224 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



XXII. 



PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE MARINE ALG^ 

 OF THE OBAN DISTRICT. 



BY B. J. HARVEY GIBSON, M.A., F.B.S.E., F.L.S., 



LECTURER ON BOTANY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEfiE, LIVERPOOL. 

 [Read 24th November, 1891.] 



So far as I am aware, no list of Marine Algse from 

 the numerous sea-lochs which open off the Firth of 

 Lorne has ever been published; scattered references 

 to Captain Carmichael's work, in Harvey's Phycologia 

 Britannica, form, I believe, the only basis from which 

 a start may be made in the investigation of what 

 may be expected to be a very rich coast-line. 



The present list does not pretend to be more than 

 a preliminary one, drawn up during odd moments 

 in a two-months' holiday spent in the district. My 

 headquarters were at Connel Ferry, on Loch Etive, 

 six miles east of Oban. The Loch is there very 

 narrow, and celebrated for the well-known Falls of 

 Lora. Interesting as these are to the geologist and 

 the tourist, they form a serious impediment to the 

 biologist. The currents are so rapid and perplexing 

 that dredging is almost impossible save during the 

 short period of still water at low and high tides. 

 The dredge I used was simply an A-shaped frame, 

 to which were securely attached numerous shark- 

 hooks and tufts of frayed-out rope, to the strands 

 of which were tied a number of large cod-hooks. In 

 the wider reaches of the Loch, by Achnacree and 

 Ardchattan, the dredge worked fairly well, but in 

 the narrows it was with the utmost difficulty made 

 to stay at the bottom. Shore-collections were also 

 made at variovis points, more especially at the Falls 



