ISOCAKDIA COR, L., IX THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 45 



different hauls of the dredge, which at the time was 

 being worked from the Medusa binder the direction of 

 Dr. John Murray of the Challenger. The first haul 

 brought up two large specimens, one being full-grown, 

 and both having the rich brown epidermis possessed 

 by the species; while the second haul produced 

 three small specimens, one of which was an inch in 

 diameter, and another no bigger than a pea.* 



The next occurrence of Isocardia to which I have 

 to refer is that of a live example dredged by myself 

 last month in 32 fathoms, on a muddy bottom, in 

 the Firth of Lorn, a short distance out from the 

 Maiden Isle, near Oban, and at a spot where I had 

 an unexampled take of the bivalve Lima elliptica, L., 

 no fewer than 125 living specimens having been 

 obtained in three hauls of the dredge. Observing in 

 the mud which had been emptied into the sieve a 

 little mud ball, as it appeared to be, of some consis- 

 tence, I washed it carefully, and was surprised to 

 find it to be a young and beautifully mottled living 

 specimen of Isocardia. 



In reply to a letter written to Dr. John Murray 

 regaa-ding the capture, that gentleman informed me 

 that on the day he w^rote (3rd October) he had 

 dredged from the Medusa a number of dead specimens 

 of Isocardia, in the Firth of Lorn, in 80 to 100 

 fathoms ; and later he wrote : " A live specimen was 

 dredged on Tuesday last by the Medusa in the Firth 

 of Lorn." 



It may be mentioned that there are in the posses- 

 sion of Mr. W. Anderson Smith, of the Scottish 

 Fishery Board, two large and perfect specimens of 

 Isocardia which were dredged by him a few years 

 ago in Loch Creran, in water of only some 10 

 fathoms depth. These, however, were dead when 

 obtained. An account of the dredging of these 



* The adult specimen referred to, which had been presented 

 by Dr. Murray to the Duke of Argyll, was most kindly 

 lent by His Grace for exhibition at the meeting of the Society 

 on 30th October, 1888, at which the present paper was read. 



