44 DR. m'iNTOSH ok BRITISH SALPJE. 



So plentiful were the beached Salpse that the Puci were ren- 

 dered doubly slippery, and the tangled masses of j^. serratus hung 

 down from the rocks their every crevice spangled with the glitter- 

 ing mollusks. The small fishes (Coalfishes, Fiffceen-spined Stic- 

 klebacks, Grobies, and young Wrasses) were in unusual numbers 

 at the sea-border, hunting about in shoals, and doubtless feasting 

 luxuriantly on the autumnal repast so plentifully cast in their 

 way. Nor were other marine animals behind in this respect : one 

 Caryophyllia that hung from a stone at the verge of low water 

 attracted notice by having its disk unusually expanded and trans- 

 lucent, hard to the touch, and not contracting by the latter sti- 

 mulus or exposure to the air ; the cause of all this was found to 

 be the presence of at least eight of the unfortunate Salpse in its 

 stomach, some of them still free from serious injury. SalpsB do 

 not occur in such profusion at all seasons, and the change of diet 

 is doubtless agreeable to the marine inhabitants of these shores. 



The climax of Salpa life, however, was reached on the 22nd of 

 August, when the sea was unusually calm and the weather very 

 fine. The shores of the creeks and bays were so heaped with the 

 bodies of the two forms of 8. spinosa that the Fuci and rocks 

 appeared as if coated with masses of boiled sago ; the water of 

 the creeks resembled starch from the myriad swarms ; and the 

 Laminarian blades at low- water mark lay on a semisolid medium. 

 There were vast multitudes, certainly, on and near the beach ; 

 but a sail in the bay demonstrated a still more wonderful extent 

 of Salpa proliiicness. It may be safely said that there was not a 

 single square foot of Lochmaddy that did not contain Salpge, 

 and in some parts the sea resembled boiled sago for long dis- 

 tances. On the surface floated the two smaller forms of S. spinosa, 

 the aggregate, as usual, predominating over the solitary ones ; 

 while from a few feet under the latter, as far down as the eye 

 could reach, chains of all lengths and sizes of 8. runcinata swam 

 with the current in the quiet manner previously described. These 

 milky bands crossed and recrossed each other to such an extent 

 that the very character of the sea, I may say, was altered ; and it 

 seemed as if flocculent strings of some milky precipitate hung 

 therein, or as if gigantic fibres of asbestos had been scattered in 

 profusion and at random throughout the entire bay. The scene 

 was equally novel and interesting. With every stroke of the oars 

 the purple and two-horned forms {8. spinosa) rose from the water 

 and rolled like glassy crystals from the blades, and chains of the 

 former now and then clung till a reimmersion washed them off. 



