324 LIVERPOOL MARINE BIOLOGY COMMITTEE REPORT. 



and active ; then, on the addition of more picric acid, the 

 Copepoda stop swimming and fall to the bottom, leaving 

 Evadne and any higher Crustaceans, such as Amphipoda 

 and Isopoda, still alive and able to swim about in the picric 

 solution. After all the organisms have been killed and 

 have fallen to the bottom, the superjacent fluid may be 

 poured off so as to reduce its amount, and what remains 

 along with the organisms may then be transferred to a 

 small (1 or 2-oz.) bottle. Then, after settling for a few 

 minutes the greater part of the picric acid solution may be 

 again poured off, and the bottle filled up with alcohol. 

 This process gave fairly good results. The animals were 

 thoroughly preserved, and in most cases had not suffered 

 from excessive or irregular contraction. The previous 

 hardening in picric acid appears to prevent them from being 

 shrivelled by the alcohol. The natural colour, however, is 

 in all cases entirely obliterated as everything is stained 

 opaque yellow by the picric acid. 



The following lists have been drawn up* from the tow- 

 net gatherings which were preserved. They shew that, 

 although a slight difference was present in the surface 

 fauna on different days, and at different times, still no 

 definite relation can be established between the time of day, 

 the state of the sea, or the meteorological conditions on the 

 one hand, and the abundance or nature of the surface life on 

 the other : — 



I. — July 30th, Port Erin, mid-day. 

 Peridinium tripos, few. 

 Thaumantias, many. 

 Pleurohrachia pileus, few. 



* I have to acknowledge the help of Mr. J. A. Clubb, the assistant 

 in the Zoological Laboratory of University College, Liverpool, in making 

 these lists. Mr. Clubb went carefully through the whole of the material, 

 picked out and mounted the species, and identified many of them. — Ed. 



