44 
ME. G. STM ON THE OCCTTEBENCE ETC. OE 
the greatest depth being at the Aberdeenshire end. This track 
is known to the trawl-fishers as the “ Witch Ground.” The 
reason for this name being given to it is because along a portion 
of the area, principally off “ Covesea Scars,” enormous numbers of 
Pleuronectes cynorjlossus , the Pole or Craig Pluke, which these 
trawlers know as the Witch-Sole, are taken: hence the “Witch 
Ground.” The bottom of this hollow is in some places composed 
of grey muddy sand, while in other parts it is principally 
covered with mossy matter. Concerning this latter material, 
considerable difficulty was experienced by me in coming to any 
definite conclusion regarding it. The question being, How came 
peat to be in such a locality F Was it matter washed by some 
river into this ground, or how came it to be there ? It came first 
under my notice whilst examining the stomachs of the Witch-Sole. 
In many cases the stomach and intestines of this species contain 
portions of this peat which had been taken in along with the 
creatures upon which it feeds. However, during the storms 
which occurred in the month of January last immense sheets of 
peat were cast on our beach, which shows that at some long past 
age a forest of birch, hazel, and other trees had flourished, as 
also marshes filled with Sphagnum , Poly trichum, and other fresh- 
water-loving plants, where now swells the mighty waves of the 
North Sea. The remains of these sylvan beauties we now find 
composing the large masses of peat to which reference has been 
made. It is amongst this soft peaty ooze that our fossorial little 
friend Lumpenus loves to dwell, and amongst and on the surface 
of the same material where it finds its varied food, and where, 
m its turn, it becomes the food of its ever-watchful neighbours 
Pleuronectes cynoglossus. 
The other living organisms that have come under my notice 
from the “Witch Ground” are, first, a few of the common 
Zoophyta, viz. Talularia indivisa, Sertularia alietina, Tliuiaria 
thuia, known in the locality as the bottle-brush weed ; the “ sea- 
pen” (P ennatula phosphorea), Alcyonium digitatum , locally known 
as “dead men’s fingers,” and the common Flustra also occur, but 
the last-named is perhaps only washed from the hard ground 
on the east of this great hollow. 
Threading their w\ay through the above-mentioned forms are 
those beautiful Opliiuroids Amphiura Chiajii, A. filiformis, 
Opliiocnida Irachiata, Ophioglypha albida, O. lacerlosa, and 
