MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 59 



This year saw the commencement of the bio-chemical 

 work by a team of investigators under the leadership of 

 Professor Benjamin Moore, which has been continued at inter- 

 vals ever since and has resulted in the publication of a number 

 of interesting papers in the Proceedings of the Royal Society 

 and in the Bio-Chemical Journal. The earlier work dealt with 

 the effect of slight changes in the alkalinity of sea-water in the 

 nuclear division and embryonic development of marine animals, 

 and later investigations included experiments in photo- 

 synthesis and in the nutrition of marine animals. 



It may be appropriate to add that the Report for this year 

 contained a description of the new Zoology Buildings of the 

 University of Liverpool and of the proceedings that took place 

 at the formal opening by the Earl of Onslow (then President 

 of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries) when Sir John 

 Murray gave a short address on Oceanography in the Zoology 

 Lecture Theatre. These buildings have constantly been the 

 Liverpool centre of all our work from that time up to the 

 present, and will continue to be so as the seat of the 

 Oceanography department which takes over our work. 



The following year, 1906, is noteworthy as being the first 

 in which I tried the experiment of having a small steam yacht 

 of my own at Port Erin during the summer, constantly 

 employed in making collections and taking observations at 

 sea. This proved so successful that the practice was extended 

 in the following year to the Easter vacation as well as the 

 summer, and the work from the successive yachts* ("Madge," 

 " Ladybird " and " Runa "), in which I was most ably assisted 

 by various friends, colleagues and senior students, was kept 

 up with great activity until the year of the war, and to a 



* To avoid any misunderstanding in the future and to correct certain 

 erroneous reports, I think it best to state definitely once for all that these 

 yachts were my own private property, and although used freely for the 

 service of the Biological Station and to help the work of the Manx Fishery 

 Board they were run entirely at my own expense. It lias been a pleasure 

 and a privilege to be able to help on the work in this manner ; but this 

 personal statement seems necessary in view of ill-informed newspaper reports. 



