ON THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, MILLPORT. 273 



n. sp. ; (2) Bideninunl punctatum, n. sp., with observations on the Lateral 

 Languets and the Extension of the Colony \ (3) Protobotryllus tenuis, 

 nov. gen. et sp., an ancestral form of the Botryllidse 



As Dr. Rankin has not yet expended all his grant, and as he proposes 

 to devote the rest of it to dredging in the Clyde area in connection with 

 his investigation, the Committee recommend this, and accordingly they 

 ask to be reappointed for next year. 



Bird Miqralion in Great Britain and Ireland. — Fifth Interim Report 

 of the Committee, consisting of Professor Newton {Chairman), 

 Rev. E. P. Knubley (Secretary), Mr. John A. Harvie-Brovvn, 

 Mr. R. M. Barrington, Mr. A. H. Evans, and Dr. H. 0. Forbes, 

 appointed, to ivork out the details of the, Observations on the Migra^ 

 tion of Birds at Lighthouses and Lightships, 1880-1887. 



Once more your Committee have the satisfaction of reporting that, thanks 

 to the unremitting energy of Mr. William Eagle Clarke, the work with 

 which they were charged has proceeded without interruption during the 

 past twelve months, and they append a report to them by Mr. Clarke, in 

 which he has summarised the Observations on the Migrations of the 

 Fieldfare (Turd us pilaris) and Lapwing (Vanellus vidgaris) in the same 

 masterly manner as he did those relating to the four species (Song 

 Thrush, White Wagtail, Skylark, and Swallow) whose movements he has 

 already worked out. If the Summaries now offered seem to lack interest, 

 it is assuredly only in comparison with tliose that have been presented 

 before, and because the migrations, inter-migrations, and counter-migra- 

 tions, even of the Lapwing, however intricate they may at first sight 

 appear, make no approach in complication to those of the Song Thrush, and 

 still more of the Skylark, while those of the Fieldfare may be said to be 

 simplicity itself. Yet the movements of the last-named bird have never 

 before been traced in the way that they have by Mr. Clarke. 



It is with great pleasure that your Committes have to report that 

 Mr. Clarke is willing to continue his investigations for another year, if 

 the Association should tliink fit to encourage his labours, the amount and 

 value of which can hardly be exaggerated ; and, though it is hardly part 

 of their business to do so, your Committee cannot refrain from comment- 

 ing to the Association upon an instance of extraordinary devotion to the 

 subject of the inquiry displayed last autumn by that gentleman. Having 

 sought and obtained the permission of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity 

 House, he passed a month of his short holiday in the Eddystone Light- 

 house, in order that he might gain personal experience of the conditions 

 under which nearly all the i-ecorded observations dealt with by him were 

 made, and knowledge of many details of migration only to be obtained by 

 actual observation. It is gratifying to know that in both respects he was 

 successful, as may be seen by the interesting narrative of his voluntary 

 imprisonment which he has published.' 



Your Committee regarded their reappointment at the Glasgow meeting 

 as a condonation of their somewhat irregular proceeding, acknowledged in 

 their last Report, and are happy to be able to state that valuable information 



' Ihe Ibis, Sfarcb 1902, pp. 246-260. 

 1902. T 



