HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

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MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.

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JUL 11 1904

VA AED

REPORT FOR 1898

ON THE

LANCASHIRE SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY

AT

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LIVERPOOL.

DRAWN UP BY
Professor W. A. Hxurpman, D.Sc., F.R.S.
AND

Mr. ANDREW ScoTT, Fisheries Assistant.
a

LIVERPOOL:

Printep sy T. Doss & Co., 229, BRowNLOW HILL.

“1896.

322

Report on the Investigations carried on in 1895
in connection with the LANcasHire SEA-FISHERIES

Laporarory at University College, Liverpool.

By Professor W. A. Herpman, D.Sc., F.R.S., and
Mr. ANDREW Scort, Fisheries Assistant.

With. Plates: :—vV.

INTRODUCTORY.

THE work that can be done in the application of Zoological
Science to the local Fishing industries seems spreading
and increasing in amount each year; and the work of the
past year, as may be seen from this Report, has opened
up much fresh ground, and has been carried on not only
in Liverpool and at Sea but also partly at Port Erin and
to a slighter extent in the neighbourhood of Piel Island,
near Barrow; and so has extended over the various parts
of our northern district of the Irish Sea. In fact we may
be regarded now as having, planned out, if not yet
completely established, a system of Fisheries investigations
which, although still on a small scale, will be able to
cover the ground effectively and to cope adequately with
the subject.

The central laboratory at University College, Liverpool,
the Marine Biological Station at Port Erin, the steamer
at sea, and the new branch laboratory now being fitted
up at Piel Island can subdivide the work between them,
and so render possible a wider range of observations.
The finer microscopic and laboratory work, the com-
parison of results and the drafting of reports can only be
carried on at a place like the Liverpool laboratory where

2

microscopes, microtomes and other laboratory apparatus
are available, where there are biological libraries to
consult, and where there are other scientific workers to
lend their help. The Biological Station at Port Erin
affords facilities for practical work on the shore and for
observations and experiments on the reproduction and
rearing of young marine animals in tanks. Such observa-
tions will prepare the way for the proposed Sea-Fish
Hatchery for which Port Erin seems pre-eminently fitted.
The trawling observations, the examination of the spawning
and feeding grounds, and the collection of statistics can
only be carried out by the steamer at sea, under the
direction of Mr. Dawson, as has been done in the past.
Finally, the little laboratory now being fitted up at Piel
Tsland will enable us to examine more systematically the
great shell-fish beds of the northern district and to deal
with fresh material brought in from that neighbourhood
before it is preserved and sent on to the central laboratory
at Liverpool.

Section I. of the following report, dealing with the
foods of fishes, found by an investigation of the stomach
contents, is in continuation of the work of previous years,
and has been drawn up by Mr. Scott.

Section II., on the investigation of the tidal and other
currents, which might affect the distribution of floating
fish eggs and fish food, by means of “drift bottles,” is a
further account of the observations commenced last year
and already discussed in a preliminary manner in the
Ninth Annual Report of the Port Erin Biological Station.
The results are now given more fully, and certain practical
conclusions are drawn from them. Iam myself responsible
for this section.

A new line of enquiry has been commenced this year
by sending Mr. Scott to examine some of the shell-fish

3

beds of the district periodically, and bring back material
consisting of shell-fish, of various sizes, and samples of
the sea-bottom and sea-water, from which when fully
examined in the laboratory a report can be drawn up on
the condition of the beds. Section III., dealing with this
investigation and giving lists of the organisms found on
the beds has been drawn up by Mr. Scott. This can only
be regarded as a first instalment of our report on the
shell-fish beds, and the work will be continued during the
present year. It need scarcely be pointed out that the
branch laboratory on Piel Island will be of material
assistance to us in examining the beds of the northern
part of the district. Mr. Scott in the course of his
examination of the mud from these mussel beds and of
deposits from other parts of our district—notably the
neighbourhood of Port Krin—has come upon a number of
minute animals, chiefly Copepoda, not hitherto recognised
as living in our district and some of them new to Science.
These are described by Mr. Scott in Section IV. and are
figured in Plates I. to V.

Section V. contains a preliminary account of the inves-
tigations now being carried on, partly in the Liverpool
laboratory and partly at Port Erin, by Professor Boyce
and myself, upon the conditions under which Oysters live
healthily, and upon the supposed connection between
oysters and disease—especially typhoid fever. It may
be noted that in addition to the enquiry into the subject
of the great ‘‘ Oyster and Typhoid”’ scare, we have made
many observations upon the different kinds of oysters
erown or laid down in our neighbourhood, and the effect
upon them of different kinds of water.

During last summer, I gave a Course of Free Lectures
under the auspices of the Sea-Fisheries Committee and
in accordance with the regulations of the University

4

Extension Scheme. The course was on “Our Edible
Sea-Fish and Sea-Fisheries,’ and the lectures were
delivered in the Zoology Theatre of University College
on Monday evenings, commencing May 6th. The course
was well attended, and the audience expressed much
interest in the subject, many of them staying on at the
conclusion of each lecture to examine the microscopic and
other specimens and to ask questions. These lectures
were not intended for, and were not attended by, fishermen
alone, but were open to the general public; and I am
convinced that it is fully as important for the future of
Fisheries investigation and improvement and of just
legislation in regard to the fisheries, that the general
public should have opportunities of learning the truth in
regard to the habits and life-histories of food fishes, and
the inter-relations of animals in the sea, as it 1s that the
fisherman himself should be instructed in such matters.
In addition to such public lectures, there is another
method by which an educated public opinion upon Fishery
questions can be formed, and that is by the establishment
in each district of a technical museum or collection
illustrating the local fisheries, the spawn and other stages
in the life-history of the various fishes, their foods, their
parasites, their diseases, and so on. Such a collection
could now readily be formed, with very slight additional
expenditure, at University College, in connection with
the Fisheries Laboratory, and would then be available
for consultation by fishermen, fishmongers, and all others
concerned. Jt would be of constant use to ourselves,
for comparison, in our fishery work; it ought to be of
value to Fisheries inspectors and superintendents and
to members of Sea-Fisheries Committees both in this
neighbourhood and from other parts of the country; and
it is the practical evidence that Fisheries experts from

5)

abroad especially desire to see when they come for
information in regard to our local Fisheries and the
conditions under which they are carried on.

Finally, such a technical museum of the Fisheries
would naturally be made the scene and the means of
object lessons and set demonstrations to the fishermen of
the neighbourhood, and would probably be the most
effective method of supplying technical instruction to
that class of the community.

W. A. HERDMAN.

JANUARY, 1896.

SECTION I.
EXAMINATION OF Foop IN FISHES’ STOMACHS.
(By Mr. ANDREW ScorTT.)

We have continued the examination of the stomachs of
the various marine animals whose life-histories we are
more intimately concerned with, chiefly from a fisheries
point of view, and to which we have been paying
considerable attention during the past few years, but as
we now know fairly well what forms the chief food supply
of these particular animals in our district, we do not deal
with this part of the work in such an exhaustive manner
as formerly and content ourselves by merely giving a
summary of the results, noting any points of special
interest connected with them.

During the past twelve months, from the beginning of
January to the end of December, 1,540 stomachs of various
marine animals from different parts of the district have
been examined.

The following are the sources from which the stomachs
have been obtained :—

Food fishes up to three inches ............... 487
‘ » above ,, ame OT 5: 498
Other fishes 2.00 ir ee cot nee ee 20
Cockiles? 3is..0 ee eee ote ee oe eee 210
RVC S| See eit ey re Car em 230
SHTUMPS syacososeasseaencwectcr meet -etee renee 100
1,540

THE Foop oF YounG FISHES.

The following summaries give the result of the examin-
ation of 487 stomachs of young food fishes, the differences
between the year 1895 and the previous years, if any,
being stated :—

7

Plaice (Plewronectes platessa).

167 stomachs of young Plaice were examined, of these
36 were empty and 1 contained indistinguishable animal
matter, leaving 130 to be accounted for as having
recognisable matter.

Crustacea were found in 65 stomachs, exactly 50%, and
consisted of the remains of Amphipods and Copepods, 51
stomachs contained numbers of the Copepod Jonesvella
hyena, a species described by Mr. I. C. Thompson some
years ago and which has since been found to enter very
largely into the food supply of the young flat fishes.

Annelida were also found in 65 stomachs, 50%. The
stomachs examined last year and referred to in the
Third Annual Report, gave a somewhat different result.
Crustacea took first place with fully 63 %, Annelida second
with 30 %, while 4 % of the stomachs contained Mollusca.
So that it is quite clear that Crustacea and Annelida are
the chief food supplying agents of the young plaice, and
of the two, Crustacea is probably the more important.

Dab (Pleuronectes limanda).

272 stomachs of young Dabs were examined, of which
226 were found to contain no food and 11 contained food
matter which was not recognisable, leaving only 35 to be
accounted for.

Annelida were found in 34 stomachs, or fully 97 %.
Echinoderms were found in 1 stomach, representing
scarcely 3 %.

In last year’s report 65 % of the stomachs of young
Dabs examined contained Annelida, and 24 % Crustacea,
so that Annelida appears to be by far the most important
food supplying agent of the young Dabs, Crustacea
occupying second place.

Flounder (Plewronectes flesus).

5 stomachs of young Flounders were examined, of which

3 were empty and 2 contained the remains of Annelida.

8
Sole (Solea vulgaris).

5 young Soles were examined; and the stomachs were
found to be empty.

Cod (Gadus morrhia).

10 stomachs of young Cod were examined, 7 of which
were empty and 3 contained the remains of Crustacea.

Whiting (Gadus merlangus).

6 stomachs of young Whiting were examined. all of
which were empty.

Sprats (Clupea spratta).

21 stomachs of young Sprats were examined, all of
which were empty. Last year’s report shows that out of
20 Sprats only 2 contained recognisable food, so that we
have still to find out what the Sprats feed upon.

Foop oF LARGER FISHES.

Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa).

153 stomachs of Plaice were examined, of which 43
were empty and 2 contained indistinguishable animal
matter, leaving 108 to be accounted for.

Annelida were found in 68 stomachs, or nearly 63 %.

Mollusca were found in 36 stomachs, fully 33 %, and
consisted of Solen, Philine, Mactra, Cardiwm and Mytilus.
The shell-fish beds are without doubt a good feeding
ground for the smaller flat and round fishes, as we
frequently find the remains of Cockles and Mussels as
well as Annelida in the stomachs of the fish caught in the
vicinity of the shell-fish beds, so that the protection and
cultivation of the more important shell-fish would be a
means of increasing the food supply for the smaller sizes
of the valuable food fishes.

Fish were found in 7 stomachs, or about 6} %, and
consisted chiefly of sand eels.

Last year’s report showed that Mollusca were the

9

most important food supplying agent of the Plaice, as
fully 72 % of the stomachs contained the remains of
various shell-fish, Annelida were second 22 % and Crustacea
third with 8 %.

Dabs (Plewronectes limanda).

176 stomachs of Dabs were examined, of which 70 were
empty and 13 contained unrecognisable animal matter,
leaving 93 to be accounted for.

32 stomachs contained Mollusca, or fully 34 %, the
Mollusca consisted of the remains of Buccinwm, Cardiwm,
Mactra, Mytilus, Philine and Nucula. Here again we
also find the smaller sizes of dabs, such as are caught in
the shrimp nets, &c., feeding on the young Cockles and
Mussels which they pick up on the shell-fish beds.

24 stomachs contained remains of Annelida, nearly 26 %.

23 stomachs contained remains of Crustacea, or nearly
25%, and consisted of Crangon, Pagurus, Portunus and
various Amphipoda.

6 stomachs contained remains of Echinoderms, nearly
7%, and consisted chiefly of the sand starfish, Ophioglypha.

9 stomachs contained remains of fish, nearly 10 %, and
were mostly composed of sand eels, but 1 stomach
contained a number of fish eggs.

1 stomach contained remains of a Zoophyte.

Last year’s report gave Annelida as first with 50 %,
then Echinoderms, Mollusca, Crustacea and Zoophytes
with 21%, 20% and 15-% respectively. In the previous
year (1893) Mollusca were found to be the chief food.

Flounders (Pleuronectes flesus).

20 stomachs of Flounders were examined 15 of which
were empty, the remainder, 5, contained fragments of
Annelida.

Soles (Solea vulgaris).
40 stomachs of Soles were examined of which 27 were

10

empty, and 6 contained matter unrecognisable, so that
only 7 out of the 40 contained food.

4 stomachs contained remains of Annelida.

2 stomachs contained remains of Crustacea.

1 stomach contained Mollusca.

Last year’s report gave Annelida as being the most
useful food supplying agent of this valuable food fish,
Crustacea being second, so that it seems clear, that on
the whole Annelida form a very important item in the food
of the Sole.

It may be stated here that by far the greater number
of Soles examined in this district are found to have no
food in the stomachs.

Cod (Gadus morrhua).

830 stomachs of Cod were examined, of which 13 were
empty, the remainder contained recognisable food matter.
Crustacea were found in 12 stomachs, or fully 70 %.

Fish were found in 4 stomachs, nearly 23 %.

Annelida were found in only 1 stomach.

Last year 90% of the stomachs examined contained
Crustacea, Fish being again second with 12 %, and
Annelida third.

Whiting (Gadus merlangus).

74 stomachs of Whiting were examined, of which 38
were empty, and 5 contained unrecognisable food matter,
leaving 31 to be accounted for.

Crustacea were found in 13 stomachs, or nearly 43 %.

Annelids were found in 8 stomachs, or fully 9 %.

Fish were also found in 3 stomachs, or fully 9 %.

Mollusca were found in 2 stomachs, or nearly 7 %.

In last year’s report, Crustacea were found to occupy
the first place with fully 73 %, Fish second with 24 % and
Annelida third with 7 %.

11

Haddock (Gadus eglefinus).

32 stomachs of Haddock were examined of which 9
were empty, and 1 contained unrecognisable food matter,
leaving 22 to be accounted for.

