360 On Marine Tiredging. 



one, a di^^trict of considerable extent, off the south coast of Ireland, 

 including what is called the Nymph Bank, where we find Crania Nor- 

 wegica and Lottia f'ulva, actual inhabitants of the Scandinavian seas, 

 as also arctic forms of Buccinuni and Fusus, associated with the most 

 southern species of mollusca that reach our coasts. 



The examination of these tracts, the last remaining strongholds 

 fif I may so express myself) in our latitudes of species which abound 

 in a fossil state in the crag and drift formations, furnish evidence 

 that a change is now actually taking place in the fauna of these seas ; 

 some species having very recently become extinct, while others are 

 dying out, and promise to disappear entirely at no distant period. 



Cemoria Flemingii, a common fossil of the Clyde basin, still 

 flourishes abundantly in the adjoining sea, though it is rare through 

 the Hebrides and in Zetland. Pecten nebulosus, likewise a common 

 fossil of the same district, is now only to be found living in any 

 number in a particular spot near the head of Loch Fyne, though 

 dead shells are to be met with in the greatest abundance in various 

 districts where a single live individual is of rare occurrence. Pecten 

 Icelandi6us, fossil in the same beds as the last, has probably become 

 recently extinct in our seas, as there is no living specimen on record, 

 though I have procured it dead in various localities from the Clyde 

 to the north of Zetland. 



Nucula pygmsea, a prevailing and characteristic fossil of the drift, 

 and now living in Greenland, is found alive in the sea surrounding 

 the Isle of Skye, but in no other of the Scottish coasts. Nucula 

 oblonga and N. truncata, supposed to be extinct in Britain, I have 

 dredged dead in the same locality. The neighbourhood of Skye is 

 also remarkable as the only known Scottish habitat of Area rariden- 

 tata, and Terebratula cistellula. recently discovered living, but before 

 known as fossils of the red crag; also a beautiful new Comatula, sup- 

 posed to be an inhabitant of Norway. 



Before concluding, I will once more say a few words upon a 

 subject to which my attention has been for some time directed, namely, 

 the best means of preserving animals and preparations. 



Not having been very successful in the use of Goadjby's solu- 

 tions, I last summer engaged the services of Mr Goadby himself, who 

 accompanied me on a cruize of three months. Unfortunately this 

 gentleman was in a bad state of health, and what was most particu- 

 larly to be regi-etted, his vision was affected to such a degree that he 

 was unable to decipher ordinary printing or writing, much less ac- 

 complish any of those beautiful preparations, in which he had pre- 

 viously been so eminently successful. The objects we procured were, 

 in consequence, only preserved roughly as stores ; but even so, under 

 all disadvantages, they are declared by Professor Owen, Carpenter, 

 and other naturalists, who have seen them, to be of great value, par- 

 ticularly the transparent animals, such as Medusa rhysostoma, oceana, 

 &c., the delicate tissues of which had never before been preserved. 



