: DREDGING ON THE NORTH AND EAST COASTS OF SCOTLAND, 371 
Geographical Botany, respecting the conditions of life to which high alpine 
plants are subjected. 
Regarded only as an object of physical inquiry, it is clear that the only 
observations which can be considered in any degree comparable are those 
made in dry soil, and this condition is so seldom fulfilled, that comparatively 
few observations have been obtained. Some made by the writer, and several 
others communicated by Mr. A. T, Malkin, but apparently not made in quite 
dry soil, agree in showing that in the higher regions of the Alps, approaching 
to and above what is commonly called the limit of perpetual snow. the 
plants and animals that dwell on the surface of the soil must, during the 
short period of their active vitality, receive an amount of heat much larger 
than has commonly been supposed. The annexed Table (II.), although too 
limited to furnish general results, may be worth preserving as evidence upon 
this point. 
Report of the Committee for Dredging on the North and East Coasts of 
Scotland. By J. Gwyn Jurrreys, F.R.S. 
Tue Marine Invertebrata enumerated in the following list were found by 
Mr. Robert Dawson on that part of the coast of Aberdeenshire which extends 
from the mouth of the Ythan to the mouth of the Ugie. The distance in a 
straight line is about 15 miles, The whole of this coast, with the exception 
of the sands of Forvie and the little bays of Peterhead and Cruden, consists 
of precipitous granite and gneiss rocks. 
The sea-bed appears to slope gently and regularly from the shore for 10 
or 12 miles, the only exception to this uniformity being a ravine (or Hole as 
it is called by the fishermen) opposite to Slains Castle. This ravine com- 
mences about half a mile from the shore, and stretches out at right angles to 
the land, the depth varying from 25 fathoms to 35 fathoms. 
The Laminarian zone, which, except about Peterhead, is very narrow, 
is succeeded by a belt of pure white sand, extending in breadth to the 
30-fathom line from 3 to 4 miles from the shore. This sand has in general 
been very unproductive, but in the ravine just mentioned many of the rarest 
species have been got. ; 
Dredging may be said to have begun at 30 fathoms, and extended over the 
Coralline zone till it attains a depth of 90 fathoms. On one occasion the dredge 
was used in 60 fathoms, at a distance of 15 or 16 miles from shore. Two of 
the species enumerated in the list were brought up by a fisherman’s line 30 
miles from land (viz. Trophon scalariformis and Pinna pectinata). 
The following abstract shows the number of Mollusca identified :— 
Gasteropoda Prosobranchiata .,,..,...... 110 
—— Opisthobranchiata ...,............... 11 
Nudibranchiata, ...........c--.00.s02 8 
IPHeRO pO a: 3's =: <ecmndecesv<aeehvetishectes 1 
Conchifera Lamellibranchiata ............ 92 
=== Brachlopoga,..ac-:rpecossrzensersecees 1 
223 
Of this number the following are Avctic and probably fossil, viz. Tiophon 
_ sedlariformis, T. Gunneri, Astyris Holbéllii, Scalaria Eschrichti, Natica clausa 
and helicoides, Margarita cinerea, Skenea? costulata, Adeorbis subcarinata, 
Lepeta coca, Astarte-arctica and elliptica, Tellina proxima, Serobicularia 
