128 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



plaice or flounders, or transfixed by one of the 

 hooks. I was not alive to all the conditions 

 of the problem until the present year; but I 

 can vouch that the last specimen I obtained 

 had a hook right through the extreme tip of 

 the bulb of the quill, which is alleged to be 

 buried inches deep in the mud. I am not 

 writing a scientific treatise, but my digression 

 is not without an object. Oban, the most 

 favoured haunt of the Pennatulidae, is also the 

 summer head -quarters of innumerable yachts. 

 Many owners, it is roundly asserted, are not 

 altogether innocent of splashing for sea trout 

 at the mouths of the rivers, in defiance of the 

 law, and other poaching practices ; while some, 

 alas, sink so low as to persecute and harry 

 the beautiful, innocent, and useful sea-gulls and 

 terns. Let them rather exert their energies in 

 the attempt to solve such problems as I have 

 indicated, and the many others which every 

 day's dredging suggests. If they will only try 

 it, they will find their reward in a new reason 

 for visiting scenes of wonderful beauty, and in 

 an amusement of surpassing interest. Amateur 

 trawlers, also, and professionals, might do good 

 service by keeping an eye to the rubbish ; it 

 fills my soul with profound melancholy to think 

 what treasures are daily thrown away under that 

 contemptuous designation. I may suggest ex- 

 periments to managers of aquaria, especially at 



