94 Natural History Notes on Tenby. [Sess 
VIL—NATURAL HISTORY NOTES ON TENBY. | 
By Dr DAVIES. 
(Read March 28, 1900.) 
ATTRACTIVE to the ordinary tourist from the beauty of its 
situation, the extent and firmness of its sands, and the un- 
usual salubrity of its climate, Tenby is specially interesting | 
to the naturalist on account of the richness of its marine 
fauna and flora, in which respect it is excelled by few, if any, 
places on the British coast. It is situated on a somewhat 
lofty promontory, washed on both sides by the sea, the eastern 
extremity of which forms Tenby Head, or, as it is more 
commonly called, from the fragmentary ruins of the old castle 
which are located on it, the Castle Hill. Its coast offers 
many caves and recesses, forming highly suitable habitations 
for the lower forms of animal and vegetable life. The richest” 
spot, however, in this respect, is undoubtedly a rugged mass 
of limestone situated at a short distance from the Castle Hill 
known as St Catherine’s Rock or St Catherine’s Island 
This rock is surrounded by the sea for two or three hours 
before and after high water, but at other times it is readily 
accessible across the sand left dry to a greater or less 
extent, according to the state of the tide. Penetrated by 
caverns and intersected by numerous caves and recesses, it 
offers a rich and almost exhaustless field of research for 
the naturalist working at the various forms of life which 
there abound. Round the coast are Monkstone Point and 
Lydstep caverns, two and a half miles to the north and 
four miles to the west respectively; while some two miles — 
out at sea, marked by a lofty beacon, are the sharp and 
rugged Woolhouse Rocks. All these are rich in life, similar, — 
though differing in detail, to that of Tenby Head and St 
Catherine’s Rock. 
It is this last, however, as already said, which offers the 
richest hunting-ground. About two hours after the tide has 
commenced to ebb we may reach its western point, and, 
rounding the extreme end, find ourselves opposite the first — 