Crustacea were found in 12 stomachs, or fully 54 %.

Fish were found in 6 stomachs, or fully 27 %.

Mollusca were found in 3 stomachs, or fully 13 %.

Annelida were found in 2 stomachs, or fully 9 %.

From last year’s Report it will be seen that Mollusca
occupied the first place with fully 54 %, Echinoderms
second with 21 %, Annelida and Crustacea third with
fully 18 % each.

Thornback Skate (Raia clavata).

17 stomachs were examined of which 4 were empty, and
1 contained unrecognisable animal matter, leaving 12 to
be accounted for as having contained recognisable food
material.

Crustacea were found in 8 stomachs, or fully 66 %.

Mollusca were found in 3 stomachs, or 25 %.

Fish were also found in 3 stomachs, 25 %.

Last year’s report shows that fully 97 % of the stomachs
of the Skate contained Crustacea, Mollusca occupying
second place with 16 %, and Fish third with 10 %, so that
as far as our results go they show that the Thornback

Skate in our district feed largely upon Crustacea such as
Crangon, Carcinus, Galathea, Hyas, Nephrops, Portunus,
Pagurus and a species of Amphipoda, probably Ampelisca
spinipes, Boeck.

We have also examined the stomachs of a number of
other more or less important food fishes, such as the
“Lemon Sole” (Pleuronectes microcephalus), ‘* Long
Rough Dab ” (Hippoglossoides limandoides), “ Grey Gur-
nard” (Trigla gurnardus), “‘ Starry Ray” (Raia radiata),
“Grey Skate”’’ (Raza batis), but not in sufficient numbers
to make them worth while recording.

12

A number of the inedible fishes (fishes of no marketable
value) such as the “‘ Solenette’’ (Solea lutea), ‘‘ Megrim”’
(Arnoglossus laterna), ‘“‘ Pogge” (Agonus cataphractus)
etc., have been examined with the view of obtaining fresh
information regarding their habits and food, so that we
may have some idea as to what extent they compete with
the more valuable food fishes of this district.

In the stomach of one of the Solenettes a young Sole,
measuring 2 of an inch, was found, which is the first
direct evidence we have from this district of Solenettes
feeding upon young Soles. Whether or not this happens
to any great extent it is difficult to say.

CONCLUSION.

If we take into consideration the results of the four
years work of examining stomachs and compare one year
with another we find, as a rule, that each particular
species of fish is fairly consistent in preferring one kind of
animal as food.

There are times, however, when unusual animals may
form a large proportion of the food, and this may well be
due to a temporary scarcity of the usual foods or a
temporary abundance of the forms substituted. Such
variations in food matters may have considerable influence
upon the movements of fishes within our district.

SECTION II.
THE Drirt BoTTLES AND SURFACE CURRENTS.
(By Professor HERDMAN.)

In last year’s report the scheme for the distribution of
drift bottles over the Irish Sea, for the purpose of helping
to determine the set of the chief currents, tidal or other-

a

18

wise, which might influence the movements of fish food
and fish embryos, was fully explained. Since September,
1894, this work has been going on actively, and at the
end of about twelve months over one thousand drift
bottles in all had been set free. Many of them have
been let out at intervals of ten minutes, or quarter of an
hour, or twenty minutes (corresponding to distances of
from 8 to 6 miles apart) from the Isle of Man boats when
crossing between Liverpool and Douglas—a very con-
venient line of 75 miles across the middle of the widest
part of our area, traversing the ‘‘head of the tide”’ or
meeting place of the tidal currents entering by St. George’s
Channel and the North Channel. Others have been let
off from Mr. Alfred Holt’s steamers, in going round from
Liverpool to Holyhead and in coming down from Greenock.
Mr. Dawson on the Fisheries steamer ‘‘ John Fell” has
distributed a number along the coast in various parts of
the district, and the Fisheries bailiffs have let off some
dozens from their small boats. Other series have been
set free at stated intervals during the rise and fall of the
tide from the Morecambe Bay Light Vessel in the
northern part of our area, north of the ‘‘ head of the tide;”’
and, through the kindness of Lieutenant M. Sweny, B.N.,
a similar periodic distribution has taken place from the
Liverpool North-West Light Vessel, to the south of the
‘“‘head of the tide.’ Others, finally, have been despatched
by Mr. Robert Harley, by Mr. R. L. Ascroft, by Mr.
Andrew Scott and a few friends in other parts of the area
from small boats and on our dredging expeditions, in some
cases between the Isle of Man and Ireland. Altogether
we have pretty well covered this northern area of the
Trish Sea in our distribution of floating bottles.

Mr. Ascroft has also let off fifty larger and heavier
bottles, champagne quarts weighted with sand so as to

14

float almost entirely submerged, and with a post card
attached to the end of the cork. Nearly 30% of these
have been returned; most were set free in the northern
part of the district, and about 10 % have come south—
e.g., No. 34, set free off Duddon outer buoy (Cumberland)
on 9th May, was found at Wallasey embankment
(Cheshire) on the 18th of May—thus differing from our
smaller bottles (see below) which have largely gone north.
Possibly this difference in result may be due to the
weighted champagne bottles having floated lower in the
water or having been carried along near the bottom.
Some of them are said to have sunk out of sight when
set free, and one was trawled up from 12 miles 8.EH. of
the Bahama Light Ship from a depth of 14 fathoms.

The first small bottles used, and the printed paper they
contained, were described last year. We afterwards
adopted a rather larger size of bottle, 8°5 cm. in length;
and, after various postal difficulties and experiments, we
hit upon a convenient size and thickness of private post
card, which, ready stamped and addressed, and marked
with a distinguishing letter or number, is rolled up in its
bottle, and has printed on its back the following :—

For scientific enquiry into the currents of the Sea.

Whoever finds this is earnestly requested to write
distinctly the DATE and LOCALITY, with full particulars,
in the space below, and to put the card in the nearest

post office.
[No. here]

eee eee eee sere en eeeeeeeeesee eee eee seseeEee HF eeneeeoessesesseeseses eee ee?

Peeve ee eee see eee sesresseese see see oer eee eeeesseeneeeeseseeeeeeeeee HEE HES EEE

DATE, When, TOWING. ta i.s : scnsasmddatc'sh -mslee eae
Name and address of sender....f.<..+ 0«fs0n¢seeeesher eee

eee eee wwe mee mee eee eee eee ee! FER HH HEHE EEE HE POH HEHE HEE HEH OHHH HEHEHE SEH EHH

[No. here]

Qt) > eS eer er

15

The number is marked with blue and black pencils in
duplicate on opposite corners of the card, in case of one
edge of the card getting worn by moisture; and the card
is so rolled in the bottle that one of these numbers can
be read through the ylass, in order that a record may be
kept of when and where each bottle is set free. Mr.
Andrew Scott has collated these records with the particu-
lars of finding of those bottles which have been recovered,
and I am indebted to him for the details upon which the
following statement of results 1s based.

Altogether out of the 1045 bottles distributed, over 440
or 42 per cent., more than two in five, have been
subsequently picked up on the shore, and the paper, or post
card, has been duly filled up and returned. We beg to
thank the various finders of the bottles for their kindness
in filling and posting the cards. They come from various
parts of the coast of the Insh Sea—Scotiand, England,
Wales, Isle of Man, and Ireland. Some of the bottles
have gone quite a short distance, having evidently been
taken straight ashore by the rising tide; while others
have been blown ashore by the wind, e.g., two (post cards
211 and 214) let off near New Brighton stage on 9th
October, 1895, the tide ebbing and the wind N.N.W.,
were found next day near the Red Noses, 1 mile to the
west. Others have been carried an unexpected length, *
e.g., one (No. 35), set free near the Crosby Light Vessel,
off Liverpool, at 12.30 p.m., on October 1st, was picked
up at Saltcoats, in Ayrshire, on November 7th, having
travelled a distance of at least 180 miles* in thirty-seven
days; another (H. 20) was set free near the Skerries,
Anglesey, on October 6th, and was picked up one mile
north of Ardrossan, on November 7th, having travelled

*More probably, very much further, as during that time it would
certainly be carried backwards and forwards by the tide,

16

150 miles in thirty-one days; and bottle No. 1, set free at

the Liverpool Bar on September 30th, was picked up at

Shiskin, Arran, about 165 miles off, on November 12th.

On the other hand, a bottle (J. F. 34) set free on November :
7th, in the Ribble Estuary, was picked up on November

12th at St. Anne’s, having only gone 4 miles.

We have not considered it necessary to give the par-
ticulars of every bottle that has been set free and after-
wards recovered, but we have divided up our district into
eight convenient areas in each of which a sufficiently
large number of bottles has been set free, and the following
table shows our results for these areas :—

AREA, oe ea, APPARENT Direcrion or DRIFT.
West of T. of ian 84 33 “West and North, mostly tole
East of I. of Man 115 29 Northward, mostly to Wigtonshire.
Central area - 104 26 North-east, Cumbd., & N. Lane.
North Wales - 71 28 Mostly North-east.
Mersey area - 173 95 24 N., 16 W., rest washed ashore.
N.W. Lt. Vessel 96 41 26 to North, 15 to West.
Ribble area - 137 72 Half N. & N.E., rest ashore.
Morecambe B. & North 107 40 Mostly N.E. and E. (ashore).

It may be doubted whether our numbers are sufficiently
large to enable us to draw very definite conclusions. It
is only by the evidence of large numbers that the vitiating
effect of exceptional circumstances, such as an unusual
gale, can be eliminated. Prevailing winds, on the other
hand, such as would usually affect the drift of surface
organisms, are amongst the normally acting causes which
we are trying to ascertain. Mr. W. E. Plummer of the
Bidston Observatory has kindly given us access to his
records of weather for the last twelve months, and we

7

have noted opposite the bottles, from whose travels we
are drawing any conclusions, an approximate estimate of
the wind influences during the period when the bottle
may have been at sea. There have been a few rather
extraordinary journeys, e.g., one let off in the middle of
Port Erin Bay on April 23rd was found at Fleetwood on
July 6th; another let off at Bradda Head on June 38rd
was found on Pilling Sands (near Fleetwood) on July 24th.
It is important to notice that the bottles may support
one another’s evidence, those set free about the same spot
often being found in the same locality, e.g., out of a batch
of 6 set free off New Brighton, on Oct. 9th, 1895, 5 have
come back and all were found at about the same place.
Dr. Fulton, who has been conducting a similar inquiry
by means of drift bottles, in the North Sea, for the Scottish
Fishery Board, wrote to me some months ago that he
was then having large numbers of his bottles returned to
him from the Continent, chiefly Schleswig and Jutland.
And he draws the conclusion, ‘‘'There is no doubt that
the current goes across, down as far as Norfolk—none of
the bottles have been found south of Lincoln and none in
Holland—and this will explain the presence of banks and
shallows in the south and east, and the immense nurseries
of immature fish there.” Since then a detailed account*
of these experiments on the Scottish coast has appeared,
and it is interesting to compare our results with them.
Their experiments commenced on Sept. 21st, and ours
on Sept. 30th, 1894. They report upon 729 bottles of
which 159, or nearly 22 % have been returned, while we
have distributed 1045 of which over 42 % have been found
and recorded. The general result of the Scottish investi-
gations is to show that most of the bottles are carried
southwards in the North Sea along the east coasts of
* Thirteenth Ann. Report of Fishery Board for Scotland, Part I1I., p. 153.

18

Scotland and England as far as the Wash, and then east-
ward to the Continent; so that the fish supply of a given
area of the territorial waters may be derived not from the
offshore spawning areas opposite, but from those situated
further north—for example: the inshore waters of the
Firth of Forth and St. Andrews Bay derive their main
supplies not from the waters lying contiguous to them to
the eastward, but from areas further north, such as the
spawning grounds in the neighbourhood of the Bell Rock
and those off the Forfarshire coast. In the case of our
district, the drift is chiefly to the north and north-east
(see below).

What is already well-known* in regard to the tidal
streams or currents in the Irish Sea is that for nearly six
hours after low-water at, say, Liverpool, two tidal streams
pour into the Irish Sea, the one from the north of Ireland,
through the North Channel, and the other from the south-
ward, through St. George’s Channel. Parts of the two
streams meet and neutralise each other to the west of the
Isle of Man, causing the large elliptical area, about 20
miles in diameter and reaching from off Port Erin to
Carlingford, where no tidal streams exist, the level of the
water merely rising and falling with the tide. The
remaining portions of the two tidal streams pass to the
east of the Isle of Man and eventually meet along a line
extending from Maughold Head into Morecambe Bay.
This line is the ‘‘ head of the tide.’’ During the ebb the
above currents are practically reversed, but in running out
the southern current is found to bear more over towards
the Irish coast.

* All the accounts I have had access to seem based upon Admiral
Beechey’s observations published in the Philosophical Trans. for 1848 and
1851. Admiral Wharton, F.R.S., the present Hydrographer to the Navy,
has kindly informed me that Admiral Beechey took his observations by the
direct method of anchoring his ship in various places and then observing the
direction and force of the tide.

15)

There is some reason to believe that, as a result of the
general drift of the surface waters of the Atlantic and the
shape and direction of the openings to the Irish Sea, more
water passes out by the North Channel than enters that
way, and more water enters by the South (St. George’s)
Channel than passes back, and that consequently there is,
irrespective of the tides, a slow current passing from south
to north through our district. The fact that so many of
our drift bottles have crossed the “‘ head of the tide”’ from
S. to N., and that of those which have gone out of our
district nearly all have gone north to the Clyde sea-area
supports this view, which I learn from Admiral Wharton
is a priort probable, and which is believed in by Mr.
Ascroft and other nautical men in the district from their
experience of the drift of wreckage.

