106 REPORT OF COUNCIL. 



The boats used by the Association consist of a hook and line lialf- 

 decked fishing boat of five tons^ hired at £1 per week, and an 18- 

 feet open boat bought by the Association, and called the " Anton 

 Dohrn," after the founder of the Naples station. When long expe- 

 ditions have been made, a steam-tug has been hired for the occasion. 

 The special fund for the purchase of a steamboat, started last year, 

 has reached the sum of nearly £500, but this amount falls far short 

 of that required for the purchase of a really seaworthy vessel. 



Dredging, surface-netting, and rock-hunting have been carried on 

 continuously throughout the year, under the superintendence of the 

 Director and Naturalist. Many species have been added to the list, 

 published last year, of the Fauna of the Sound, and some of these are 

 new to Great Britain. 



The area of Plymouth Sound was carefully mapped out into dis- 

 tricts and explored by the Director in the summer of 1888. It is 

 found that the Fauna within the breakwater is poorer than it was 

 some years since, and the best dredging-grounds ai-e found south of 

 the Mewstone and eastward into Bigbury Bay, and on the soft ground 

 around the Eddystone Lighthouse. 



In connection with the dredging work a collection of standard 

 specimens is being made, a work which will necessarily take some 

 years before it is completed. 



The Council has always been mindful of researches bearing directly 

 on fishery questions, and besides collecting all available information 

 on fishery matters, they have directed special researches upon food- 

 fishes and Crustacea. 



The Director of the Association (Mr. G. C. Bourne, M.A.), besides 

 his work of superintendence and organisation, is employed on a 

 thorough investigation of the pelagic life of the seas near Plymouth. 

 Special results of his work will appear from time to time, but it must 

 necessarily be long before he can assert any connection between 

 seasons or temperature and the abundance of pelagic life on the one 

 hand, and between the latter and the abundance of certain fish on 

 the other. 



The Naturalist (Mr. J. T. Cunningham, M.A.) has continued his 

 researches on the development of Teleostean fishes. The preliminary 

 results of his researches appeared in the first number of the new series 

 of the Journal, and form a very valuable contribution to our know- 

 ledge of this subject. Mr. Cunningham, acting under instructions 

 from the Council, is now preparing a monograph of the common sole, 

 which will be published at the end of the year. 



The Council have appointed for six months Mr. Wm. Bateson, M.A., 

 Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, to conduct a series of ex- 

 periments and observations on the physiology of the sense organs of 



