PIONEERS IN LOCAL BIOLOGY. 21 



Noctiluca when aggregated in patches. I saw one of these at Hilbre, 

 where they had collected together in myriads, forming a circumscribed 

 red patch about four or five feet in diameter. When I put my hand 

 into it, it came out of the water completely covered with the little 

 globules, all of a deep pink colour, so very different from the clear 

 hyaline aspect of them as we usually find them. Similar patches have 

 been observed by Dr. Collingwood, and more recently ; but the animals 

 forming them were not examined. It is very desirable to Imow if this 

 is a matter of not unusual occurrence, and what purpose it serves in 

 the economy of the animal. In the Southampton water a Flagellate 

 animalcule, Peridinium fuscum, I think, aggregates in the same way, 

 but not in patches, as it is generally diffused, and continues to embrown 

 the Southampton water from the end of July to September." 



Amongst the sons of biological toil on the shores of the 

 Mersey and the Dee no one has gained a wider reputation, or 

 secured a larger amount of affectionate regard, than the 

 writer's very old friend, John Price, M.A., St. John's, Cam- 

 bridge, out of whose many eligible characteristics one alone 

 shall here be noticed — his facility in finding stores of natural 

 beauty and instruction in, apparently, the most barren scenes 

 and objects. His " History of Birkenhead Shore " was pub- 

 lished in ten or twelve numbers of Old Plaice's Remains, 

 1863^64. Only the Ctenophora can now be mentioned — 

 Berod and Cy dipper with which the name of Mr. Price will 

 long be associated. 



His first introduction to Cydippe occurred at the Wood- 

 side slip : — 



" My eye fell upon a small object of transcendent brilliancy lying in 

 a crevice on the wet stones just left bare by the ebbing tide. It looked 

 like a pebble of the finest rock crytal, fashioned with consummate skill 

 into the shape of a diminutive melon. After gazing on it in amaze- 

 ment, I took it up and found it was composed of a firm but tremulous 

 jelly, about the size of a nutmeg, and exhibited on its eight ribs the 

 most exquisite sculpturing I had ever seen, like the engravings of a 

 signet. . . . Its perfect transparency was most remarkable. . . 

 It was indeed ' a gem of purest ray serene. ' " 



