The Council of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom has determined to issue to its members notes and reports concerning the work of the Association in the form of a Journal, which will appear at intervals, determined by the amount of material ready for publication. It is not proposed to limit the contents of this Journal to formal reports, nor to publish in it lengthy scientific memoirs, but to include within its pages, besides the official statements of the Council, brief records of observations relating to the marine biology and fisheries of the coasts of the United Kingdom which may appear to have a definite bearing upon the work actually in progress under the auspices of the Association. With this object in view the Council of the Association invite communications from fishermen and naturalists, which may either be printed in full in this Journal or form the subject of a note.

In the ‘Times,’ March 31st, 1884, appeared the following article:

Biological station, some may be inclined to think, is simply Aquarium “writ large.” The two certainly do coincide to some extent j a biological station aa a rule implies an aquarium, but it includes a great deal more. In the early days of public aquaria, some twenty-five years ago, and down indeed to more recent times, attempts were made to utilise these institutions for scientific purposes, and biologists hoped that great results would follow from their establishment. It was in 1860 that the late Mr. Lloyd designed an aquarium for Paris, and two years later a similar one for Hamburg. Others soon followed, both in this country and on the Continent, nearly all of them constructed on the method devised by Mr. Lloyd, and several of them under his direct superintendence. Probably the earliest on a large scale in this country was the well-known establishment at the Crystal Palace, to the management of which Mr. Lloyd succeeded on the death of Mr. J. K. Lord.

In the following Notes on the Fishing Industry of Plymouth the information obtained is divided into three sections, which are again subdivided as follows:

I.—Methods of fishing, localities fished, and fish caught. There are eleven different methods of fishing carried on in Plymouth:

1. Beam trawling. 2. Drift-net fishing. 3. Moored-net fishing. 4. Seine fishing. 5. Bultering, or long-line fishing. 6. Hand-line fishing. 7. Eel spearing. 8. Mullet trapping. 9. Crab and lobster fishing. 10. Shrimp and prawn fishing. 11. Oyster, mussel, and cockle fishing.

Although the Plymouth Laboratory was opened only on June 30th, investigations have been carried on by the Association for the last two years. These inquiries have necessarily been of a general and preliminary character, but they have resulted in the acquisition of definite precise information on several subjects, in which previously only conjecture or complete ignorance prevailed. This information includes discoveries of some value and completeness in themselves, but its chief importance lies in the fact that it shows in what directions and by what means the instruments of inquiry supplied by the Plymouth Laboratory, and its organisation, can be applied without delay to fruitful work. It was with just this object in view that the Council instituted these preliminary inquiries; without them, when the apparatus of the Laboratory was ready for action, the staff would have had to make tentative experiments before they knew what problems the neighbourhood of Plymouth gave the material for solving. With them the fisheries and the marine Fauna of Plymouth are mapped out, and problems to be worked out are definitely proposed, so that the tanks and the powers of the zoologists can be fully occupied without loss of time.

The Laboratory which ia now in the course of erection at Plymouth for the Marine Biological Association, is situated between the south wall of the “Citadel” and the Sound, at a height of 95 feet above the level of the sea. The site, which has been granted to the Association by the War Office, occupies the whole length of King Charles's Curtain, 265 feet, and extends southwards from the Citadel wall 240 ft., giving a surface of, say, 63,600 feet.

St. Andrews as a site for the study of marine animals has a reputation probably at least as ancient as the foundation of its University (the oldest Scottish, viz. 1411), for amongst the early records of the latter allusion is made to the marvels of the sea and its inhabitants as a means for improving the minds of its students. For a long time, however, no special lectures on natural history were given. The scientific advantages of the situation, indeed, were first prominently recognised by Edward Forbes and the brothers Goodsir. Thus the former, for instance, picked up, for the first time in Britain Echiurus, on the sands after a storm; and the two Goodsirs, as students, were familiar with its marine rarities, and afterwards read many zoological papers at its Literary and Philosophical Society. Prof. John Reid, the physiologist, studied the development of zoophytes and mollusks in its rock pools, and Prof. G. E. Day, his successor in the Chair of Anatomy and Physiology, and Miss Otté, lost no opportunity of interesting the students in marine zoology. Besides, the occupants of the Chair of Natural History from its foundation in 1753, and including Professors Vilant, Dick, Forrest, Cleghorn, Adamson, Ferrie, Macdonald, and Nicholson, as well as Dr. McVicar, the University lecturer, all more or less drew from the rich marine resources in their proximity.

The Liverpool Marine Biology Committee was formed in March, 1885, for the purpose of investigating thoroughly the Fauna and Flora of Liverpool Bay and the neighbouring parts of the Irish Sea. The aim of the Committee is not merely to draw up an accurate list of the species found in this locality, but also to observe and record the relative numbers, the size, the colours, and the condition generally of the specimens, the exact localities in which they are found, the other species of animals and plants associated with them, and their mutual relations as food, enemies, or competitors. In this way it is hoped that a mass of observations will be accumulated which may be of use in determining the geographical distribution of various forms, the nature of the conditions which influence species, and the relations existing between the different plants and animals. It was felt at the outset that this work was exactly that department of biological investigation which could be best carried out by an organised body of workers who would subdivide the area to be investigated, and the groups of animals and plants to be worked up between them, and would carry on systematic observations year after year, sending in periodic reports upon their work. The value, in fact the absolute necessity, of this organisation, division of labour, and systematic arrangement, for the successful accomplishment of the objects in view, has been felt all along by the members of the Committee and those naturalists who have worked with them; and the results attained so far have, I think, fully justified their belief in the benefit to be derived from scientific organisation.

The “Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research” has now been at work for a little over four years, so that the present seems a fair opportunity to inquire what has been accomplished by its means. The object of the present article is to supply this information, and to show to what extent the results obtained have justified the expectations of its promoters.