THE SALT-WATER, OR MARINE AQUARIUM. 83 



accomplisliing the agreeable duty may not, at this junc- 

 ture, prove mal apropos. 



In the first place, provide yourself with an attendant, 

 and let him accompany you with a crowbar, a cold-chisel, 

 a hammer with a cutting edge as well as a striking one, 

 and a basket containing a couple of wide-mouthed jars. 

 Select low water as the time for your exploration. The 

 spring-tides occur twice in a month, at the changes of the 

 full and new moons. The ebb-tides that succeed them 

 are, of course, the lowest possible, and the exact hour at 

 w^hich you may best avail yourself of the circumstance you 

 will find noted down in the almanac. Few marine plants 

 or animals live in situations much exposed and hence, 

 when the waves retreat well from the shore they leave it 

 supplied with many an unexpected curiosity of which you 

 may take lawful possession, provided you are early enough 

 upon the ground, are active, vigilant and industrious. 



With his crowbar, let your assistant turn over the 

 large stones you meet; beneath their shadow, or under 

 their surface, you may often secure excellent specimens. 

 Pry into the rough clefts and fissures covered over with 

 Bladderweed and Oliveweed, which abound among the 

 low, dark ledges of shelving rock. Peep into the little 

 pools and basins scooped out of the stony mass where it 

 rises in rude, irregular, massive forms, about you. Hidden 

 in these secluded spots you will often discover the loveli- 

 est of marine plants ; and when you do, make no attempt 

 to remove it from its bed, but out with your hammer and 



