CRUSTACEA OF NORTHUMHERLAND AND DUIiHAM 



From tills date, when the dredgings, aided by grants from 

 the British Association, were commenced, the Crustacea of the 

 north-east coast began to receive more attention. 



The north-east coast of England is not favourable, at any 

 rate in the littoral zone, to the development of the smaller 

 marine animals ; the swell which throughout so great a 

 portion of the year beats on the rocky shores leaves little 

 peace for the animals which should live there; while the 

 almost total absence of sheltered bays or even nooks deprives 

 the smaller Crustacea of suitable dwelling places. In years 

 gone by Alder and Hancock made the rocks at Cullercoats 

 famous by the number of interesting Nudibranchiate Mollusca 

 which they discovered there. It is to be feared that they 

 would not have been so successful had they worked there at 

 the present time ; the immense increase of population which 

 has taken place north of the entrance to the Tyne, the sewage 

 poured into the water, the vast amount of dredged mud 

 carried out from the Tyne and deposited offshore have greatly 

 changed the condition not only of the shore but of the neigh- 

 bouring sea from which the Nudibranchs used to make their 

 way landwards at the time of spawning. The North Sea, 

 however, in its deeper parts is excellent dredging ground, 

 whence additions to our fauna have been continually turning 

 up, and where excellent work remains to be done by those who 

 come after us. 



We give a comparative table of the Crustacea which have 

 been found on the north-east coast, with those from such 

 other parts of the coasts of Great Britain as have been 

 efficiently worked to a greater or less degree. 



The authorities who are responsible for the several columns 

 are as follows : — 



1. Northumberland and Durham as in tlie Catalogue which 



follows. 



2. " Notes on the Crustacea of the Channel Islands," Canon 



A. M. Norman, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 

 vol. XX., 1907, p. 356. 



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