NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BELL ROCK. 7 



simply a shilling in a live mussel. The shilling appeared as 

 crisp as if newly struck, and bore the date 1839. It had 

 turned a dark brown colour and had some filaments f the 

 byssus or " beard " of the mussel adhering to it. The mussel 

 was one of a quantity taken from underneath Granton Pier, 

 and was being opened here for bait purposes when the 

 " discovery " was made. 



On the evening of the 20th inst. we had a grand view of a 

 flotilla of torpedo destroyers steaming south. Although the 

 sea was comparatively calm, they appeared to be making 

 heavy weather of it; they literally "shovelled" the sea over 

 themselves, and the steersmen, being placed further forward 

 than in ordinary vessels, were being continually drenched. 

 The terrific speed and the flames spurting from their short, 

 stumpy funnels suggested the idea of their being on an errand 

 of life and death rather than on a peaceful tour. 



We have just completed a small aquarium, by means of 

 which we hope to become better acquainted with the more 

 minute organisms with which the Rock at this season of 

 the year teems. Apart from the study of man himself, what 

 can be more interesting than to be an actual eye-witness 

 of the gradual evolution of the different forms in the great 

 life-scheme of the Creator, from the simple nucleated speck of 

 protoplasm (amceba), which multiplies by simple division, to 

 the more complex structure of the members of the vertebrate 

 kingdom 1 



