THE director's REPORT. 115 



The highest sea temperature recorded by us this year was 62° on 

 July 13th, the tanks on the same day being 60"6°. These observa- 

 tions are interesting chiefly from showing how closely the tempera- 

 ture of the water in the aquarium follows that of the sea. In mid- 

 winter, the water in the tanks being sheltered, and to some extent 

 warmed by the hot pipes in the building, stands at a rather higher 

 temperature than the sea, but in the summer it is generally rather 

 below it, though seldom more than a fraction of a degree. 



To resume the account of the work carried on at the Laboratory. 

 At the end of February the Laboratory fisherman, W. Roach, was 

 sent to Mount's Bay in a trawler to procure the fertilized ova of the 

 whiting [Gadus seglefinus) and pout {Gadus luscus). The weather 

 turned out very cold and boisterous, and dui'ing his week's work Roach 

 was not only unable to keep alive the ova that he collected but caught 

 a chill and was laid up for some days afterwards, so that dredging 

 operations were nearly at a standstill. On March 15th the Steam 

 Tug " Deerhound '' was hired for the day, and we dredged all around 

 the Eddystone Lighthouse in twenty-five to forty fathoms of water. 

 Several interesting specimens were taken on this occasion. 



Towards the end of March, the Universities' Lent term being over, 

 several gentlemen came down for a month's work at Plymouth. 

 Mr. Harmer soon discovered a new species of the interesting genus 

 Dinophilus in rock pools below the Laboratory, and the anatomy of 

 this animal forms the subject of a memoir in the present number 

 of the Journal. Mr. Harmer also examined the larvae of many 

 species of Polyzoa. Eai-ly in April the staff of the Laboratory was 

 increased by the arrival of Mr. W. Bateson, whose appointment by 

 the Council for the purpose of inquiring into the physiology of the 

 sense organs of fishes has already been mentioned. The primary 

 object of Mr. Bateson's researches is to discover whether fish are 

 attracted to their food by sight alone, or smell alone, or both, if by 

 smell alone what odours are attractive to them, and the reverse, 

 whether different fishes react differently to the same stimulus, and 

 the like, and it is expected that his observations will be of great 

 practical benefit. It may not be generally known to those who do 

 not live near the sea that hook-and-line fishermen often have the 

 greatest difficulty in procuring bait. A long line or bulter of 2000 

 hooks requires a large quantity of bait, and this must be fresh, 

 whether it consists of muscles, whelks, pilchards, herrings or stpiid, 

 these being the baits most sought after by fishermen. But the 

 supply of mussels and whelks has been drawn upon to such an extent 

 that they are very diflBcult to procure in many places, and for the 

 supply of pilchard and squid the line fisherman is entirely dependent 

 on the drift and seine netters and the trawlers. If after a spell of 



