8+ Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
dwarfs, they varied in size to a small extent. The larger 
specimens measured about 2 inches in length, and one or 
two of these had a very aged appearance. I have obtained 
this variety nowhere else. The following brief discription 
of the locality where this dwarf variety was obtained may 
be of interest. Near to Kessock Ferry there is a deep 
hollow, where the depth of water is fully 184 fathoms (or 
more correctly, as given on the chart, 112 feet). For three- 
quarter of a cable’s length to the east and west of this there 
is a slight rise. What may thus be called the bottom of the 
hollow extends east and west, or more correctly, E.S.E. and 
W.N.W., and measures in length about 14 cable (a cable’s length 
is 608 feet). This hollow is bounded all round, except on 
the W. or W.N.W., by steep and, at some places, precipitous 
sides. On the north side there is a nse of over 100 feet in 
a distance of 11 cable. At the eastward end there is an 
abrupt rise of 50 feet, but beyond this the rise is more 
gradual, till at about 3 cables’ length from the deepest part 
the depth of water is 24 feet. The bottom here seems to be 
the top of a ridge, for eastward the water begins again to 
deepen. At the W. or W.N.W. end of the hollow the rise, 
though comparatively steep, is gradual, till at a distance from 
the deepest part of about 6 cables the depth of water is only 
13 feet. The distance from the pier at Kessock across the 
water to the other landing-place is scarcely the fifth of a 
mile. Westward the water widens out into the extensive, 
though shallow, Beauly Firth or Basin, and eastward into 
Inverness Firth—in both of which there are extensive 
accumulations of mud and sand. <A rapid tide runs at 
Kessock Ferry, the current being so strong at particular 
times of tide as to form a distinct “ overfall,” the noise of 
which may be heard a considerable distance away. Though 
mud and sand in large quantities are carried by the rushing 
tide from the banks in the Inverness and Beauly Firths, little 
or none of it seems to lodge in the hollow I have described, for 
when dredging in the hollow—which can only be done success- 
fully during the “slack” of the tide—we found the bottom to 
be formed chiefly of rough gravel and moderate-sized boulders. 
The hollow appears to contain a rich fauna—especially 
zoophytes—and would no doubt repay a careful examination. 
