MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 253 



which would carry, for example, floating objects, such as 

 fish eggs and embryos, gradually further and further to 

 the north. So that, from the spawning grounds south of 

 the Isle of Man, they may be carried towards and along 

 the Lancashire coast and from say the " Hole " and other 

 parts of the central area, to Cumberland and the Solway 

 Firth. 



As another research intimately bound up with the local 

 fisheries, I would allude to our plankton investigations. 

 During the past year surface gatherings have been sent 

 from various localities with more or less regularity. The 

 result of the examination of these, on the whole, confirms 

 very well the general conclusions we drew in the last 

 Report as to the succession of forms throughout the year. 



We find very considerable difference between gather- 

 ings from different localities ; for example, whereas the 

 tow-nettings from Port Erin are clear and clean and 

 support an abundant assemblage of minute animals, 

 those taken about the same time off Peil, in the Barrow 

 Channel, contain much vegetable debris, mud, &c, due to 

 the influence of fresh-water and the washings of the land. 

 The true open sea at Port Erin and the absence of any 

 body of fresh-water, and of any mud flats, ensure the 

 presence of a much larger number of Copepoda, Dino- 

 flagellata, and other characteristic pelagic organisms than 

 are elsewhere. We have also noticed that the various 

 constituents of the surface life — both larval and adult — 

 appear earlier at Port Erin than on the Lancashire coast. 



The Manx Sea-Fisheries Commission. 



The report which recently appeared containing the 

 recommendations of the Manx Industries Commission, so 

 far as they relate to sea-fisheries, includes an important 

 paragraph in which it is suggested that the Hatchery 



