5 6 LOCH C RE RAN. 



wanderings and investigations. We were satisfied, from 

 the numerous large shells of the great pecten, that it must 

 be an inhabitant of the loch ; but notwithstanding our 

 long examination of the neighbouring waters, we never 

 succeeded in discovering a living specimen until during 

 the ebb, when our companion discovered one stranded 

 at low water, with its rows of brilliant eyes seeming to 

 seek for a way to escape, and its many feelers grasping 

 around helplessly. These active fish keep to the deeper 

 waters. Thrown up by the same breeze, no doubt right 

 across the loch, were many fine samples of Solen-ensis, or the 

 razor-fish with the curved shell. These shell-fish are not 

 common in Loch Creran. They are somewhat small 

 compared with those on Loch Linnhe, as is the case 

 with most of our sea productions. Why, we cannot say, 

 as our salt water is little less salt than the Atlantic itself; 

 and we should think there was not less food in the more 

 inland waters. A kind friend has just remembered that 

 there are lovers of razor-fish under our roof, and a 

 dozen beautiful shell-fish have made their appearance 

 from Ardmucknish Bay. These prove to be noble 

 examples of the straight-shelled razor-fish Solen siliqita, 

 and, for beauty of marking, elegance of proportions, 

 clearness of mother-of-pearl, and generally fine growth, 

 we have never seen them surpassed. The quantity of 

 food in one shell is by no means contemptible, and a 

 dozen such shell-fish would represent to most people 

 who could enjoy them, the nourishment contained in a 

 pair of spring chickens. We do not recollect finding S. 

 siliqua in Loch Creran, nor receiving S, ensis from 

 Lochnellside, so that each species appears to retain 

 control of its own locality. 



The disturbance to the equanimity of the foreshore 



