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SHORE-COLLECTING NEAR SCARBOROUGH 

 AND FILEY. 



Rev. W. C. HEY, M.A.. 

 IVest Ayton, near Scarborough. 



It is a pity that almost all naturalists — even those who live by 

 the shore — prefer to study the plants and animals of the land 

 rather than the plants and animals of the sea. I admit there is 

 more beauty, more variety, and more sentiment about spring- 

 flowers, than about the most elegant seaweed — thoug-h the 

 briny scent of the fucus is to me quite as delightful as the 

 fragrance of violets — but in some classes of animals the sea 

 stands easih- first. In fishes, molluscs, crustaceans, and zoo- 

 phytes the freshwater is very far behind the sea. 



No doubt a principal reason why people shirk marine studies 

 is because the best results can only be obtained by dredging, 

 and dredging is not only a very expensive amusement, but is 

 also accompanied by a 'queer sort of up-and-down motion,' 

 which has such extraordinary effects upon some individuals 

 (even naturalists) that they would gladly give up the sea and all 

 the things that therein are for one square yard of dry land. 



However, a good deal may be done by shore-collecting, 

 for we may secure the productions of three zones of life without 

 leaving terra firma. We have first the plants and animals 

 whose home is between ordinary tide marks ; secondly, those 

 which are uncovered only at spring-tides ; and thirdly, those 

 which are torn from deeper water in stormy weather, and 

 deposited upon the beach when the waves subside. Scarborough 

 is a fairly good place for the first and second class. Filey is an 

 excellent locality for the third. 



Beginning at the top of the first zone, the first mollusc we 

 meet with is a tiny periwinkle Littorina rudis var. saxatilis — 

 that is the ' rock-loving ' periwinkle — well named, because its 

 favourite dwelling-place is in the crevices of cliffs, often in 

 places where it is only wetted with the spray of ordinary high 

 tides. It is common in the south bay, and used to be still 

 commoner round the Castle Hill before Scarborough's crowning 

 vandalism had taken form. A little further down, on the scars, 

 we find two other periwinkles, Littorina liitorea, the species 

 commonly eaten, and L. obtusata, easily known by its perfectly 

 flat spire. This species presents great variety of colour and 



Naturalist, 



