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Director's Report. 



After the completiou of the investigation of the fauna and bottom- 

 deposits of the outlying grounds extending from the neighbourhood 

 of the Eddystone to Start Point, a detailed account of which was given 

 in the last number of the Journal of the Association, a systematic 

 investigation upon a similar plan was undertaken of the inshore 

 grounds. The general area originally contemplated for detailed chart- 

 ing may be roughly described as lying between the 30-fathom line 

 and the shore, and extending from the neighbourhood of Bolt Tail 

 to Looe. In such an area the conditions are necessarily much more 

 complicated than those which were met with on the Eddystone to 

 Start grounds, where the depths varied but little from oO fathoms, 

 and where any effect upon the bottom fauna due to wave action was 

 very slight. A further unfortunate complication has been introduced 

 by the fact that immense quantities of refuse have been deposited 

 all over the grounds immediately to the south and west of Plymouth 

 Sound, by barges working in connection with the harbour improvement 

 schemes in the Hamoaze and at Key ham, as well as by the barges 

 belonging to the Plymouth Corporation, which discharge the refuse 

 from the town. To such an extent has this deposit taken place that 

 many of the most fruitful dredging and trawling grounds in the 

 immediate neighbourhood have been rendered practically unworkable, 

 and we have been compelled to abandon any serious systematic 

 investigation of a considerable portion of the area originally contem- 

 plated. This has led to more attention being directed to the grounds 

 to the east and west of that area, and less to those which lie near 

 to Plymouth Sound. 



The detailed work in connection with this investigation has been 

 chiefly carried out by Mr. K. A. Todd, who was appointed by the 

 Council, in the autumn of 1898, to act as my assistant. A large 

 amount of information has been collected and systematically recorded, 

 and we hope before long to be in a position to publish a full report 

 of the work. 



Mr. Garstang has successfully completed a series of expeditions 

 across the mouth of the English Channel, for the purpose of ascertain- 

 ing the variations in the physical conditions of the water and in the 



