g6 Old Dovecots {Scotland), [Sess. 



living things. Near the coast of Sicily, in the Mediterranean 

 Sea, in a cubic metre of water from the surface downwards, a 

 recent reliable investigator found, as nearly as he could cal- 

 culate, a total of 2,425,665 floating organisms! Just think 

 what these figures imply. The lower we go in the scale of 

 animal life the more limitless, as a rule, is the fertility. And 

 necessarily so ; for these denizens of the surface-water of the 

 open sea have neither place of refuge nor possibility of con- 

 cealment. Consumed and destroyed by the thousand, the only 

 safety of the race lies in their enormous numbers. Let but 

 one individual in ten thousand survive and the continuance of 

 the race is assured. This most ungrudging supply of food 

 and of young forms for adults to feed upon is one more 

 example of the bountifulness of nature. 



[Some forty or fifty lantern-slides were shown, illustrating 

 the more common marine forms found in the Clyde area, and 

 the attention of members was directed to the advantages of 

 the Millport Marine Station in connection with the study 

 of Marine Zoology. The slides shown were meant to illus- 

 trate, among other points, various methods adopted by marine 

 animals for protection, for breathing, for locomotion, and for 

 care of young. Plate Y. shows two specimens of the crab 

 family — the common Stone Crab {Lithodes maia), and the 

 much rarer Angular Crab (Gonoplax rhomhoides).] 



111.— OLD DOVECOTS {SCOTLAND). 



By Mr BEUCE CAMPBELL. 



{Read Dec. 23, 1908.) 



Before making my remarks on Dovecots I will first say a few 

 words regarding the inhabitants of the Dovecot. The Kock- 

 Dove {Columha livia), from which all our Domestic pigeons 



