52 SALPID.E. 



climates and of the Mediterranean Sea. I found it in great 

 abundance in the harbours of Canna and Canipbcltown, rising to 

 the surface in cabn weather, and crowding the water, as the Me- 

 ihisce often do at the same time of the year. It may be called 

 Salpa mou'diformis, and defined as follows : — 



"S. ovato-lanccolata, ano fusco, absque appendice terminali. 



" I was desirous of observing whether this animal, like many 

 other of the marine worms, emitted light, but had no opportunity 

 of ascertaining the fact, as they seemed always to retire to the 

 bottom at sunset, and those which were taken on board died, as I 

 have already observed, in a very short time," 



During a voyage round the coast of Scotland, in 1821, 

 Dr. Fleming, who gave a very interesting account of his 

 journey in the " Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," ob- 

 served Salpce in great numbers on the coast of Caithness. 

 He describes them as occurring abundantly in spring, when 

 they form chains of a foot and more in length. The 

 separated individuals are about an inch in length, and 

 shaped like a cylinder, with a long conical process at 

 each extremity, the anteal one being rather more produced 

 than the other. The nucleus is of a dark brownish-orange 

 colour, and, as well as the branchial band, is distinctly 

 seen through the transparent gelatinous body. The Salpa: 

 are gregarious, in company with " Eulimena quadrangu- 

 laris''' (Beroe cucumis). They seem, however, to be very 

 capricious in their appearance. During three voyages which 

 we have made in the Scottish seas, although continually and 

 anxiously on the look-out for these creatures, we have never 

 encountered them. Lately they have been met with, but 

 only occasionally, by Mr. M 'Andrew ; and Lieutenant 

 Thomas, R.N., has taken them in the Orkneys, and suc- 

 ceeded in preserving them in both their solitary and aggre- 

 gate forms. An examination of specimens, kindly commu- 

 nicated by that active officer and observant naturalist, has 

 enabled us to identify them certainly with the Salpa run- 

 cinata, which Sars has found so abundantly, and figured so 

 well, from the coast of Xorwav. The li<'ures wo have yiven 



