144 BEPOBT— 1888. 



others less rare have also been periodically noted. No group is more 

 interesting in this respect, perhaps, than the Ctenophores, and certainly 

 none is more abundant. Besides the ordinary forms at all stages, a new 

 British species, viz , Lesueuria vitrea, M. Ed., has been procured in St. 

 Andrews Bay in great profusion and for an extended period. The 

 examples ranged from the most minute up to those 2^ inches in length, 

 but of all the British Ctenophores, or even Medusa, it is the most delicate. 

 The mere pouring of the water containing it from one vessel to another 

 is sufficient to rupture it irretrievably, and indeed any undue commotion 

 in the water has the same effect. It is well known as an inhabitant of 

 the Mediterranean since it was originally described by Milue Edwards, 

 and it has also been found on the American coast by Alex. Agassiz. An 

 allied form, again, was procured on the shores of Norway by M. Sars. 



During this summer, also, the great abundance of the ecto-parasitic 

 larvae of Peachia on Thaummdias has been a conspicuous feature, and 

 many have been preserved for the further researches of Professor Haddon, 

 M.A., D.Sc, M.R.I.A., who this month (September) contributes an 

 interesting paper on the subject to the ' Annals of Natural History.' 



In the winter, numerous examples of the common star-fish (Asterias 

 Tiihens), brought from the bay on the lines of the fishermen, showed many 

 ecto-parasitic crustaceans (Podalirius ti/picus, Kroyer). These generally 

 adhered by the posterior legs, with their bodies projecting at right 

 angles from the rays of the star-fish. In previous descriptions of this 

 form the habitat seems to have been overlooked, for Spence-Bate and 

 Westwood simply state that it was procured in the Forth, upon a shell 

 brought up by a haddock-line, and in the recent catalogue of the Mediter- 

 ranean Fauna * no allusion to coramensalism occars. 



Further observations have also been made on the development and 

 life-history of the common mussel, which forms a valuable 'bed' in the 

 estuary of the Eden. These have chiefly been carried out by Mr. John 

 Wilson, B.Sc, who lately published an important paper with four quarto 

 plates on the subject in the Fifth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for 

 Scotland.'^ 



Mr. Herbert E. Durham, B.A., lately Vintner Exhibitioner at Cam- 

 bridge, continued the interesting researches of last year on the Amoeboid 

 corpuscles in the star-fish, and also on the madreporite of Gribrella 

 sangidnolenta.^ 



Besides the use of the yacht ' Dalhousie,' the services of the steam 

 tender ' Garland ' were placed at the disposal of the fcecretary for some 

 days by the courtesy of the Fishery Board for Scotland for work in the 

 deeper water at a distance from shore. Certain well-known fishing and 



' Prodromtis Faunw Mediterranecp, pars ii. p. .390, 1885. 



- Previous to a lecture on this subject in the University of St. Andrews in 

 November 1883, the Town Council requested the convener to give a report dealing 

 with the preservation and increase of the mussel-beds of the Eden. The work for 

 H M. Trawling Commission, however, supervened, and occupied the whole of the 

 following j'car. Thereafter the subject was steadily kept in view, as indicated in 

 the Third Annual Report of the Fishery Board (1885, p. 57). A short abstract was 

 also published in the Annals of Natural History for February 1885. It being appa- 

 rent that a thorough knowledge of the development and life-history of the species 

 was indispensable for advancing the subject on a sound basis, Mr. John Wilson took 

 up this portion of the work, his observations being published in the Fourth Annual 

 Eeport of the Fishery Board (1886, p. 218), and next year in the Fifth Report with 

 three quarto plates (1887, p. 217). 



' Proc. Hoij. Soc. January, 1888. 



