to glow, as if made of plati- 
num gauze, heated white hot, and at short intervals it is 
cautiously raised to the boat, and the sparks are washed off 
into a bucket of sea water, and the process repeated. After 
returning to the laboratory, the water containing the evening's 
catch is carefully examined by each student, who selects and 
preserves those particular organisms which he happens to be 
at work upon at the time. 
If a tall beaker of this water is dipped from the bucket and 
held up to the light we may behold a most remarkable and 
fascinating sight. Every drop is teeming with life. The 
myrmidons of the deep are here. The young of almost every 
type of marine life has a representative in our glass, but so dis- 
guised are many in their undeveloped state that only the 
specialist may recognize them. They vary in size from half an 
inch long down to microscopic proportions. Some are adults. 
There are innumerable larvae of Crustacea, of grotesque shapes, 
moving with quick jerks; some with the body stuck full 
of spines, or with a huge straight spear growing out of the 
forehead; glass-like Ctenophorae reeling through the water, 
propelled by encircling bands of irridescent cilia; veliger mol- 
lusks floating with sails wide spread ; bead-like larvae of an- 
nelids, which swim with rapid rotatory movement: the color- 
less eggs and quaint fish embryos, whose large black eyes 
and enormous golden yellow yolk sacs, attract the eye 
while their transparent body is hardly visible; the pulsa- 
