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MARINE FAUNA OF THE S. AND W. COASTS OF IRELAND. 177 
by various Irish naturalists, and previous to setting out on our explorations, 
we carefully noted the result of their labours, in order that we might corro- 
borate all doubtful localities given by them, and also have the benefit of their 
past experience; the localities so investigated, were Youghal by the late Dr. 
Ball, Cork Harbour by J. Vaughan Thompson and others, Courtmacsherry 
and Bantry Bays by Professor Allman, Dingle Bay by W. Andrews, and 
Valentia by Professor Kinahan. 
Considering that we could not gain a correct knowledge of the Fauna 
without devoting a good deal of attention to “shore collecting,” we took 
frequent occasion, at the period of low tides, to investigate the littoral zone : 
and to this fact may be ascribed the discovery of a large number of new 
Irish Zoantharia, and many interesting Nudibranch Mollusca. 
The geologic structure of the coast, for the most part Devonian and Silurian, 
is such, that “shore collecting’ cannot be prosecuted unless with the assist- 
ance of boats: as sheer precipices, often hundreds of feet high and rising 
perpendicularly out of the water, quite preclude access to the very fertile 
fields of marine zoology which may be found in the tide-worn caverns at 
their base. 
In many places, too, small rocky islets, covered at every successive tide, 
were proved well worthy of diligent search. 
While we paid a good deal of attention to this latter kind of investigation, 
we yet did not neglect the as important one of “dredging,” The smallness of 
our grant, added to the extreme expense which would attend on deep-sea 
dredging in such remote-parts of Ireland, prevented us from exploring any 
depth beyond thirty or forty fathoms. We, however, hope on a future occasion 
to be enabled to undertake a series of deep-sea dredgings on the west coast, 
by the kind assistance of some yachting friends. 
The commonest sea bottom we met with, was one formed of a coarse 
sand, chiefly made up of the débris of decaying Nullipore and broken frag- 
ments of Trophon, Natica, Rissoa, Odostomia, &c. This sand particularly 
abounds in Bantry Bay; it is most extensively used for fertilizing the land, 
being dredged for this purpose in enormous quantities. Marine animals 
seem to avoid this “Coral sand,” and with the exception of Hippolyte va- 
rians, even the ‘Shrimps’ appeared to us to abandon it. Next, we met with 
vast tracks of heavy compact sand, chiefly tenanted by the Crangonide and 
Palemonide, diversified here and there with large patches of weedy ground 
which abounded with animal life. 
Many of the large harbours were very muddy, and abounded with sponges, 
&c., which sometimes reached gigantic dimensions. 
The Cape Clear Island, the most southern,—and the Blasquet Islands, the 
most western land in Ireland, with Bere Island, were carefully examined ; but 
their sides present such high and unbroken walls to the ocean, and they are 
so exposed to its continual swell, that they were not found particularly pro- 
ductive. 
To enumerate in detail the various species of the marine Fauna met with, 
would be at the present immature. But we would wish to call attention to 
some interesting forms that presented themselves, and append a list of the 
Zoantharia and Echinodermata as specimens of the richness of the Fauna. 
On quiet days, when the Atlantic was moderately calm, nothing could 
exceed in beauty and numbers the Medusae—fleets of Equorea sailed past, 
accompanied by Zhaumantias globosa, Thompsoni, confluens, and many 
others; this last-mentioned species, discovered by the late Professor Edward 
Forbes, is remarkable for the peculiar arrangement of its reproductive glands, 
which are placed so high up in the gastro-vascular canals, as to present the 
