276 



NATURE 



[July 21, 1887 



George Holt, and from the Liverpool Salvage Association 

 — and now they owe the attainment of their desire for a 

 marine laboratory to the kindness of Sir Richard Williams 

 Bulkeley, Bart., of Beaumaris, in allowing them to make 

 use, for scientific purposes, of the former Dock Board 

 Telegraph Station on Puffin Island (Fig. i). 



Puffin Island, or Priestholme, is a small uninhabited 

 island close to the north-east corner of Anglesey, and 

 lying with its longer axis north-east and south-west. It 

 is composed mainly of beds of limestone, and has pre- 

 cipitous sides, which have been worn into caves, crevices, 

 and innumerable pools. The best landing-place is on 

 the end nearest to (Anglesey, where there is a beach of 



shingle. The shores all round the island support an 

 abundant fauna, and some of the best dredging-grounds 

 in the Liverpool Bay district lie close to Puffin Island, 

 and a little further to the west along the coast of Anglesey. 

 A glance at the accompanying chart will show the diver- 

 sity in the depth of water off the north and east ends of 

 the island (Fig. 2). 



The house which the Liverpool Marine Biology Com- 

 mittee have now taken possession of as a centre for their 

 further operations was built by the Liverpool Dock 

 Board, and used as a signalling station, but has been 

 uninhabited for some years. It contains four good rooms, 

 besides lofts and out-houses, and a long observatory 



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Fig. 



running towards the sea (north-east), and lighted by a 

 series of seven windows round the outer end (Fig. 3). This 

 observatory will make a well-lighted, convenient labora- 

 tory, while the other four rooms serve as kitchen and 

 sleeping rooms for the naturalists and the keeper of the 

 station. 



At the end of May the new doors and windows, shutters, 

 tables, and other fittings, which had been prepared in 

 Liverpool, were ready for transference to the station, and 

 a number of the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, 

 along with some workmen, were taken down to Puffin 

 Island by the ss. Hyana, which had been lent for the 

 purpose by the Liverpool Salvage Association. The 





house was rapidly made weather-tight and put in working 

 order, and is now under the charge of a keeper and his 

 assistant. Tanks will soon be erected, and some of the 

 shore-pools are being converted into natural aquaria. A 

 small sailing-boat has been obtained, by which dredging 

 and tow-netting in the neighbourhood of the island can be 

 carried on, and by means of which communication can 

 be kept up with the Liverpool steamers at Beaumaris and 

 the railway at Bangor. 



Since the establishment of the station some of the 

 members of the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee 

 have already had half a dozen expeditions to the 

 island, and the following naturalists have commenced 



