MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 41 



of building sandy and muddy tubes by various common 

 Poly onset worms as his specialty, and made a number of 

 interesting observations which were communicated in successive 

 years to meetings of the British Association, and were from 

 time to time recorded in our Reports. He was wonderfully 

 successful in keeping dredged Annelids alive for long periods 

 so as to be able to study their habits. Even the deep-water 

 Panthalis, dredged from 70 fathoms, was induced by him to 

 live in a few inches of water in a small aquarium at the Bio- 

 logical Station, where it deserted its old tube and proceeded 

 to form a new one in the mud against the glass side of the 

 aquarium so as to expose all its operations to Mr. Watson's 

 careful observation. 



A considerable number of other additions to the fauna, 

 chiefly of microscopic forms such as the Copepoda, will be 

 found in each of these Annual Reports about this period when 

 dredging expeditions were so frequent. 



Our British Association Committee, which continued 

 its work, was now requested by Sir Archibald Geikie (then 

 Director- General of the Geological Survey) to form a series 

 of samples of the various deposits brought up by the dredge 

 from various parts of the Irish Sea for examination and preser- 

 vation in the Museum of the Geological Survey at Jermyn 

 Street. For several years after this, samples of the deposits 

 were packed in small canvas bags and sent to the Museum. 

 These have been reported on by Professor Watts, the late 

 Mr. Clement Reid and others (see especially the Seventh 

 Annual Report, pp. 30-32, and the Eighth Report, p. 35). 



Amongst other observations of bionomic interest which 

 were made at this time I may mention the swarms of the 

 common shore Amphipod Orchestia gammarellus which on 

 several occasions migrated upwards from the shore far above 

 high-water mark, invaded the Biological Station in countless 

 numbers so as to cover the floor, tables, shelves, window- 



