1896.] 



129 



NOTES ON A ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO 

 VALENCIA ISLAND, CO. KERRY. 



SHORE-COLLECTING AND DREDGING. 



BY F. W. GAMBI^B, M.SC, 

 Demonstrator and Assistant I^ectiirer in Zoology, Owens College, 



Manchester. 



At the beginning of April, 1895, Mr. E. T. Browne (Univ. 

 Coll., London), Mr. W. I. Beaumont, and the author paid a 

 visit to Valencia Island for the purpose of making further 

 observations on certain groups of marine invertebrate animals, 

 which we had severally investigated at Professor Herdman's 

 Laboratory, Port Erin, Isle of Man, and also at the Marine 

 Biological Association's Laboratory at Plymouth. 



Mr. Browne's object was to examine the composition and 

 seasonal changes of the floating fauna by the aid of the tow- 

 net. The present article is, however, confined to a record of 

 the forms obtained by Mr. Beaumont and myself, by means 

 of shore-collecting and shallow- water dredging in Valencia 

 Harbour and the immediate neighbourhood during April and 

 May of last year. The groups referred to are, chiefly, the 

 •^ Hydroids, Nemertea, Turbellaria, Gephyrea, Nudibranchiate 

 Mollusca, and the Pycnogonida or "Sea-spiders." Since 

 these groups are, for the most part, composed of small and 

 soft-bodied animals, requiring careful observation for their 

 detection, and microscopical methods for their determination 

 we resolved if possible to fit up a temporary laboratory in 

 which we could examine our captures at leisure, and keep 

 them under observation for some time. We were fortunately 

 able to carry out this resolve successfully. 



It is to Prof. A. C Haddon that we are indel5ted for sug- 

 gesting Valencia Island as the base of operations. The 

 advantages which it offers are, a rich fauna close at hand ; a 

 well-sheltered harbour, enabling us to dredge under conditions 

 of weather that would have rendered the use of a small boat 

 in a more exposed situation out of the question ; and finally 

 it is now easily accessible by the Great Southern and Western 

 Railway. We were also greatly aided in discovering the most 



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