21Q BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUME 1 



It docs not occur at St. Andrews, in Fife (Mcintosh, 1874), nor in the Firth of 

 Forth (Lcshe and Herdnian, 1881), but it is common near Aberdeen, associated 

 witli hybrid zoophytes (Simpson, 1903). 



During a residence of about three and a half years at Peterhead, in Aberdeen- 

 shire, Mr.^Charles Wilham Peach (1864) met vrith but a single example which he 

 took from a fish. It occurs on the Witch Ground, near Banff (Sim, 1886), and it 

 is sparingly distributed in the Moray Firth (Sim, 1886) where it has twice been re- 

 corded from fish (Gordon, 1852, repeated in Peach, 1864; W. R. Smith, 1891). For 

 more than eight years while living at Wick, Caithness, Mr. Peach (1864) watched 

 for this species, but secured only two, one of which he took from a fish, while the other 

 he got out of a fishing boat at Staxigo. 



A fine specimen of a sponge {Halichondria palmata) taken on a fisherman's line 

 in the Pentland Firth (between the Orkneys and Caithness) in 1862 was given to Mr. 

 Peach (1864) by Miss Miller, of Thurso. On it was a fine family of feather stars, two 

 adults and eleven young, in different stages of growth. The adults were a short dis- 

 tance from each other, and near the top of the sponge; some of the young were sheltered 

 under the arms of one of the old ones, while others were scattered singly about the 

 sponge. In another spot a group of four or five were safely ensconsed in a nice nook, 

 low down, where four branches took their rise. All of them were on the inner part of 

 the branches of the sponge. 



Regarding the occurrence of this species in the Clyde and vicinity Dr. John Grieve 

 (1868) says that Lamlash Bay (Arran) alone has been considered their headquarters 

 where they might readily be obtained in abundance. Though numerous at one time 

 it does not follow that such is constantly the case, for much depends on the chance of 

 the moment. Probably in some seasons they are more common than at others, or one's 

 luck is greater at one time than another on such a narrow strip of the sea bottom as is 

 touclied by the dredge. On a dredging expedition in which Grieve participated, the 

 fii-st specimen was obtained below Gourock. On the coast of Bute they were never so 

 fortunate as to find one, but off the Cumbrae one or two were secured at intervals. 

 When off the north end of the Little Cumbrae, about the end of June 1861, the dredge 

 was put overboard for a trial of the ground in from 9 to 18 meters. On hauling it in, 

 one or two comatulids came up clinging to the rope, and though the net seemed empty, 

 a few were found on the inside. Several hauls were made over the same ground, and 

 each time the dredge brought up numbers. They appeared to have been crawling over 

 the Laminaria, as thej'^ came up adhering to the outside as well as to the inside of the 

 netting, and, by remaining at that spot, they could have been obtained in hundreds. 

 In the month of September following, they went over again to the same ground, expect- 

 ing to be equally fortunate, but not a single one came up, and after some half dozen 

 hauls they gave up the attempt. Again in the following suimncr, on two different oc- 

 casions, they dredged most zealouslj"^ over the same spot, with no better success. Since 

 then Mr. Robertson dredged in the same spot several times, but not until 1867 did the 

 feather stars reappear, when they, together with their pentacrinoids, were abundant, 

 one Laminaria frond being thicklj" covered with the latter. 



Dr. Grieve remarks that these repeated failures where they had at first been so 

 successful would appear to warrant the inference that this species may migrate in 

 shoals and five in societies, one of which had obviously been met with when they came 

 up clinging in such numbers to the netting. Their occurrence on the Laminaria, on 



