the "Brigand," which, however, was frustrated by the prudence of the captain. An attack on the "Sisters" unhappily proved successful, and since that time a number of white lives have been sacrificed in trading with Mare for sandal-wood. When H.M.S." Havannah," Capt. Erskine, visited the Loyalty Islands, it was learnt that Capt. Lewis had shot a native, who with some others attempted to board the "Will-o'-the-Wisp." The justification of his conduct given by Capt. Lewis not being deemed sufficient, a complaint was lodged at Sydney, in consequence of which Lewis was arrested on an accidental visit to the place, and on the 7th July, 1851, brought to trial for murder. Though every effort was made to obtain a conviction, the jury found the prisoner not guilty. Capt. Lewis then returned to his station, and one of the first acts of the natives was to capture his cutter and murder the whole of her crew.

Owing to the ferocious character of the Polynesian natives in whose islands the sandal-trees grow, and the difficulty hitherto experienced to put this trade upon a different footing than it is at present, the loss of life resulting from this species of commerce is proportionally much greater than experienced in the whaling trade, with which it ranks as the most adventurous of callings. Mr. M'Gillivray, who is now employed in the sandal-wood trade, states that the profits obtained from this species of commerce are sometimes enormous, whatever that may mean. Lieut. Pollard, formerly of H.M.S. "Havannah," has furnished more satisfactory estimates, as far as the South Sea is concerned, and shows that in the case of the "Julia Percy," which cost £1200 with her boats, yielded in one voyage, after all expenses, including interest, and amounting to £2595, had been paid, a clear profit of £1182 4s. to the owner. The Australian vessels employed in the collection are in general small, and such as have been nearly worn out, and are unfitted for other branches of commerce. The crews, collected at Sydney, or picked up amongst the islands, are almost universally paid by the lay, as in whaling voyages; that is, by a share either of the wood collected, or of the value calculated at a low fixed price (about £12 a ton), the proportion for each seaman being one seventy-second part, so that for every ton of sandal-wood he receives £12. The amount of trade between the Australian colonies and China depends entirely on the price of the commodity in the market, which varies from £40 to £12 a ton.

THE ZOOLOGIST AT SCARBOROUGH.

BY THE REV. G. ROWE, M.A.

SCARBOROUGH is too famous as a hunting-ground for the marine naturalist to render it necessary for me to reiterate its claims to notice, yet I know by sad experience how very possible it is to go to a rich preserve of this sort only to find one's most diligent search repaid with empty vessels; and I may therefore be permitted to rehearse the favourite spots known to me for the benefit of any of your readers who may be there without a guide. These are then, first, the rocks beneath the castle. Here the blue lias stretches out to seawards in tabular masses almost perfectly level, the dip being really to the west. The flat strata are constantly breaking up, and wearing away, leaving lines of pools beneath their basset edges, which at once catch the eye as likely spots for the naturalist's labours. Occasionally, these pools deepen into some fissure, six feet deep, and then the cooler water (assisted by its greater quantity) is the prolific habitat of numerous delicate algae and mollusca, which do not thrive in the warmer and sun-lighted shallows.

The ground-plan of these slightly inclined lias beds, together with their superficial pools, is overlaid and obscured by the confused débris from the sandstone cliffs above. Some of the fallen blocks are so large as to remain stationary under all but the most violent storms. There is one great mass, which I have seen for the last two years, whose under-side slopes up at one corner, so that at low-water the explorer may twist his head and shoulders under it, and then appears the advantage of being exceedingly short-sighted; for within an inch or two of one's nose is a dripping mass of seaweeds and zoophytes, where beautiful nudibranchs display their rich colours and curious anatomy, and the pretty little univalve, Cypræa Europaa, crawls like a living pearl among the swelling lobes of the deadman's thumb (Alcyonium digitatum). The whole aperture teems with life; the weed-covered sides conceal Littorina, Lacuna, Chitons, and other mollusks, and in the dank shades of the pools beneath beauteous Actinia perennially expand their rays, green, yellow, and scarlet, and bright star-fish glide over the rocks with the stealthy motion of their thousand flexile suckers, each of which is a marvel of mechanism. Here, in the month of June or July, you may gather in half-an-hour such a store of living things, animal and vegetable, as shall afford study and recreation for a month.

The second spot worthy of mention is a ledge of flattish rocks, immediately opposite the bridge. These are only uncovered for a short time at low-water, spring tides. They produce a

luxuriant crop of Tangle, upon the fronds of which may be found abundantly the prettiest of all our limpets-the fragile Patella pellucida. It is worth while to pull up some of these large algæ by the roots, which are composed of an interlaced mass of fibres. Their interstices always harbour small shells and crustaceans, and are the special habitat of Turtonia minuta. Creeping upon the leather-like fronds of the same plant may also be occasionally discovered one of the less common chitons (C. ruber), which when seen alive in its home is amply entitled to its specific name. The rock-pools here, too, are crowded with delicate sea-weeds.

There are similar ledges of rocks exposed at low-water further to the south, beyond the Spa; but except a fine sea-hare (Aplysia hybrida), which I once found in a pool, I have never obtained anything peculiar from them.

