70 LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
and finally the trawl and the chief dredge were rendered 
useless by dragging over the rough bottom, so the work 
had to be given up earlier in the afternoon than usual. 
Consequently I feel that this region between the Isle of 
Man and Holyhead has not yet been sufficiently investi- 
gated, and that it is very desirable that we should have 
at least another day’s work there, in favourable weather, 
with a powerful tug such as the ‘‘Spindrift” or the 
“‘Gamecock.”’ 
Amongst the rarer species obtained from over fifty 
fathoms during this trip were: Cynthia tessellata, Am- 
phiura ballu, Palmipes membranaceus, Balanus porcatus, 
and a new species of Sponge (Halisarca rubra, n. sp.), 
encrusting the shell of Mytilus, which will be described 
and figured by Dr. Hanitsch in a future report. Mr. 
Walker informs me that so far as the Crustacea are 
concerned this trip was disappointing, the only addition 
to the ‘“‘Fauna”’ being Hippolyte spinus. Huonyx chelata, 
a rare Amphipod, once before taken at Puffin Island, was 
however found abundantly on Echinus sphera. 
DEEP-SEA TOW-NET. 
On this occasion Mr. Hoyle’s deep-sea tow-net was used 
down to a depth of thirty fathoms. The closing apparatus 
worked without a hitch, save once, when a small piece of 
rope which was drifting in the water became twisted round 
the line and thus prevented the descent of the messengers. 
The possibility of such an occurrence had always been 
foreseen, but it is not sufficiently serious to militate against 
the use of the apparatus in shallow water. The operation 
does not take long, and if one haul should fail it is easy 
to make another. In the exploration of great depths, 
however, the case is different. The period occupied in 
a 