It may be objected to our observations by means of
drift bottles that they are largely influenced by the wind
and waves, and are not carried entirely by tidal streams.
Well, that is an advantage rather than any objection to
the method. For our object is to determine not the tidal
currents alone but the resulting effect upon small surface
organisms such as floating fish eggs, embryos and fish food,
of all the factors which can influence their movements,
including prevalent winds. The only factors which can
vitiate our conclusions are unusual gales or any other quite
exceptional occurrences, and the only way to eliminate
such influences is (1) to allow for them so far as they are
known from the weather reports, and (2) to employ a
large number of drift bottles and continue the observations
over a considerable time. We have carefully considered
the bearing of the weather records, and we think that
the large number of bottles we have made use of, during
the year, ought to enable us to come to some definite
results, Our conclusions so far (January, 1896) then are ;—

20

(1) A large number (over 42 %) have been stranded and
found and returned,

(2) of these returned, only a small proportion (138 %)
have been carried out of our part of the Irish Sea,

(3) nearly 12 % have crossed the ‘‘ head of the tide,”
showing either the influence of wind in carrying floating
bodies over from one tidal system into another, or the
effect of that slow drift of water to the north referred to
above,

(4) most of the bottles set free to the west of the Isle
of Man have been carried across to Ireland, only a small
number (3°8 %) of them have got round to the eastern
side of the Island and been carried ashore on the English
coasts,

(5) the majority of the bottles set free off Dalby have
gone to the Co. Down coast,

(6) a considerable number of bottles have been set free
over the deep water to the east of the Isle of Man, where
our more valuable flat fish spawn, and of those that
have been returned the majority had been carried to the
Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumberland coasts.

So we may reasonably conclude that the embryos of
fish spawning off Dalby would tend to be carried across
to the Irish Coast, while those of fish spawning in the
deep water on this eastern side of the Isle of Man would
go to supply the nurseries in the shallow Lancashire and
Cheshire bays, and very few would be carried altogether
out of the district.

The bearing of this conclusion upon the site of a Sea-
Fish Hatchery for our district is obvious. It would not
do to set the newly hatched larve free anywhere near the
Lancashire or Cheshire coasts. Besides the muddiness
and varying specific gravity of the water to which they
would there be exposed, they would run too much risk of

21

being carried straight ashore or stranded on sandbanks
by wind and tide. They must be set free as nearly as
possible where they would be found under natural con-
ditions, and that is somewhere in the open deep water
where the parent fish spawn. It is most satisfactory and
re-assuring, then, to find, by these “drift bottle’ experi-
ments, that small objects set free in the surface layers of
water to the east and south-east of the Isle of Man (where
we can obtain the purest and most constant water for the
purposes of a hatchery) are gradually carried over to the
eastward; so that young flat fish hatched there, or set
free there from a hatchery, by the time they have passed
through their larval stages and are ready to take to the
bottom in shallow water in order to search for Copepoda
and other food matters, would find themselves in the
Lancashire and Cheshire bays and estuaries which consti-
tute our fish “‘ nurseries.”’

SECTION III.
MuSssELS AND MussEL BEDS.
(By Mr. ANDREW Scort.)

WE have continued the examination of samples of the
various kinds of shell-fish caught for sale in the Lancashire
Sea-Fisheries district, but have nothing new to record
beyond the fact that the results as to feeding and spawning
confirm what has already been published in the former
Reports.

With a view of securing further information, however,
regarding the food, habits, life-histories, etc., of the
shell-fish, we have begun to make periodic examinations
of the various beds of the district. In connection with

22

this investigation a visit was made to the Mussel beds
at Piel, Duddon and Morecambe, about the middle of
September last, the condition of the shell-fish was noted,
and samples of material were collected for microscopic
inspection at the University College Laboratory, with the
following results. A short description of the beds is
given first with remarks upon the Mussels, then come
lists of the various animals observed either on the beds
themselves or in the material collected from them.

ROOSEBECK SCARS.

The Roosebeck Mussel Scars are situated about one
and a half miles §8.H. from Piel and are practically
continuous with the shore, at low-water spring tides only
a very narrow and shallow channel separates the inner
scar from the outer, at high-water the beds are covered to
a depth of several feet. The outer scar, which is evidently
the most suitable for the production of this valuable
shell-fish, is fully half a mile long and from one hundred
to one hundred and fifty yards wide, and lies parallel to
the shore, the whole area of this scar at the time the
examination was made was covered with fine mud,
reaching in some places to a depth of nearly two feet, but
this mud, from the information supplied by Mr. Wright
the head fishery officer of the Northern District, appears
to have only settled down after the Mussels attached
themselves to the hard ground, for until the Mussels
appeared on the bed the ground was quite hard and free
from mud. This experience is the same elsewhere, that
Mussels tend to accumulate mud and so raise the level of
the bed.

The outer scar is clearly a much better rearing place
for Mussels than the inner one as the present condition of
the shell-fish show, for while the Mussels on the outer

23

scar which only settled down in April, 1895, had reached
in the majority of cases to nearly three-quarters of an inch
in about a period of five months, those on the inner scar
deposited at the same time had scarcely attained to
one-quarter of an inch in length when the examination
was made. The Mussels on the outer scar are very
numerous, being so closely packed together in some places
that there appears to be scarcely any space left for further
erowth of the shell-fish, but as they have now no firm
attachment owing to their having to keep moving as the
mud accumulates, they are liable to be washed off by any
heavy sea from the southward, and carried of into the
deeper water outside the scar from whence they can only
be obtained by raking. The shells are quite clean and free
from barnacles.

It is difficult to explain why the Mussels on the outer
scar should grow so much faster than those on the inner
scar as the conditions of the bottom must have been
much alike in structure and wealth of food supply before
the spat settled down. Possibly the rapid growth of the
Mussels on this scar may be due to the large quantities
of fresh water that pass over it when the tide is out, little
or noue of which appears to reach the Mussels on the
inner scar. This water will bring down diatomaceous and
other material collected on its passage across the shore,
which will be deposited when it comes into contact with
the sea and will accumulate in considerable quantities
just at low-water mark, forming a splendid rearing ground
for the microfauna that forms the principle source of food
of the Mussel. Whether this be the true explanation or
not, the rapid growth of the Mussels on the outer scar is
without doubt due to some important cause which does
not affect the inner scar, and which can only be found
out by further investigation.

24
FAUNA OF THE SCAR.

Besides Mussels, the usual animals that live in as3ocia-
tion with them are found here, the chief enemies being
the boring Mollusca, which perforate the Mussel shells
and extract the juices and flesh of the animal, such as
the “ Dogwhelk,” Purpura lapillus, L. The ‘‘ Whelk,”
Buccinum undatum, L., the common “ Edible periwinkle,”
Inttorina litorea, Li., and a few common shore crabs,
Carcinus moenas, were also’ present, but none of them
in any great quantity. The examination of the mud
yielded seventeen species of Foraminifera representing
ten genera, ten species of Ostracoda representing six
genera, and eleven species of Copepoda representing ten
genera. ‘The mud also contained fragments of shells,
spines of Spatangus, sponge spicules, a few diatoms and
a considerable quantity of vegetable debris. The following
list gives the names of the species of Ostracoda, Forami-
nifera and Copepoda. The Ostracoda and Foraminifera
from the Mussel beds at Piel, Duddon and Morecambe
have been identified by Mr. Thomas Scott, F.L.5., and
Dr. G. W. Chaster.

FORAMINIFERA.
Lagena clavata, d’Orb.
5 levis, Mont.
¥ striata, d’Orb.
5 williamsont, Alcock.
¥ squamosa, Mont.

xf sulcata, W. and J.
Polystomella striato-punctata, EF. and M.
Polymorphina lactea, W. and J.
Planorbulina mediterranensis, d’Orb.
Nonionina depressula, W. and J.
Rotalia beccarw, Li.

25

Cornuspira tnvolvens, Reuss.
Buloculina depressa, V Orb.
Bulimina aculeata, d’ Orb.
Miliolina oblonga, Mont.

+4 seminulum, d’ Orb (juv.).
Pe subrotunda, Mont.
OSTRACODA.

Cythere pellucida, Baird.
Cytherura angulata, Brady.

Ee nigrescens (Baird).

- sella, G. O. Sars.
Cytherideis subulata, Brady.
Loxoconcha impressa, Baird.

in tamarindus (Jones).
Sclerochilus contortus, Norman.
Paradoxostoma abbreviatum, G. O. Sars.
flecuosum, Brady.

9)
CoPEPODA.

Temora longicornis (Muller).
Paracalanus parvus (Claus).
Canuella perplexa, T. and A. Scott.
Ectinosoma curticorne, Boeck.
Euterpe acutifrons, Dana.

Ameira exigua, 'T. Scott.
Laophonte serrata (Claus).

Re lamellifera (Claus).
Cletodes propinqua, Brady and Robertson.
Harpacticus chelifer (Muller).

Idya furcata (Baird).

SCARFHOLE SCAR, NEAR DUDDON.

This Mussel bed is fully four miles from Barrow-in-
Furness and is situated nearly opposite the north end of

26

Walney Island. Like the Roosebeck Scars it is almost
continuous with the shore and at low-water of spring
tides is nearly dry, but is covered to a depth of several feet
at high-water. The bottom is hard and consists of sand,
stones and Mussel shells, quite different from that at
Roosebeck, consequently the Mussels have a much firmer
hold of the bottom and are not so easily washed off.

The Mussels on this bed are numerous, large and in
good condition, but are covered with barnacles.

FAUNA OF THE SCAR.

Besides the Mussels, Buccinum, Purpura, Littorina
and Carcinus were also found on the bed. An examination
of the mud yielded thirteen species of Foraminifera
representing eight genera, five species of Ostracoda
representing four genera, and eight species of Copepoda
representing seven genera. The mud also contained
fragments of shells, spines of Spatangus, sponge spicules
and a few diatoms. The following is a list of the Ostra-
coda, Foraminifera and Copepoda :—

FORAMINIFERA.

Lagena levis, Mont.

a striata, d’Orb.

° sulcata, W. and J.

a williamsont, Alcock.
Polystomella striato-punctata, F. and M.
Planorbulina mediterranensis, d’Orb.
Nonionina depressula, W. and J.
Bulvmina elegans, d’Orb.

A pupoides, d’Orb.
Miliolina seminulum, L.

7 subrotunda, Mont.
Nodosaria communis, d’Orb.
Haplophragmium canarvense, d’ Orb.

27
OsTRACODA.
Cythere confusa, Brady and Norman.
i lutea (O. F. Muller).
Loxoconcha tamarindus (Jones).

Sclerochilus contortus, Norman.
Paradoxostoma variabile, Baird.

COPEPODA.

Canuella perpleca, T. and A. Scott.
Tachidius brevicornis, Muller.
Delavalia palustris, Brady.
Laophonte curticauda, Boeck.

” intermedia, 'T’. Scott.
Nannopus palustris, Brady.
Platychelipus littoralis, Brady.
Thalestris harpactoides, Claus.

MorECAMBE MussEt BEDS.

These beds by far the most valuable and extensive of
the northern district, if not of the whole area under the
control of the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Committee, extend
trom a little way south-east of the town of Morecambe, to
a considerable distance beyond the village of Heysham
and are partly continuous with the shore. In front of
Heysham, they are separated at low water into three sep-
arate banks, the outer one tailing off into the deep-water at
the entrance to Heysham Lake. The Mussel scar separates
the deep-water into two distinct channels, the outer being
Morecambe Channel, the fairway:to Morecambe, while the
inner is known as Heysham Lake, which at low-water is
open only at the south-west end. At high-water the beds
are completely submerged and consequently can only be
worked upon at low-water or at half tide by means of long
mussel rakes. At the time the examination was made no

28

‘“‘musselling’”’ was going on. Hedge balks were erected
on the tops of the various banks in which a number of
codling, plaice, and flounder were being taken.

The area of the bed is composed almost entirely of
the deserted sand tubes of Sabella which afford a firm
hold to the growing Mussels and no doubt also a good
food supply from the diatoms and other microscopic
animals which feed on the decaying matter about the
tubes. Scattered over the beds are numerous large
boulders all more or less covered with deserted sand tubes.

The Mussels here are healthy and in good condition
showing evidence of an abundant food supply and of
conditions favourable to a rapid growth of the shell-fish.
They are quite free from barnacles.

FAUNA OF THE SCAR.

Along with the Mussels, there were also a few Buccinwm,
Purpura, Littorina and Carcinus. On microscopic
examination the mud was found to contain nineteen
species of Foraminifera representing eleven genera, eight
species of Ostracoda representing five genera, and nine
species of Copepoda (one of which appears to be new)
representing eight genera. The mud also contained a
few fragments of shells, spines of Spatangus, diatoms and
a quantity of vegetable debris. The following is a list of
the Ostracoda, Foraminifera and Copepoda :—

FORAMINIFERA.
Lagena striata, d’Orb.
sia williamsont, Alcock.
. clavata, d’Orb.
a semistriata, Will.

Fr sulcata, W. and J.
‘3 hexagona, Will.

29

a globosa, Mont.

Polystomella striato-punctata, F. and M.
Planorbulina mediterranensis, d’ Orb.
Nonionina depressula, W. and J.

* stelligera, d’Orb,
Rotalia beccarii, Li.
Biloculina depressa, d’Orb.
Miliolina subrotunda, Mont.

a trigonula, Lamarck.
Haplophragmium canariense, d’Orb.
Truncatulina lobatula, W. and J.
Bolivina plicata, VOrb.

Virgulina schreibersiana, Cz.

OSTRACODA.

Cythere confusa, Brady and Norman.
. robertsont, Brady.

Cytherura cellulosa, Norman.

striata, G. O. Sars.

. sella, G. O. Sars.
Cytheridea elongata, Brady.
Loxoconcha guttata, Norman.
Sclerochilus contortus, Norman.

2)

COPEPODA.

Longipedia minor, T. and A. Scott.
Canuella perplexa, T. and A. Scott.
Ectinosoma curticorne, Boeck.
Bradya minor, T. and A. Scott.
Laophonte intermedia, T. Scott.
Cletodes propingua, Brady and Robertson.
Platychelipus littoralis, Brady.
Idya furcata (Baird).

,, elongata, n.sp.

