ON THE STORM IN THE BAY OF ST ANDREWS 75 



have been lifted with a fork for nearly a mile ; and there 

 were, besides, a few Terebellids (chiefly Lanice), and many 

 examples of Ophelia limacina, the soft purplish pink of which 

 is so easily noticed amongst the debris. It is occasionally 

 stranded in thousands. Sea-mice (Aphrodita aculeatd) were 

 in profusion, though less abundant than after certain storms, 

 which strew the beach with millions. 



Spoon-worms {Echiurus pallasii) were in large numbers 

 chiefly towards the Eden, and no form is more characteristic 

 of St Andrews Bay ; for though Pallas first found it on the 

 beach at Ostend, recent investigators, even at Naples, have to 

 apply to St Andrews for good examples. Swept from their 

 haunts in the sand they lie inert on the beach, and the 

 proboscis in many is absent. Ripe sperm filled the so-called 

 anterior nephridia in many. 



Polyzoa were poorly represented, scarcely a tuft of F lustra 

 being seen, though Membranipora occurred on stones and 

 shells. The same may be said of the Hydroids, which in 

 some storms are so conspicuous. 



The higher Crustacea were represented by many examples 

 of Carcinus, and a few of Cancer pagurus, Hyas araiieus, and 

 H. coarctatus, swarms of Porlunus holsaius, and a few speci- 

 mens of Portumftus variegatus and Corystes. One or two 

 young lobsters about six inches in length were also 

 stranded. 



The fishes were few in number, and therefore contrasted 

 with the condition in other cases where numerous plaice, 

 flounders, dabs and little soles, with haddocks, cod, green 

 cod, weevers, rocklings, gurnards, sand-eels, an occasional 

 conger, and other forms were present. A young weever a 

 little over an inch, two " kelts," and a few common topknots 

 were met with on the west sands. 



The stranded forms on the beach brought many gulls, 

 from the Herring-Gull to the Great Black-backed Gull, and all 

 fed on the molluscs and starfishes. No Hooded Crows, how- 

 ever, joined them, as in a great storm in 1856. Numerous 

 Little Auks were procured, both dead and alive, at various 

 parts of the beach, along with a few Razorbills, Guillemots, 

 Shags and Puffins; while Mergansers frequented the east rocks. 



