284 LOCH CRERAN. 



was quite affecting, but we hope the old couple will jog 

 along many a summer day together yet. 



MARCH, 1883. 



Two belated wanderers on the southern shore of 

 Benderloch have just come in, bringing with them a 

 goodly array of ocean treasure trove. A mass of delicate 

 pink fish spawn belongs to the " Cockpaidle " or Lump 

 Sucker (Cydopterus lumptts), and another of the contents 

 of the pail they carried proved to be our second specimen 

 of Montague's sucker fish, with its beautifully marked 

 fins, back, belly, and tail. But what a jump our heart 

 gave as we glanced at the companion fish : not for years 

 have we seen a specimen of what was a common shore 

 fish in the further North, so that the sudden appearance 

 of the Motella quinquedrrhata or five-bearded Rockling, 

 with its elegant, if somewhat ling-like shape, and rich 

 chocolate-brown, golden-syrupy colouring, was enough 

 to bring before us the bleak cliffs and rolling moorlands 

 of the Long Island. We have once taken a beautiful 

 specimen of its congenor, the three-bearded Rockling, 

 here, but this is the first time of our meeting with this 

 smaller more sober-coloured species. 



Under the stones in front of our dwelling, where the 

 ground is muddy, you cannot help meeting with young 

 eels of varied lengths in multitudes; while under the 

 stones along the rocky shore the gunnel fish are just now 

 equally numerous, driven shoreward seemingly for 

 spawning purposes. Under one large stone we found a 

 sickly-looking specimen, and close alongside a large 

 bunch of the delicate ova, opalescent when fresh. These 

 eggs, however, were all " eyed," and evidently deposited 