30

CONCLUSION.

The whole area of Morecambe Bay, with its numerous
banks and the estuaries of the Wyre and Lune rivers and
Morecambe, Grange, Ulverston, Barrow and Duddon
Channels, by a little artificial cultivation might easily be
turned into a vast rearing ground for Mussels, as every-
where the conditions seem most favourable for the
production and rearing of this valuable shell-fish. All
that 1s necessary 1s to remove some of the seed Mussels
from the beds where they are too crowded to places where
they are few in number or entirely absent. Many of the
Mussels on the various beds under the present conditions
are certain to be lost, through having too little room to
erow, when consequently they either get choked off and
perish miserably or become so stunted in their growth as
to be of little or no marketable value either as bait or food.

Under the present conditions the beds are allowed to
seed themselves and consequently it takes much longer
for the Mussel to spread over any considerable area, than
if the young Mussels were transplanted from places on
the present beds where they are too close, to new ground.
By this means the Mussels would certainly reach a
marketable size much sooner than if left to look after
themselves, and a convenient time for moving the seedlings
would be when the close season begins, as they would be
less liable to be disturbed than if done at any other
period, and by the time the close season had expired, they
would no doubt have firmly established themselves under
their new conditions.

We propose during the coming year to continue this
investigation by doimg some more work at Piel when
the temporary laboratory is fitted up, in examining the
Mussel beds of the middle and southern district. The
southern beds can easily be examined from the central

31

laboratory at University College, but the examination of
the beds at Lytham and Fleetwood would be better done
from Piel. An examination will also be made of the
Cockle beds of the district as far as time permits.

The question has heen raised whether Mussels which
are no longer quite young and which have been torn off
from their first supports, or which have been detached
from larger Mussels, as in separating up bunches, are
able to fix themselves anew. It is known to Zoologists
that Mussels are able to produce byssus threads at any
time and so re-attach themselves to any foreign object,
consequently there can be no doubt that the smaller
individuals torn off a bunch, will, if thrown back promptly
into suitable ground, be able to spin fresh byssus round
neighbouring objects and so become anchored. In order
to settle the question quite definitely we have made some
observations in the laboratory during the last year, and
especially quite recently. One of our tanks had a number
of young Mussels, varying in size from half an inch to
an inch and a half in length, put in last June. These
after climbing about the sides of the tank for some time
attached themselves by means of byssus threads in various
positions. They were occasionally detached, and were
usually found re-attached after a few days. That has
gone on during the last eight months. The Mussels that
now survive in the tank have increased considerably in
size one being over 2 inches and another 3 inches in length.
The former of these was torn off from the side of the tank
lately and was thrown into the middle. In two days
it was found re-attached by byssus to the glass. Again, on
February 4th the largest Mussel, measuring 3 inches in
length, 1} inches in breadth, and 1} inches in thickness,

32

and weighing 523 grammes, was torn off from its attach-
ment to the glass and placed on the sand in the bottom
of the tank. In four days it had re-attached itself to the
class by means of byssus threads. This shows, if any
further demonstration was really required, that even
Mussels which have attained to large size have the power
of spinning fresh byssus threads by which they become
anchored to surrounding objects.

SECTION IV.
DESCRIPTION OF NEW AND RARE COPEPODA.

(By Mr. ANDREW ScorTT.)

Family HARPACTICIDA.

Sunaristes paguri, Hesse.

This rather peculiar and interesting species was obtained
by washing the shells of Buwecinwm inhabited by the
hermit crabs Pagurus bernhardus, collected in the trawl-
net of the steamer while working at the mouth of the
Mersey estuary on the 23rd of July, 1895. It seems to be
a comparatively rare species and so far as is known this
is only the third time it has been found in British waters.
From our present knowledge of its distribution it appears
to be confined to areas having large volumes of brackish
water passing over the bottom, and has not been found in
pure sea-water.

Sunaristes pagurt is not unlike Canuella perplexa in
general appearance but is readily distinguished from that
species by the structure of the various appendages,
especially the antennules and second pair of swimming
feet of the male,

39

Stenhelia herdmani, n. sp. Pl. 1., figs. 1—11.
Description of the species —Female. Length 1°43 millim.
q7th of an inch. Body moderately stout; rostrum
prominent and curved. Antennules long and slender,
eight-jointed ; the first, second, fourth and eighth joints
longer than the others, the fifth jomt being the smallest
of the series; the second, third and fourth joints have
each a tuft of setz on their upper distai margins. The
proportional lengths of the various joints are as follows :—
dae 8 AO) br. 6ie he LE
HS Pao et a GV Ss
Antenne moderately stout, secondary branch small and
slender, two jointed; basal joint elongate narrow with
one seta on its upper distal end, second joint short, about
one third of the length of the first and furnished with two
terminal sete. Mandibles large and well developed, the

broad biting part armed with a few large teeth and a
number of smaller ones; mandible palp comparatively
large, consisting of a one-jointed basal part which carries
at its lower extremity two branches, one large and one
small, the smaller of the two being two-jointed, whilst
the larger one is composed of a single joint. Masticatory
portion of the maxille furnished with a number of strong
teeth, palp two branched, the outer one bearing three
setiferous lobes. Anterior foot-jaws furnished with one
large terminal claw and three digitiform setose tubercles.
Posterior foot-jaws stout, of moderate length and furnished
with a strong, slightly curved terminal claw at the base
of which are two sete; the basal joint of the foot-jaw has
four small ciliated tubercles on its lower side, while the
second joint has a row of fine cilia on its upper margin
and a row of stronger cilia on its lateral surface a little
way down from the upper margin, there are also two
plumose sete on the upper margin of the joint. First

34

pair of swimming feet somewhat similar to those of
Stenhelia ima, Brady; basal jomts of the inner branches
nearly as long as the entire outer branches, second
joint about half the length of the third which is less than
one third the length of the long basal joint. Outer
branches of the second, third and fourth pairs elongate,
inner branches much shorter, those of the fourth pair
only reaching to the end of the second joint of the outer
branches. Fifth pair of feet large and well developed,
inner branches considerably larger than the outer ones,
with a subtriangular apex bearing five plumose seta, two
on the outer angle close together and three arranged at
regular intervals along the inner margins; outer branches
subovate, bearing six setze on the external distal margins,
the second seta from the inside is considerably longer
than any of the others. Caudal stylets about as long as
broad and about half the length of the last abdominal
segment.

Habitat, 1 mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, in
neritic material dredged from a depth of 16 fathoms,
October 27th, 1895.

Remarks.—This large and well marked species though
somewhat like Stenhelia ima in general appearance is
readily distinguished from it and the other known
members of this genus, by the form and armature of the
fifth pair of feet, and by the structure and proportional
lengths of the antennules.

Stenhelia similis, n. sp. Pl. I., figs. 12—25.

Description of the species.—Female. Length 1 millim.
(;,ofaninch). Bodyelongate, moderately robust; rostrum
prominent and curved with a bifid apex. Antennules
long and slender, sparingly setiferous, the second joint
longer than any of the others and slightly contracted near
the middle, but expanding again towards the distal end,

35

third, fifth, sixth and seventh joints small, the others of
moderate length as shown by the formula :—
Ly aie ss tary Mee Oe Oe AAO
Wg ie a Ge fay 8
Antenne well developed, secondary branch three-jointed,

second joint very small, terminal joint fully half the
length of the basal one and furnished with two sete on
its apex, one large and spiniform and one very small;
one seta springs from near the middle of the upper
margin of the terminal joint, the basal jomt bears one
seta on its upper distal angle. Mandibles furnished with
several strong and serrated teeth on the biting parts,
mandible palp consisting of a basal part carrying two
branches, the inner branch which is smaller than the
outer is two-jointed, both branches are furnished with a
number of setz on the apex and upper mareins, the basal
part has three terminal plumose set, and a curved row
of short spines on its lateral surface. Maxillee somewhat
similar to those of Stenhelia herdmani. Posterior foot-
jaws slender and furnished with a short curved claw,
basal joints short and furnished with three small plumose
setee on the upper distal margin, second joint fully three
times longer than broad and bearing a few cilia and one
seta on its upper margin, there are also a few spines on
its lateral surface. The first four pairs of swimming feet
are nearly as in Stenhelia ima, the joints of the outer
branches of the first pair are subequal, basal joint of the
inner branches nearly as long as the entire outer branch,
second joint small and about half the length of the third
which is about half the length of the basal joint, the apex
of the third joint is furnished with one short stout spine
and two plumose sete, one long and one short. Fifth
pair of feet large, ner branches broad and triangular,
bearing five short plumose setz from the middle of the

36

inner margin to the apex; outer branches elongate ovate,
about two-thirds the length of the inner, proximal half of
the outer margin ciliated, inner margin slightly ciliated
towards the distal end, apex and distal half of the outer
margin furnished with six sete, the second from the
inner part of the apex considerably longer than the others.
Caudal stylets rather shorter than broad and about one-
third the length of the last abdominal segment.

Male. Antennules ten-jointed, fourth and sixth joints
very small. Swimming feet, with the exception of the
second pair, similar to those of tne female. Inner
branches of the second pair two-jointed, second joint
bearing at the apex two strong and slightly curved spines,
the inner spine which is slightly longer than the outer
one, becomes distinctly bifid at the middle. The form of
the fifth pair of feet is somewhat similar to those of the
female, but smaller and furnished with fewer sete, the
inner branches have only two sete which are placed on
the apex, the outer branches have two setz on the outer
distal margin, the lower one being stout and spiniform,
two sete on the middle of the inner margin and one
seta on the apex.

Habitat, 1 -mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, in
neritic material dredged from a depth of 16 fathoms. A
considerable number of specimens were obtained.

Remarks.—This species comes near Dactylopus tenut-
remis, but can easily be distinguished from it by the
structure and proportional lengths of the antennules, the
length and armature of the inner branches of the first
feet, and also by the structure of the fifth feet.

Stenhelia reflexa, T. Scott.

[(T. Scott, Thirteenth An. Rep. Fish. Board for Scot.,
pt. TEL; p66, 1895:

A few specimens of this Stenhelia were obtained from
dredged material collected off Port Erin in June, 1895.

37

Ameira gracile,n. sp. Pl. IL., figs. 1—11.

Description of the species.—Female. Length *5 millim.
(joth of an inch). Body elongate and slender, rostrum
small and inconspicuous. Antennules long and very
slender, seven-jointed; second and fifth joints longer than
any of the others, fourth joint very short, the second,
third and fourth joints have each a tuft of long setz on
the upper distal margins, the followimeg formula shows
the proportional lengths of the joints :—

Orla. 10 alse. 8:99
Ss ne: SN eer aay
Antenne slender, three-jointed, secondary branch small,

two-jointed, the second joint very small. Mandibles
elongate narrow, apex obliquely truncate and armed with
a number of teeth, mandible palp with a distinct basal
part, narrow at the base but somewhat dilated towards
the apex to which is attached a one-jointed elongate
narrow branch. Posterior foot-jaws moderately robust
and armed with a strong terminal claw, lower margin of the
second joint furnished with a row of fine cilia. First pair
of swimming feet elongate and slender, basal joint of the
inner branches nearly as long as the entire outer branch,
second joint about one-fourth the length of the basal
joint and fully half the length of the third joint. Outer
branches of the second, third and fourth pairs elongate
three-jointed, inner branches also three-jointed but shorter
than the outer branches. Fifth pair of feet foliaceous,
the inner branch produced into a subtriangular lobe
which reaches to about the middle of the outer branch and
furnished at the apex with a stout setiform spine and a
small seta, outer branch oblong ovate in shape, the
greatest breadth being very nearly half the length,
furnished with three sete on the outer margin, one on
the apex and one on the inner distal margin, both the

38

inner and outer margins are clothed with fine cilia.
Caudal stylets long and narrow, being about five times
longer than broad and nearly twice the length of the last
abdominal segment.

Male. Antennules ten-jointed, fifth and sixth joints
very small, hinged between the third and fourth joints
and also between the seventh and eighth joints. The
form of the fifth pair of feet is somewhat similar to those
of the female, but the inner branch is much smaller.

Habitat, 1 mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, in
neritic material dredged from a depth of 16 fathoms, a
number specimens were obtained.

Remarks.—This species in general appearance ‘is not
unlike Ameira longicaudata but is readily distinguished
from it by the shape of the cephalothoracic segment and
on dissection by the characters described above. Nearly
all the specimens obtained had the last three joints of the
antennules broken off.

Ameira refleca, T. Scott.

[T. Scott, Twelfth An. Rep. Fish. Board for Scot., pt.
IIT., p. 240, 1894. ]

One or two specimens of this Ameira were obtained
from the shelly deposit dredged 1 mile off Spanish Head,
Isle of Man, depth 16 fathoms. The species is easily
distinguished from the other members of this genus by
the structure of the inner branches of the first pair of
swimming feet and also by the fifth pair of feet.

Canthocamptus palustris, Brady. Pl. II., figs. 12—23.

(Brady, Monograph Brit. Copep., Vol. II., p. 53, 1880.]

A considerable number of specimens of a copepod
apparently belonging to this species were washed from
mud adhering to samples of Mussels (Mytzlus edulis) sent
from the St. Annes Mussel beds near Lytham, one of the
samples was from that part of the bed which never

39

becomes dry at low-water, and was obtained by means of
a ‘‘mussel rake,” it was from this sample that the first
specimens were obtained, other samples sent later on in
the year also contained numbers of specimens.

The specimens differ a little from the figures given by
Dr. Brady in his “‘ monograph,”’ especially in the length of
the basal joint of the first pair of swimming feet and also
in the shape of the fifth pair of feet of the female.

Mesochra macintoshi, T. and A. Scott.

[T. & A. Scott, An. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, Vol.
XV., p. 53, 1895.]

A number of specimens of this species were obtained
from the shelly material dredged 1 mile off Spanish Head,
Isle of Man, from a depth of 16 fathoms. The slender
appearance of the species along with the structure and
armature of its various appendages, enable it to be readily
distinguished from the other members of the genus.

