In my paper in the preceding number of this Journal I erroneously described several specimens of this species as Zeugopterus punctatus, not having carefully examined or compared them. Since then, having seen specimens of Zeugopterus norvegicus, and re-examined my own, I find that my specimens belong to this species. The record of their capture in the neighbourhood of Plymouth is —

The southern shores of the English Channel have long been famous for the wealth of their Tunicate fauna, having furnished material in abundance for the classical researches of Milne-Edwards, Giard, and Lacaze-Duthiers. The Channel Islands also have been repeatedly visited by English zoologists, and have amply supplied those among them who have been in search of Tunicate treasures. Probably the peculiar tidal conditions of this part of the Channel are especially favourable to a rich development of littoral forms; but, as the work of Montagu, Couch, Clark, Alder, Gosse, Cocks, Bate, and Norman sufficiently testifies, the Devon and Cornish coasts of England can lay claim to an almost equally luxuriant shore fauna, the rocky bays and long sheltered estuaries being especially wealthy in this respect. During my residence at Plymouth I found that the Tunicata were among the best represented groups of the fauna, and, as I devoted considerable attention to the search for rare or new, as well as for well-known forms, I trust that a classified report upon the local representatives of the group will not be without its usefulness to other investigators.

Although the Isle of Wight has been a favourite haunt of the geologist and the palæontologist, references to its present marine fauna are exceedingly rare in zoological literature. Early in May of the present year, however, I had an opportunity, at the suggestion and through the kind hospitality of my friend Mr. Poulton, of examining the littoral fauna of the eastern shores of the island, and of making a considerable collection of zoological specimens. A list of the species which I obtained will be published as soon as I have had time to complete the examination of them; but several of the Ascidians throw so much light upon the brief and obscure descriptions of certain species, that I believe it will be serviceable to give a full account of them without further delay, especially since the pressure of other work may prevent an early appearance of the complete list.

Since the publication of the last paper a number of experiments have been made in connection with the Bait question. The object aimed at was to obtain some material which would serve as a medium for the application of some or other of the extracts prepared by the methods given in the previous report. A number of common substances were tried without success. The majority were either not sufficiently porous, or, if possessing that qualification, they lacked that strength and toughness which is absolutely necessary in a bait which must lie in the water for some hours.

It is this length of time which renders such materials as sponge, however fine, quite useless, since no extract, even if very much thickened, will remain in a piece of sponge more than a few minutes. Mr. Bateson in his report on this subject suggested the use of China clay; I tried a number of experiments with this, both dried and soft. In the latter case disintegration occurred at once, and the dried clay did not absorb sufficient extract to render it attractive; besides this, fish always reject any hard substance, even if it be made attractive with the smell of a favourite food. A somewhat promising material was obtained by boiling down skate skins until they were quite soft, and pressing them into blocks. The large amount of gelatine in these skins caused the fibres to adhere, forming a compact mass. This was somewhat porous and elastic, and took up a considerable amount of extract, but, like a number of other gelatine preparations, would not withstand the prolonged action of the water.

The following faunistic notes are offered as an indication of the chief results which have characterised our collecting operations during the present year. It is hoped that, short as they are, they may prove serviceable to British naturalists desiring to pursue special researches in marine zoology, but undecided as to the locality most likely to meet their needs. The notes are incomplete, owing to my absence from Plymouth during the earlier part of the year; but they are sufficient for the formation of an inference, since the results here described were obtained for the most part during only a fragment of the year—from June to September.

The following paper is to be regarded as the sequel of that published in the preceding number of this Journal, on the rate of growth and distribution of young marine fishes. I am still continuing inquiries of this character, and have now to record the additional results obtained up to the end of March, 1892. I have also described and criticised some of the results of other workers in the same field.

