EXCURSION TO TENBY. 
9 
packed close with the birds, and most comical they look in 
their upright position side by side, forming long rows upon 
the narrow ledges, which are often only a few inches wide, 
the birds appearing like white lines drawn upon the face of 
the cliff. Such a breeding station is a busy scene, and one 
not easily forgotten ; thousands of birds continually on the 
move, flying down from rock to sea, and up again from sea 
to rock, whilst thousands are busy in the water after their 
finny prey. 
The Guillemot lays one egg only, of enormous size in 
comparison to the bird, upon the bare rock; the eggs vary 
infinitely both in colour and markings, it being almost 
impossible to obtain two eggs alike, unless laid by the same 
bird. There are other similar breeding stations, at Lundy 
Island, in the Bristol Channel; Flamborough and Bempton 
Cliffs, Yorkshire ; Fame Islands, Northumberland ; the 
Bass Rock, Frith of Forth ; the Hebrides; and the Orkney 
and Shetland Isles. The information about these birds has 
been kindly supplied by our president, Mr. Chase. 
Amongst the plants collected in the excursions were 
specially noticed fine large specimens of Columbine, Aqui- 
legia vulgaris, in the hedges near the sea ; Orchis latifolia, 
the smaller Butterfly Orchis, at Monkstone Bay ; the little 
Burnet Rose, Rosa pimpinelli,folia, abundant on the sandhills 
close to Tenby ; Echium vulgare, Viper’s Bugloss ; and Cen- 
tranthus ruber, the red Valerian, on the rocks at Tenby. 
Also amongst ferns, Asplenium marinum, Asplenium adiantum- 
nigrum, and Ceteracli officbiamm. 
Dredging was only tried one day in Milford Haven at 
Pwllcroghan, using the small-sized dredge from a sailing 
boat. The water was shallow and the bottom muddy, and 
satisfactory results were not obtained. 
The special collecting that was done in this excursion was 
with a surface tow-net, using a new construction of net, 
which we tried then for the first time. It was designed by 
Mr. Giles, of Madras, and was described by him in “ Science 
Gossip ” for March last (page 52), and it appeared to us so 
good an idea that we determined to make trial of it upon 
the first opportunity. In the ordinary tow-net, with a glass 
bottle attached to the tail end, the bottle is filled at once 
with water that has passed through the net containing objects 
in it; but the further supply of objects into the bottle can 
only be obtained by their chance passage from the bottom of 
the net into the bottle, as no more water can enter the bottle 
after it is once filled except by the chance displacement of 
some of the water to make room for more. 