Such being the best hunting-grounds known to me on this part of the coast, it was with a pleasurable anticipation that, on the 8th of April last, I ascertained I should have an hour to wait at Scarborough on my way to Filey, and that the period of this delay nearly coincided with that of low tide. As it was during the neaps, I determined to beat the cover beneath the castle; and, accordingly, the shortest possible time after the arrival of the train saw me descend the north face of the harbour-wall, and scramble over the rocks towards the breakers. Alas! the one glance from the pier disclosed a rising tide. Already my great blocks were besprinkled with spray, or moated by the fast advancing waves. However, it was not a time for long consideration, as the ground would soon be covered, so I commenced my search with a will. Passing for the present the shooting masses of Fucus serratus, which hangs like shaggy locks upon every stone, and is now full of fruit, I got to the lowest pools. Great groups of Laminaria digitata predominated, the long strap-like divisions playing in the rushing water with graceful ease. Drawing these up carefully, I gathered a few good specimens of Patella pellucida from the lowermost ends, and fancied that the animals clung with more than usual tenacity to the fronds, so as to require a detaching violence which threatened to damage the delicate shells of this gasteropod. Laminaria bulbosa occurs in much less quantity, and did not appear to produce anything. Selecting_some of the smallest of these large algæ as book specimens, I next succeeded in approaching close to one of the bigger stones, whose dank weed-shrouded back stood out like an elephant from the lower ranks around. The waves were breaking against the seaward side, and dancing and curling under it; but balancing myself carefully on two slippery points of rock, I began to collect in hopefulness. The lower surface was profusely covered

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with the singular cup-shaped fronds of Himanthalia lorea. These were just putting out their elongated receptacles, whence the plant derives its name of sea-thongs. Some of the older and larger examples were quickly transferred to my box for after examination, and others more delicate, which were intended for preservation. One of the former afforded a characteristic instance of the multiplicity of organized objects with which nature loves to people every cranny to excess. The whole frond was less than two inches in diameter, but its wrinkled edges, bent back upon its short stem, formed a complete shelter to hundreds of living creatures. First there was a nest of young mussels, covered with the perplexing hairy epidermis common to all, and permanent in one, of the British species. Among them small crustaceans and strange-looking larvæ struggled and writhed to conceal themselves. Several patches of a Lepralia contained by computation at least one thousand individuals, and the polypidom of another zoophyte (Sertularia operculata), straggled over the rest, with its many scores of occupants. Besides all these, there were bits of nullipore here and there, and on pulling up the young mussels I disinterred an interesting group of three young Odostomia dubia. It is impossible to behold without the warmest admiration such a happy family of dissimilar organisms, each pursuing its own nature in the selection of its habitat and food, and in its other functions of life, and all within the compass of a space not larger than a crown-piece.

But I must return to my work on the rocks. In less time than I take to write it, a dashing wave came bouncing over my ancles, and forced me to beat a hasty retreat. Yet it was fortune favouring me; for the next haul from a pool was a long frond of Lam. bulbosa, closely examining the dripping extremity of which, I detected a minute, sparkling drop of pearly blue. What could it be? Something which I had hitherto never seen, at least in its living state. With the utmost care I detached it, and placed the fragile shell in a separate box, much revolving what it should be. Further search was rewarded by six or seven other specimens, and having now more leisure to examine them, I concluded they must be one of the minuter members of the genus Trochus, but so different from its dead and faded state in our cabinets, that I did not instantly recognize the species. Soon all the fronds of the great seaweed which thus unexpectedly produced a new shell of my own collecting were exhausted, and I was reduced to the previously despised bunches of Fucus serratus. Here the striking abundance of the egg-capsules of a Lacuna suggested the neighbourhood of the animal, and I was able to obtain about half a dozen specimens of L. pallidula. They occurred, however,

much less frequently than the patella above noticed. On the contrary, there was a rich profusion of sea-anemones (Actinia). Their crimson bulbs studded the shady pools in groups, often spreading their petal-like arms with charming effect. An unusually large individual, revelling in orange and green, was especially attractive; and almost every crevice was filled with what at first sight appeared to be little hemispherical heaps of clean gravel, but which were, in truth, the closed bodies of Actinice, awaiting the coming of the tide and their dinner-time. Perhaps these "flowers of the deep" are among the most entertaining denizens of the rock-pools, for their beauty and variety never fail to arrest the attention of the most casual observer.

Again the relentless tide drove me back. Yet, lingering over the pleasant recreation, I next raised a stone, which the Actinice on its edges told me had not been moved for some time. Its bottom was a scene of confusion and distress. Here a long worm wriggled out of sight; there a crustacean, all legs, scuttled over the edge and dropped into the water. A Chiton sealed its valves hermetically to the stone; Littorine and Trochi shut themselves up. They need not have been alarmed, for their disturber's eyes were fixed on the spot where five pearly drops of irridescent blue indicated as many of my lately-discovered prizes, which I now determined to be Trochus helicinus. Though not quite so fine as those on the algae, they were more numerous; and before I was finally driven in by the waves, I managed to obtain about twenty from this new habitat, a number increased nearly fivefold on a subsequent visit. This pretty univalve does not appear to range far to the south of Scarborough, though it is found a long way up the coast of Scotland; but doubtless a close inspection would discover it in many similar localities on our own shores.

Retiring slowly over the gently sloping beds of lias, I was next struck by the recent look of the holes of boring-shells, and presently detected the valves of Pholas crispata and Tapes pullastra. A little industry in the use of a clasp-knife soon cut them out of the saturated and softened rock, but I was unable to get any living specimens. The many theories which have been invented to account for the way in which these animals bore their habitations may be instructively studied, both here and at Filey. I would draw attention to one important fact, viz., the ease with which the wet rock is cut, compared with the difficulty of smashing it when dried by exposure to the atmosphere. It is ever so, whether the material be the limestones of Yorkshire and Dorset, the chalks of Flamborough and elsewhere, or the red sandstones of Torquay and its neighbourhood.

Here my operations came to a close for the time. They