118 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



were gold-washers with their cradle, and in much 

 the same manner, for it was about here that we 

 last secured the rare creature of which we are 

 now in search ; and it is just in this soft sort 

 of ground that it is usually found. A shout of 

 joy and triumph issues from the mouth of the 

 youngest of the party, as he produces a very small 

 reddish object about the thickness of a piece of 

 worsted, and not more than three inches long, in 

 which he has recognised a sea-rush ; and I have 

 already got hold of a larger specimen some nine 

 inches long, but, as I am going to explain, not by 

 any means so valuable or interesting a one as his. 

 However, both of them, and any more we can 

 find, will be sent to Professor Bell, of the Natural 

 History branch of the British Museum, to-morrow 

 morning by the parcel post, and in the meantime are 

 carefully consigned to a special bottle by them- 

 selves, that no rash intruder, no gormandising crab 

 or starfish, may endanger the least of their polyps ; 

 and all faces are happier I was going to add all 

 appetites keener, but that is impossible as we 

 sit down to our well-earned luncheon on the 

 island, where we land to picnic and stretch our 

 legs before we resume our dredging. 



But what is there in this sea-rush which makes 

 it so interesting, even to an unscientific inquirer 

 like myself? Because it has all the charms of an 

 unexplored country there are still new facts to 

 be ascertained about it ; and even in this scientific 



