THE SCOTTISH MARINE STATION AND ITS WORK. 239 



thirty to seventy fathoms. The genus Fasiplisea occurs in 

 the Mediterranean and off Norway, and has recently been 

 detected in deep water in Loch Etive, Kilbrennan Sound, 

 Lower Loch Fyue, and other localities, but never in Upper 

 Loch Fyne, Loch Long, or Loch Goil. It may be mentioned 

 in passing that Nephrojos also is never got in Upper Loch 

 Fyne. Nycti'phanes yiorvegica is abundant in Upper Loch 

 Fyne, but has not been found either in Upper Loch Etive or 

 Loch Aber ; at the mouth of Loch Sunart a few specimens 

 have been caught, and in Loch Hourn it is abundant. The 

 allied Boreojphausia is common in Loch Duich. Eiichseta, a 

 large Copepod, is pretty generally distributed in the Clyde 

 Basin, though it is not found abundantly in Kilbrennan 

 Sound and towards the Mull of Cantyre ; farther north it 

 occurs in Loch Etive, but not in Loch Aber, Loch Sunart, or 

 Loch Carron. Euchieta and Nyctiphanes are never found on 

 the surface in the adult condition, but their larval forms seem 

 from recent tow-nettings to be not uncommon on the surface 

 in the spring. The present writer has within the last few 

 weeks found what appear to be the eggs and the Nauplius and 

 Cyrtopia stages off the coast of Arran, and Mr. George Brook 

 has the Metanauplius and several Furcilia stages from the 

 same district. Dr. Murray further states that these eggs 

 and larvEe have been abundant at the surface all over the 

 Clyde sea area for the past two months. 



Most of the forms enumerated above are deep-sea animals, 

 not being found within the 100 fathom line, except in these 

 land-locked fjords, to which perhaps they may have been 

 confined by the gi'adual rising* of the land after the glacial 

 period. 



Another observation deserving of mention here is 

 the fact that in the early spring an extensive layer of 

 Diatoms {Coscinodisciis, Sfc.) appears upon the surface 

 of the water and gradually sinks as summer advances. 

 Concurrently with this swarms of larv^ are developed, the 

 examination of whose stomachs proves conclusively that 

 they are nourished by these Algj© whilst they themselves 

 furnish the food of the Loch Fyne herring and other fish, 

 which seeiu to approach the surface at this period. The 



