By the deep sea

"By the Deep Sea" by Edward Step is a popular natural history guide written in the late 19th century. It introduces general readers to the wildlife of the British seashore, combining accessible explanations of marine creatures with hands-on advice for observing, collecting, and even keeping a small marine aquarium. The opening of this guide sets out the sea’s central role in Earth’s life and commerce, then states the book’s aim: to be a practical companion for untrained seaside visitors. It explains shore zoning (littoral and laminarian), how to use tide tables and lunar phases, where to look on rocky, sandy, and shingle coasts, and what simple gear and clothing to use, from jars and putty knives to fine and coarse nets. Step suggests how to bale or pump pools, which rock faces to search, and how to collect or transport specimens (notably anemones) and start a modest home aquarium. He then introduces “low life” seen with a microscope—Foraminifera and Polycistina, and the phosphorescent Noctiluca—and shows how to skim surface plankton with a tow-net. Next come sponges (their pores, oscula, spicules, feeding currents, reproduction) with common shore species and the debated boring sponge; followed by hydroid “corallines” and their colonies, reproductive buds that become medusae, and the higher marine polyzoa like Flustra and Bugula. A clear, demystifying section on jellyfishes covers stinging myths, the polyp-to-medusa story culminating in Aurelia, notable forms (Cyanea, Sarsia, Æquorea), visitors such as Physalia and Velella, and the gem-like sea gooseberry.

By the deep sea, by Edward Step. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #77774.