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Kilroot. We ran up from Whitehead with the full force of wind 

 and tide ; and, when opposite Kilroot, the dredges had to be 

 hauled in — a task that fell to the share of the volunteers, and 

 proved sufficiently trying to flexor muscles not habituated to such 

 work. As soon as the dredges were brought in and emptied, the 

 boat was "put about for Whitehead, and then we had time to 

 examine the material that had been brought up from the bottom, 

 and pick out such specimens as were judged worthy. 



An immense amount of apparent rubbish was brought up, and 

 we found this " combustible " to consist of matters of almost every 

 kind — living and dead. Masses of sea-weeds came up, embracing 

 many species, from the coarse Laminaria, to delicate plumose 

 varieties that seemed as if only made to grace an album. As 

 might be expected, shells also came up in abundance, and 

 specimens were obtained of species that rarely or never are seen 

 between tide-marks. Here, too, amidst this mingled mass, were spiny 

 sea-urchins — beautiful objects when living — besides multitudes of 

 star-fishes — the five fingers and the prickly brittle star ( Ophiocoma) 

 being in profusion. Crabs there were in plenty, and of many 

 species, from the sedentary hermit crab, that peeped out of every 

 dead univalve's shell, to the nimble and fierce partan. Then there 

 was the sea-mouse ( Aphrodita), ornamented with those long 

 bristles, that are so beautifully iridescent. The sea-hare ( Aplysia 

 Jiybrida) must not be omitted. Like the last-mentioned, it has no 

 connexion with its terrestrial namesake, but owes its name to a 

 slight resemblance in form when it creeps about. When taken in 

 the hand, it appeared like a little ball of mottled jelly, but which, 

 in a moment or two, was hidden by the dark purple fluid which it 

 ejected most copiously. The zoophytes that were brought up in 

 our dredges were beyond computation. Few have any conception 

 of the abundance of zoophyte life that exists in the depths of the 

 sea ; a single dredge often drew up a mass of zoophytes, whose 

 individual creatures, if counted, would exceed the population of 

 our town. There was the sea-mat, each of whose tiny meshes is 

 tenanted by a living animal of exquisite structure, and which may 

 be found in colonies of thousands on a single frond of sea-weed. 



