president's addeess, 63 



yet to be decided. The two species of this genus are now in the 

 hands of another of our members for anatomical study, and are yielding 

 results which seem likely to have important bearings on our ideas of 

 classitication. If, as would appear, the genus is allied to the 

 Pleurotomida3, both species must be giants of the family (the larger 

 measuring lo6mm. in length). 



The year has witnessed the appearance of the first portion of the 

 work of the German " Plankton- Expedition " relating to the Mollusca, 

 in which our Foreign Member, Dr. H. Simroth, has dealt very fully 

 with the embryonic and larval forms of the Marine Gastropoda ; and 

 among the further instalments of the results of the " Hirondelle " 

 expeditions, Dr. Joubert has written an excellent account of the 

 Cephalopoda of the Korth Atlantic. 



Intimately associated with progress in Marine Zoology is the growth 

 of marine stations or observatories ; and here our interest in the 

 immediate future is turned to America and the far East. The work 

 already accomplished at Newport and Wood's Holl in the former 

 country, and at Misaki in the latter, is known to us all, and recognized 

 throughout the world. The discovery in the Japanese seas of the 

 shark Chlamijdosclache and of a new Euplectellid, important in their 

 way, are eclipsed in our eyes by that of a Pleurotomarian ; and I am 

 informed that this animal is now being made the subject of full 

 investigation by Professor Ijima of Tokyo. Our Eastern friends write 

 of new species of Byalonema, of Elasipoda, of "new and beautiful 

 Gorgonias" ; and when they tell us that as soon as matters are quiet 

 at Formosa they intend to follow up conquest by scientific exploration, 

 we return them the "duty of a devout and learned admiration" of 

 their enterprise and far-sightedness. 



Conspicuous among their schemes for the future is the foundation 

 of a considerable Marine Laboratory, and it is an open secret that our 

 American brethren contemplate a similar project. No sooner do the 

 Americans discover a new genus of Chimteroid fish than the Japanese 

 come forward with a second species of it. The description of the 

 anatomy of Pleurotomaria by Dall is to be succeeded by one by Ijima. 

 Indeed, seeing how vast is the field and how energetic are the 

 workers, we are led to ask if the time may not be dawning when 

 the representatives of these two great nations, which bound the 

 opposite shores of the Northern Pacific, may make a bid for the 

 biological, as they seem likely to do for the commercial, supremacy 

 of the world. 



Increased activity in the ^larine Laboratory, during recent years, 

 has been followed by that in the investigation of Life in Fresh 

 Water and Marine Estuaries, with accompanying foundation of 

 establishments for the purpose. Our County Councils, which have 

 so enthusiastically taken up the cause of science and scientific educa- 

 tion, are showing signs of activity in this direction, and the " Norfolk 

 and Norwich Naturalists Society " is at present contemplating a 

 scheme for nothing less than the systematic study of the Biology of 

 the Broads. Under the auspices of the Royal Society and the British 

 Association, Mr. J. E. S. Moore is now at work investigating the 



