marine biological station at port erin. 39 



Further Faunistic Notes. 



Mr. Andrew Scott, A.L.S., of the Lancashire Marine 

 Laboratory at Piel, in the Barrow Channel, has sent me 

 his usual report upon additions to our knowledge 

 of the fauna of the district, as follows : — 



A short account of the swimming habit of the 

 common lug- worm was given in the last annual Report. 

 Further evidence in support of Mr. Chadwick's observa- 

 tion was obtained at Piel in the spring of the present 

 year. On several occasions Mr. Johnstone and I saw as 

 many as a dozen of these worms swimming about in one 

 of the fish tanks. Some experiments were then made to 

 find out if the habit was an accidental one, or due to 

 unusual conditions. Freshly dug worms were tried, but 

 they made no attempt to swim when thrown in, or even 

 after the lapse of several minutes. Others that had been 

 left in a shallow tank for a day or two, where there was 

 no sand on the bottom, were next used. These gave the 

 best results. When first thrown in, the worms gradually 

 dropped to the bottom of the tank. On reaching the 

 bottom a number at once commenced to swim in the 

 manner described by Mr. Chadwick, and soon reached the 

 surface, where they remained for a short period. They 

 eventually returned to the bottom and a few repeated the 

 movements again. After a time the worms, either due to 

 exhaustion or having become more accustomed to the new 

 conditions of pressure, abandoned their swimming and 

 became quiescent. I have sometimes seen large Nereis 

 swimming about in the shallow water during low tides in 

 Barrow Channel, but this is the first time I have witnessed 

 Arenicola swim. 



The following additions have been made to the fauna 

 of the Irish Sea since the last Annual Report: — 



