22 LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



two interesting new methods of collecting would be tried 

 on this cruise. First, the submarine electric light, which 

 gave such good results in the "Hyaena" expedition of the 

 previous summer, was to be used as an attraction in the 

 nets let down to the bottom at considerably greater depths 

 than was the case in last year's experiments at Eamsey 

 and Port Erin ; and second, Mr. W. E. Hoyle's new tow- 

 net (recently exhibited and described before the Biological 

 Society of Liverpool*), which can be opened and closed at 

 any required depth, so as to ensure that the contents of 

 the net were captured in a particular stratum of water, 

 was to be taken, with the view of trying whether it could 

 be worked successfully. 



It has often been felt by naturalists when they brought 

 up free - swimming animals (such as fishes, medusae, or 

 Crustacea) from considerable depths that it was uncertain 

 when and where these animals entered the net. This was 

 the case with many of the animals collected during the 

 "Challenger" expedition. They were obtained in a dredge 

 net, which had been down to a depth of one, two, or say 

 three thousand fathoms, but for all we know they may 

 have been caught on the way down, or on the way up, and 

 may not be found at the bottom at all. Consequently, 

 many attempts have been made to construct a net which 

 can be sent down closed to a particular depth, and then be 

 opened and towed open for some distance, and then be 

 closed again before being hauled up. 



"Two of these are — (1) the Turbyne tow-net, used at the 

 Granton Marine Station, where there are two ropes, one 

 of which, used for letting down and hauling up the net, 

 forms a slip noose constricting the mouth of the bag; and 

 (2) the very elaborate piece of apparatus invented by 

 the Prince of Monaco, and shown lately at the Paris 



* See Proceedings, vol. iii., p. 100. 