Tetragoniceps trispinosus,n. sp. Pl. II., figs. 24 and
25; III., figs. 1—6.

Description of the Species.—Female. Gength *5 millim.
(4;th of an inch). Body elongate cylindrical, tapering
gently towards the posterior end, rostrum small and tri-
angular in shape. Antennules long and slender, six-jointed
and sparingly setiferous, the basal joint is considerably
longer than any of the others, fifth joint very small, about
half the length of the fourth; the proportional lengths of
the joints are as shown by the following formula :—

23 nip tt 8 A lb
or a See, 4) 5 6
Antenne of moderate length and three-jointed, secondary

branch small and rudimentary, consisting of a single seta
attached to the lower margin of the second joint of the
primary branch at a distance of about one-third from the
base. Posterior foot-jaws small, with a strong curved

40

claw as long as the joint to which it is attached. Both
branches of the first pair of swimming feet two-jointed,
outer branches small, the joints subequal and reaching to
about the middle of the basal joint of the inner branch ;
inner branches long and slender, basal joint nearly twice
the length of the entire outer branch and fully seven
times longer than broad, a moderately long seta springs
from near the base of the inner margin. Second joint
short and narrow, fully one-fourth the length of the basal
joint, furnished at its apex with a short curved seta, a seta
of considerable length springs from near the middle of the
inner margin. Outer branches of the second, third and
fourth pairs of feet elongate, three-jointed, inner branches
short and narrow, one-jointed, in the fourth pair the inner
branches are only about one-third the length of the basal
joint of the outer branches and furnished at the apex with
three short sete. Fifth pair of feet small, one branched
and divided into two distinct portions, an inner which is
produced into an elongate curved spiniform apex devoid
of setee and an outer tubercle-lke process which arises
from near the base of the elongate portion furnished with
two short stout sete and one long slender hair. Caudal
stylets elongate narrow, slightly divergent, tapering to an
acute apex and about twice the length of the last
abdominal segment; on the inner margin of each stylet at
a distance of about one-third from the apex there arises
a single seta which is fully two-thirds the length of the
animal and having a slghly thickened base. Anal
operculum semi-circular in shape and produced into three
spines, a median and two lateral.

Habitat, 1 mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, in
neritic material, dredged from a depth of 16 fathoms.
Only two specimens were observed.

Remarks—Vhis species though placed in the genus

41

Tetragoniceps differs somewhat from the generic des-
cription given in the Monograph of the British Copepoda,
especially in the number of joints in the outer branches
of the first pair of feet and in the inner branches of the
second, third and fourth feet, but as the mouth organs
have not been satisfactorily worked out, it is perhaps
better meanwhile to place it under the genus Tetragoniceps
its nearest ally rather than institute a new genus for its
reception.

Tetragoniceps consimilis, 'T. Scott.

(T. Scott, Twelfth An. Rep. Fish. Board for Scot., pt.
IIL., p. 244, 1894. ]

A few specimens of this species were obtained from the
material dredged 1 mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man,
from a depth of 16 fathoms, it closely resembles Tetra-
goniceps bradyi in general appearance as well as in a few
structural details, but differs from it in the absence of the
strong hook on the second joint of the antennules, in the
inner branches of the first pair of feet being three-jointed
and in the fifth pair being composed of two distinct
branches.

Laophonte propinqua, T. and A. Scott.

[(T. & A. Scott, An. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, Vol.
XV., p. 460, 1895. ]

A few specimens of this species were obtained from
material washed from sponges collected by Dr. Hanitsch
at Port Erin, Isle of Man, in August, 1894; it is not
unlike Laophonte denticornis at first sight but on closer
examination is found to differ very markedly, not only
from that species, but from any of the other known
members of the genus.

Laophonte intermedia, T. Scott.

(T. Scott, Thirteenth An. Rep. Fish. Board for Scot.,
pt. IIT., p. 168, 1895.)

42

This species was obtained from the same material as
the last, and also from the mussel beds at Duddon and
Morecambe, it appears to be intermediate between
Laophonte lamellata and Laophonte hispida but is quite
distinct from either of them, the sub-conical form of the
stylets alone enable it to be easily recognised when mixed
up in a collection of Copepoda along with L. lamellata
and L. hispida.

Pseudolaophonte, n. gen.

Description of the genus.—Pseudolaophonte resembles
Laophonte, Philippi, in the structure of the antennules
and antenne ; the mandibles, maxille and foot-jaws, and
the first pair of swimming feet, but differs from that genus
in the structure of the second and third pairs; the second
pair of swimming feet consist of a single one-jointed
branch, and the outer and inner branches of the third
pair are each composed of two joints. The fourth and
fifth pairs of feet are somewhat similar to those of
Laophonte.

Pseudolaophonte aculeata,n. sp. Pl. IIL., figs. 7—23.

Description of the species —Female. Length 1 millim.
sth of aninch). Body seen from above elongate narrow,
of nearly equal breadth throughout, all the segments
are more or less angular in shape and furnished with a
row of short teeth on their posterior margins; surface of
all the segments clothed with minute cilia; rostrum
small and inconspicuous, with a small hair on each side
of the base. Antennules moderately stout, four-jointed,
first and third joints longer than the other two, the fourth
joint being the smallest, the basal jomt has a row of blunt
pointed teeth on its upper margin and three rows on its
lateral aspect, the middle row being the longest; a stout
tubercle with a quadri-dentate apex arises from near the
middle of the lower margin; second joint furnished on its

43

lower margin with a strong slightly curved tooth which
reaches to near the middle of the basal joint, and forms
with the dentate tubercle of that joint, a powerful grasping
apparatus; the third joint is covered with minute spines
for about three-fourths of its length, the remaining fourth
being covered with fine cilia, the fourth joint is also
covered with cilia and has the lower distal part produced
into a strong spine, the following formula shows the

proportional lengths of the joints :—

iO Gs.

i AQ SA
Antenne two-jointed and of moderate size, with a small
one-jointed secondary branch arising from near the middle
of the lower margin of the basal jot and furnished with
four sete. Mandibles small, with a few serrated teeth
on the truncate apex, mandible palp very small, with
ciliated margins and bearing three setz on the apex.
Maxille and foot-jaws somewhat similar to those of a
typical Laophonte, the second joint of the posterior foot-
jaw long and slender, being about four times longer than
broad, the terminal claw is also long and slender and is
considerably longer than the second-joint. First pair
of swimming feet similar to those of a typical Laophonte,
outer branch composed of two jomts. Second pair of
swimming feet rudimentary, consisting of a single one-
jointed branch, bearing three sete at the apex, the innermost
being longer than the other two. Both branches of the
third pair of feet two-jointed, the inner branch being
slightly shorter than the outer. The fourth pair of feet
has the outer branch three-jointed and the inner two, the
basal joint of the outer branch is nearly as long as broad
and is equal to the combined lengths of the second and
third joints, the first and second joints have each one stout
ciliated spine on the outer distal angle, the second joint

44

which is very narrow, 1s produced on the inner margin
into a hook-like process furnished with a short seta, the
third joint has three strong spines on the outer margin
and apex, inner branches short, reaching to about the
middle of the outer branch, the second joint is furnished
with three short setz on its apex. Fifth pair of feet large
and foliaceous, inner branch triangular in shape, ciliated
on the inner margin and covered with a number of more
or less curved rows of cilia, the branch is also furnished
with five moderately stout plumose setze on its inner
margin and apex; outer branch broadly ovate, and fully
half the size of the inner branch, it is also covered with
rows of cilia and bears five short stout plumose sete on
its apex. Caudal stylets elongate narrow, of moderate
length, about three times longer than broad and slightly
longer than the last abdominal segment; bearing on the
inner angles of the apex, a short stout curved spine and
near the middle the dorsal surface, a slightly shorter spine
and a seta, the outer margins are furnished with two
short sete, the apex also bears two sete, one of which is
very long. Anal operculum produced into a short stout
spine.

Male. Antennules six-jointed, first and second joints
like those of the female, third and sixth joints very small,
fourth jomt considerably dilated. Mouth organs similar
to those of the female. The first and second feet are also
similar to to those of the female. The basal joint of the
outer branches of the third pair of feet has a strong
curved spine on its outer distal angle which is nearly
twice the length of the joint itself and extends considerably
beyond the end of the second joint, second joint of the
inner branches produced into a curved spine which reaches
to beyond the end of the outer branch, both branches of
the third pair two-jointed. The fourth pair of feet has

45

the outer branch three-jointed and the inner two; the
basal joint of the outer branches is longer than the
combined lengths of the second and third joints and bears
a strong spine on its outer distal angle, second and
third joints of the outer branch of about equal length ;
inner branches very short reaching to about the middle
of the basal joint of the outer branch, basal joint of the
inner branch very small and only about one-fourth the
length of the second joint. Fifth pair small, inner branch
not produced, furnished with two plumose setze on its
apex, the inner one being three times longer than the
outer; outer branch elongate narrow, bearing at its apex
three stout sete.

Habitat, 1 mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, in
neritic material dredged from a depth of 16 fathoms; a
number of specimens were obtained.

Remarks.—This species comes very near Laophonte
spinosa, I. C. Thompson, especially in the structure of
the antennules and mouth organs, but differs considerably
in the structure of the second, third and fourth pairs of
swimming feet; the outer branches of the second, third
and fourth feet in Laophonte spinosa are two jointed and
the inner three, whilst in Psewdolaophonte aculeata the
second pair of feet consists of a single one-jointed branch,
in the third pair each branch is composed of two joints
and in the fourth pair the outer branch consists of three
joints and the inner of two, the fifth feet also differ
somewhat. The appendages of the male differ also from
those of the male Laophonte spinosa.

Laophontodes bicornis, n. sp. Pl. III., figs. 24—29 ;
ay os 1,

Description of the species—Female. Length 5 millim.
(.th of aninch). Body seen from above elongate narrow,
the breadth gradually decreasing towards the posterior

46

end; all the segments are more or less angular in shape
and with the exception of the cephalic segment, bear each
a row of short teeth on the distal margin. Cephalo-
thoracic segment broadly triangular in outline, the frontal
portion being produced into. a small rostrum, and the
lateral margins near the distal end into strong curved
spines directed backwards and extending slightly beyond
the middle of the second segment. Antennules short,
five-jointed, all the joints are of moderate length except
the fourth which is very short; the proportional lengths
of the joints are as shown in the following formula :—
IIs sie! We 8
i 2") ere
Antenne small, two-jomted without any secondary

appendage. Mandibles and other mouth organs nearly
as in Laophonte. The first pair of swimming feet are
similar to those of Laophontodes typicus, and the second,
third and fourth pairs are also similar to the corresponding
feet of that species. The fifth pair are large and prominent
and project outwards from the sides of the fifth segment ; _
each foot consists of a single narrow elongate branch,
composed of two-joints, furnished with one seta on
the inner distal angle of the first joint and two on the
outer angle, the second joint has two sete on the inner
margin, two on the apex and one on the outer margin,
the basal joint has also a row of cilia on its inner margin.
Caudai stylets long and narrow, about equal to the
combined lengths of the last two abdominal segments.
Habitat, Off Port Erin, from dredged material collected
June, 1895; only one specimen has been observed.
Remarks.—This species is easily distinguished from
Laophontodes typicus the only other member of the genus,
by the lateral projections of the cephalothoracic segment,
the proportional lengths of the joints of the antennules

47

and the length of the caudal stylets; the fifth feet also
differ, in this species they are two-jointed whilst in
Laophontodes typicus they are composed of a single joint
only.

Normanella attenuata, n. sp. Pl. IV., figs. 8—20.

Description of the species—Female. WGength 1 millim.
(;:th of an inch). Body elongate cyclindrical, slender.
Antennules nine-jointed; the second much longer than
the others, seventh and eighth jomts very small, the
others are of moderate length as shown by the formula :-—

Crake LOW ay bye ikno
nee, 45. 6./8,,8, (9

Antenne three-jointed, stout and of moderate length,
a small one-jointed secondary branch arises from the
lower distal end of the basal joint of the primary branch
and is furnished with two sete; the lower one of which
appears to be articulated to the apex of the joint.
Mandibles slender with a serrated apex, basal portion of
the mandible palp considerably dilated and bearing two
one-jointed branches, the outer branch being much longer
than the inner. Maxille and foot-jaws nearly as in
Normanella dubia. Inner branches of the first pair of
swimming feet long and slender, two-jointed, basal joint
longer than the entire outer branch, second joint about
one-third the length of the basal joint, bearing one curved
spine and two sete on the apex, outer branches three-
jointed, shorter than the basal joint of inner branches. In
the second and third pairs of feet, the mner branches are
short, and two-jointed; the outer branches are consider-
ably longer than the inner and three-jointed. Inner
branches of the fourth pair of feet three-jomted and very
short, only reaching to about the middle of the second
joint of the outer branches. Fifth pair of feet foliaceous,
two branched, inner branch large and _ subtriangular

48

bearing two sete on the inner distal margin and two on
the apex, outer branch pyriform, arising from the middle
of the outer margin and extending considerably beyond
the apex of the inner branch, bearing four sete on its
outer distal margin and two on the apex. Caudal stylets
of moderate length, about twice as long as broad and
fully half the length of the last abdominal segment.

Male. Antennules nine-jointed, sixth joint very short,
the others of moderate length, hinged between the fourth
and fifth joints and also between the seventh and eighth,
all the other appendages with the exception of the fifth
pair of feet are similar to the corresponding appendages
of the female. The inner branch of the fifth pair sub-
triangular in form bearing one stout plumose spine and
two plumose setze on its apex, the outer branch pyriform,
bearing three setz on its outer distal margin, and two
on the apex, with a strong plumose spine between the
two apical sete.

Habitat, 1 mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, in
neritic material dredged from a depth of 16 fathoms; very
few specimens were obtained.

