On some Rarities found on the West Coast of Scotland. 327 



orange-yellow ; tail blackish brown, margined exteriorly with 

 yellow. 



Length 4 inches ; bill from gape 5 lines ; wings 2 inches ; tarsi 

 9 lines. 



XLVII. — Notice of some Rarities found on the West Coast of 

 Scotland. By the Kev. David Landsborough. 



I\ this lazy world a person is often much indebted to the eyes 

 and hands of others in helping him to observe and collect. How 

 hel|)fal might colliers and fishermen be, the former being so often 

 in tlie bowels of the earth, and the latter by their lines and nets 

 coming so often in contact with the depths of the sea ! But they 

 cunna' be fashed. From one obliging hshcrman in jMilport, 

 island of Cumbrae, who has not learned to say " I canna be 

 fashed," I have got many curiosities, lie has sent me at least 

 half a dozen examples of Halichondria infundibuliformis, the 

 funnel-sponge. One of them is figured in Dr. Johnston's inter- 

 esting ' History of British Sponges.' The last, got a few months 

 ago, is the variety which ranked for a time as a distinct species 

 under the name of H. ventilabra, and is now in the well-stored 

 and liberally-yielding cabinet of j\Ir. Bean of Scarborough. 



From the same quarter I got this last summer a ])iece of iron- 

 stone, which brought up with it some cui-iosities from the deep 

 sea. It was studded w4th Crania personata, so firmly cemented 

 to the stone that only the upper valve could be detached. There 

 was on the same stone a specimen of Serpula vitrea of rather rare 

 occm-rence. And winding over the surface of the stone, there 

 was something like a flat sea-worm of a flesh-red colour, having 

 at intervals the a})pcarance of round puckered mouths. I thought 

 I had seen its like before, but as I had mislaid the specimen with 

 which I wished to compare it, I sent it to Mr. W. Thompson, Bel- 

 fast, a kind resolver of doubts, who informed me that it was, as I 

 had suspected, Zoanthus Couchii. 



From the same obliging fisherman I got, this summer, Psolus 

 phantapus, which was new to me; but respecting which I could 

 have no doubt, from its corresponding so well with the figure and 

 description given by Professor Forbes in his ' History of British 

 Stai"fishes,' &c. 



On the shore at Ardrossan I found this summer, among some 

 sea-weeds, what was new to me, and I believe is rare, Aplysia 

 punctata. Even Apli/sia depilans is rare here. 



Act eon viridis, IMont. (sp.). 

 In a little rocky pool of sea-water, about halfway betwixt Bro- 

 dick and Corrie, on the Arran shore, I discovered in July 1844 



