May 30, 1 901] 



NA TURE 



115 



seen in 1793, was derived which may be regarded as very 

 near the truth. But apart from these and a few other 

 observations it must be confessed that Uttle is certainly 

 known with reference to irregular markings on Saturn. Hall, 

 with the 26-inch Washington refractor, Barnard, with the 36-inch 

 Lick refractor and other telescopes. Young, with the 23-inch at 

 Princeton, Hough, with the i8i-inch at Chicago, and others 

 have all systematically endeavoured to distinguish spots on the 

 planet's globe and all. have failed, except in the particular case 

 alluded to. The cream of observational talent, assisted by the 

 finest and best telescopes ever constructed, has proved that 

 irregular markings sufficiently well pronounced to be dis- 

 tinctly visible are somewhat of a rarity. \"et it should be 

 stated that certain other observers discern alleged spots with ease 

 and in prolific numbers as well as under many varieties of shape 

 and tint. Indeed, the Saturnian spots would appear to be as 

 frequent and to have as many vagaries as the markings on Jupiter 

 if we may accept the testimony of a few observers. Whether 

 these things are objective realities or the products of visionaries 

 remains to be proved by the severe tests which future researches 

 will apply. 



Saturn comes to conjunction with Jupiter at intervals of about 

 twenty years, previous conjunctions having occurred on April 

 22, 18S1, October 25, i86r, January 26, 1842, June 19, 1821, 

 July 16, 1S02, &c. The ensuing conjijnction takes place on the 

 morning of November 28 next at 6 h., when Jupiter will be 

 0° 27' south of Saturn. In :8Sl the planets were 1° 18' apart, 

 in 1861 0° 52'. Mr. Crommelin gives the results of some com- 

 putations in the Monthly Notices, Ixi. p. 1:8, which show that 

 the distance of the centres of the two planets will be less than 

 1° between November 21 and December 5. The near approach 

 of these attractive objects will form an event of considerable 

 interest to the general public as well as to the astronomical 

 world. W. F. Denning. 



MARINE BIOLOGY IN LIVERPOOL. 



T^HE Editor of Nature invites me to write a short account 

 ■*■ of the marine biological investigations and the scientific 

 fisheries work carried on of late years in the Liverpool district, 

 and I have pleasure in complying with this request since it will 

 enable me both (i) to acknowledtie the services of friends and 

 fellow-workers, and {2) to distinguish between three very 

 different local bodies whose work is frequently — and perhaps not 

 unnaturally — confounded even by marine biologists and even in 

 Liverpool. These three bodies are the Liverpool Biological 

 Society, the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, and the 

 Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Committee. They are perfectly distinct 

 in organisation, control and object, and although the work they 

 do is to some extent similar, still, as a result of friendly arrange- 

 ment and cooperation, there has been absolutely no rivalry and 

 no overlap or duplication of work such as might under other 

 circumstances cause waste of time, funds and opportunity. Let 

 me state briefly the position and work of each of these three 

 bodies, all of which are now contributing actively to the eluci- 

 dation of the marine biology of the Irish Sea. 



I. Liverpool Biological Society. — This is a public scientific 

 society in the town, like its well-known sister society, the 

 Liverpool Geological Society. It meets monthly in the 

 zoological department of University College, and all local lovers 

 of nature are eligilile for membership. The president this 

 session is Prof. A. M. Paterson, and the hon. secretary 

 Mr. J. A. Clubb, of the Free Public Museum. The past 

 presidents include the professors of all the biological depart- 

 ments in University College (anatomy, physiology, botany 

 and zoology), the head officials of the Public Museum and 

 such well-known local biologists as the late Dr. Drysdale, 

 Dr. Wiglesworth and Mr. Isaac Thompson. The Society is 

 now publishing its fifteenth annual volume of Proceedings 

 and Transactions. The Proceedings at the beginning of 

 the volume contain a brief record of the proceedings at the 

 meetings, including exhibits ; while the Tmnsactions 

 consist of those papers which the council decides to print in 

 full. Although the greater number of the papers in the pub- 

 lished volumes deal with the marine animals and plants of the 

 district, still biology in the widest sense is represented at the 

 meetings and in the publications, and communications will be 

 found on ornithology, entomology, palaeontology, embryology, 



NO. 1648, VOL. 64] 



botany, anatomy, physiologj' and even archaeology. It has 

 been customary for the president in each session to invite some 

 outside original worker in his own department of biology to 

 come and address the Society. In this way important lectures 

 have been given by Drs. Gaskell, Sorby and D. H. Scott, 

 and by Profs. Howes, Haddon, Miall and others. The address 

 this year will be given by Prof. D. J. Cunningham, on the 

 lessons to be drawn from the condition of the skull and the 

 brain in the microcephalic idiot. 



