254 BErOKT — 1884. 



pies 1,259 pp. ; it is divided into four sections, each with a separate alpha- 

 betical index, in order that single sections may be sold separately. Of 

 the 'Bericht'for 1883, sections 2 (Arthropoda), and 3 (Mollusca), are 

 nearly ready, and will be published in September. The whole ' Bericht ' 

 is now edited by the station, under the care of Drs. Paul Mayer and 

 W. Giesbrecht. In future the arrangement of the various records will 

 be more uniform, each group f animals being treated under the following 

 heads: — a. Anatomy, Ontogeny, etc.; 6. Biology, Domestication, etc:; 

 c. Classification and Faunal relations ; tl. Palaeontology. Special care 

 ■will be taken to render the section on the classification of a group intelli- 

 gible to, and easy for consultation by, every zoologist whether he be a 

 specialist or not — the new genera, species, varieties, and synonyms in 

 every family being arranged in alphabetical lists. 



Extracts from the General Report, of the Zoological Station. — The usual 

 lists of the naturalists who have worked at the station, and of the memoirs 

 published by them, will be found appended, together with other details 

 kindly furnished by the officers of the station. 



The British Association Table. — Your Committee have the pleasure to 

 report that important researches have been successfully conducted on 

 the table at their disposal during the past year ; and further that the 

 table has been occupied during nearly the whole of the working season. 

 The use of the table was successively granted to Mr. A. G. Bourne and 

 Prof. A. M. Marshall, Mr. Bourne's period of occupation extending over 

 a term of six months by special permission of the Committee. Both of 

 these gentlemen have furnished reports concerning the investigations 

 undertaken by them at the station, together with a summary of the 

 results respectively arrived at ; and both are to be congratulated on the 

 successful character of their researches. The reports in quest '.on are 

 appended. 



With these gratifying assurances of the undeniable utility of the 

 British Association table before them, your Committee confidently re- 

 commend the renewal of the gi-ant ; and they would further specially 

 recommend that the amount should be increased to 100/. (instead of 80/!. 

 and 90?. as in previous years), in conformity with the arrangements made 

 by the Directorate of the station with other countries. 



I. Report on the Occupation of the Table by Mr. A. G. Bourne. 



I occupied the table from November 1, 1883, until April 14, 1884. 



I devoted the creator portion of the time to a further investigation of 

 the anatomy of the marine leech Pontobclclla, and, as far as material would 

 allow, of Brand i ell ion. The results I obtained have been already pub- 

 lished together with other matter in a paper entitled, ' Contributions to 

 the Anatomy of the Hirudinea,' in the ' Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 

 Science,' July 1884. 



The most important of these results consisted in a knowledge of the 

 structure and relations of the nephridium in Pontobdella. This organ 

 has been hitherto entirely misunderstood, some of its funnels being, 

 indeed, the only portions of it known, these having been described by 

 the French naturalist Vaillant, and stated by him to open directly to the 

 exterior. 



I have found that there are a series of ten pairs of these funnels, and 

 that they do not open directly to the exterior, but are connected v/ith a 



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