Notwithstanding these precautions, so rigorous were the impress officers that they actually pressed a Bell Rock seaman named George Dall, while on a visit to some friends near Dundee, in July 1810, and this despite the fact of his having the protection medal and ticket in his possession. These proofs the officer chose to ignore, holding that a seaman only stood protected on board the ship to which the Admiralty protection had been granted, or in a boat belonging to the ship. This was absurd, as it was impossible for each man to carry the ship’s protection with him. However, Dall was kept a prisoner, and only on the representations of the Lighthouse Commissioners did the Dundee Magistrates order his release. _JANUARY 1902._ A ramble round the rocks at low water just now discloses a scene of bareness quite in keeping with the season of the year. The upper surface of the higher lying rocks is as bare as a street pavement, and only an occasional patch of acorn barnacles remains of the encrustation with which they were invested during the summer. The white whelk, so much in evidence here, have all gone into winter quarters, and underneath projecting ledges and in sheltered nooks they may be seen in myriads, their position being so judiciously chosen as to be completely protected from the heavy north-east seas. So closely are they wedged together that were a given space to be cleared it would be found almost impossible to replace them in the same area. Detaching one from its anchorage, it seems quite dormant and inert, and appears to have lost the alacrity with which, in summer, they withdraw themselves into their shells, and only with apparent difficulty is the operculum or door of their domicile closed against intruders. To witness the continual thumping and pounding to which the Rock is subjected during the winter, one is surprised to find that life in any form should continue to exist under such conditions. A close search reveals exceedingly minute forms of life. Here in this stony basin, originally but a shallow depression in which a stone had lodged, and by the swirling action of the seas converted to its present shape, with its sediment of broken shells, is a small crab, so small indeed that a split pea might easily conceal him. He is not a youngster either, but fully adult, in proof of which we have frequently found them, in the proper season, with their spawn attached. Deep in his little pit he seems quite immune from the furious seas that tumble overhead as the tide makes. Numbers of small white-banded whelks, which one may easily crush between the fingers, maintain their position on the base of the tower, despite the constant swirl of waters, though they may be detached with a flick of the finger.