

106 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



feats of Margate or Hastings on its prickly sur- 

 face. Every pool left by the tide is full of 

 corallines and beautiful anemones, and the shore 

 hunter may gather a rich harvest by turning the 

 stones, digging in the sand, or examining the 

 sea- weed a harvest of " common objects" here, 

 some of them by no means common in the eye 

 of an experienced naturalist or collector. But 

 we must no longer loiter on the shore. " Out 

 of the Depths" is my subject, and I am longing 

 for a turn at my favourite pursuit, and must start 

 without further delay to explore with the dredge 

 the mysterious depths of this bright and bewitch- 

 ing sea for the treasures which may lurk among 

 its crowded hollows, at a depth of twenty to thirty 

 fathoms. It is always as well to have a direct 

 object in view, and to-day I am in search espe- 

 cially of the sea-rush ( Virgularia mirabilis), a rare 

 and mysterious compound polyp, to be found in 

 these latitudes, either in the neighbourhood of 

 the West Coast or in the adjoining Irish loughs. 

 I have found it before, and know that friends at 

 the British Museum would be glad to have the 

 opportunity of examining living specimens, in 

 view of some of those problems which yet await 

 solution at the hands of the ardent collector, an 

 honour which may who knows ? fall to myself, 

 perhaps this very day. 



It is high time we were off, but I must not 

 forget my pensioners, the paupers, as they are 



