DREDGING REPORTS. 179 
these islets from the mainland we cast over the dredges: here 
the bottom is very rocky and the tide runs excessively strong, so 
that without constant vigilance, there is great risk of losing the 
dredges. The worst that befel us this time was the bending of 
the blade of one, by fouling on a ledge of rock. Our most inter- 
esting captures on this ground wére Hchinus neglectus, and the 
little parasitic mollusc, Stylifer Turtont. The former was remark- 
ably fine and abundant, the dredges sometimes coming up almost 
filled with them. In the evening, the sea having somewhat 
fallen, we ran out to the haddock-ground, about six miles east 
of Holy Island, and here we spent the remainder of the day, but 
without making any very valuable additions to our list of cap- 
tures. On Wednesday there was no improvement in the weather. 
We put down the dredges for a short time in Holy Island Har- 
bour, thinking that on its sandy bottom we might find some 
Ophiure and Diastylide. In this we were unsuccessful, the only 
things which rewarded our search being two or three of the com- 
moner species of Crangon. Probably the strong tide which sets 
through the harbour, and the shallowness of the water, may 
sufficiently explain the absence of much life here. Thoroughly 
disheartened with our ill success, we left Holy Island in the 
afternoon, with the intention of returning at once to Sunderland, 
but finding when we got outside that there was a smoother sea, 
we steamed out eastward for about ten miles and got an hour or 
two of very satisfactory work, in water of forty-six fathoms 
depth, with a rough, gravelly bottom. Here the dredges brought 
up a few specimens of Ophiura squamosa (Litken), a pretty sand- 
star, not altogether new, but very imperfectly known in Britain ; 
also, a single example of a beautiful nudibranchiate mollusc, new 
to Britain, Hero formosa (Loven), several interesting Crustacea, 
mostly of species obtained near the same locality last year, and a 
good many fine specimens of some of the mollusca characteristic 
of the district. On Thursday, as there was no prospect of any 
change for the better in the weather, we finally bade adieu to 
Holy Island. 
With the hope of somewhat retrieving our fortunes we under- 
took, with consent of the Committee, a single day’s dredging off 
2 
Ww 
