2. Introduction to a Report on the Biology of the Lake 
of Tiberias. 
By N. ANNANDALE, D.Sc., F.A.S.B. 
The papers to be published in this series are the result of 
five weeks’ visit to Palestine and Syria in October and Nov- 
ember, 1912. The object of the visit was, if possible, to trace 
the genera of sponges, coelenterates and polyzoa characteristic 
of the fresh waters of India and tropical Africa northwards up 
the Jordan valley, should they prove to have a distribution in 
any way similar to that of the Jordan fishes, whose African 
affinities have long been known. Collections of other inverte- 
brates, more particularly the crustacea, worms and mollusca, 
were also to be made. For this purpose it seemed best in the 
resident European community, among whom I may mention in 
particular Herr R. Grossmann, the proprietor of the Hotel 
an ardent naturalist. I was also indebted for 
much valuable information to Dr. D. W. Torrance and the 
Rev. 8. Semple. 
I was provided with a twelve-inch dredge of the type sup- 
plied by the Marine Biological Association at Plymouth and 
with various tow-nets and hand-nets, but, although the dredge 
exit of the Jordan and thence eastwards to the village of 
Semakh: from Tiberias across the lake to Wad-es-Semakh on 
the western shore, and from the former place northwards to 
Mejdal or Magdala. The tow-net was used over this area both 
by day and by night and also at a point further north than 
any of the places hitherto mentioned, off the mouth of the 
Jordan. The fountains at Ain-et-Tineh and Tabghah were 
carefully examined and also the stream in the Wad-es-Semakh 
and the.Jordan at its entry and exit, while a more cursory 
