8 LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The Puffins {Fratercida arctica) returned to the island 

 this year on the 10th of April, a week earlier than in 1888, 

 and left on the 19th of August. Their number remains 

 about the same. 



Zoning of the Shore. 



About the middle of February, Mr. Thompson, Mr. 

 Harvey Gibson and I visited the station for a few days, 

 and we found that, notwithstanding the low temperature, 

 work could be carried on both on the shore and in the 

 laboratory. Mr. Thompson collected Copepoda, Amphi- 

 poda (including Pleustes glaher, new to Britain) and 

 Isopoda ; Mr. Gibson occupied himself with the Algae, 

 and I commenced detailed observations upon the zones of 

 life on the shore (a subject which was referred to in the 

 first of these reports), and arranged with the curator for 

 the measurement of the exact distances of certain species 

 of animals and plants vertically from high and low-water, 

 and for the placing of permanent marks upon the shore 

 at each end of the island so as to facilitate the taking 

 of future observations and measurements.* 



The "zoning of the shore" is no new subject, but it is 

 one which is full of interest and may be susceptible of 

 some new developments. From the earliest times marine 

 biologists have noticed that the depth has a great effect 



* These marks which have now been made upon the rocks are: — at the north 

 end, near the laboratory, the average high-water mark (18 ft. tide) is shown 

 by a red paint line labelled A.T., and low- water mark of the lowest springs 

 (21 ft.) is shown by a blue line labelled L.S. ; and at the south end, near the 

 beach, high-water mark of the highest springs (21 ft. ) is shown by a red line 

 labelled 21, ditto of ordinary springs (19 ft.) by red line labelled 19, ditto of 

 average tides (18 ft.) by red line labelled A.T., and ditto of smallest neaps 

 (10 ft. 9 in.) by blue line labelled 10.9 on rock at both sides of beach. The 

 accompanying new Chart of the Island and neighbourhood has been carefully 

 prepared by Mr. Rutherford, the curator. 



