MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 29 



expeditions, having been taken with the naturalists' dredge, 

 were not suitable for the capture of fish, still the 

 Committee, partly through the work of Mr. P. F. J. 

 Corbin, at the Fisheries Laboratory, University College, 

 Liverpool, have collected records of 114 species of fish 

 found in the district, and have added the following species, 

 previously unknown — Solea variegata, Gobius quadri- 

 maculatus and Argentina sphyrcena. 



In concluding this section it may be stated that the 

 Committee have conducted eight dredging expeditions 

 during 1893, and have explored a considerable amount of 

 the Irish Sea around the Isle of Man, and especially to 

 the south and west. They have collected and identified 

 during the year over a thousand species of marine animals, 

 of which thirty-eight are new records to the British fauna, 

 two hundred and twenty four are new to the particular 

 district (this part of the Irish Sea), and seventeen are new 

 to science. 



The Committee give with this report (1) a chart showing 

 the area under investigation, with the zones of depths 

 indicated and (2) a section from Ireland to Lancashire, 

 through the Isle of Man, showing the marked difference 

 in depth between the sea to the east and that to the west (see 

 PI. I). They are also preparing a larger and more detailed 

 chart of the sea to the west and south of the Isle of Man, 

 where most of their dredging has been carried on, in which 

 the nature of the bottom and other particulars will be 

 given ; but they wish to make this chart more complete 

 by the incorporation of further observations before pub- 

 lishing. It is hoped that this more detailed chart will 

 appear in illustration of a future report. 



The Sea Bottom. 

 The small Committee of the British Association, under 

 whose auspices several of these expeditions have been 