1. Historical Review.

The history of our knowledge of this subject is complicated and curious, and is not quite correctly narrated in any English publication, not even by Balfour in his account of the development of Crustacea (Comparative Embryology, vol. i). The story begins with the establishment and definition of the genus Phyllosoma by Leach in 1818. Various succeeding zoologists included descriptions of species of Phyllosoma in their works, but the result of all previous investigations are included by Milne Edwards in the comprehensive account of the genus given in his Hist. Nat. des Crustacés, vol. ii, 1837. The state of knowledge at that time may be briefly summarised as follows:—The Crustaceans known by the name Phyllosoma had been found near the surface of the ocean in various parts of the world. They varied in size from less than half an inch to two inches. They were, when alive, of glassy transparency; the body was remarkably flat, and expanded horizontally, while the limbs were long, slender, and biramous. The body consisted of three parts; firstly, a head having the form of an oval leaf, bearing at its anterior extremity a pair of eyes on long stalks and two pairs of simple antennæ. The mouth was situated beneath the middle or posterior third of the head, and surrounded by an upper and lower lip, a pair of maxillæ, and the first pair of maxillæ. The second pair of maxillæ and the first pair of maxillipeds were rudimentary and situated behind the mouth. The second part of the body was the thorax, quite as flat but not so large as the head; it was usually broader than long.

The six drawings reproduced in Plates III and IV were made at sundry times from stages that I succeeded in obtaining in the years 1889 and 1890. The three stages of the common sole were procured after my quarto book on that fish was completed, and they enable me to supplement the account of the life-history of the species given there.

In my paper on the Reproduction of Fishes occurring at Plymouth, published in this Journal, vol. i, p. 10, 1889, I identified as the egg of the pilchard, a pelagic egg commonly found in the tow-net in summer, and distinguished by three obvious characters, namely: (1) an unusually large perivitelline space; (2) a single large oil-globule in the vitellus; (3) a completely subdivided yolk. I also stated that ripe spawning pilchards occurred off Plymouth between June and October, but always at some distance from land, being usually taken in mackerel nets worked to the south of the Eddystone. My identification of the egg, taken in the sea, was founded upon a comparison between it and the eggs pressed from the ripe but dead female pilchards obtained from mackerel fishermen. The latter eggs were already dead, and did not float, but sank in sea water, but they possessed a single oil-globule, and the yolk in them consisted of a number of yolk-spheres. The large perivitelline space was absent, because it is only formed when living eggs are extruded into sea water.

Raffaele had previously described two kinds of pelagic eggs found at Naples, which he recognised, from their divided yolk and the characters of the larvæ hatched from them, as belonging to some species of Clupeoid. The larger of these eggs he attributed to Clupea pilchardus, but did not give his reasons. This egg is in all respects similar to that identified as belonging to the pilchard by myself at Plymouth. It is well known that the sardine of the French coast and of the Mediterranean is the same species of fish as the pilchard of Devon and Cornwall.

The absence of systematic records showing the variations of the floating fauna and flora, or plankton, of the Plymouth waters is much to be regretted. My observations on the amount of animal and plant life suspended in the sea from the surface to the bottom would show that in comparison with similar observations made elsewhere, the quantity of plankton in this locality was during the past summer surprisingly small. The absence of data upon which comparisons could be based between the state of the water in this season and that obtaining in former years is all the more to be deplored because the present season has in many respects been a remarkable one. In the first place, the Plymouth mackerel fishery has so far been a complete failure; it has further been found that dog-fishes (both Scyllium and Acanthias) were not obtainable during June and July; and lastly, Aurelia aurita, which in summer is usually common, was extremely scarce in the Sound and tidal waters of Plymouth. If my Burmise that the amount of plankton was for the locality exceptionally small proves correct, then these three salient instances of scarcity of animals which are directly or indirectly dependent on the plankton for their food will suffice to show the importance of a series of more or less continuous observations on the physical and biological condition of the inshore and Channel waters. Were accurate information on these points available, it would in all probability enable us to explain, and we might even in time be able to foresee, the occurrence of so important an event as the exceptionally sporadic appearance of the mackerel in 1892.

On the 24th June, 1891, a mackerel boat, which had been fishing off the Runnistone, brought in several fish of the above species. They excited a good deal Of interest among the local fishermen, to whom they were quite unknown. A coastguardsman, who had seen them abroad, I forget where, declared them to be “pilot-fish,” a diagnosis with which some of the fishermen, to whom the true pilot-fish, Naucrates ductor, appeared to be known, could by no means agree. It appears, however, that from a certain similarity of habits the name is occasionally applied to the form before us, usually known to British naturalists as the black-fish.

