90 LOCH C RERAN. 



Cutting off a good piece of the stem with the grub 

 attached, we placed it in sea water, in which it has been 

 so busy that we cannot now bring our lens to bear upon 

 it, as it has disappeared in the new "cutting" it has 

 eaten its way into. 



We found we were rather late on the ground this 

 morning, as it was already occupied by a large flight of 

 gulls, equally aware of the fact thai a turbulent ocean- 

 mother cast its children ashore. These masses of tangle 

 and other roots are admirable hunting-grounds on 

 ordinary occasions, so we went over a great number to 

 see if we could obtain, an insight into the dredging-ground 

 outside. In almost every instance a goodly-sized mussel 

 (inodiolus) formed the nucleus, and these the gulls had 

 invariably broken up, devouring the animal. The tide 

 was coming in, so they had a long spell, and had gone 

 over the length of the beach religiously. 



The storm having come at neap tide had not swept 

 the proper laminarian zone, but merely thrown ashore 

 what could be readily reached in a good spring tide. So, 

 little had reached us from deep water ; nor did we see a 

 single fish thrown ashore or stranded in the multitudinous 

 rock pools where Dun Mac Uisneachan divides the roll- 

 ing beach with its rugged sea-fretted base. 



A capture was a specimen of a common barnacle, from 

 a tangle stem, to which a serpula tube was attached ; and 

 thinking the occupants dead we removed them as 

 specimens, in the dearth of something more remarkable. 

 As we sat at our paper a short time after, we were disturbed 

 by a sound of such a marked and distinctive character 

 that we were forced to endeavour to trace it. A drop of 

 water falling sharply from a height, or the sudden with- 

 drawal of the tongue from between the teeth, was the 



