SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 235 



think it well to give the details of these two hauls here as 

 a record of this unusual occurrence. 



One of the most noticeable features of this year's 

 gatherings was the abundance and wide distribution of 

 the Pteropod Limacina retroversa. After we first came 

 upon it at Tobermory in July, it was practically 

 universal in its presence and extended from the north of 

 Mull up to the Orkneys and Shetlands. It was only 

 absent in a few of tlie more sheltered and land-locked 

 localities. The numbers in a haul vary from about 400 

 (at Tobermory) to 30,000 (Soutli of Skye and also at Loch 

 Scresort in Rum). 



This Pteropod is a boreal Atlantic form which is 

 found cojnmonly off the south and west of Ireland — 

 where it is a common food of tlie mackerel. Dr. T. Scott 

 has also found it as a common food for herrings from the 

 west coast of Scotland. It does not extend up to Arctic 

 seas ; it is rare in the English Channel, does not reach 

 the North Sea and apparently does not pass up through 

 St. George's Channel. 



We have selected a few other notable hauls to crive 

 here in detail : — 



1. Off Ardmore, for comparison with the previous 

 year. 



2. Between Canna and Rum, again for comparison. 



3. Loch Inchard, to show an undoubted phyto- 

 plankton far north in the middle of August. 



4. Moussa Sound, Shetland — one of our most 



nortlierly hauls, and again a phytoplankton. 



