director's report. 233 



Weldon, Prof., F.R.S., December 20tli to January 10th (Variation of 

 Crabs). 



Wylde, N., October 11th to November 11th {Variation of Galathea). 



In another part of this number of the Journal ]\Ir. E. T. Browne 

 describes the use of an apparatus for keeping medusae and other pelagic 

 organisms alive in confinement, which has given very satisfactory 

 results. With a view to using the method upon a more extended scale, 

 and of applying it to the hatching and rearing of pelagic fish-eggs and 

 larvse, I have fitted up in the Laboratory an arrangement of a similar 

 kind upon a larger scale, so that many of the glass plungers can now 

 be worked without difficulty. In some cases a glass funnel, with a 

 small hole in the top, has been used in place of the glass plate 

 described in Mr. Browne's apparatus. By this arrangement a funnel- 

 full of air is carried down each time the plunger descends, and the 

 escape of this air through the hole in the top assists in the aeration 

 of the water. We have found the glass plungers to give very good 

 results when used for hatching purposes, and the method is in many 

 ways much simpler to work than those previously employed, in which 

 the eggs were kept in motion by means of a constant current of sea- 

 water. 



The specimens of different stages in the development of food-fishes 

 and of invertebrate animals which serve as food for fishes, exhibited 

 during the summer at the Yachting and Fisheries Exhibition held at 

 the Imperial Institute, have been returned to Plymouth, and have, 

 during the winter, been arranged in a room adjoining the Aquarium, 

 where they could be seen by visitors. 



I am glad to be able to report that the appeal made in the last 

 number of the Journal on behalf of our Library has not been without 

 success. Our thanks are due to the Council of the Zoological Society 

 for an almost complete set of their Proceedings from the year 1832, 

 and all the Transactions from 18G2. Mr. J. P. Thomasson, who has on 

 so many former occasions generously supported the Association, has 

 sent a donation of £20 for the purchase of books and for binding. 

 With the help of this donation we have been able to obtain for the 

 library a copy of Smitt's costly work on Scandinavian Fishes, and also 

 to bind the complete set of the publications of the Zoological Society. 



We have also to thank Mr. W. F. Sinclair for a donation of ten 

 guineas, and Mr. W. li. Adams for one of three guineas towards the 

 Steamboat Fund, and Messrs. J. Straker and W. F. Lanchester for 

 subscriptions of £15 each as life-members of the Association. 



E. J. Allen. 

 March, 1898. 