During the past summer Mr. Holt has sent me from time to time young specimens of fish which he has collected, in order that I might report upon the evidence which they afforded as to the rate of growth of the various species in the North Sea. He has also supplied me with a complete list containing the names and the measurements of all the specimens he has collected, including many others besides those sent to me. I have simply studied the specimens and the list, and endeavoured to estimate the probable ages of the specimens. The necessary information as to the limits and duration of the spawning period in the case of each species has also been supplied to me by Mr. Holt. I have registered below the obseryed specimens of each species separately in the chronological order, of their capture. All have been collected in the course of the current year.

When trawling with a small beam trawl on July 9th last, a couple of miles north of the Eddystone, I obtained a large number of specimens of a fish which was quite unfamiliar to me. I found it was Crystallagobius Nilssonii. The chief characters distinguishing the species are the presence of only two rays in the anterior dorsal fin of the male, and the almost complete absence of this fin and of the pelvic fins in the female. The adult male is 4.4 cm. long, the female about 3 cm. When alive the fish is very translucent, and it is entirely destitute of scales. The species was first described by Düben and Koren in 1844 from half a dozen specimens taken near Bergen. Robert Collett has well described it in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1878, having taken twenty-eight specimens at about 30 fathoms in the Christiania Fjord in the years 1875—1877. Only forty-five specimens altogether had been taken off the south and west coast of Norway at the time when Collett wrote. I captured 201 specimens in a single haul of the trawl, 188 of which were female and 13 male. Nearly all were adult, the eggs being visible through the integuments in the female. A few not quite full grown are included among the 188 reckoned as female, and some of these may prove on closer examination to be young males. In any case the excess of females is very great.

By a resolution of the Council of the Association, passed on the 25th March, 1891, it was determined to proceed as speedily as possible with the inquiry into the relative abundance of anchovies on the south coast of England.

It may be taken for granted that, apart from its purely scientific value, a knowledge of the physical conditions affecting the waters of the sea has been shown to throw considerable light on many important economical questions. In its bearing on fish and fisheries, the inquiry may be said to have reached a point where it is conclusively shown that there is a problem to solve.

In a report of the Herring Committee of the Scottish Meteoro logical Society we find the following stated as preliminary results:— “If, during the herring season, there be a district where, from any cause, the temperature of the sea is lower than in surrounding districts, the catch of herrings is heavier in that district; and conversely if there be a district where, from any cause, the temperature of the sea is higher than in surrounding districts, in that district the catch of herrings is less. Among the causes which bring about a local increase or decrease of sea temperature, the chief are clouded or clear skies in respective districts, according as these occur during the day or during the night.

“The above refers to local fluctuations of temperature during the fishing season, when the temperature of the sea is high. It appears from the observations of past years that the herring seasons have closed about the time when the temperature of the sea in its annual fall has fallen generally to 54.5° F. It is of importance to ascertain how far this relation exists from year to year and in different districts.

The unusually severe weather of the last eight months has made it impossible to continue the observations in the Channel with any degree of regularity; only two trips have been made since that in June, of which a preliminary report was published in the last number of the Journal. The first of these, in November, included station VIII of the previous cruise, off the Bill of Portland in mid-channel, and the previous stations XIII and XIV, in Start Bay, also station I off Bolt Head. Besides these, soundings were taken at an additional station in mid-channel, south of Start Bay, and at four points in Start Bay itself, near land. The cruise was unfortunately interrupted by a gale which necessitated taking shelter for thirty-six hours in Portland Roads.

Introductory.—I believe that, so far as concerns the more important species, sufficient information has been accumulated to allow of the deduction of a reliable conclusion.

Though it is certain that some local variation exists in the different parts of the North Sea, I have not found it possible to treat the area otherwise than as a single district. This is of the less importance since the variation seems to be very slight, and in any practical application of the results arrived at I do not see how it would be feasible to subdivide the district.