130 THE MICROSCOPICAL NEWS. 
Swail. Swin. Pont. Colne. Screws. Stones. 
Copepoda...... 60 is. 16 :s212 <.103 fo 27am 
Balanus.......... 36°... /1E .... 36. 2.. (549s 
Noctiluca...... 8485 ... 384 3.. 90 .- 62) 3:0gmun ene 
MEROUAIS) cry oeree $706 ... 434 ...412. 1.287 2c 
This table shows a striking difference in numbers within so small 
a distance as 50 miles. He did not wish to press his conclusions 
in any way, since the relative numbers might be very different 
another year. One point which struck him was the extraordinary 
number of objects in some localities. He thought further mvesti- 
gation would prove that they are the food of larger animals, and 
throw light on the distribution of certain fishes, and on the ques- 
tion of oyster culture. At one place, where they occur in very 
small number, £60,000 had been spent in oyster culture with no 
success, which seemed to show that there was not the food for 
them which was found elsewhere, where oysters flourish remark- 
ably well. There was avast amount of work to be done in the 
way of investigation. ‘The following table shows that some of the 
animals occur in greatest numbers near the surface, others lower 
down, and some at the bottom. It also shows how some vary ac- 
cording to the state of the tide. 
High Ebb Low 
Surface. 4feet. Bottom. Water. Flow. Water. 
Ascidians...... Q ve 2c. = A bo. OO es 
Annelids....... TQ .... 14 0. 25° on 7) ee er 
Riotifers. ....4- 52 ..cELF «i. 76+.4) 93s 
Copepoda...... 7O wie 23) ..2.126 «... 4d Soe eee 
Do.; larval. 155 .:. 77 ... (85... 20 Sane 
Balanus...5. 2s. 25) ws. OQ ace 8 125120) Soe ee 
Noctiluca...... 216: ...630 ...218 .:.583') 5.) ee 
Motal: sisvedte 530 ...072 -..542 ...693 ... == 
In carrying out these investigations you learn, at the end of the 
year, how to go about the inquiry, and form certain conclusions 
never dreamt of before, and you find it is important to carry out 
other kinds of investigations, when it is too late. The result 
of his experience last year showed him that he had much more to 
learn, by carrying on his observations in a different way, and study- 
ing the relation and distribution of these minute animals which 
formed an important factor in the life-history of the different animals 
which abound in the sea. The Noctiluca and the Entomostraca 
must feed on minute objects, and they in turn form food for the 
larger animals, which again form food for the fishes. He believed 
that by further investigation in this direction it would be possible 
to throw some light upon the distribution of fishes and their migra- 
