The collection of Decapoda made by the Huxley during her short cruise on the north side of the Bay of Biscay is an extensive one; it comprises no less than forty-nine species—a number which speaks well for the efficiency of the gear employed.

Chiefly with the object of obtaining material from which comparisons of an intact plaice population with that at present existing in the North Sea might be made, I undertook, in August, 1907, a voyage in a commercial steam trawler to the new fishing grounds in the “White Sea.”

The researches here described extended for intermittent periods over the years 1906 and 1907, and were primarily intended to embrace inquiry into the food problem of Pilchard, Herring, and Mackerel frequenting the western part of the English Channel. The observations now recorded form, therefore, a part of a wider series.

Only one species met with on this cruise appears to have been previously undescribed.

Although all the other species were already known from similar localities in the North-east Atlantic, attention may be called to an interesting series of the young of Synaphobranchus pinnatus and to the capture of numerous young examples of Onus biscayensis.

When compared with the results of the hauls taken by H.M.S. Research, a little farther south and over very much deeper soundings, the list of species taken by the Huxley is chiefly remarkable for the entire absence of Stomias boa, Gonostoma microdon, and G. bathyphilum, the range of none of which seems to extend into waters as shallow as those fished by the Huxley.

It cannot be said that all the species of the Phyllodocidæ have yet been satisfactorily defined, much difference of opinion existing as to the separation of varieties and species. In the accompanying key the nomenclature of Professor Mclntosh has been followed, but those Annelids, which are classed by him as varieties, but which have been hitherto generally accepted as distinct species, are shown separately. The true specific value of the arrangement and nature of the papillæ on the proboscis can only be settled by the examination of numerous individuals from various localities; in the meantime it appears best to consider Annelids differing in these particulars as at least varieties worthy of a name.

In the programme of work for the summer of 1906, it was decided by the Director that a series of cruises should be carried out by the Association's steamer Oithona to investigate the fauna of the deeper waters of the English Channel. The bearing S.W. ½ S., Magnetic, = S. 23° W., True,* from the Eddystone Lighthouse was chosen as a baseline, and the work was to be carried out with special reference to points at 10-mile intervals along this bearing. The fauna was to be investigated as fully as possible, and bottom-deposits, particularly stones, were at the same time to be carefully recorded and collected. In all, eight cruises were made, the work being extended nearly as fer as the 50-mile point.

THIS paper deals with the Mollusca collected on the cruise of the s.s. Huxley to the north side of the Bay of Biscay in August, 1906, with the exception of the Cephalopoda, which are being worked out by Dr. W. E. Hoyle. The collection, though small, taking into account the area over which dredgings were taken, contains a fair number of interesting species. Though there is nothing new, there are several species represented which one would not expect to find in such high latitudes, and their discovery adds somewhat to our, as yet, slight knowledge of the fauna of the deeper seas and its distribution.

The observations to be recorded in this Paper were commenced in March, 1905. They originated in an attempt to find a general method for rearing marine larval forms. Several investigators had previously succeeded in rearing Echinoderms, Molluscs, and Polychætes from artificially fertilized eggs under laboratory conditions, but the process was generally difficult and the results more or less uncertain. The most promising method seemed to be that adopted by Caswell Grave (26), who was able to rear his larvæ by feeding them on diatoms. Grave obtained his diatoms by placing sand, collected from the sea bottom, in aquaria and using such diatoms as developed from this material. All the methods, however, suffered from the uncertainty of not knowing what organisms were introduced into the aquaria in which the larvse were to be reared, either in the original sea-water or along with the food-supply.

The principal feature of interest in these collections is the presence of a single fine specimen of Corallium maderense. Only one other specimen of this species has hitherto been obtained, and no specimen of the family has hitherto been recorded from the Bay of Biscay

For the past two and a half years (1906–8) some salmon, which were reared at the Endsleigh Fishery, have been kept under observation in the aquarium of the Plymouth Laboratory.

In sending these fish as smolts to the Laboratory, the Duke of Bedford wished more particularly to obtain information on two questions: firstly, the character of the food of the salmon during its sojourn in the sea, and secondly, the period of that sojourn intervening between the smolt and grilse stages. These and other points of interest that have arisen will be considered in order in giving a general account of the experiment.

(See Eliot on Coryphella beaumonti in Notes on some British Nudibranchs, Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., vol. vii., No. 3, June, 1906, pp. 361–3; and Nils Odhner on Cumanotus laticeps in Northern and Arctic Invertebrates, iii. Opisthobranchia. Kngl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar. Band 41, No. 4, 1907, pp. 29, 80, and 101–2).

