340 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



the Ayrshire man. ' Do the whole five of them go 

 at that wark ? They'll be weel paid, no doot ? ' No 

 amount of argument could get this last conviction 

 out of his head ; and after hearing that one of the staff 

 devoted his entire attention to sea-weeds, and another 

 to the water itself, he closed the conversation with a 

 decided, ' Weel, it's extraordinar' what queer trades 

 some folk will follow for a livin' ! ' ' 



The Granton Report then continues as follows : 

 " In March, 1885, a second visit has been made to 

 the west coast. Dredging operations were conducted 

 for a period of six days by Mr. Henderson, and Mr. F. 

 G. Pearcey of the Challenger Commission, in Loch 

 Long, round Cumbrae, and in Rothesay and Lamlash 

 Bays. On three days they were accompanied by Mr. 

 David Robertson, of Glasgow, the well-known Clyde 

 naturalist, and to his kind assistance and guidance 

 the short trip owed much of its success. Many rare 

 and interesting animals were procured, not a few of 

 which are unknown on the east coast, thus suggesting 

 some interesting distributional problems. It is hoped 

 that the foundation of a branch of the Scottish 

 Marine station on the Clyde will lead to an accurate 

 comparison of the faunae and florae of the two 

 estuaries, and, in this way, clear up some obscure 

 points la our knowledge of the distribution of British 

 marine animals and plants." 



The pleasure which Robertson derived in the 

 summer of 1885, from the presence of the Medusa 

 and the Ark at Millport, and from companionship 

 with Murray and the rest of the staff, is not difficult 

 to conjecture. In September, he writes to Dr. 



