MAEINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT POET ERIN. 69 



The important influence of the shore rocks upon the 

 littoral fauna has not been neglected, and lists and 

 observations are accumulating, but that subject must be 

 left over for a fuller discussion in next year's report. 



Other Investigations. 



Several new lines of investigation have been started 

 during the year, and are still in progress. One of these 

 may be called the " larval-attachment inquiry," and 

 consists in sinking in various parts of the bay an apparatus 

 composed of a rope weighted at one end and buoyed at 

 the other, and having a number of slips of glass, slate, 

 wood, &c, attached at equal distances along its length. 

 These ropes are hauled up and examined periodically, and 

 may be expected, when further observations have been 

 taken, to give information as to the times and modes of 

 attachment of the larvae of various species, and also as to 

 the most suitable substances for particular kinds of larvae 

 to settle down upon. So far, glass seemed in the early 

 spring (February and March) to be the favourite substance. 

 A surprisingly large number of algae, compared with the 

 animals, appeared, and nearly all were on the glass slips. 

 Later on, in the summer, Barnacles {Balanus) made 

 their appearance in great numbeis on the slips of wood 

 and on the wooden buoy at the top of the apparatus, 

 while all the upper part of the rope within a few feet of 

 the surfa.ce became covered with algae. A number of 

 Ascidians (Ascidiella virginea) were also found, in August, 

 to have attached themselves to the rope, and seemed to 

 have got as far as possible in between the strands and into 

 the coils of the knots. On the upper pieces of slate, and 

 in one instance on a piece of glass, there were young 

 specimens of the tubicolous Annelid, Pomatoceros triquete?', 

 in no case more than J to 2 inch in length. 