In describing (l.c.) Coryphella beaumonti as a new species, I pointed out that in many important characters it differs markedly from the other known Coryphellœ, and might be made the type of a new genus. But I did not create a new genus, thinking it might be well to examine further specimens, both of this animal and of allied forms, before deciding on its place in the classification. In the next year Odhner created (I.c.) the genus Cumanotus to which Coryphella beavmonti is certainly referable, and which is shown by his researches to be well characterized. It is allied to Coryphella inasmuch as it has unperfoliate rhinophores, tentacular angles to the foot, a triseriate radula and denticulate jaws; but it also possesses the following special characters: (1) The oral tentacles are very small and connected by a cutaneous fold which runs across the head; (2) there are several (at least, as many as three) rows of cerata in front of the rhinophores; (3) the verge is deeply grooved, and there is a bursa copulatrix, the entrance to which bears on its upper and lower margin a circular pad, armed on the periphery with twelve small cones terminating in hooks.

As remarked by Stebbing (A History of Recent Crustacea, p. 185): “Upogebia, Leach, 1814, was founded to receive another species discovered by the industrious Montagu, and described by him in 1805 (1808) as Cancer astacus stellatus. … It seems to have escaped the notice of writers subsequent to Leach that the earliest name of this genus was Upogebia, which therefore must be retained in preference to Leach's own alteration of it into Gebia, or Risso's Gebios.”

The Hydroids collected on the northern edge of the Bay of Biscay during a five days” cruise in August, 1906, by Dr. E. J. Allen, were entrusted to me for examination. I thank my friend Dr. Allen for giving me the opportunity of working through the collection, which contained thirty-seven species, including two new species (Bimeria arborea and Bimeria biscayana) and several rare deep-sea forms.

Our knowledge of the area occupied by the British Hydroids has been increased by this cruise. All the species taken at six out of the eight stations have been previously recorded for the British area. It was only at the two stations over 400 fathoms that foreign species occurred. Bathymetrical distribution has also made an advance, as several species were taken at a depth considerably greater than that hitherto recorded for them.

Of the three species of Brachiopoda found, two, Magellania cranium and M. septigera, are found in the British list. The third species, Mühlfeldtia truncata, has not, as far as I can discover, previously been recorded from so high a latitude, Turton's Torbay locality being very doubtful.

Investigation of the geologic problems connected with the English Channel is no new matter. Setting aside all speculations deriving from the study of its coast-line, the first serious examination of the bed of the Channel was made by R. A. C. Austen, and his results published in the Proceedings of the Geological Society, 13 June, 1849. Although, as he states, he had examined the sea-bed with dredge and sounding-lead he has little to say as to its lithology. But none the less his work is a notable contribution to our knowledge, and his conclusions bear well the test of subsequent discoveries. Following Austen, in 1871, Delesse published his Lithologie des Mers de France, in which considerable attention is given to the Channel; and the lithology of its coastal deposits, and to some extent of the sea-bed, is considered in detail. But, valuable as this work is, its chief interest lies in the information given as to the nature of the sea-bottom, the grade and extent of the varying deposits. Austen and Delesse alike, and in agreement, point out the large areas of the Channel bed which are occupied by stones, boulders, and pebbles of some size, and argue on much the same lines as to the conditions which have formerly existed there.

In his paper on “Plankton Studies in Eelation to the Western Mackerel Fishery,” in the last number of this Journal (Vol. VIII., p. 269), G. E. Bullen shows that for the years 1903–1907 there appears to be a correlation between the number of mackerel taken during May and the amount of Copepod plankton, upon which the mackerel feed, taken in the neighbourhood of the mackerel fishing grounds during the same month.

The Council and Officers.

Four ordinary meetings and one special meeting of the Council have been held during the year, at which the average attendance has been ten.

The Laboratories at Plymouth and Lowestoft have both been visited by Committees of the Council.

The thanks of the Council are due to the Councils of the Royal Society and of the Linnean Society for the use of their rooms for the meetings.

On February 27th, the roe of a cod having a testicular portion attached was received at the Laboratory from Messrs. Moodys and Kelly, of Grimsby. It had been taken from a cod caught by a steam trawler fishing in Icelandic waters. Owing to the rough removal of the organs from the fish on the trawling ground, the genital ducts were missing and the region of their origin was ruptured, while the testis had been somewhat damaged in the course of its long journey to Plymouth.

The simple piece of apparatus, to which I give the name “Currenttube” was made last year in the Marine Laboratory at Plymouth. I designed it especially for growing Hydroids, and for them it has proved to be a success; but it should also be useful for other fixed organisms, such as sponges, polyzoa, and ascidians.

The previous methods which I had used for growing Hydroids in bell-jars or small aquaria never gave complete satisfaction. Occasionally a success was recorded, but there were too many failures, which frequently involved a great waste of labour.

I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Allen for the opportunity of examining the collections of these two orders of Crustacea in the Huxley's material.

None of the species are new to science, and but few of them present any features worthy of remark. The chief interest of the collection lies in its bearing on the known geographical distribution of the species captured for, out of a total of twenty-eight, no fewer than sixteen are recorded for the first time from localities south of the British Islands, while only eight of the species have previously been recorded from the Bay of Biscay. The bathymetrical range of five of the species recorded has been considerably increased by this material.