348 Pattersoti : Beluga at Scarborough. 



perhaps to g'ive a firmer hold of the female like the dilated 

 forefeet of the water beetles {Dyliscus). 



Another deep-water crab often cast up is the cleanser 

 swimming- crab, Portunus depurator. In this genus the last 

 joint of the largest pair of legs is flattened out like a paddle, 

 suggesting comparison with similarly modified legs in the 

 predaceous water beetles [Hydradephaga). 



The beautiful crimson 12-rayed Starfish which is often seen 

 on the beach is Solaster papposa. Not unfrequently the rays 

 are as many as 14. 



I have hitherto mentioned only the larger objects to be met 

 with on the beach, but it will afford also plenty of work for 

 those who use a microscope. To find the tiny molluscs of our 

 seas, gather a few handfuls from the deposits of fine coal which 

 so often lie upon the beach, dry it thoroughly before the fire, 

 and then spread it out upon a sheet of paper in the sunlight. 

 If you run over it with a magnifying glass you will almost 

 certainly find a quantity of delicate little shells, especially 

 species of Rissoa and Cylichna, as well as the fry of larger 

 species which are often remarkably different in appearance from 

 the full grown mollusc. 



This paper gives but a very brief summary of a few of the 

 interesting and beautiful things which the shore-collector can 

 easily gather and study. Our marine fauna and flora have 

 really received such scanty a.ttention that there can be very little 

 doubt that any careful observer living on the coast might add 

 much valuable and interesting information to our present stock, 

 and I have no doubt that many a treasure is brought in on the 

 fishermen's lines only to ' waste its sweetness ' (?) in a malo- 

 dorous ashpit. 



ly^AMMAUA. 



Belug'a at Scarborough. — On the 19th instant I saw in the 

 bay at Scarborough an example of the Beluga {Delphinapterus 

 leucas), about eighteen to twenty feet long. It was about one 

 hundred and twenty yards off the sea wall of the Spa grounds 

 when I saw it first, it being almost high water at the time. 

 I saw it eight or ten times whilst walking parallel to its course 

 on the length of the enclosure on the sea front ; it was almost 

 milk-white. This appears to be the first record of this species 

 for Yorkshire. — Sir Robert Lloyd Patterson, Croft House, 

 Holywood, County Down, Aug. 1903. 



Naturalist, 



