Mass THE GEELONG NATURALIST. 
the dredge up, we tumbled the confused mass of animals, stones, 
mud and weeds upon the deck of our boat, and how eagerly we set 
to work in sorting out every living thing from this oozy mass. 
What a wealth of strange organisms the heap prorentod!! Here 
were the crabs of all sizes and varied forms, full of activity. Some 
were as defiant as you please, others more retiring, hiding away 
among the heap of weeds. We noticed that two species of these 
crustaceans predominated: viz., Spinosia and Actaca peronii. Several 
other interesting specimens of decapoda we secured, some as large 
as a saucer, others down to half the size of a threepenny piece, and 
one or two small specimens, with a triangular shaped body. Here 
again amongst the heap we found starfishes with their long slender 
arms twirling above the weeds, and several small specimens of the 
Hippocampus (sea horse) with their tails firmly entwined around 
the stems of algae. Now we come across the whelk, a most vicious 
looking mollusc, with a body as tough looking as leather, and of a 
deep red color. We found the Cardium, a most fragile and beautiful 
shell, whose inhabitant is most delicately formed, suggesting that it 
is an unobtrusive and gentle creature. Here again were many other 
shells, viz.—-Scalaria australis, Risella (sp), Cominella costata, 
Lampinia, australis Phasianella, and Bulla australis—with their 
inhabitants peeping out, perhaps holding a consultation, as to why 
they should be so unceremoniously disturbed. 
Amongst the weeds were hundreds of the shrimp family, and 
several specimens of the Annelids. Having sorted the weeds, our 
next object was to examine the mud, underneath this we found 
several specimens of the Echino Cardium, these we were delighted 
to find alive, having only found a few of the empty shells on the 
north and east side of Point Henry, we were not quite sure if these 
creatures were to be found in our bay, or took up their abode out- 
side the channel—we think from observations made, that the Echino 
Cardiums live in comparatively deep water, and that they burrow in 
the sand and soft mud. This mode of burrowing the writer found 
most interesting to watch. Placing about 6 inches of the mud 
brought up by the dredge in a large glass jar, I then filled the jar 
to the ay with seaweed, carefully placing several of the creatures 
on top of the weed. For an hour 1 intently watched them. Their 
movements are very slow, gradually their small needle-like spines 
would extend, and then move in a twirling position, slowly but 
surely working their way down through the weed to the mud. When 
on top of the mud they ceased work for a time, probably for a rest, 
again they began the same operation of extending and twirling their 
spines until the bottom of the jar was reached. Here they would 
lay their spines down, perhaps to sleep. However returning to our 
trip, we were well satisfied with the work of our dredge. 
Our skipper was delighted at the novelty of our day’s pleasure, 
declaring to us that he had no idea that such things as the dredge 
revealed existed in our bay. 
