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Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



(Esp.). The last-named has also been obtained by F. G. 

 Pearcey;! and *S^. domuncula (Nardo), though not new to the 

 list, has been found by T. Scott to be moderately common in 

 the Firth.2 The fresh-water sponges, Spongilla lacustris, 

 auctt., and S. (PJphydatia) fluviatilis, auctt., occur in the 

 district. I have known both for many years in the Union 

 Canal about Slateford.^ In Grant's time one of them (he 

 used the name S. friabilis) was abundant at Lochend, Edin- 

 burgh (c/. his paper in Edin. Phil. Jour., xiv. p. 270). 



It would appear, then, that at one time or another some 

 24 " species " of Porifera have been recorded from the Forth 

 area. That this is a very incomplete record cannot be 

 doubted. Many additions to the list would, we may feel 

 sure, reward a diligent search by one possessing the requisite 

 knowledge and opportunities. What the probable number 

 of Forth Porifera may be it is hard to say. According to 

 the list of Sponges given by Canon Norman in the 4th 

 volume of Bowerbank's " Monograph," about 260 forms are 

 British (I exclude a score pertaining to the Channel Islands), 

 half of them being known from Scottish waters; but a 

 large proportion of these cannot be expected to occur in 

 an estuarine area such as ours. Eighty would probably be 

 too sanguine an estimate, but there can hardly, I think, 

 be less than fifty. 



CCELENTERATA and CTENOPHOEA. 



During the period when Daly ell, Forbes, Strethill Wright, 

 Allman, and others were enriching the literature of marine 

 zoology by their discoveries, many Ccelenterates were re- 

 corded from the estuary of the Forth, Especially was this 

 the case as regards that section (the Hydroids) of the class 

 Hydrozoa which Wright and Allman studied to such good 

 purpose.^ When Leslie and Herdman, who were themselves 



1 Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow, vi. (n.s.), p. 244. 



2 Trans. Ediv. Field Nat. and Micros. Soc, v. p. 198. 



2 Specimens of both from this locality, in Oct. 1906, have been verified for 

 me by Mr R. Kirkpatrick of the British Museum. 



4 "Observations on British Zoophytes," by Strethill Wright, in vols, i.-iii. 

 (1854-1866) of Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., Jour, of Anat. and Phys. 

 (i., 1867, p. 332), Edin. New Phil. Journ., etc. ' Gymnoblastic Hydroids,' 

 Ray Soc , 1871, by Prof. Allman; and earlier papers in Ann. and Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. (1859, etc. ), and elsewhere. Forbes's 'British Naked-eyed Medusae,' 

 1848, contains few records from the Forth. 



