Gatty Marine Lahoratori/^ St. Andrews. 253 



mouth. This species, from its swiftness, strength, and the 

 nature of its teeth, would seem to be capable of doing con- 

 siderable injury to large forms, but there is no history of its 

 attacking man in British waters. The muscles of both this 

 and the fox-shark form excellent food, the flavour of the 

 latter especially resembling lobster, so that each was success- 

 fully used for a students' dinner to 80 or 100 men. 



Besides the foregoing forms several examples of the tope 

 and picked dog-fish, numerous porpoises and skate, a young 

 sturgeon, various rare bony fishes, many diving birds, and a 

 seal were procured in the gill-nets. 



When the sperm-whales find multitudes of cuttlefishes 

 unknown to man in the recesses of the Pacific and the 

 " dolphins " (Corypha^noids) in the same and other oceans ; 

 when sharks fall on shoals of such fishes as the green bone, 

 whose presence is rarely or ever revealed by any mode of 

 fishing in the sea; and when any new method of fishing (in 

 waters which have been harassed for hundreds of years) 

 produces numerous forms whose presence was wholly un- 

 suspected — it is well to approach the question of the *' impo- 

 verisliment of the sea" with caution. It cannot be doubted 

 that constant interference renders the surviving marine fishes 

 much more wary, and they are very capable of eluding any 

 method of fishing. 



4. On British Nereidee and Staurocephalidas. 



In Dr. Johnston's 'Catalogue of the Annelids in the British 

 Museum' four species of Nereids are recorded; but, as the 

 author himself remarks, re-examination of several is neces- 

 sary, indeed about half the number therein described would 

 appear to be synonymous. Thus his Nereis hrevimana appears 

 to be N. diversicolor^ Nereis cerulcea = N. cultrifera (excl. 

 syn.), Nereis Jimhriata = N. -pelagica^ Nereis imheciliis = 

 Nereilepas fucata, and what Nereis jjulsatoria refers to is 

 uncertain. 



Ileteronereis hhulata =■ N. cultrifera (excl. syn.), Iletero- 

 nereis renalis and Ileteronereis margaritacea = Nereilepas 

 fucata, and II. signata^ Baird, is probably one of the fore- 

 going. 



Tiie Nereids arc so generally distributed and so readily 

 recognized that for a long time they have been well known 

 to marine zoologists, and therefore recent researches have 

 not increased their number to any noteworthy degree. No 

 species new to science, so far as can be ascertained, has been 

 recorded from the British area. The relationships of the 

 Hcteronercids of the various species, however, have been 



