The published observations of other workers, on samples of herrings taken from the area under consideration, whether they relate to the study of such morphological characters as the number of vertebræ and keeled scales, or are chiefly concerned with the examination of the growth of the fishes as indicated by their scales, demonstrate very clearly that the eastern, central and western sectors of the area are visited by herrings which differ in character. It will be convenient to summarise the opinions of these workers under the headings of the statistical regions in which the samples were taken. The reader is referred to the chart on page 269, which shows the geographical extent of the regions dealt with.

The Council and Officers.

The work of the Council has this year been considerably augmented in consequence of the fact that a commission has been accepted from H.M. Government to carry out in the southern British area the programme of scientific fishery investigations adopted by the International Conference, which met at Christiania in 1901. In addition to the four ordinary meetings of the Council, three special meetings have been held, these being entirely devoted to the organisation of the international work. The average attendance at the meetings has been nine. The Council have again to thank the Royal Society for allowing all the meetings to bo held in their rooms at Burlington House.

The spawning period of the nudibranch mollusc Onchidoris bilamellata (L.), although generally extending from December to May, has occasionally been reported to occur also in summer and early autumn. Preliminary data are presented here on the larval development of summer and early autumn spawnings and compared to previous studies of the larval development of ‘normal’ (winter-spring) spawnings. The possible causes and consequences of the rare summer and early autumn spawnings are discussed.

The nudibranch mollusc Onchidoris bilamellata is distributed around the British Isles, the Atlantic coast of France, Iceland, Greenland, and the coasts of North America and Japan (Thompson & Brown, 1976). It exhibits an annual life cycle with a single spawning season, generally extending from December to May in which the adults spawn repeatedly. At the end of May/June the post-spawning mortality of the adults is usually complete (Todd, 1979). Summer and early autumn spawnings have been recorded in intertidal populations only occasionally (Todd, 1979 and references therein; present study). Larval development has been studied previously on larvae hatching from eggs laid during the ‘normal’ spawning season. No information is available on the larval growth and development of summer and early autumn spawnings. In the present study two key points were addressed: the occurrence of individuals and spawn masses in the field throughout the year; and the identification of any distinctive traits of the July and September offspring.

The field observations were carried out on the south-eastern coast of Scotland (56°18′N 2°39′W) from July 1993 to August 1994. The surface sea-water temperatures were recorded from January 1993 to August 1994 in St Andrews (56°20′N 2°47′W), seven miles from the location under study (Figure 1).

A buoyant-weight method is described for the non-destructive estimation of fresh weight, total dry weight, shell weight and dry weight of organic matter in living barnacles Balanus amphitrite amphitrite Darwin. The method involves developing regression equations relating weight in air of these parameters to the buoyant weight of living barnacles in sea water. Buoyant weights of barnacles can then be used with the regression equations to obtain the weight in air of these consitituents, making possible the measurement of rates of shell growth and growth in dry weight without disturbance to the living animal. The method has been developed for the analysis of groups of juvenile barnacles cultured on coverslips, ranging in total dry weight from 1 to 60 mg, and for single mature individuals from 75 to 800 mg total dry weight. The buoyant-weight method has been used to measure shell growth of 2–3 mg d-1 in barnacles of 48 mg mean initial total dry weight cultured at 28°C.

Although to many organisms manganese is known to be of great importance (Berkeley, 1922; Brenchley, 1927; Hopkins, 1930) its part in the economy of the sea is unknown. Some attempts were therefore made in 1934 to estimate the manganese in marine plankton using the residues from the determinations of phosphorus (Cooper, 1934; Harvey et alia, 1935). The residues from the triplicate digests from each cruise were combined and concentrated from about 200 to 70 ml. The concentrates were then examined quantitatively for manganese by the periodate method of Willard and Greathouse as described by Yoe (1928). In all cases but one the concentration of manganese was less than could be detected with certainty (Table I). In the absence of confirmatory data the figure of 5γ per litre of the diatom catch of May 15th must be regarded as suspect and attributable to chance contamination. Thus in these catches at L4 (5 miles off shore) during the spring outburst in 1934 manganese amounted to less than three parts per million million parts of water filtered, equivalent to one-thousandth or less of the phosphorus content.

The echiuran worm Thalassema thalassemum (Echiura: Echiuridae), is a deposit-feeder which uses its proboscis to collect sediment particles for ingestion. The proboscis is highly extensible and is used with dorsal surface downwards to skim particles from the sediment surface. Alternatively, the distal portion of the proboscis is arched over and the ventral surface of the tip is held against the sediment surface where ciliary movement facilitates particle collection. These methods are used in combination and collected material is moved back along the proboscis, the edges of which are rolled to form a closed tube. Burrows appear to be U-shaped with one predominantly inhalant and one exhalant opening. Faecal pellets are periodically ejected forming small mounds around exhalant openings and mean rates of 1·83 and 2·80 g dry wt d−1 were measured suggesting that, in sufficient densities, this species could make a significant contribution to macrofaunal bioturbation.

By the death at the age of 84 of Mr William H. Searle there passed away, on 6 April i960, one who had served the Laboratory longer than anyone else and who, during his 63 years as fisherman-collector, had installed himself in the affections of countless biologists the world over. From December 1895 until his retirement on 30 September 1958 his assiduous and unwearied devotion to his collecting duties, year in and year out whatever the weather, on the shore or in his boats, earned him the lasting gratitude of all those innumerable research workers, teachers and students who relied on ‘Bill’ to procure living material for their researches or studies. He, more than anyone else, knew where the animals were to be found, how to capture them without damage and how to ensure their safe arrival at the Laboratory hours later. More than one student who had been collecting on the shore alongside Bill has later been astonished to observe the large and varied assortment of creatures emerging alive and kicking from one small and tightly packed basket. He had a keen eye for the little things—Gromia, praniza larvae and the like, from the rock crevices he split open with his crow-bar. These he would carefully transfer from silted rock surface to honey jar on the point of his pocket-knife. He knew well their scientific names, though foreigners would often have difficulty in recognizing them when pronounced with a strong Devonshire accent. It was usually the old names current during his youth that he knew, and he was not alone in deploring the activities of systematists in so frequently changing and re-changing so many of them.

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.

Accurate discrimination of two morphologically similar species of Patella limpets has been facilitated by using qPCR amplification of species-specific mitochondrial genomic regions. Cost-effective and non-destructive sampling is achieved using a mucus swab and simple sample lysis and dilution to create a PCR template. Results show 100% concurrence with dissection and microscopic analysis, and the technique has been employed successfully in field studies. The use of highly sensitive DNA barcoding techniques such as this hold great potential for improving previously challenging field assessments of species abundance.