II. Liverpool Marine Biology Committee. — This, in contra- 

 distinction to the Biological Society, is a private body. It is 

 not a Committee of the Society or of anything else, but is an 

 independent organisation. It was constituted at a meeting of 

 biologists held at University College in March, 1885, for the 

 purpose of carrying out a scheme of investigation of the local 

 marine fauna and flora with the intention of publishing reports 

 thereon. The dredging, trawling and other collecting ex- 

 peditions organised by the Committee have been carried on 

 intermittently since that time, and a considerable amount of 

 material, both published and unpublished, has been accumulated. 

 Fourteen annual reports of the Committee and five volumes 

 dealing with the fauna and flora have been issued since 1886. 



At an early stage of these investigations it became evident 

 that a biological station or laboratory on the sea-shore, some- 

 where nearer the usual collecting grounds than Liverpool, 

 would be a material assistance in the work. Consequently, the 

 Committee in 1887 acquired a lease of Puffin Island, on the 

 north coast of Anglesey, and established there the L. M.B. C. 

 Puffin Island Station,' which formed the centre of their work at 

 sea for five years. Later on, in 1892, finding that their work 

 was extending, and that the very limited accommodation at 

 Puffin Island was insuHicient, they moved to the more com- 

 modious and more convenient biological station at Port Erin,- in 

 the centre of the rich collecting grounds of the south end of the 

 Isle of Man. This locality has proved .so interesting and so 

 perfectly suitable in every way that it is likely to remain as the 

 permanent marine laboratory of the Liverpool naturalists ; 

 while the office of the Committee, the place of meetings, the 

 publishing centre and the museum, is the zoological department 

 of University College, Liverpool. 



The Committee consists of twelve members who were chosen 

 originally as being representative naturalists of Liverpool, 

 Manchester, Southport, Chester and the Isle of Man — and 

 most of these members are still active workers. Amongst our 

 losses, by death, are Prof. Milnes Marshall, the Rev. H. H. 

 Higgins and Mr. Francis Archer. The Committee subscribe 

 amongst themselves and ask for contributions from their friends 

 in Liverpool. In this way, aided by occasional grants from the 

 British Association and other bodies, they have paid the ex- 

 penses of numerous dredging expeditions, have maintained their 

 small biological station, with a resident curator (now Mr. 

 Herbert C. Chadwick), for fifteen years and have issued a 

 considerable number of publications. The regular income for 

 the last few years has averaged about 200/. per annum, but in 

 addition several friends in Liverpool, amongst whom may be 

 mentioned Mrs. George Holt and Mr. F. H. Gossage, have 

 kindly placed sums in the hands of the present writer to be 

 expended either in special expeditions or in the publication of 

 memoirs requiring plates. Thus it will be seen that the funds 

 at the disposal of the Committee, although, thanks to the 

 generosity of friends and the economical management of our 

 hon. treasurer, Mr. Thompson, they have sufficed up to the 

 present, are evidently too small and too precarious to admit of 

 much advance ; and consequently an appeal will sooner or later 

 have to be made for a permanent endowment of the Port 

 Erin Biological Station. 



The publications of the L.M.B.C. consist of: — (l) the 

 annual report, issued primarily to subscribers and other friends 

 in Liverpool. Although this report gives a brief account of the 

 investigations undertaken during the year, still it is to be regarded, 

 not mainly as a scientific, but rather as a business publication for 

 the purpose of keeping the organisation together and in touch 

 with the people of Liverpool. (2) The volumes of the " Fauna 

 of Liverpool Bay," containing reprints of those papers cominuni- 

 cated by members of the Committee, and others working at the 

 laboratory, to the Liverpool Biological Society, and which deal 

 with the local fauna and flora. These volumes are bound and issued 

 at irregular intervals when sufficient material has accumulated. 



1 Sse Nature, vol. xxxvi. p. 275. • See Nature, vol. xlvi. p. 155. 