Remarks.—This species differs considerably in shape
from Normanella dubia but the structural details are
almost similar to those on which the genus was founded,
the only differences being that the antennules have nine
joints instead of seven, and the inner branches of the
fourth pair of feet have three joints instead of two. These
differences are not considered to be of sufficient importance
to warrant the establishment of a new genus for its
reception.

Cletodes similis, T. Scott.

[(T’. Scott, Thirteenth An. Rep. Fish. Board for Scot.
PEELE; sp. 163) 2690. |

A few specimens were obtained from material washed

49

from sponges collected by Dr. Hanitsch at Port Erin,
Isle of Man, in August, 1894. This species is very like
Cletodes lata in general appearance but is easily dis-
tinguished from it on dissection by the structure of the
antennules, the proportional lengths and armature of
the outer and inner branches of the first pair of swimming
feet, and also by the form of the fifth pair of feet.

Nannopus palustris, Brady.

Several specimens of this species were obtained in the
mud collected from the Mussel beds near Duddon and
from mud sent to the laboratory from the Fleetwood
Oyster beds. It seems to be a brackish water species and
in general appearance is very like Platychelipus littoralis
another brackish water copepod, it can be distinguished
from that species however, even without dissecting, by
making an examination of the fifth pair of feet and also
of the inner branches of the third and fourth pairs of feet.
Nannopus palustris has two ovisacs and Platychelipus
littoralis one only.

tooreclongata, ni sp. Pl, 1V., figs: 21—24 5 Pl. V,,
figs. 1—5.

Description of the species.—Female. Length ‘74 millim.
(jth of aninch). Body seen from above elongate narrow,
tapering rapidly towards the posterior end, the length
being nearly equal to four times the greatest breadth ;
rostrum prominent with a bluntly rounded apex. Anten-
nules short and comparatively stout; shorter than the
cephalothoracic segment, eight-jointed; second and third
joints longer than any of the others, as shown in the
following formula :—

LP toa LE 18 6.8: o's 12
Deere) 34) D046) 0S

Antenne, mandibles and maxille nearly as in Idya

gracilis, T. Scott. Foot-jaws also similar to those of that

im

50

species but shorter and stouter. Inner branches of the
first pair of swimming feet slender and of moderate
length, basal joint nearly as long as the entire outer
branch, and furnished with a plumose seta arising from
the lower half of the inner margin and extending to
slightly beyond the end of the branch, second joint fully
two-thirds the length of the basal joint also furnished
with a plumose seta arising from near the middle of its
inner margin, third joint very small, bearing on its apex
two stout spines and one short plumose seta; outer
margins and proximal halves of the inner margins of the
first and second joints fringed with short hairs, the joints
of the outer branches are short and broad, the second
joint is slightly shorter than the first and the third joint a
little shorter than the second, the armature of the joints
is somewhat similar to that of the first pair in Idya
furcata; the spines are furnished with a row of moderately
long cilia on the upper margins. Second, third and fourth
pairs of swimming feet similar to those of Idya furcata.
Fifth pair of feet very short being little more than half
the length of the jomt to which they are attached and
extending only a little way beyond the base of the first
segment of the abdomen, the length of each foot is about
equal to twice the breadth, the secondary joint is furnished
with three sete on the apex, the innermost one being
longer than either of the other two, outer very short; a
short seta is attached to the outer margin a little way
from the apex. Caudal stylets narrow and _ slightly
divergent, length equal to about twice the breadth and
nearly as long as the last segment of the abdomen.

Male. Antennules nine-jointed, hinged between the
third and fourth joints and also between the seventh and
eighth joints, fourth joint very small; the other appendages
are similar to those of the female, fifth feet also similar to
the fifth feet of the female but smaller.

51

Habitat, obtained from the mud collected on the
Mussel beds between Morecambe and Heysham; only a
few specimens were obtained.

Remarks.—This species is very distinct from Idya fur-
cata and also from two other species recently described—
Idya longicornis, T. and A. Scott, and Idya gracilis, T.
Scott—and can easily be recognised from either of them
by the elongate form of the animal, the short antennules
and the small fifth feet.

Idya gracilis, T. Scott.

(T. Scott, Thirteenth An. Rep. Fish. Board for Scot.,
pu ELE. p. 171, 1895.)

A number of specimens of this species were obtained
from the shelly material dredged 1 mile off Spanish Head,
Isle of Man, from a depth of 16 fathoms; it is easily
recognised by the long and slender inner branches of the
first pair of swimming feet and also by the shape and
arrangement of the sete on the fifth pair of feet.

Family SAPPHIRINIDZ, Thorell.

Modiolicola insignis, Aurivillius.

Living as a messmate within the mantle of the “ horse
mussel,’ Mytilus modiolus. A number of specimens
were found in the examples of this Mollusc which were
brought. up in the trawl-net of the steamer, while working
in the vicinity of the north end of ‘the Hole” on March
23rd, 1895. This appears to be a widely distributed
species of Copepod, its range being probably co-extensive
with that of the Mollusc. It has been recorded from the
Firth of Forth, the Moray Firth, and from the vicinity of
Mull. It has also been obtained in specimens of the
same species of Mollusc dredged by Dr. Norman in 1893,
off Trondhjem in Norway.

52

Family AscomyzontTip2, Thorell (1859).

Dermatonvyzon gibberum, T. and A. Scott.

[T. & A. Scott, An. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, Vol.
XIII, p. 144, 1894. ]

A considerable number of specimens of this species
were obtained by washing the common starfish (Asterzas
rubens)in weak methylated spirit and afterwards examining
the sediment. It was taken from starfish collected at
Hilbre Island and afterwards from the same species of
starfish taken in other parts of the district; both males
and females were found, many of the latter with ovisacs
attached.

Collocheres elegans, n. sp. Pl. V., figs. 6—15.

Description of the species—Female. Length 1 millim.
(j;th of an inch). Body elongate, subpyriform, anterior
segment large and somewhat triangular in outline and -
equal to twice the combined lengths of the second, third
and fourth segments, rostrum small and inconspicuous.
Antennules moderately long, slender and sparingly seti-
ferous, twenty-jointed ; the first, eighteenth and twentieth
joints of about equal length and longer than any of the
others, the second and tenth joints slightly smaller than
the others; a sensory filament springs from the end of
the third last jomt. The following formula shows the
proportional lengths of the joints :—
9.2.3.3.3.3.6.4.4.2.3,.6.5.6.. 6 16 (Gee
123 45 678 9 101112131415 161743

Antenne three-jointed, basal joint long and narrow, bear-

ing near the middle of the lower margin a small secondary
branch, which consists of a single joint, nearly oval in
outline and furnished with three small seta on the apex
and one near the middle of the upper margin, second
joint of the antenne about half the length of the first,
third joint about two-thirds the length of the second and

53

bearing at the apex a long slender spine having a slightly
thickened base, and a small hair; a short seta also springs
from near the base of the upper margin. Mandibles
elongate narrow, denticulated on the oblique apex, palp
rudimentary and consisting of a single moderately long
hair. Maxille two-lobed, both lobes of about equal
length, but one is shghtly narrower than the other and is
furnished with one seta at the apex, the broad lobe has
four sete on its apex. Foot-jaws somewhat similar to
those of Collocheres gracilicauda (Brady). First four pairs
of swimming feet also similar to those of that species; the
outer branches of all the four pairs are armed with short
dagger shaped spines and the terminal jot of the inner
branch of the fourth pair is furnished with one stout
dagger shaped spine on the apex and a smaller one near the
middle of the outer margin. Fifth pair of feet somewhat
rudimentary, two-jointed, basal joint broadly triangular
in shape, the second joint which is attached to near the
middle of the outer margin of the basal joint is elongate,
curved, and bluntly serrated at its apex, the length being
about equal to three and one-half times the breadth; it is
furnished with three setz, one on the apex and two a
little lower down on the outer margin and _ slightly
separated from each other. Abdomen slender, four-jointed,
genital segment elongate narrow, length nearly equal to
twice the breadth, and longer than the combined lengths
of the next three segments, second joint about one-third
the length of the first, third jomt slightly smaller than
the second, fourth joint smaller than the third. Caudal
stylets about four times as long as broad and nearly equal
to the length of the last two segments of the abdomen.
Habitat, off Port Evin, from dredged material collected
June, 1895, only one specimen has been observed.
Remarks,—This species is not unlike Collocheres gracili-

54

cauda and may perhaps have been passed over for that
species, but it can be readily distinguished from it by the
much shorter caudal stylets and also by the shape of the
fifth pair of feet.

Ascomyzon thompson, n. sp. Pl. V., figs. 16—26.

Description of the species.—Female. Length 1 milim.
(sth of an inch). Body broad, suborbicular in shape,
cephalothorax broadly ovate, last segment of thorax and
abdomen much narrower, rostrum not prominent. An-
tennules slender, twenty-one-jointed, the first being the
largest and ciliated on its upper margin; second to
elghth joints small and of about equal length, ninth joint
smaller than any of the others, eighteenth joint furnished
with a short sensory filament. The proportional lengths
of the joints are shown in the following formula :—
48°7.-7.5.6.6.6.7.8. 4.7 .8.11.8.1241 1455s

12345 6789 101112181415 1617 1819900
Antenne four-jointed, first joint long and bearing near

the distal end of the lower margin, a small one-jointed
secondary branch, which bears at the apex a moderately
long seta, a small hair also springs from near the middle
of the upper margin; second joint of the antenne shorter
and narrower than the first and having its lower margin
ciliated, third joint very small, fourth joint about as
long as broad and bearing at its apex one strong curved
spine and two sete. Mandibles slender, and stylet shaped;
palp elongate narrow, two-jointed, second joint about one-
third the length of the first and bearing at its apex, one
long and one short plumose seta. The maxille consist
of a short basal joint bearing two lobes of about equal
length, but one is considerably narrower than the other,
each lobe is furnished with four plumose set ; one of the
setee on the broad lobe is much stouter and longer than
the others, two of the other sete on the same lobe are

55

also comparatively stout but are only about half the
length of the long seta. Anterior foot-jaws simple, bearing
a strong curved apical claw. Posterior foot-jaws elongate
slender, four-jointed, resembling those of Dermatomyzon
nigripes (B. and R.). Both branches of the first four
pairs of swimming feet short and stout, three-jointed and
nearly equal in length. Fifth pair of feet rudimentary,
two-jointed, mner joint short and broad, furnished with
one plumose seta on its upper distal angle, outer joint
elongate, length about equal to twice the breadth and
bearing at its apex two moderately long plumose sete
and one small spine, both margins of the joint ciliated.
Abdomen three-jointed, genital segment about as long as
broad and nearly equal to the combined lengths of the
next two segments and caudal stylets, second joint about
half the length of the first, third joint about two-thirds
the length of the second. Caudal stylets slightly longer
than the last abdominal segment, length about equal to
twice the breadth.

Habitat, 1 mile off Spanish Head, Isle of Man, in neritic
material dredged from a depth of 16 fathoms; a few
specimens only were obtained. A number of specimens
have since been found in material washed from Ophiuroids
(Ophioglypha and Ophiothriz) taken in the trawl-net off
Blackpool, and sent to us by Mr. Ascroft.

Remarks.—This species is readily distinguished from
the other members of the Ascomyzontide by the almost
oval outline of the cephalothorax and on dissection by
the structure of the mandible palp and maxille, the stout
sete on the larger lobe of the maxilla appears to be a
well marked character. Dr. W. Giesbrecht of the
Zoological Station Naples, is preparing a monograph on
this interesting family and an abstract which appeared in
the Ann. and Mag. of Natural History for August, 1895,

56

shows a number of changes in the nomenclature and
classification of the genera and species.

SECTION V.
INVESTIGATIONS ON OYSTERS AND DISEASE.
(By Professor HrrpMay.)

From the earliest times more or less well grounded
suspicion has been cast from time to time upon shellfish—
chiefly oysters and mussels—as being the cause of
outbreaks of disease amongst consumers. These outbreaks
fall into two categories :—Il1st Cases of sudden poisoning
due to the presence of putrefactive products, and 2nd
Diseases due to a specific micro-organisin, where there 1s
a period of incubation and where therefore a considerable
interval has elapsed between the infection and the actual
illness. In the latter case it 1s obviously much more
difficult to determine with certainty the source from
which the disease germ has entered the body; and
although many positive assertions have appeared of late
years attributing outbreaks of enteric or typhoid fever to
the consumption of oysters, still it must be pointed out
that the connection between the two has not yet been
scientifically proved, and is only at present more or less
of a possibility or, at most, probability.

Under these circumstances I suggested to my colleague
Professor R. Boyce that the subject was one well worthy
of our attention, and during the past year we have been
making a number of observations and experiments, both
in our Liverpool laboratories and at Port Erin, upon the
conditions under which oysters live healthily, and upon

57

the possibility, or even in some cases the probability, of
their being the carriers of disease germs. We gave a
preliminary account of our work at the meeting of the
British Association in Ipswich last September, and we
shall prepare a detailed Report upon the matter to be laid
before the next meeting of the British Association in
Liverpool in September, 1896, but in the meantime so
much public interest and apprehension has been raised
by several recent outbreaks of typhoid popularly attributed
to oysters, and the matter is so closely connected with the
shellfish industries of this district, that I consider it
advisable to give a summary here of the results of our
work up to the present time.

A. The objects we had in view in entering on the
investigation were as follows :-—

1. To determine the conditions of life and health and
erowth of the oyster by keeping samples in sea waters of
different composition—e.g., 1t is a matter of discussion
amongst practical ostreiculturists as to what specific
eravity or salinity of water, and what amount of lime are
best for the due proportionate growth of both shell and
body.

2. To determine the effect of feeding oysters on various
substances—both natural food, such as Diatoms, and
artificial food, such as oatmeal. Here, again, there is a
want of agreement at present as to the benefit or other-
wise of feeding oysters in captivity.

3. To determine the effect of adding various impurities
to the water in which the oysters are grown, and especially
the effect of sewage in various quantities. It is known
that oysters are sometimes grown or laid down for
fattening purposes in water which is more or less con-
taminated by sewage, but it is still an open question as
to the resulting effect upon the oyster.

