The Zoologist— January, 1868. 1027 



the rock is slowly eaten out. At last a pebble gets lodged in the 

 cavity ; every wave which then washes over the rock rolls it round its 

 prison-house ; thus these wonderful rock-basons are formed — perfect 

 natural aquariums, their sides either smooth and polished, or fringed 

 with delicate Algae and pink corallines. In the round pebbles at the 

 bottom we see the rude but effectual tools of the wave. Many of the 

 larger pools contain fish. The water in these pools is wonderfully 

 clear and transparent, their sides and bottom a garden of beauty, 

 fringed with tangle and the waved blades of the oarweed, the beauti- 

 ful tufts of the Chrondus crispus, bunches of Fuci, brown, pink and 

 purple, and clusters of the pale green Ulva. I observed many fish 

 darting in and out or hiding amougst these sea-weeds, and in one 

 pool close under the cliff the common shanny : two of these little fish 

 were basking in the sun, in the shallows near the edge of the pool, 

 their backs barely covered with water. 



On returniug to the north landing I found several fishing-boats had 

 arrived: they contained cod, haddock, ling, skate, pollack, whiting, 

 conger and a few ballan wrasse, also an occasional large crab taken 

 on the lines, and in one boat numbers of star-fish, amongst which I 

 noticed some fine specimens of Sulaster papposa. It is a pity that 

 Flamborough possesses no marine zoologist, as rare fish are sometimes 

 brought in by the boats. I saw at the house of Mr. Bailey a drawing, 

 in coloured chalks, of a fish captured off this coast two or three years 

 since. From this sketch and the description given I had no difficulty 

 in recognizing the rare filefish [Balislcs capriscus). A fish-salesman 

 informed me that a similar fish was taken this year, and had been sent 

 to Manchester, where, as he said, " nobody had seen the loike afore." 

 He thought it was a " sort o' sun-fish." Mr. Couch, in his ' Fishes of 

 the British Isles,' mentions only three instances in which this rare fish 

 has been captured in British seas — all on the southern coast. 



When picking off with my knife some of the larger limpets from the 

 rocks, this morning, in order to examine them, I found coiled up 

 beneath the foot of one a curious-looking worm. It was about two and 

 a half inches long, very slender, and had considerable power of 

 elongating the body: pale sea-green colour; a minute fringe like 

 small feet running down each side underneath. On leaving the limpet- 

 shell it glided away over the wet rock with great ease. From its 

 position beneath the limpet I thought it might probably belong to 

 some species allied to that curious parasite Lepidonotus Lordi, de- 

 scribed by Mr. J. K. Lord as lodging within the shell of the keyhole 



