MARCH, 1883. 293 



in a tumbler in order to display its wonders, the water at 

 once becomes dyed a rich dark-green from the " blood " 

 of the wounded creature. Three or four waters are in 

 turn dyed in a similar manner, without at all destroying 

 the rich appearance of the body of the worm. Such a 

 quantity of colouring matter from one slight annelid 

 seemed extraordinary, and we could only wonder at the 

 aesthetic development of this low class life, if this exquisite 

 creature has been evolved out of the admiration of its 

 progenitors for heavenly colours and spangled forms! 

 There are few more interesting classes of marine life 

 than the worms with their many novel tubes ; and one of 

 the commonest of these tubes, made of beautifully 

 cemented silicious sand, is lying in quantities on the 

 sandy foreshores, so tenacious are they, although their 

 constructors and late occupiers are no longer there to 

 care for them. 



A correspondent at Ness, in the Lews, sends us an 

 interesting account of a number of stranded herring of 

 small size, found upwards of 300 yards from the sea, 

 during recent stormy weather, near the Butt of Lewis. 

 These fish have been caught up in a sort of whirlwind 

 and carried inland, as so frequently happens in tropical 

 regions, but why the youngsters were so near the surface 

 in such weather is the question. We have heard of a 

 similar fall in Sutherland being taken for a thunderbolt, 

 and no one daring to go near the spot for some days, 

 until one bolder than the rest discovered the unfortunate 

 waifs. During our recent visit to the Black Island we 

 obtained both a young haddock and a diminutive whit- 

 ing, of sizes rarely procured, about two inches, that had 

 been flung up on the rocks high and dry, no doubt 

 during the previous very stormy weather. 



