10 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



Museum. I published a photograph of it in the " Proceed- 

 ings of the Royal Society," and named it " Cephalodiscus 

 nigrescens." But nothing more of importance has, as 

 yet, been brought to light as to " Rhabdopleura." 



Our rule at Lervik was to go out dredging from 

 seven to twelve, and work at the material with micro- 

 scope and pencil for some three or four hours after lunch. 

 Of all the many beautiful things we dredged, the most 

 striking were the various kinds of corals, the large, glass- 

 like shrimps, the strange apple-green worm Hamingia 

 (actually known previously by two specimens only), 

 and the large, disc-like and branched, sand-covered or 

 sausage-like Protozoa (from a shelly bottom of 200 

 fathoms depth). My friend Dr. Norman joined me at 

 Lervik after I had been there for a month, and showed 

 his extraordinary skill in choosing the most favourable 

 spots for sinking the dredge and in pouncing on 

 interesting specimens as we sorted the contents of the 

 dredge (when we had been on a soft bottom) by 

 passing them through the sieves, specially provided 

 for naturalists' use, as we gently rocked on the dark 

 surface of the clear, deep water, many miles from our 

 island. The colours and light of that region are 

 wonderful — the mountains of a yellow tint, far paler 

 than the purple sea, whilst the rocky islands are fringed 

 with seaweed of rich orange-brown colour, and clothed 

 with grass and innumerable flowers. 



The white coral of two kinds (Lophohelia and 

 Amphihelia) is accompanied by beautiful purple and 

 salmon-coloured softer kinds of coral (Alcyonarians), 

 known as Primnoa, and by the gigantic Paragorgia. 

 On one occasion our dredge became fast. For long 

 nothing would move it, and we feared we should have 



