NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW, 65 



stone, as it did in early life on its stem, the rosy plumes are 

 curled and waved in the water, backwards and forwards, in every 

 direction. Sometimes a single plume alone is moved through it, 

 at other times several. Now all are exjianded to their utmost 

 extent, as far as they can be stretched; again they are curled up 

 close in over the back, in a little while to be slowly unfolded like 

 the petals of a flower; and so, ever and anon, the position of one 

 and all is constantly being changed, individually and collectively. 

 Soon, unfortunately, they begin to break, and piece after piece 

 falls off, till little more than the disk alone remains. 



Our first Comatida was got below Gourock. On the coast of 

 Bute we have never been so fortunate, not one having come up; 

 but off the Cumbrae one or two were got at intervals. Lamlash 

 Bay alone has been considered their head-quarters, where they 

 might readily be obtained in abundance. Though numerous at 

 one time, it does not follow that such is constantly the case, for 

 much depends on the chance of the moment. Probably in some 

 seasons they are more common than others, or one's luck is greater 

 at one time than another on such a narrow strip of the sea bottom 

 as is touched by the dredge. 



When off the north end of the Little Cumbrae, about the end 

 of June, 1861, in company with our Secretary and Mr Eobertson, 

 we put the dredge overboard for a trial of the ground in from 

 five to ten fathoms. On hauling it in, one or two Comahdas came 

 up clinging to the rope, and though the net seemed empty, a few 

 were found in the inside. Several hauls were made over the same 

 ground, and each time the dredge brought up numbers of these 

 beautiful creatures. They appeared to have been crawling over 

 the Laminaria, as they came up adhering to the outside as well as 

 the inside of the netting, and, by our remaining at that spot, they 

 could have been got in hundreds. Hardly anything else of im- 

 portance was obtained; an urchin or two, one Uraster ruhens, one 

 U. glacialis, some hei'mit crabs, and a TrocJms tumid/us completed 

 the bag, so that, with the exception of the Comatulas, that spot 

 did not offer much inducement for further operations. We set it 

 down, however, as a sure place for obtaining them. In the month 

 of September following, we went over again to the same ground, 

 expecting to be equally fortunate, but not a single one came up, 

 and, after some half dozen hauls, we gave up the attempt. Again 

 in the following summer, on two different occasions, we dredged 



