IMPLEMENTS. 



39 



and the young collectoij in choosing the locality of 

 his operations, will pay attention to this point 

 beforehand, that he may select a place where the 

 time of low- water on the days of spring-tides is the 

 most convenient for his occupation. For instance, 

 the time of low-tide on the day of full-moon is 

 about noon on our western shores, but about six 

 o'clock on the Sussex coast. 



Implements. — I use a wicker-basket with a flat 

 bottom and straight sides, divided into compart- 

 ments. In two of these fit wide-mouthed jars, such, 

 for example, as are used for preserves : if made 

 of glass they are the better, as admitting a more 

 ready examination of their contents ; but jars of 

 white ware or stone-ware will do. The larger ob- 

 jects procured are put into these, but I commonly 

 carry also a wide-mouthed phial, such as the 

 chemists keep quinine in, fitted into a third com- 

 partment, to receive the minuter and more delicate 

 things. Then there is a fourth division running 

 the whole length of the basket, in which lie a ham- 

 mer and chisel, and which may receive large shells, 

 crabs, &c. that do not require constant immersion. 

 A geologist's hammer with a cutting edge, as well 

 as a striking face, is the most useful; and the chisel 

 must not be such as carpenters use, but one made 

 wholly of iron, tipped with steel, such as is used 

 by smiths, and technically called a cold chisel. 



Sometimes, especially if the shore we are about 

 to search be strewn with large stones or boulders, 

 it will be well to secure the attendance of a man 

 with a crowbar, to turn over the stones, as on their 

 under surface, and beneath their shadow, valuable 

 specimens are often found. With the same instru- 

 ment, inserted into the fissures, great pieces of loose 



