196 PRELIMINARY INQUIRIES AT PLYMOUTH INTO 



for tliera is unpleasant, as tlie mud is so soft that a man 

 sinks in over bis ankles ; but there is one place in Jeunycliff 

 Bay where there is a patch of hard sand, from which they 

 can be dug without difficulty, and many otlier kinds are 

 found under the stones on the east shore of Drake's Island. 



Crustacea are abundant and varied ; they include the 

 common shrimp, the red shrimp, the prawn, and many less 

 familiar species. The development of these is being studied 

 systematically in detail, as well as that of the lobster, crab, 

 and " crayfish/' by Mr. W. F. R. Weldon. 



In Sutton Pool eels are taken at certain times of the year, 

 and efforts are being made to throw some light on the repro- 

 duction of these, a problem whose complete solution has 

 evaded the researches of naturalists for the last two centuries. 



Passing now beyond the Sound, the thickest marine 

 population occurs in the neighbourhood of the Mewstone. 

 Here have been dredged numbers of large Holothurians, 

 animals with somewhat the appearance of black puddings, a 

 foot in length, and belonging to the same class as star- 

 fishes and feather-stars, namely, the Echiuodermata. Also 

 beautiful sponges, feather-stars themselves, great coral-like 

 masses of a colonial animal called Lepralia foliacea, in the 

 cavities of which the feather-stars creep about, large asci- 

 dians or sea-squirts, and the pretty red fans or " sea- trees," 

 as they are called by the fishermen, formed by the Gorgonia, 

 one of the coral order. 



On the sands off Whitsand Bay are trawled young flat- 

 fishes and a variety of shell-fish or molluscs, including small 

 Cephalopods, allied to the cuttle-fish. On the shores of the 

 bay the rocks which project above the sand are covered 

 with masses of agglomerated sand grains formed by the 

 tubes of a small worm (Sabellaria). These masses are in 

 many cases yards in diameter, and a foot thick, and remind 

 one almost of coral reefs, though the mode of formation is 

 quite different. 



The food-fishes have been studied by means of excursions 

 on fishing boats, and by the help of the fishermen. The 

 eggs of nearly all our food-fishes except the herring are 

 buoyant and transparent when they are ripe. The immature 



