[ 4S ] 



Faunistic Notes. 



JANUARY TO JUNE, 1895. 



By 



E. J. Allen, B.Sc, 

 Director of the Plj^mouth Laboratory. 



The following notes on the collecting work carried out during the 

 period from January to June, 1895, follow the lines of Mr. Garstang's 

 notes for 1892* and 1893.t In putting the observations on record, 

 I should like to thank the various workers at the Laboratory during the 

 period covered, for the help which they have given. My own part of 

 the work has consisted chietly in keeping the record, and in en- 

 deavouring to give a certain amount of continuity to the whole. At 

 the same time the final responsibility for the names adopted must 

 be my own. 



What strikes one perhaps most forcibly in keeping a detailed record 

 of collecting operations such as are carried out by the Association, and 

 comparing it with previous records and observations, is the great 

 relative variation in the abundance of different forms from year to 

 year. In any particular year, animals which at a given season are 

 usually quite common, may be almost entirely absent, whilst other 

 forms usually regarded as rare may be taken in great abundance. 

 Several instances of this kind will appear in what follows, and it is 

 from this point of view that such records are likely to be of the utmost 

 value, if continued from year to year. It is only by their means that 

 the modifications of the fauna and flora of any district, due in the first 

 place to the direct action of physical conditions, and in the second to 

 the inter-relations of the various organisms which compose it, may be 

 expected to receive anything like a complete explanation. 



* This Journah Voh ii. N.S. p. 333. 

 t „ ,, Voh iii. N.S. p. 212. 



