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LOCH CRERAN: Notes from the West Highlands. W. ANDERSON SMITH. ALEXANDER GARDNER, PAISLEY; AND 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1887. PREFACE. THIS continuation of Natural History Sketches appeals to kindred lovers of Nature, and especially to the friends " and readers of Benderloch." Rhugarbh, Ledaig, N.6., Feb., 1887. 871232 LOCH CRERAN. JUNE, 1 88 1. [HE whole country has been looking so gay of late, in the full blaze of the wonderful sunlight we are blessed with, that on sea and shore alike we have an embarras de richesses of beauty, as well as of life and growth. Two men were for hours hard at work endeavouring to clear a small portion of sea-bottom from the abundant growth of marine annuals, and found the task too hard for them even in a long spring tide. Such an enormous growth partially explains the teeming life of the littoral in the summer time. Now is the time when the few in our district with leisure, and love of that un- Scottish fish, skate, can enjoy an hour's skate-spearing when our flat friends come inshore from the deeper waters, to deposit their strange eggs among the tangle in shallow water. Yesterday one man speared seven in a very short time on a small portion of sea bottom. To- day we found the breeze too rough, and the bottom consequently too much obscured to be able to make use of the iron, so we floated rapidly over the tangle fronds, casting unavailing glances into the general breadth of shaded blacks and browns. The whole bottom was completely obscured by a most unusually prolific growth; even a great stretch, that we had flattered ourselves had LOCH CRERAN. been made barren of algae but a month or two ago, showed scarce a yard of bottom. What harm can mussels do to oysters ! indeed. Just come round this way; and we take our incredulous friend to the few hundred molluscs lately thrown from the boat at random on the foreshore. On the gravel, of late, a deposit of young mussels has been rapidly maturing, and upon these the large oysters from deeper water had ac- cidentally been thrown. We lift one after another to find the byssus of the mussel firmly attached, and gradually extending over the shells, which are closed for a time at low water. A very few days and a good few of these strong oysters with powerfully developed muscles would have been most effectually choked by the numerous tenacious cords of the mussel having closed the shell too firmly to permit the "spring" of the oyster to expand and open it. What would they not have done to a bed of small, delicate- shelled oysters in a similar position ? It is impossible to estimate the injury done in this way to an oyster bed by a shell fish which grows to a certain maturity with great rapidity. There is a large bank of mussels of a certain size at the mouth of the river Awe that are said to die autumn when reach a certain so down every they stage ; that those about an inch or so in length must be but six months old. At this age an oyster is a delicate helpless creature, while these mussels are capable of forming a bank of such a mass, and so tied together, that nothing has a chance upon it but themselves. The young barnacles already cover every possible van- in countless thousands tage ground ; shells, wattling, stones all are alive with the sharp-edged mischiefs. It is interesting to note how the various classes of shells in- termingle, the young of one class seating themselves on JUNE, 1 88 1. the backs of another, and the young of the other return- ing the compliment all in the most indiscriminate man- ner. Great masses of ascidians constantly appear in the dredge, as well as the eggs of cuttle fish in groups. Amid a mass of tangle attachments we found an egg of the " " Rough Hound, which we tossed into the live bucket, thinking to keep it and bring it out. On re-examining it we found several young shells on the back of the egg, of an interesting character, and to obtain these we resolved to destroy the egg. Carefully cutting it open, the occupant was found to be fully formed, and placed in water it immediately uncoiled, and showed signs of life. The eyes were shut like a young puppy's, and it con- tinued breathing through its mouth steadily, as if its gills were not sufficient to supply it. Its vitality was low,, " apparently, so we determined to keep it in good sperrits," like the Polar potentate, and removed it from the water with this object. It now displayed great energy, and struggled most desperately against the pro- posed change. The little fish was the picture of the full- grown dog-fish, and the title of Roussette was even more strongly applicable to the prettily-spotted youngster thaa to the various full-grown specimens we have captured. This week we dissected a number of skate, speared on their spawning ground near at hand. Two of them had just been on the point of depositing their handbarrow- like eggs, whose horns were protruding. Another had an egg in process, the tough coating having been already formed, while all had masses of eggs on each side, scarcely discernible from those of hens ere the shells are formed. It would be interesting to ascertain whether they lay an egg daily, as in the case of fowls, and over what period their spawning time extends ? The resem- LOCH CRERAN. blance of the egg masses to those of domestic fowls, and the regular attendance of the fish every morning at the " " cairn in the sea, surrounded with tangle and compara- tively shallow, would lead one to expect a daily egg-lay- ing until the proper quantity was disposed of. These fish were mostly fed upon shell fish. Various hermit crabs, some Porcellanidae, one or two gapers or Myae, and a good many cockles seemed to comprise the greater portion of their contents. That they should have been able to withdraw the well-sunk shells of the gapers from their secure position in the clay of the loch's bottom, we not but of this shell- did expect ; the strong syphon tube fish is frequently well protruded, and what is stiff soil at low water is no doubt a much softer material when covered by the sea. At anyrate, shell-fish was the main -dish at their feast. Nor did we see a fragment of fish proper in the stomachs of any of them. The tide was low, and we were out at the utmost "verge with our assistants, busily engaged, when one of " " them pointed to the fish ripple on the surface of the advancing tide, and declared the shoal to be one of young herring about seven inches long. This appeared to us unlikely, so as we had been walking in well over our knickerbockers after flounders, we turned stork or heron for the nonce, and walking into the sea stood stock still for some until the sea time, should bring its living burden towards us. Long we watched, and watched in vain for the creatures ; although occasionally played near and of small by, appeared dimensions, we could not get a to proper glance say positively they were not herring. At length, when the water had crept further up our limbs than we had calculated, a splash and ripple behind us told of a of the shoal portion having passed. Carefully JUNE, 1 88 1. " " changing front, we herded the shoal towards the shore, and managed to direct them towards a stream that enters the little bay, and whose waters were now sufficiently brackish before the rising tide. Everything had gone gaily hitherto, and a fine shoal of many hun- fish into a dred had been ushered manageable position ; but on shouting for our assistant on shore to bring a hand net, our instructions were misunderstood by the Gaelic-speaking individual addressed, and only a "graip" was the result of a prolonged absence at our boat-house. But no time was to be lost in a second visit, and with a rush we drove a miserable fragment of the shoal into a corner, and captured them with our hands. There they darted about in the little water courses like, flashes of living silver, and as they came out of the water and glanced in the sunlight, we thought no more beautiful creatures ever danced over the land or through the water. Alas for the eventualities to which investigation is subject ! The delicate beauties were sent to the cot- tage, where they reached the kitchen, and, before a speci- men could be secured for more careful examination, they were actually all "gutted" by our extra-careful domestic ! They proved to be sand smelts (atherind). From some fathoms we bring up the spawn of the various nudibranchs, with almost all the inhabitants of the littoral, too, represented, although these are commonly deposited and matured in shallow water. The dredge in some localities comes up actually over-weighted with great pudding-looking ascidians, that must be spread thickly over the bottom of the sea. To the more tough- skinned of these many young of various creatures, oysters, serpulae, barnacles, and various zoophytes are found affixed, and everything seems to be a parasite on every- LOCH CRERAN. thing else. It is quite remarkable how often crabs of the less active class such as the long-legged spider- crabs are found quite covered with a growth of sponge, not only impeding their movements, but gradually eating into their flesh.