128 AN ACCOUNT OP A DAy's EXCURSION TO BUTE. 



accoutrements, waded a little distance off shore, and picked up a fine 

 specimen of Solaster papposa, as large as the crown of a man's hat. 



The Purple-tipped Urchin, (Echinus miliaris,) was very abundant, and we 

 all supplied ourselves with a fine series of specimens. These we found 

 moored by their suckers to old valves of Modiola vulgaris, bits of earthenware, 

 and flat stones; sometimes occurring in clusters underneath the sea-weed, on 

 the sea-weed itself, and at the bottom of those concealed pools, which rendered 

 some of our party not very comfortable. We saw some pretty large specimens 

 of the Common Egg Urchin, {Echinus sphoera,) which had been denuded of 

 their spines, and in other instances they had been partially destroyed, but 

 they were again growing; we observed that the young spines, as well as 

 the old, were much blunted, and all of a dirty white colour. 



Our experienced and enthusiastic friend, of whom we have already spoken, 

 had no sooner completed his preliminaries, than we saw him describe, what 

 appeared to us, some cabalistic signs on the wet sand. On rushing up and 

 watching his motions, we perceived him describe a circle with his two fore- 

 fingers, and cunningly insert them to some depth; then he brought to light 

 a beautiful specimen of what we, in our ignorance, took for a ripe and yellow 

 plum; this was Amphidotus cordutus; and having in another case watched his 

 motions, we proceeded to practise by searching for little holes in the sand, 

 then digging round them till we reached the urchin, which was generally buried 

 from two to three inches deep; the specimens we got were all in beautiful 

 condition. We noticed that when put into fresh water, some of them assupied 

 a purple tinge, while others became greyish white; in the former case the 

 yellow had disappeared without colouring the water; and in the latter, the 

 water was changed to a bright yellow. The shell of the creature is somewhat 

 fragile. Brissus lyrifer is found in the bay. 



The only crustacean worth noticing was a species of Ligia, of a pea-green 

 colour, and differing in many respects from Ligia oceaniea. Only one of our 

 party took an interest in these creatures; and we noticed him deposit his 

 capture carefully in a piU box; but we have not since had an opportunity 

 of determining the species. 



On lifting the weed from one of the pools, we descried something dart off 

 to the side and vanish beneath a stone; the person who discovered it, imme- 

 diately sounded the alarm, and the whole of our party might be seen stooping 

 over the prey, each seizing, but in turn losing it, owing to the slippery nature 

 of the material. At length, after some scratches from the rocks, and from 

 the nails of our friends, we succeeded in securing our victim, and depositing 

 him safely in a bottle. We had a similar adventure at another pool not 

 far distant; these individuals were, the one a specimen of Blennius guttata, 

 the other of C^tiias scorpius. Arenicola piscatorum — the common sandworm, 

 appeared to be very abundant. The bay of Rothesay abounds in varieties, 

 which can, however, only be brought to light by means of a dredge; and if 

 we can manage to make out an excursion this season, we hope to lay before 



