44 LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
only used in summer it might be made of wood, like 
the Dutch transportable station established in 1876 by 
Dr. Hoek, Professor Hubrecht and Dr. Hoffmann, and 
which was erected at some spot on the coast in summer, 
and taken to pieces and conveyed to Leyden in the winter; 
or like the marine station set up by Professor Cossar Ewart 
at Stonehaven, in 1879, and now at Tarbert on Loch Fyne. 
On the other hand, if observations are to be carried on all 
the year round, and if investigators are to live even for a 
few days at a time in the station, the building would have 
to be of a more solid and permanent nature. 
At first Hilbre Island was thought by the L. M. B. C. 
to be the most suitable locality in the neighbourhood, and 
at such a spot a summer wooden station would probably 
have been sufficient. But further investigations showed 
that on account of the proximity to Liverpool, and of the 
constant muddiness of the water at the mouth of the Dee, 
Hilbre would not be a very favourable locality; while some 
spot in the centre of a still richer fauna—such as those of 
North Wales, Anglesey, or the Isle of Man—and in a part 
of the district which could not be investigated in a single 
day expedition would be more useful, and would do more 
to forward the objects which the committee have in view. 
During the ‘‘ Hyena” expedition of June, 1886, while 
dredging in the deep water off the northern end of Puffin 
Island, some of the committee were impressed by the 
admirable position of the old Dock Board signalling 
station, on the seaward end of the island (see fig. 3), as a 
centre for investigating the fauna of the Menai Straits and 
of the coasts of Anglesey and North Wales. They decided 
to examine the island and the condition of the house, with 
the view of trying if possible to convert it into the much 
needed biological station. 
On finding that the fauna on the shores and around the 
