ill some places. The action of this animal is of im- 

 portance in the first place in forming a protection to 

 the land by binding together the loose sand on the beach 

 and in shallow water beyond it ; and secondly the irreg- 

 ular masses and reefs constitute a sheltering place, 

 and serve as points of attachment for many kinds of 

 animals and consequently as a favourite feeding ground for 

 many others. Prawns there is little doubt are specially 

 abundant and large in the neighbourhood of Sabellaria 

 banks. They are said to hide in the crevices between the 

 tubes. This may be so, but probably the food they get 

 there is of more importance as an attraction ; and I have 

 little doubt that the great masses of Sabellaria tubes are 

 an important feeding ground for various kinds of fishes, 

 both in young and adult stages. 



Sueface Life. 

 The surface fauna of the sea in our district, as made 

 known by the microscopic examination of the stuff caught 

 in the tow-nets, has been specially investigated during the 

 dredging expeditions of the Liverpool Marine Biology 

 Committee, and is found to vary much both in nature and 

 in amount from time to time and from place to place. 

 Often for weeks together in spring the surface waters seem 

 to contain very little but Diatoms. These however are in 

 great profusion, and form the food of many animals which 

 in their turn are eaten by fishes. Later on the Diatoms 

 give place to swarms of Copepoda, and the larval stages of 

 many invertebrates. Sometimes one particular species of 

 Copepod will form almost the whole of the tow-net gather- 

 ing in a particular locality. This is sometimes the case 

 with the large forms Calanus finmarchicus and Anomalo- 

 cera pater •sonii. Under such circumstances the very great 

 abundance of the one form of animal is astonishing, the 



