468 REPORT—1885. 
and to collect material from which important results may be expected. 
The report forwarded by Mr. Hoyle is appended. 
An application for permission to use the table during the coming year 
has already been received, and others are expected. In view of these 
anticipations, and of the exceptional advantages afforded by the British 
Association table in the Zoological Station at Naples, your Committee 
most confidently recommend the renewal of the grant (100/.) for the 
ensuing year. 
I. Report on the Occupation of the Table, by Mr. William E. Hoyle. 
I reached Naples on April 6, 1885, and left on the 28th of the same 
month. In so short a time it was obviously impossible to make anything 
of the nature of a complete investigation in a subject of such magnitude 
and difficulty as the embryology of the Cephalopoda; it seemed, there- 
fore, that the opportunities afforded me could best be utilised by collecting 
material for subsequent examination. 
Of this I had an abundant and immediate supply, thanks to the kindly 
forethought of your Secretary, who had given notice to the authorities of 
the station of the nature of the work I had undertaken, so that they had 
a quantity of ova ready for my use. 
The greater part of my time was spent in extracting embryos from 
the egg and preserving them in various fluids, and a fairly complete 
series of developmental stages of Loligo and a good many embryos of Sepia 
were thus obtained. When the young Cephalopods have reached a stage 
at which the rudiments of the arms are clearly visible, it is moderately 
easy, after a little practice, to extricate them by making an incision into 
the egg-membrane with a fine scalpel; but previously to this period they 
so nearly occupy the whole interior of the egg that it is almost impossible 
to obtain them uninjured. 
A quantity of such eggs I preserved whole by a method suggested to 
me by Dr. Jatta, who is at work upon a monograph of the Cephalopoda 
of the Bay of Naples. 
The strings of eggs are placed whole in weak solution of chromic 
acid (about 0°25 per cent.) for a few hours, and then in distilled water 
for twenty-four hours, after which they are preserved in alcohol. The 
embryos can then be extracted much more readily than when fresh. 
Some time was devoted to examining and drawing the embryos in the 
fresh condition, and in watching the process of segmentation in Loligo and 
Sepia. I observed the presence of the ‘ Richtungsblischen’ in the former, 
which, so far as I am aware, has only been noted in a Russian memoir 
on the development of Sepiola by Ussow. 
A number of blastoderms in process of segmentation were preserved 
according to a method proposed by Ussow, for the knowledge of which 
I am indebted to Dr. Edward Meyer, who kindly translated it for me 
from the original. 
The egg, without removal of the membranes, is placed in 2 per cent. 
solution of chromic acid for two minutes, and then in distilled water, to 
which a little acetic acid (one drop to a watchglassful) has been added, 
for two minutes longer. If an incision be now made into the egg-mem- 
brane the yolk flows away and the blastoderm remains; if any yolk still 
cling to it, it may be removed by pouring away the water and adding 
more. 
