MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 105 



out of the possible six were — 5, 6, 4, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3, 

 5, 3, 4. 



These gatherings, which have been worked up fully, 

 bring the record up to the end of April. The rest of the 

 collection, which is now in process of being examined, con- 

 sists of some sixty tubes, giving an average of nearly two a 

 week for the remainder of the year. The results will be 

 given in the Report on the work of the Sea-Fisheries 

 Laboratory, to be published in a few weeks. Taking 

 these statistics, along with the many previous less com- 

 plete records that we have, extending back for ten or 

 twelve years, there are some prominent features of the 

 collections taken week by week and month by month that 

 arrest attention- — the abundance of Sagitta in January 

 and February; the comparative scarcity of Copepoda early 

 in the year; the abundance of diatoms, such as Biddul- 

 phia, Coscinodiscus, Bhizosolenia, and Chcetoceros, in 

 February and early spring; the appearance of Nauplei 

 and then other larval forms in February and March ; 

 the comparative scarcity of plankton all round in February 

 and March (except when gelatinous Algae sometimes swarm 

 in the latter month, and even later) ; the increase in April, 

 and especially the increased abundance of pelagic Coel- 

 enterates and of Copepoda in early summer ; the appear- 

 ance of fish eggs and embryos and larval fish in abundance 

 about Easter ; the disappearance of Xauplei and other 

 larvae as summer goes on, and the great increase in Medusae 

 and Ctenophora; the quantities of Oikopleura which appear 

 in the height of the summer ; the abundance of Dino- 

 flagellates in late summer and autumn ; the great relative 

 abundance of life in general during July, August, and 

 September, and finally the rapid diminution in the amount 

 and variety of plankton during the last few months of the 

 year. 



