stored mind did much to add to the social gentility of the party, it is thought that a record of the Dredgings my not be uninteresting here, accompanied by some suggestions for another excursion during 1878. When we arrived at "the Island of the Many Peaks," much difficulty was experienced in obtaining a suitable boat, but eventually we made arrangements with the "Cutty Sark.” a herring smack, and the "Mona," a small yacht, both of which did the work very well. The Dredgings, which commenced at the neap tides succeeding the August full moon, were carried on for a week principally in Lamlash Bay, but we had several good hauls both in the Bays of Brodick and Drumadoon. The depths did not exceed about twenty-five or thirty fathoms, and thus it was not found necessary to take temperatures, although we had provided ourselves with one of Negretti and Zambra's "Deep Sea Thermometers," in addition to the "Miller Casella" which we used before, both of which worked well. The results were officially reported to the Society on our return by Dr. Marshall and the writer, at a General Meeting, held on the 18th September last. Mr. John Morley, the Hon. Sec., also alluded to the Botanical excursions which were made under his guidance, and that of the President, Mr. Edmund Tonks, B.C.L. On the present occasion it is not, therefore, proposed to give more than a brief account of the more interesting forms of marine life taken.
The ground which we went over has long been a favourite spot with marine naturalists. Among others of eminence who had been there, we were informed that the late Dr. Landsborough had, with Major Martin, dredged the locality for five years. Our hopes of taking any novelty were not therefore very great. Nevertheless, on referring to the lists in the chapter on Marine Zoology in Dr. Bryce's book, "Arran and other Clyde Islands." (4th edition, 1872,) a charming volume, which should be in the hands of all naturalists visiting the Island, we have reason to believe that two forms, Thyone and Elysia—to be hereafter referred to—have been added by us to the local fauna. The distribution of marine life was extremely local. Within a few yards each line of the dredge usually brought up an entirely different series of animals. Sometimes these consisted of the rosy feather star—sometimes of brittle stars-another haul would contain Pectens only—another the nest-building bivalve, Lima hians—another the common egg urchin Echinus (illegible text)—another yielded four beautiful specimens of Prideaux's Hermit crab, (Pagneus Prideauæii,) with its "commensal," the Cloaklet anemone (Adamsia palliata)—another would be of Malobesia calcarea, a curious coralline, largely composed of calcareous matter, prettily coloured purple or pink when living, but speedily becoming white after taken from the sea. Sometimes the dredge would contain nothing but mud or sand—to the great disappointment of the dredgers—and on one occasion a communion wine bottle came up. It was brought from about twenty five fathoms, was unbroken, full of sand and covered with specimens of Polyzoa and Hydrozoa. As at Teignmouth, in the year 1873, we were too late to observe the developmental processes in the Hydrozoa; but it was an interesting fact that, although in point of date we were synchronous with the Teignmouth excursion, when we took several stalked forms of the rosy feather star, (Antedon (Comatula) rosaceus) not a single specimen was obtained in Lamlash Bay, although every frond of Laminaria dredged was diligently searched. Numbers of the adult form were taken in many varying shades of richness of colour. On thy whole, our best prizes were In Echinodermata and Mollusca, but there were several objects of interest: in-other classes. For instance, in Porifera we took specimens of the little calcareous sponges, (Grantia compressa and G. ciliata; in Zoophyta, a fine mass of Antennularia racemosa; but with the exception of the four beautiful specimens of the Cloaklet anemone, (Adamsia palliata,) before alluded to, no other anemones of interest were dredged, nor any corals,
