FAUNISTIC NOTES. 51 



absent during 1893, has been taken this year on several occasions, 

 as before, during the latter half of May. 



Large colonies of Alcyonmm digitatum have again been growing on 

 the iron piles of the Promenade Pier, a position in which they were 

 found last year. 



Post-larval stages of Arenicola similar to those described by Dr. 

 Benham * in this Journal, which have previously appeared in February, 

 were not found until nearly a month later than usual, the first recorded 

 being taken on March 25th. A corresponding lateness in the appear- 

 ance of the regular constituents of the floating fauna, as compared with 

 previous records, has been very marked during the early part of this 

 year. 



A specimen of Sipunculus nudus about 5 in. long was brought to 

 the Laboratory on April 2ud by a fisherman, having been taken whilst 

 trawling. 



On the 5th of the same month, our own man was on board a Ply- 

 mouth trawler, obtaining fertilised eggs of flat-fishes, when another 

 specimen of about the same size was taken ten miles soutli of the 

 Eddystone light. 



Amongst the Nudibranchiata large specimens of Aplysia punctata 

 (5-6 inches long when extended) have been abundant in the Yealm Piver, 

 and have been spawning freely in the tanks during May and June. Hero 

 formosa has been found in considerable numbers six miles south of the 

 Mewstone, and Triopa claviger, of which two specimens have been 

 previously recorded at Plymouth, f has again been taken off the 

 Mewstone. Four specimens were found on a mass of the Polyzoan 

 Leprcdia foliacea on May 28th. 



On February 6th Mr, Sumner found on the dredging from Millbay 

 channel two specimens of Cutliona aurantiaca (A. and H.), a form 

 which has not previously been taken at Plymouth. 



The remarkable scarcity of the common shrimp (Crangon vidgaris) 

 in the Sound, during the past six months, is a fact worth putting on 

 record. On spots where one haul of the trawl in an ordinary year 

 could have been relied on to bring up many hundreds of shrimps, we 

 could only obtain a dozen or so at each haul during the early mouths 

 of the year. This scarcity still exists, though the numbers appear to 

 be increasing. It is dilllcult to su<:c<iest a cause for this immense 

 diminution in the numbers of so common an animal. The shrimp 

 fishermen, I understand, account for the fact by the presence in the 

 Sound during January of large shoals of small whiting, many of which 

 fish, whcQ caught, were gorged with shrimps. My attention was not 



• Tliis Journal. Vol. iii. N.S. p. 48. 



t Garstang. This Journal. Vol. i. N.S. p. 455, 



E 2 



