44 



ME. G. SIM ON THE OCCUKEENCE ETC. OF 



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 cynoglossus, the Pole or Craig Fluke, 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 ? 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, Folytriclium, 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 Ltmpemcs 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 

 JBleuronectes cynoglossus. 



The other living organisms that have come under my notice 

 from the "Witch Ground" are, first, a few of the common 

 Zoophyta, viz. Tubularia indivisa, Sertularia ahietina, Thuiaria 

 tJmia, known in the locality as the bottle-brush weed ; the " sea- 

 pen" {Fennatula plwsplwrea), 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 Ophiuroids Ampliiura Ckiajii, A, Jiliformis, 

 Opliiocnida hrachiata, Ophioglypha albida, 0. laceriosa, and 



