FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND. 87 



of an investigation on The Blood of Neplirops norvegicus.* The 

 appearance and properties of the blood when shed, the process of 

 coagulation, the composition, the proteids of the plasma and serum, 

 and the nature of the colouring matters are described in detail. 



In the Reports for 1885 and 1886, Mr. John Wilson furnishes 

 an account of his studies on The Develo'pment of the Common 

 Mussel.-f The reproductive organs, spermatozoa, and ova are 

 described ; the method adopted for artificial fertilization explained ; 

 and, especially in the second paper, a full account of the develop- 

 ment of the embryo, so far as observed, is given. 



In a series of papers read before the Royal Society, Professor 

 Ewart has given the results of his investigations into the structure 

 and development of the curious electric organs in the skate. 



The firstj deals especially with the development of the organ in 

 the common skate, each step in the process of the conversion of 

 simple muscular fibres into the highly complex electric discs having 

 been followed. The development of the discs is very fully explained. 

 In a second paper § the electric organ of Rata circularis is fully 

 described and compared with the corresponding organ in other 

 species. In another paper|| the structure and development of the 

 electric organ in Raia radiata are explained in detail and compai-ed 

 with the organs in R. batis and R. circularis, and the author shows 

 that the less complex structure of the organ in R. radiata must be 

 looked upon as evidence that it is in a state of progressive develop- 

 ment rather than in a stage of degeneration. 



Mr. R. D. Clarkson contributes a paper to the Report for 1886, 

 On the Nutritive Value and Digestibility of Fresh Fish,^ which 

 contains a review of what has been done on this subject, the labours 

 of Atwater, Chittenden, and others being discussed. It would 

 appear, from the variation in the methods employed by different in- 

 vestigators and the diversity of the results obtained, that there is 

 much yet to be done on this subject. 



Scattered throughout the Annual Reports are several papers deal- 

 ing with the marine Fauna of special localities. 



Mr. W. L. Calderwood has given a list of the Copepoda obtained 

 in Loch Fyne, with brief descriptions of each species.** Twenty- 

 eight species were collected by the tow-net, ten belonging to tho 



* Op. cit., pp. 171-176. 1886. 



t Op. cit., pp. 218—222, 1886 ; Fifth Report, pp. 247—255, pis. xii— xiv, 1887. 



t Phil. Trans., vol., 179, p. 399, 1888. 



§ Op. cit., p. 410. 



II Phil. Trans., vol. 179, p. 539. 



% Fifth Report, pp. 221—229, 1887. 



** Fourth Report, pp. 147—154, 1886. 



