Beaumont — Fauna and Flora of Valencia Harbour, Ireland. 759 



sufficient to enable them, in tlie ordinary pursuit of their calling, to 

 give all "foul ground" a very wide berth. The limited opportunities 

 vouchsafed to us by the meteorological conditions were in consequence 

 largely frittered away in discovering that the greater part of the area, 

 which circumstances permitted us to explore, was from oui' point of 

 view particularly baiTen, and in a vain search for something better. 

 Altogether we came to the conclusion from our experience that the 

 hiring of a sailing smack for the pui'pose of di-edging is not a satis- 

 factory investment unless one is highly favoui'ed in the matter of 

 weather. 



Dredging Geounds of Valencia Harbour. 



Valencia Harboiu', using the term in the wide sense already indi- 

 cated, has over the greater portion of its area a muddy bottom. Its 

 shallower parts, Cahir river and most of Port Magee Sound (where 

 the depth does not much exceed 1^ fms.) are floored with soft black 

 mud in which the dredge or trawl sinks deeply, and serves at once 

 as an anchor. PMline aperta is a prominent species on this ground 

 as on similar ground in other districts. We also record Limapontia 

 nigra, Elysia viridis, yoxmg specimens of Aplysia, and the ubiquitous 

 Polycera quadrilineata, also Senricia sanguinolenta, Maia squiriado, and 

 several common Nemertines ; while Mr. Walker, however, with his 

 ingenious rake and townet arrangement, succeeded in capturing 

 twenty- three species of Crustacea in two hauls on ground of this 

 description near Knightstown.^ 



Ascidian Ground. — In the deeper portion of the harbour near 

 Knightstown (4 to 7 fms.) the bottom, though chiefly mud, has a much 

 firmer consistency, the strong scour of the tide probably preventing the 

 accumulation here of much soft material. This area, which may be 

 termed the harbour proper, extends from the Harbour Eock or Perch 

 to Knightstown, where it bends round the Foot and penetrates about a 

 mile into Port Magee Sound. Its characteristic and dominant feature 

 from a f aunistic point of view (excepting in those parts to be presently 

 described as Shell Beds) is the abundance of Ascidiella aspersa; the 

 di-edge, after a short haul, coming up full of large specimens of this 

 species, firmly attached to one another in clumps of about half-a- 

 dozen. 



These colonial masses do not appear to be definitely attached to 



1 " Malacostraca from the West of Ireland." Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc. 

 Vol. xii., 1898, p. 161. 



