INTRODUCTION. 
9 
to swell the list of marine animals, and associate with the 
venerable city interests and ties of no common order even in 
this department alone. 
The sea-margin at St. Andrews, like other parts of the 
east coast of Scotland, presents decided differences when 
contrasted with the northern, southern, and western shores, 
though many forms are common to all. Thus the laminarian 
zone at St. Andrews is much less luxuriant than that of the 
Zetlandic waters with the fine forests of gigantic tangles, 
amidst which there is a galaxy of animal life. The vegetation 
of its littoral zone is surpassed by the rich Fuci of the tidal 
rocks and the trailing masses of Chorda filum on the surface 
of the sea immediately beyond low-water mark in the Outer 
Hebrides. Its marine forms are placed under very different 
circumstances from those in the quiet voes of West Shetland, 
as at Cliff Sound and between the Burras, where the still sea¬ 
water is bridged by a single arch of a few feet. To represent 
the Zostera -fields of the west and south there are but a few 
Conferva, Ulvce , and Porphyra attached to stones on the flat 
surfaces of the beach. There is no confusion of fresh and salt 
water as in the Hebrides, where from a hill-top the eye is 
quite unable to trace the intricate connexions of the endless 
lakes or distinguish the one element from the other at full tide— 
where, moreover, the breadth of the highway is the only sepa¬ 
ration in some cases between the rich vegetation of the fresh 
water, with its white and yellow water-lilies, and the swamps 
of Zostera and Conferva of the salt. The calcareous rocks of 
the south, and the multitudes of worm-eaten boulders scattered 
on many parts of the shore, as in the Isle of Wight, form 
likewise a boldly marked contrast, which is heightened in 
some of the chalky bays by the semi-milky colour of the 
flowing tide (from calcareous admixture). Boring forms are 
very conspicuous in the latter rocks, but they are by 
no means confined to them; indeed they abound at St. 
Andrews. The muddy beach at the estuary of the Eden 
affords a site for the splendid mussel-beds; but (though 
CoropMum is present in both) it cannot be compared with 
the tenacious greyish mud which sometimes, as at Herm, 
retains footprints so firmly that they are visible after 
C 
