120 . [Hay, 



A DAY'S DREDGING OFF BAIvI.YCASTl,K, 



CO. ANTRIM. 



BY ge:orge w. CHASTKR. 



Having been strongly urged by Mr. R. Welch, of Belfast, to 

 study the moUuscan fauna of the North Antrim coast, last 

 September, Messrs. J. R. Hardy and R. Standen, of Manchester, 

 and mj^self arranged to *' prospect" that region, which is to 

 English conchologists almost a terra ificognita. 



Crossing from Liverpool by one of the Belfast S-S. Co.'s 

 well-appointed boats, we reached Belfast in good time in the 

 morning, and were soon eii ro2cte for our destination — Bally- 

 castle. Here we were met by Mr. Welch, who had made all 

 arrangements for our convenience by securing rooms at the 

 comfortable " Antrim Arms " Hotel, and by providing a 

 roughly-outlined programme to guide our operations. To his 

 hearty assistance may be assigned a large measure of the suc- 

 cess attending our trip to a region which we were afterwards 

 unanimous in declaring so full of charm and interest as to 

 demand revisiting and investigating further. 



The results of our collecting among the land and fresh- 

 water mollusca have already appeared in these pages (/.A^, 

 vol. vi., pp. 1-9, Jan., 1897). 



One day was spent in dredging, and the object of this paper 

 is to record the results of the day's work. I may here paren- 

 thetically remark that the study of marine conchology at 

 Ballycastle presents some difficulty. The small tidal rise and 

 fall renders shore-work unproductive of any save the very 

 commonest forms ; the swift and powerful tidal currents keep 

 up a constant to-and-fro wash along the sea-bed in the lines of 

 their action, and this constantly-washed bottom is, of course, 

 inimical to moUuscan life. However, we carefully discussed 

 the matter beforehand, aided by a small-scale chart and the 

 advice of an experienced local boatman — Coyles — and at last 

 decided upon certain likely spots. Starting out, we ran across 

 to Rathlin Island, and tried two hauls to the east of the island. 

 The first brought up only a few Echinodermata and Hydrozoa 

 evidently scraped off bare rock. Further out we brought up 

 fror. 45 fathoms a heavy dredgeful of gravel and shells, so 



