w 
448 
way, at the posterior end by 
means of a piece of iron wire. 
As this is, however, not suf¬ 
ficient for keeping the plates 
in position, a pair of wires 
are fixed cross-wise on one 
side of the apparatus, between 
the sides of the plates. In this 
way the plates are held per- 
fectly in the right position. 
This apparatus was found 
excellently fit for the purpose 
of catching the microfauna of 
the upper layer on a soft, 
muddy bottom. But it was, 
of course, desirable that it 
might be used also on a sandy 
bottom. For this purpose an 
iron rod is attached at a little 
distance from the mouth of 
the apparatus. When dragged 
over the bottom this rod stirs 
up the upper layer; while the 
sand grains soon sink to the 
bottom again, the finer mate- 
rial and the small organisms 
remain floating long enough 
for being caught by the 
aftercoming apparatus. (As a 
matter of faet more or less 
of the sand is also caught by 
the net; when too mueh sand 
is caught for preserving the 
whole sample, it may be treated 
as mentioned above). — It was 
soon found that it was as well to have the iron rod attached to the 
line also when the apparatus is used on soft bottom. 
During the summer of 1924 I had the opportunity of trying 
Fig. 1. 
