MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 21 
previous season; and the general result reflects credit upon 
the Assistant Curator, who, again, had entire charge of the 
work and whose efforts were untiring. Eleven female lobsters 
were purchased from local fishermen, and the eggs of these 
yielded 4,142 larvae. Two thousand eight hundred larvae were 
set free in the first stage ; the remaining 1,342 were transferred 
from the spawning pond to a number of half-gallon glass jars, 
placed in convenient rows in the Hatchery. At the beginning 
of the season 12 larvae were put into each jar, but though the 
water was changed frequently, experience showed that a 
smaller number gave better results, and later on the number 
was reduced to 6. The larvae were fed exclusively upon 
plankton, which the experience of the past two or three seasons 
has shown to be the best food. The total number of lobsterlings 
thus reared was 300. Two hundred and eighty-five were set 
free in chosen spots where they would find shelter, and 15 have 
been retained for further experiments in rearing. 
The Aquarwm. 
“Three thousand two hundred and nineteen visitors paid 
for admission to the Aquarium during the year. The small 
increase in numbers as compared with the previous year—169— 
is somewhat disappointing, considering that it was propor- 
tionately much larger from Easter until the early part of August, 
when persistent unseasonable weather checked the inflow 
of visitors. The specimens exhibited in the tanks were much 
the same as those of previous years, with the notable exception 
of the octopus of the Irish Sea, Hledone cirrosa. For the first 
year in the history of the Institution, not a single specimen of 
this exceptionally interesting animal was obtainable, much 
to the disappointment of many visitors. Plaice hatched and 
reared in the Hatchery in 1914, 1915 and 1916 were exhibited 