58

4. To determine whether oysters not infected with a
pathogenic organism, but grown under insanitary con-
ditions, have a deleterious effect when used as food by
animals.

5. To determine the effect upon the oyster of infection
with typhoid, both naturally—.e., by feeding with sewage
water containing typhoid infection, and artificially—.e.,
by feeding on a culture in broth of the typhoid organism.

6. To determine the fate of the typhoid bacillus in the
oyster—whether it is confined to the alimentary canal,
and whether it increases in any special part or gives rise
to any diseased conditions; how long it remains in the
alimentary canal; whether it remains and grows in the
pallial cavity, on the surface of the mantle and branchial
folds; and whether it produces any altered condition of
these parts that can be recognised by the eye on opening
the oyster.

7. Tio determine whether an oyster can free its alimen-
tary canal and pallial cavity from the typhoid organism
when placed in a stream of clean sea water; and, if so,
how long would be required, under average conditions,
to render infected oysters practically harmless.

B. The methods which we employed in attaining these
objects were as follows :—

I. Observations upon oysters laid down in the sea,
at Port Erin—

(a) Sunk in 5 fathoms in the bay, in pure water.

(b) Deposited in shore pool, but in clean water.

(c) Laid down in three different spots in more or less
close proximity to the main drain pipe, opening into the
sea below low-water mark.

These observations were to ascertain differences of
fattening, condition, mortality, and the acquisition of
deleterious properties as the result of sewage contamination .

59

II. Observations upon oysters subjected to various
abnormal conditions in the laboratory.*

(a) A series of oysters placed in sea water and allowed
to stagnate, in order to determine the effect of non-
aération.

(b) Similar series in water kept periodically aérated.

(c) A series placed in sea water to which a quantity of
fresh (tap) water was added daily, to determine effect of
reduction of salinity.

(d) A series of oysters weighed approximately, and fed
upon the following substances, viz.:—(1) Oatmeal, (2)
Flour, (3) Sugar, (4) Broth, (5) Living Protophyta (Dia-
toms, Desmids, Algze), (6) Living Protozoa (Infusoria,
etc.), (7) Earth.

In this series of experiments the oysters were fed every
morning and the water aérated, but not changed (evapor-
ation was compensated for by the addition of a little tap
water as required). The oysters were weighed from time
to time, and observations made upon the apparently
harmful or beneficial effects of the above methods of
treatment.

(e) A series of oysters placed in sea water to which was
added daily—

(1) Healthy fecal matter.

(2) Typhoid feecal matter.

(3) Pure cultivations of the typhoid bacillus.

The oysters were carefully examined to determine their
condition, with special reference to condition of branchia,
alimentary canal, adductor muscle, and viscera generally.
The contents of the rectum, as well as the water in the
pallial cavity, were subjected to bacteriological analysis

* The oysters were kept in basins in cool rooms of constant temperature,
shaded from the sun, both at the Port Erin Biological Station and also in
the Pathological and Zoological Laboratories at University College, Liverpool,

60

to determine the number of micro-organisms present, as
well as the identity of the typhoid or other pathogenic
organisms.

C. The following is a summary of the results obtained
so far :—

We consider that these results are based upon tentative
experiments, and serve only to indicate further and more
definite lines of research. They must not be regarded as
conclusive. We feel strongly that all the experiments
must be repeated and extended in several directions.

Our experiments demonstrate :—

I. The beneficial effects of aération—

(a) By the addition of air only ;

(b) By change of water ;
pointing to the conclusion that the laying down of oysters
in localities where there is a gocd change of water, by
tidal current or otherwise, should be beneficial.

II. The diverse results obtained by feeding upon various
substances, amongst which the following may be noted.
The exceedingly harmful action of sugar, which caused
the oysters to decrease in weight and die; whilst the
other substances detailed above enabled them to maintain
their weight or increase. The oysters thrive best upon
the living Protophyta and Protozoa. Those fed upon
oatmeal and flour after a time sickened and eventually
died.

III. The deleterious effects of stagnation, owing to
the collection of excretory products, growth of micro-
organisms, and formation of scums upon the surface of
the water.

IV. The toleration of sewage, etc. It was found that
oysters could, up to a certain point, render sewage-
contaminated water clear, and that they could live for a
prolonged period in water rendered completely opaque by

Stay =

61

the addition of fecal matter; that the fecal matter
obtained from cases of typhoid was more inimical than
that obtained from healthy subjects ; and that there was
considerable toleration to peptonised broth.

V. The infection of the oyster by the micro-organisms.
The results of the bacteriological examination of the
pallial cavity of the oyster, and of the contents of the
rectum, showed that in the cases of those laid down in the
open water of the bay the colonies present were especially
small in number, whilst in those laid down in proximity
to the drain pipe the number was enormous (e.g., 17,000
as against 10 in the former case). It was found that
more organisms were present in the pallial cavity than in
the rectum. In the case of the oysters grown in water
infected with the Bacillus typhosus, it was found that
there was no apparent increase of the organisms, but that
they could still be identified in cultures taken from the
water of the pallial cavity and rectum fourteen days after
infection.

It is found that the typhoid bacillus will not flourish in
clean sea water, and our experiments seem to show so
far that it decreases in numbers in its passage along the
alimentary canal of the oyster. It would seem possible,
therefore, that by methods similar to those employed in
the ‘‘ Bassins de dégorgement”’ of the French ostreicul-
turist, where the oysters are carefully subjected to a
natural process of cleaning, oysters previously contaminated
with sewage could be freed of pathogenic organisms or
their products without spoiling the oyster for the market.

It need scarcely be pointed out that if it becomes
possible thus. to cleanse infected or suspected oysters by
a simple mode of treatment which will render them
innocuous, a great boon will have been conferred upon
both the oyster trade and the oyster-consuming public.

62

The discovery of a green tinge of more or less intensity
which made its appearance on the mantle and other parts
of the body of some of the oysters in our experiments
started us on a series of investigations into the minute
structure of the green parts, and the nature and causes of
the greenness in general in oysters. We soon found that
the greenness of our experimental oysters,* which is very
different in appearance from the greenness of the culti-
vated French oyster—the ‘‘huitre de Marennes’’—was
present also in some American oysters freshly imported,
and was lable to make its appearance in oysters laid
down in certain parts of our own coast. We found that
this pale green inflammation, as it may be called, was
known to the local oyster importers and oyster merchants,
by whom the suggestion was made that the colour was
due to copper poisoning in the oyster.

This led us to a chemical examination of the matter
which showed (as had been shown in the case of other
green oysters before) that copper had nothing to do with
the disease. ‘There was very little copper present in the
ereen parts—practically no more than in the corresponding
parts of colourless (yellow) oysters. Moreover we have
kept oysters in old copper vessels and in vessels of sea
water containing different amounts of sulphate of copper
in solution (0°02 and 0:2 % of the copper, in 10 litres of
water), and other salts, and in none of these cases did the
animal acquire any green colour except what was deposited
on the surface of the shell and other exposed parts until
the death of the tissues when a certain amount of post-
mortem green staining made its appearance.

Dr. Charles Kohn has kindly analysed the gills of some
ereen (French) and some ordinary colourless oysters, and

*Our thanks are due to Charles Petrie, Esq,, C.C., and to George T. G.
Musson, Esq., for the kind help they have given us in procuring various
kinds of oysters for investigation and experiment.

63
finds that in both of them there are traces of copper, and
of iron, but that the amount of both metals is actually
ereater in the colourless than in the green gills.

Cases of sudden poisoning following upon the con-
sumption of oysters have frequently been ascribed to the
oysters having a green colour which was supposed, with
little or no reason, to be due to impregnation with a
copper salt. The river Roach, in Essex, has long been
known to produce in winter green oysters which, on
account of their colour, are not sold in England but are
sent to the French and other continental markets. It
has been shown several times that copper has uothing to
do with the greening of these oysters. However, that
conclusion is constantly doubted, and such cases as the
following are quoted:—In 1713 a certain Ambassador
gave a great supper at the Hague, and, we are told, as a
luxury procured green oysters from England. The guests
who eat them are said to have been seized with severe
colics and to have been cured with great difficulty. It is
also said, however, that the merchant had palmed upon
the Ambassador some common oysters tinted with copper
instead of the true greens. Another historic case is that
of the trial which took place at Rochefort in 1862 of a
merchant wh» had sold green oysters imported from
England and which were said to contain copper.

Other cases are on record of green oysters which
are supposed to have taken up copper from old mines
under the sea, as at Falmouth, or from the copper bottoms
of ships, and so have become poisonous. Mr. G. C.
Bourne of Oxford who has investigated the Falmouth
oysters tells me that their greenness is in his opinion due
to a green Desmid upon which the oysters feed in
quantity. It is said that these oysters lose their colour
on being transplanted to the mouth of the Thames.

64

It has been conclusively shown by various investigators,
since Dumas in 1841 and Berthelot in 1855, that the green
colour is not due to Chlorophyll and that although every
oyster contains a very small amount of copper in its blood
there is no reason to believe this becomes increased to a
poisonous extent in any oyster, and that the green colour
of the French cultivated oysters (‘‘ huitres de Marennes”’)
is not due to copper.

Gaillon in 1820 came to the conclusion that the green
colour is due to the microscopic food which the oyster
gets from the water of the ‘‘claire”’ or oyster park. He
called the organism in question Vibrio ostrearius; it 1s
now known to be a Diatom—Navicula fusiformis, var.
ostrearia, Grunow. Since then other French investigators,
and notably Valenciennes in 1841, have corroborated
Gaillon’s conclusion and have shown that in addition to
the branchie, the inner surfaces of the labial palps, the
alimentary canal beyond the stomach, and to some extent
the liver, become coloured green.

It has been proved experimentally by Puységur,*
Bornet, Decaisne and others that white oysters can be
sreened rapidly—in 26 hours—by keeping them in clean
soup plates and feeding them with water containing the
Navicula. These interesting experiments were carried out
at Le Croisic in Brittany, and were afterwards repeated
in Paris; and the result seems entirely opposed to the
old suggestion that iron salts in the soil at the bottom of

+)

the ‘‘claire”’ are the cause of the greening, which was
alluded to twenty years ago by Bouchon-Brandely and
has quite recently been revived by Carazzi at Spezia.
Ryder,+ in America, was also in 1880 investigating the
ereening of oysters, with much the same results as those
of Puységur. He went a step further, however, and

* Revue Maritime et Coloniale, 1880.
+U. S. Fish Comm. Report for 1882 (published 1884).

65

showed that the colouring matter was taken up by the
amoeboid blood cells, and that these wandering cells
containing the pigment were to be found in the heart, in
some of the blood-vessels and in aggregations in “‘ cysts”
under the surface epithelium of the body. He describes
the colour (in the ventricle) as a ‘‘ delicate pea-green,”’
and states that it is not chlorophyll nor diatomine: he
suggests that 1t may be phycocyanine or some allied
substance.

In 1886, Ray Lankester* gave a useful summary of some
of the earlier papers, and discussed the main questions
concerned. Moreover he investigated the gills of the
green oyster histologically, and described cells laden with
green granules which occur in the epithelium of the gills
and labial palps. He showed that such cells are also
present in the common oyster, where, however, they are
not green, and that these cells may be found also wandering
over the surface of the gills. He considered them as
‘secretion’ cells, but they are clearly the same structures
which Ryder a few years before had found in the blood.
Lankester found the Navicula in the intestine of the
green oyster, and re-asserted that there was no copper
and no iron in the refractory blue pigment—which he
described under the name ‘‘ marennin.”’

Quite recently, Chatin, de Bruyne, and others have
re-investigated the structure of the oyster’s gill and the
process of greening in more detail, with the general result
that the large cells (macroblasts) containing the green
granules are now regarded as ‘‘phagocytes’’ conveying
some substance to the surface of the body. One author,
however, Carazzi, considers that the macroblasts are
surface cells, which are taking up substances from without
for purposes of nutrition, and he attributes the green

* Quart. Journ. Mier. Sci., Vol. XXVLI., p. 71.

66

colour to sesquioxide of iron in the mud of the “‘ claire.”
This revival of an old view I have alluded to above.

At present then there are several distinct views as to
the exact cause and the meaning of the greenness of the
French cultivated oyster which is fattened, flavoured and
greened in the oyster parks or ‘“‘claires”’ of La Tremblade,
Marennes, Sable d’Olonne, Le Croisic and other places
on the west coast of France. One view is that it is due
to the microscopic food of the oyster, another that it is
caused by the nature of the bottom of the “‘ claire.” One
view is that it is a process of excretion or the removal of
certain coloured matters from the body, another that it is
a process of absorption of nutriment. 'The whole subject
is at present under investigation both by ourselves and
by others, and we hope to report upon our conclusions
more fully in a few months. It cannot, however, be
questioned that the normal green oyster of the French
markets is in a thoroughly healthy condition and that its
ereen colour is not due to copper nor to any other
poisonous substance.

There are, however, other green oysters—or rather
there is a greenness which may appear in any oyster
under certain conditions—which have nothing to do with
cultivation in ‘‘ claires’’ and where the colour is not due
to feeding upon diatoms. This is the pale greenness
mentioned above which we have met with in some
American oysters. We find that it is an inflammatory
condition or ‘‘ leucocytosis”’ in which enormous numbers
of wandering leucocytes filled with large green granules
come out on the surface of the body and especially on the
mantle. For further details of this green condition of
the oyster, with figures, I must refer to our full report to
the British Association to be published later. We have
tried growing oysters under various unusual conditions,

67

including the addition to the sea water of fluid from
alkali works, such as may enter our estuaries, in the hope
of getting some clue to the cause of the green inflam-
mation, but have so far failed to reproduce exactly in the
laboratory the changes which seem to take place when
the oyster is left in its natural (?) surroundings.

