46" PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



adjacent shores ; and, in now exhibiting some of the species of 

 animals obtained, I propose to offer a few observations, ilkis- 

 trative of the fauna of this portion of our Firth. 



A few years ago, I gave the Society some idea of what was 

 generally to be found on the different sides of the Bay, so as to 

 point out to some extent its leading and characteristic features. 

 At present I lay before you some of the Hydroid Zoophytes, 

 Sessile-eyed Crustaceans and Echinoderms, a few of which have 

 not been previously met with in the locality. 



I. — Hydroid Zoophytes. 



Clytia Johnstoni (Alder). The long frond of Chorda filum, as it 

 floats in the sea, is frequently covered with this beautiful little 

 Zoophyte, which twines round it, and forms a thick mossy patch 

 when the frond is lifted up; but when a piece is put into a glass 

 of water, the long stems supporting the calycles stand out more or 

 less at right angles, and the animals speedily unfold their tentacles, 

 and project beyond the castellated rim of the crystalline calycle, 

 which protects them. Some of the stalks are much longer than 

 others, and all are more or less ringed at either extremity, with 

 occasionally an odd ring or two in the middle. Now and then 

 one may be met with ringed throughout. These all spring from 

 a stouter creeping stem, which extends over the sea -weed, and 

 forms a thick matted covering to it, being intertwined with other 

 portions of what is probably the same stem, though it is hardly 

 possible to prove the continuity with sufficient accuracy in so 

 minute a Zoophyte. From this creeping stem the reproductive 

 capsules spring, being attached by a short pedicle ; usually the 

 capsule is deeply ringed, but occasionally they are short and 

 broad, with two flat shallow rings, so that the capsule appears to 

 be only waved. 



Sometimes the long straight stalk gives off one or two branches 

 similar to itself, each terminating in a calycle, while from the side 

 of the stalk a reproductive capsule, on a short-ringed pedicle, also 

 projects. These capsules appear to differ from those on the 

 creeping stem, in so far that they are narrower and more parallel- 

 sided, and do not present the ringed appearance, but are straight, 

 and the waved outline is hardly discernible, being limited at most 

 to one faint wave near the mouth of the capsule. They have 

 somewhat the appearance of the capsule of Gonothyrcea gracilis 

 (Sars), but the calycles are not so large, nor margined witli pointed 



