May 1901.MAY 1901.
MAY 1901.
FloweryMay! Well, not exactly. To us here this month generally spells fish, and is looked forward to as a pleasant change from the usual regime. It may probably surprise many to learn that though planted here, right in the centre of the fishing grounds, our table for the greater part of the year is “fishless”; for, unlike Mahomet and the mountain, the fish must come to us, even to our verydoor—for from our doorway the most of our fish are caught, save an occasional one taken with rod and line from the deep pools left on the Rock by the receding tide. The catching of fish from one’s doorstep will be easily understood when it is known that a stumble from our door at full tide means a sheer fall of fifteen feet into two or three fathoms of water. A stay fixed in the doorway, with its outer end attached to the landing-slip fifty feet from the tower, carries a weighted pulley, to which is attached the fishing line, while pending from the pulley is the snid and hook. The pulley is carried to the extremity of the stay by its own momentum, and is hauled back by means of the fishing line. The most of our fly-fishing is carried on with this apparatus, our largest catches being generally in the fall and consisting principally of poddlies, with an occasional lithe or cod. Strangers often ask why we do not keep a boat here; it might almost as reasonably be asked why we don’t keep a cow. Simply because we have not the necessaryaccommodation—that is, unless one could be devised with the properties of a limpet, and be none the worse for several hours’ immersion every tide. Besides, our Commissioners have decreed that it would not be advisable, as the temptation to wander might end in our being cast away, and the possible result of the Rock being left even for one night without its customary warning light might be too horrible to contemplate.
Cyclopterus lumpusis again with us. This is not a new form of the plague, but merely the technical term for the fish called the lump-sucker, better known on the East Coast as the paidle-cock and paidle-hen. Early this month they annually visit the Rock to deposit their ova. This the hen does in some convenient angle of the Rock, often so ill-judged as to expose the nest at low water. The ova is cemented into a compact mass, and adheres to the Rock by means of a gelatinous envelope surrounding each egg. This operation performed, the hen evidently considers her share of the contract as finished, as she immediately clears out to deep water, leaving the cock to mount guard over the nest. This duty he faithfully performs, as he is always to be seen with his nose close up to the ova, and never seems to leave it for a moment. I have frequently taken them away from the nest and placed them in a different part of the pool, but they invariably returned to their post. A stick or other substance intruded in the vicinity of the nursery is viciously snapped at. The ova seems to be considered a desirable dainty by other fishes, as the stomachs of the cod caught by us bear indisputable evidence of the cock’s inefficiency as guardian of his embryonic progeny. The hen is about eighteen inches long, and of a somewhat repulsive appearance. The cock is about half this size, and more attractive, being brilliantly coloured, combining various shades of blue, purple, and rich orange. A broad sucking disc between the pectoral fins enables the fish to moor itself to the rock and maintain an upright position. The dorsal ridge somewhat resembles a cock’s comb, and is probably the origin of the name paidle-cock.
“Treasure-trove—Discovery of Specie on the Bell Rock.” There is a heading for a sensational article, recalling visions of that fictitious personage Ralph the Rover and his ill-gotten wealth. Well, many a yarn is built on a less slender foundation. Here are thefacts:—The specie did not consist of Spanish dollars stacked in massive oaken coffers, but of a similar metal enclosed in a far more ingenious receptacle, simply a shilling in a live mussel. The shilling appeared as crisp as if newly struck, and bore the date 1839. It had turned a dark brown colour and had some filaments of the byssus or “beard” of the mussel adhering to it. The mussel was one of a quantity taken from underneath Granton Pier, and was being opened here for bait purposes when the “discovery” was made.
On the evening of the 20th inst. we had a grand view of a flotilla of torpedo destroyers steaming south. Although the sea was comparatively calm, they appeared to be making heavy weather of it; they literally “shovelled” the sea over themselves, and the steersmen, being placed further forward than in ordinary vessels, were being continually drenched. The terrific speed and the flames spurting from their short, stumpy funnels suggested the idea of their being on an errand of life and death rather than on a peaceful tour.
We have just completed a small aquarium, by means of which we hope to become better acquainted with the more minute organisms with which the Rock at this season of the year teems. Apart from the study of man himself, what can be more interesting than to be an actual eye-witness of the gradual evolution of the different forms in the great life-scheme of the Creator, from the simple nucleated speck of protoplasm (amœba), which multiplies by simple division, to the more complex structure of the members of the vertebrate kingdom?