Rev. D. Landsborough's Account of a Dredging Excursion. 253 



and Mr. Sowerby in this same locality. The shells are deposited 

 in thick clay. "We got some from which the clay had been washed 

 away, and some more by digging. The predominant shells are 

 Mija tnincata, Venei'upis virginea, Cijprina IslaniUca, Panoptea 

 Bivou/F, Nucula rostrotn, Pecten Islandicus and TelUna proxivia. 

 This pretty little shell is the most abundant, and marks the de- 

 posit as newer pliocene. 



Next morning we set out in the boat for Ru-bodach, where 

 Mr. Smith and Mr. Sowerby got the first of the Panopreas, and 

 there also we got some more of all the species that we had obtained 

 at Balnacoolie. 



We afterwards visited a vitrified fort discovered some years ago 

 by Mr. Smith on one of the little islands in the Kylcs of Bute. 

 When, how, and why were these forts formed ? We cannot give 

 any very satisfactory answer. History does not tell. A Roman 

 lamp in my possession, found in the vitrified fort at Dundonald 

 near the Roman camp, leads us to conjecture that they existed 

 when the Romans had possession of parts of our country. The 

 one in the Kyles seems to have been a place of defence, in which 

 the inhabitants were secured not only by the firmness of the walls, 

 but by a surrouncUng ditch, the remains of which are still evident. 

 On returning to the yacht we dredged for some time ; and on 

 hauling the dredge we found it almost full of fine, black mud. 

 Among the mud we got some more Ophiura, and a specimen of 

 Laomedea dichotoma, and also of Antennularia antennina, var. ra- 

 mosn. And moreover, caught in the meshes of the dredge, we 

 got a fine large specimen of Brissus lyrifer, the fiddle heart- 

 urchin, fii'st discovered by Professor E. Forbes, when a few years 

 ago he was di'edging in the Kylcs with Mr. Smith. This prize 

 being left at my disposal by j\Ir. Smith, I sent it to Mr. Bean of 

 Scarborough, who I knew would value it. It was 2i inches in 

 length by 2 inches in breadth. I kept it alive in a vase of sea- 

 water several days after I retm'ned home. 



After this we sailed for AiTan and entered Lamlash bay in 

 the evening during a stiff breeze. In the forenoon of next day it 

 " took off ^^ a httle, according to the phraseology of om* sailors, 

 BO as to allow us to dredge. To a naturalist it is exceedingly 

 exciting to see a well-filled dredge spreading its treasures on the 

 deck. On the first haul we had a considerable load of animal 

 and vegetable matter. On Laminaria saccharina I got good spe- 

 cimens of Lrpralia anmdata, which I discovered some years ago 

 on the A\Tshire coast, the first time that it had been found in 

 Britain, and which I was well-pleased to find here. There were 

 several large examples of Uraster glacialis ; three examples of 

 the rarer Goniastcr Templetoni, which I have found also on the 

 Ayrshire coast ; innumerable Opliiurte, many examples oi' Echinus 



