MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 21 



The Assistant Curator has devoted much attention to the 

 question of the most suitable food for the larvae, and finds 

 that the exclusive use of plankton gives the best results. 

 With a coarse tow-net he made almost daily collections of 

 plankton for feeding the larvae in the larger plaice pond and 

 the Aquarium tank. Unfortunately the collection of plankton 

 on a sufficiently large scale is not only laborious but involves 

 the expenditure of much time, as the experience of the past 

 season has shown. Nothing; definite can be said with regard 

 to the 347 larvae transferred to the larger plaice pond until 

 the pond is drained and the bottom carefully examined. 

 Of the 200 larvae placed in the Aquarium tank and fed ex- 

 clusively upon plankton about 20 reached the lobsterling 

 stage. Of 10 larvae placed in a small bell-jar in the 

 Aquarium, for the inspection of visitors, and fed exclusively 

 upon plankton, 6 reached the lobsterling stage. 



The Aquarium. 



" A very gratifying recovery in the number of visitors to 

 the Aquarium has taken place this year, 3,050 — nearly twice 

 last year's number — having paid for admission. The care 

 of the tanks and the maintenance of an attractive exhibition 

 of specimens has again been a matter of much concern to 

 the Staff. A number of plaice hatched this year, and others 

 hatched during the seasons of 1915 and 1914, attracted much 

 attention and " excited great surprise at what was almost 

 universally regarded by the visitors as the slow rate of growth 

 of this fish. The lobster larvae, too, excited great interest and 

 prompted many questions with regard to the breeding habits, 

 mode and rate of growth, shell-casting, &c, of the lobster. 

 The practical question ; Why are lobsters so dear ? ' fre- 

 quently put by ladies, has afforded the Curator many 

 opportunities of explaining the pernicious effects upon the 