Our present opinion, however, is that oysters exhibiting
this pale green leucocytosis are in an unhealthy state,
and we may add that we find the liver in these specimens
is histologically in an abnormal, shrunken and degenerate
condition. Whether actually “unfit for food” or not,
they are at any rate in very ‘‘poor’”’ condition, and have
lost the aroma and flavour of the normal healthy oyster.

It is clear that, so far as our present knowledge goes,
oysters only share along with many other food matters—
such as tinned foods, meat pies, fish under certain
conditions, and diseased or infected meat—the responsi-
bility of occasionally being capable of conveying poison,
parasites, or disease germs into the human body; and
that is, taken by itself, no sufficient reason why an
important and highly esteemed food matter should be
avoided. What is evidently necessary is that the precise
conditions under which the oyster may become dangerous
as human food should be investigated, and that when these
are determined precautions should be taken to insure that
the unhealthly conditions can never arise In our oyster beds.

It is all important that perfectly healthy grounds should
be chosen for fattening the oysters upon. The water in
which they are kept should be above suspicion. Oysters
have to be fattened in water that is to some extent
estuarine, and unfortunately estuaries are the places
where a certain amount of sewage must find its way into
the sea. When sewage is present in water the number
of micro-organisms, pathogenic and otherwise, becomes

68

very largely increased. The water of the Seine above
Paris contains 300 organisms to the cubic centimetre,
while below Paris the number has increased to 200,000
per cubic centimetre. We have also shown from our
experiments at Port Erin that in oysters purposely placed
near the outlet of the drain the number of organisms
increased enormously. All estuaries, however, are not
polluted, and the deleterious effects of sewage do not
extend far, consequently there should be no great difficulty
in finding perfectly suitable localities for oyster culture if
a careful study is made of the matter. Tides and other
currents, depth, specific gravity and temperature of the
water all affect the distribution of the sewage in an
estuary, and their influence should be carefully enquired
into in connection with the site of any proposed shellfish
cultivation.

Some of our experiments have shown that the oyster
can purify polluted water in a most remarkable degree,
but that property may have a bad as well as a good result.
The good side of the matter is that the oyster in obtaining
its nutriment from the water is able to convert useless
and deleterious products of decomposition into excellent
human food. The bad side of the matter is that if there
happen to be any disease germs in the water the oyster
may possibly strain out and store them up in its own
body. And it even seems probable that other microbes
associated with disease germs may play some part in
causing or modifying disease.

It is re-assuring, however, to find as we do from our
own investigations as well as from the consideration of
the work of others that the typhoid organism (Bacillus
typhosus) dies off very rapidly in ordinary sea water as
one passes either in distance or time from the source of

supply.

69

Professor Boyce has supplied me with the following
facts in regard to the presence and behaviour of the
typhoid Bacillus in sea water.

We showed at the British Association Meeting in 1895
that, as was to be expected, the number of micro-organisms
in oysters grown in the vicinity of sewage was enormously
increased. The organisms present were non-pathogenic
for man, and it became necessary therefore for us to
investigate the growth of the typhoid bacillus in sea water.
The first point of importance is the relative proportion of
typhoid sewage to ordinary sewage. The proportion of
typhoid fecal matter which may find its way into the
sewers has been investigated by Laws and Andrewes, and
in one instance in London they gave the proportion as
zs0000) pointing out, however, that in the case of the
fever hospitals every endeavour was made to disinfect the
typhoid materials. The same authors were only able to
demonstrate the presence of the Bacillus typhosus in the
drains in the immediate vicinity of the Typhoid Hospital.
Further, from their experiments there seems every reason
to suppose that sewage is an unfavourable medium for the
propagation of the typhoid Bacillus, and that although
when incubated and grown in sterile sewage the organism
may show a slight multiplication in the first 24 hours, it
-soon tends to become extinct.

Since 1886 a very large number of investigators have
shown that drinking and river water may become infected
with typhoid sewage, and here again numbers of experi-
ments have been made to ascertain whether the Bacillus
typhosus propagates in fresh water. Kraus showed that a
very rapid decline of the Bacillus and a very rapid increase
of the ordinary water bacteria took place when the water
was incubated. ‘The most recent observations are those by
Frankland and Ward, and they showed that the Bacillus

70

disappeared at the end of 34 days in unsterilised Thames
water and that there was no multiplication in potable
water. Observations thus tend to show that neither
sewage nor fresh water are favourable media and that the
former is the least favourable.

A further very important point is the action of salt
water upon the typhoid bacillus. In 1889 Giaxa made
observations upon the vitality of the B. typhosus in
sterilised and unsterilised sea water and showed that it
was present in the latter up to the 9th day, and in the
former to the 25th. Frankland and Ward showed that a
3% salt solution most prejudicially influences the growth
of the Bacillus, the latter disappearing by the 18th day.

Our own experiments have been made so far with
sterilised sea water incubated at 35°C., and in one case
at 8°—10°C. A culture of the B. typhosus on agar was
emulsified with sterilised water and a definite quantity of
this in each instance was added to the sterilised sea water.
Experiment I. No. of bacilli at time of mixing 29,250.

Adtiers: 24 snouts ysin.tsn eee 20,475.

apr odltivm gra as. cape. Ree 9,945

pau Walcot) y strlnugier aes See eae ae 9,360

jy? CRDPe &F iranian 5,850

ig Til eggs irra ei ee 260

5) O40 © 45rr Deke ee gE

Experiment IT. At time of mixing ............... 1,300.
Adt@rsAlvhours: Luaiactieeeee Ley:

ys Mydo- wis! loace. eRe 780.

jpn Ttiegge shen: eee 650

p> Sihoglonksl acinar 325

5 D2) geht ela 2.

6 1840p girviaed een eee 0.

Experiment IIT. At time of mixing............... 22,750.

After: 4b noursiass..,.n 4 tees 17550;

7]

Piiherwy ee OUR: ffi ode penis ciao. 11,700.

BE re cola orca eee me ee eae 3,250.

ee etre nani cr ae en eee 3,250

yy RDP, Sa, RR ea oe 455

pel LGri). tml tates cemeaee aie 325.

Experiment IV. At time of mixing ............... 130.
Adtierions HOULSI SH tease. tea dates 41.

Gt ep AB ty ME te ees AaPeahed S400 31

hid FAIA Sy, AM SNS dots. 38.

SOA HAUS Secveeitnsene chk ter seals negative

BASEL PIM ee ak. 3hidcarcale tease ifs

ae oO ig TOE wSohde apie 0.

Experiment V. At time of mixing ............... 31,200.
PuRCC EL: MOUTBe se. oeaccncneese cases 9,360.

ER oe Wace cuhsccnek hors 325.

Experiment VI. At time of mixing ............... 325.
Adie LUA OWS Ws. ke. 6.606) oceans 2.

Experiment VII. At time of mixing ............ 32,500.
After 504 hours (water kept at 8°C. to 10°C.). (ish
Experiment VIII. At time of mixing ............ 325.
Deiter SOAIMGUES f.0 eapstusae veeaheput 0.

These results are fairly uniform. When a large number
of Bacili are added to the water their presence may
be demonstrated longer than in cases where smaller
quantities are used. Fourteen days would appear to be
the average duration in sea water incubated at 35°C., whilst
when kept in the cold their presence was demonstrated
on the twenty-first day. There appears to be no initial
or subsequent multiplication of the Bacilh. Between 40
and 70 hours after infection there is less decrease than at
other periods; but there is no evidence of increase in
numbers of the Bacilli when grown in sea waters either
when incubated or at ordinary temperatures.

On the whole the investigations which are summarized

72

above—and. which it must be remembered are not yet
finished—give results of a re-assuring nature, and demand
from the public at the very least a suspension of
judgment, while they. also indicate the advantage of
adopting some simple. sanitary measures which, if properly
carried into effect, would go far to remove suspicion from
the oyster in our markets. These measures are, 1° a
strict examination of all grounds upon which oysters are
grown or.bedded so as to ensure their freedom from
sewage, and 2°, if practicable, the use of ‘‘ dégorgeoirs”’
or disgorging tanks in which the oysters should be placed
for a short time before they are sent to the consumer.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

PLATE I.

Stenhelia herdmani, n. sp. (A. Scott).

Fig. 1. Female seen from the side, X 27. 2. Antennule,
x 68. 38. Antenna, X 85. 4. Mandible, x 85.
5. Maxilla, x 85. 6. Anterior foot-jaw, X 127.
7. Posterior foot-jaw, X 90. 8. Foot of first
pair of swimming feet, X 85. 9. Foot of fourth
pair, X 85. 10. Foot of fifth pair, x 127. 11.
Abdomen and caudal stylets, x 170.

Stenhelia similis, n. sp.

Fig. 12. Female seen from the side, X 40. 13. Anten-
nule, X 127. 14. Antennule of male, x 127.
15.. Antenna, X 125. 16. Mandible, x 253.
17. Maxilla, X 253. 18. Posterior foot-jaw, X
953. 19. Rostrum, xX 253. 20. Foot of first
paw of swimming feet, X 127. 21. Foot of

73

fourth pair, X 127. 22. Foot of second pair,
male, X 127. 23. Foot of fifth pair, x 125.
24. Foot of fifth pair, male, X 125. 25. Abdo-
men and caudal stylets, x 53.

Puate II.

Ametra gracile, n. sp.

Fig. 1. Female seen from the side, X 64. 2. Antennule,
* 152. 3: Antennule,-male, x 152. 4. An-
tenna, X 253. 5. Mandible, x 880. 6. Pos-
terior foot-jaw, X 880. 7. Foot of first pair
of swimming feet, X 170. 8. Foot of fourth
pair, X 170. 9. Foot of fifth pair, x 380. 10.
Foot of fifth pair, male, x 380. 11. Abdomen
and caudal stylets, xX 80.

Canthocamptus palustris, Brady.

Fig. 12. Female seen from the side, X 50. 13. Anten-
nule, X 200. 14. Antennule, male, xX 152.
15. Antenna, X 253. 16. Mandible, x 300.
17. Posterior foot-jaw, X 380. 18. Foot of
first pair of swimming feet, X 170. 19. Foot of
fourth pair, X 170. 20. Foot of fifth pair,
xX 253. 21. Foot of fifth pair, male, xX 258.
22. Appendage to the first abdominal segment,
male, X 253. 23. Abdomen and caudal stylets,
x 80.

Tetragoniceps trispinosus, n. sp.

Fig. 24. Posterior foot-jaw, xX 300. 25. Foot of fifth

pair, X 380.

Pruate III.

Tetragoniceps trispinosus, n. sp.
Fig. 1. Female seen from above, X 80. 2. Antennule,
-%-170.--3.--Antenna,.X 253, 4.. Foot of first

74

pair of swimming feet, x 253. 5. Foot of
fourth pair, X 253. 6. Abdomen and caudal
stylets, X 253.
Pseudolaophonte aculeata, n. gen. and n. sp.

Fig. 7. Female seen from above, X 106. 8. Antennule,
x 170. 9. Antennule, male, x 170. 10. An-
tenna, X) 125; (41. Mandible, x 253,052)
Maxilla, X 253. 13. Anterior foot-jaw, X 253,
14. Posterior foot-jaw, X 253. 15. Foot of
first pair of swimming feet, X 253. 16. Foot
of second pair, X 253. 17. Foot of third pair,
X 253. 18. Foot of fourth pair, xX 2538. 19.
Foot of fifth pair, X 170. 20. Foot of third
pair, male, X 253. 21. Foot of fourth pair,
male, X 2538. 22. Foot of fifth pair, male, x
380. 23. Abdomen and caudal stylets, x 80.

Laophontodes bicornis, n. sp.
Fig. 24. Mandible, x 500. 25. Anterior foot-jaw, x 500.

Prats Ty.

Laophontodes bicornis, n. sp.

Fig. 1. Female seen from above, X 120. 2, Antennule,
<x 253. 3. Antenna, X 253. 4. Posterior foot-
jaw, X 380. 5. Foot of first pair of swimming
feet, X 253. 6. Foot of fourth pair, x 253.
7. Foot of fifth pair, X 253.

Normanella attenuata, n. sp.

Fig. 8. Female seen from the side, x 50. 9. Antennule,
x 127. 10. Antennule,. Male, x. A273
Antenna, X 150. 12. Mandible, x 253. 13.
Maxilla, X 2538. 14. Posterior foot-jaw, x 2538.
15. Foot of first pair of swimming feet, x 150.
16. Foot of second pair, X 150. 17. Foot of
fourth pair, X 150. 18. Foot of fifth pair, x

(6)

300. 19. Foot of fifth pair, male, x 300. 20.
Abdomen and caudal stylets, x 90,
Idya elongata, u. sp.

Fig. 21. Posterior foot-jaw, x 380. 22. Foot of fifth

co)

Fig

Fj

i!

pair, female, X 115. 23. Foot of fifth pair,
male, X 115. 24. Appendage to the first ab-
dominal segment, x 115,

PLATE V.
Idya elongata, un. sp.

ig. 1. Female seen from above, X 64. 2. Antennule,

x 253. 3. Antennule, male, x 253. 4. Foot
first pair of swimming feet, X 190. 5, Foot
fourth pair, X 190.

Collocheres elegans, u. sp.

. 6. Female seen from above, X 52. 7. Antennule,

x 133. 8. Antenna, x 170. 9. Mandible, x
953. 10. Maxilla, x 170. 11. Anterior foot-
jaw, X 170. 12. Posterior foot-jaw, x 170.
13, Foot of first pair of swimming feet, x 125,
14, Foot of fourth pair, X 125. 15. Foot of
fifth pair, X 190.

Ascomyzon thompsoni, Nn. sp,

g. 16. Female seen from above, X 50. 17. Antennule,

<x 133. 18. Antenna, <.190, 19. Mandible,
<x 190. 20. Maxilla, x 125. 21. Anterior
foot-jaw, X 127. 22. Posterior foot-jaw, x 127.
23. Foot of first pair of swimming feet, X 127.
24. Foot of fourth pair, X 127, 25. Foot of
fifth pair, X 200. 26. Abdomen and caudal
stylets, X 85.

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