DR. G. HERBERT FOWLER ON THE [Dec. 13. 



6. Contributions to our Knowledge of the Plankton of the 

 Faeroe Channel 1 . No. VII. A. General Data of the 

 Stations. JB. The Protozoa. C. The Medusse. By G. 

 HERBERT FOWLER, B.A./Ph.D., Assistant Professor of 

 Zoology, University College, London, 



[Eeceived December 6, 1898.] 

 (Plate LXVI.) 



A. GENERAL DATA OF THE STATIONS. 



In the table now exhibited (see p. 1019) will be found the chief 

 details of the successive collecting stations of H.M.S. ' Eesearch'in 

 the Faeroe Channel, 1896 and 1897: Stations 11 2 to 18 being in 

 the " Cold Area," between July 30 and Aug. 6, 1896 ; Station 19 

 in the " Warm Area," Aug. 7, 1896 ; Station 20 in the " Cold Area," 

 July 7, 1897. 



The physical conditions of the Channel have been fully dealt 

 with in the R-eports of the various exploring expeditions 3 which 

 have surveyed this classic district, of which it is not an exaggeration 

 to say that the very beginnings of modern oceanography were made 

 in its somewhat troubled waters. 



DETERMINATION or THE HORIZONS. 



The horizons through which the Mesoplankton net remained 

 open in 1896 were thus determined. In the first place, experi- 

 mental hauls were made near the surface, to determine the number 

 of fathoms through which the net must be towed at an approxi- 

 mately constant speed in order that the propeller (1) might 

 open the net, (2) might shut it again. Of these experimental 

 hauls, the contents of which were mostly not kept, the last oue 

 retained was 12 d. 



1 Owing to the scanty leisure at my disposal, the series of papers under this 

 title has been unavoidably disconnected. 



The first three numbers dealt with some conspicuous and interesting species ; 

 the fourth, by Mr. I. C. Thompson, with the Copepoda ; the fifth, by Mr. E. 

 W. L. Holt, with the fish-larvse ; the sixth furnished a description of the 

 special nets used for the Mesoplankton, and a short discussion of the general 

 question of a midwater fauna. This and the future papers will discuss the 

 organisms captured, group by group, and show their horizons by tables when 

 necessary. 



The references to previous papers of the series in the Society's Proceedings 

 are : _No. I., 1896, p. 991 ; No. II., 1897, p. 523 ; No. III., 1897, p. 803 ; 

 No. IV., 1898, p. 540 ; No. V., 1898, p. 550; No. VI., 1898, p. 567. 



2 Stations 1-10 were collecting-grounds in the neighbourhood of Kirkwall 

 and do not concern the 'Research' cruises. 



3 C. Wyville Thomson : ' Depths of the Sea.' London, 1873, 8vo (H.M.S. 

 ' Lightning ' and ' Porcupine '). T. H. Tizard and J. Murray : " Exploration of 

 the Faeroe Channel in 1880." Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb. xi. p. 638 (H.M. hired 

 ship ' Knight Errant'). T. H. Tizard : " Soundings and Temperatures obtained 

 in the Faeroe Channel during the Summer of 1882." Proc. Roy. Soc. xxxv. 

 p. 202 (H.M.S. ' Triton '). 



