THE director's REPORT. 117 



determine its species witli accui'acy. A fortniglit before tlie dis- 

 covery of this specimen I obtained later stages of tbe larva off the 

 south coast of Ireland. Balanoglossus is a genus new to Great 

 Britain, but from the occurrence of the larva in such widely sepa- 

 rated localities, it would seem that it has a tolerably wide distribu- 

 tion on the southern coasts of England and Ireland. 



Towards the end of June the Laboratory began to fill again, and 

 at the time of writing all the available space is occupied. Amongst 

 the gentlemen working on the Fauna are Canon A. M. Norman and 

 Mr. A. 0. Walker, and their researches on the smaller Crustacea 

 have already added several new species to the district. Of these 

 the Stomatopod Anchialus agilis, Gr. O. Sars, may be mentioned as 

 new to Great Britain, and it is interesting to record that two species 

 of Amphipods new to Great Britain, Lydanax ceratinus and Tryphosa 

 gcesii, found by Mr. Walker in Liverpool Bay a month since have 

 again been discovered by him in the Plymouth district. 



Since the General Annual Meeting tlie Association has acquired a 

 small steam launch, the " Firefly," thirty-eight feet long. This boat 

 is by no means an ideal steamer for dredging purposes, being suit- 

 able only for local expeditions in calm weather, but as such she is 

 of great service, for there are many days, and especially many nights, 

 in summer when it is impossible to get about in sailing boats owing 

 to frequent calms. 



One of the latest experiments in boats was not fortunate. Mr. 

 Weldon in 1888 failed to rear young lobsters in the tanks beyond a 

 certain stage, and he determined to repeat his experiment this year 

 under more natural conditions. Accordingly he purchased the hull 

 of a disused trawler and converted it into a well-vessel, the central 

 well being separated from the fore and aft portions of the hold by 

 strong bulkheads and communicating with the sea by ports cut in 

 the side of the vessel below the water-line and covered with horse- 

 hair cloth. This vessel was moored in a suitable place in the Sound, 

 and at the beginning of July some thousands of larval lobsters were 

 placed in the well. For a fortnight everything went well and the 

 young lobsters were thriving so well that the experiment bade fair 

 to be a complete success. Most unfortunately the vessel sprung 

 a leak on July 20th and before she could be towed ashore she sank 

 in four fathoms of water and all the young lobsters escaped, 

 annihilating the chance of bringing the experiment to a successful 

 issue this year. It might have been better to have constructed 

 a tidal pool similar to that of Captain Dannevig at Arendal, or to 

 have built a new well-vessel rather than convert an old hull, but 

 in either case the expense was prohibitory and the cheaper method 

 proved a failure. This mishap is a good instance of the diflBculty 



