132 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Jan. 



Like his previous papers on ' The Effects of Explosives on 

 Fish-life" and his reports on "Sawdust and other Water 

 Pollutions," Dr. Knight's present paper shows thoroughness 

 and originalitv, and his exposition is most lucid. Professor 

 McBride, late of McGill University, contributes a practical 

 report on Oyster Culture, and refers also to the hardly less 

 important Clam Fishery, the value of the latter in 1911-12 reach- 

 ing $332,803, whereas the oyster fishery only brought $212,296. 

 Dr. Joseph Stafford reports on an interesting piece of work, 

 which the Biological Board gave him to do, viz., the study of 

 the young stages of the oyster and other molluscs. Embry- 

 ologists are of course familiar with the larval stages of the chief 

 edible shell-fish in our waters, but some points remained which 

 it was desired by the Biological Board should be cleared up, 

 and the paper on the "Recognition of Bivalve Molluscan 

 Larva? " fills the lacuna. Dr. Stafford had previously investigated 

 the Soft-Shell Clam and his report in the "Contributions" 

 published in 1901 , was valuable and illustrated by four beautiful 

 plates, but the present three plates, with 44 figures, though 

 heliograph reproductions, are much inferior, and somewhat 

 coarse, showing little of the clearness of detail, such as one sees 

 in the drawings of British, Dutch and German specialists, for 

 example Dr. John Wilson, Dr. Hoek, Loven, and others. Dr. 

 Stafford followed precisely the method of the early investigators 

 into larval fish-life in European seas, for they artifically fertilized 

 and hatched sea-fishes' eggs, and reared them through early 

 stages, and the latter stages were connected with these by 

 securing the older stages in plankton nets in the open sea. 

 Dr. Stafford's detailed descriptions of the young soft-shell clam 

 (Mya), the hard-shell clam (Venus), the scallop (Pecten) and the 

 oyster (Ostrea) are valuable, and he usefully adds the Silver- 

 shell (Anomia), the young of which has often been mistaken 

 for the young of the oyster. Dr. Stafford provisionally determines 

 certain larva? as those of Tottenia and Clidiophora, and gives 

 six figures of them. 



Professor L. W. Bailey (Fredericton, N.B.), reports on 

 Diatoms, which form part of the food of the oyster and other 

 shellfish, though less extensively than was at one time claimed. 

 His interesting notes, chart of distribution, and plates, with 

 53 figures, admirably supplement the preceding molluscan 

 papers. Dr. Stafford continues his Atlantic Fauna papers and 

 adds to the lists of previous workers, giving three lists of the 

 various classes from Protozoa \ip to Polyzoa, Molluscs, Tunicates 

 and Vertebrates. A less discursive and thoroughly accurate list 

 of our Atlantic marine fauna is a desideratum, and Dr. Stafford's 

 three further papers now published will help towards that end. 



