44 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



appeared, whether eaten by the adult lobsters or simply 

 shed could not be ascertained. However, a few more 

 berried females, with nearly ripe eggs, were brought in 

 by fishermen, and from these 5,000 larvse were successfully 

 hatched out. In spite of the exercise of every care num- 

 bers died during the shell-casting periods, and very few 

 survived to attain the " lobsterling " stage. It is worthy 

 of note that the female spiny lobster, Palinurus vulgaris, 

 destroys her eggs in captivity. The specimens in our 

 Aquarium tanks are frequently seen to comb the bunches 

 of eggs with the claws of the last pair of thoracic 

 appendages, and finally all the eggs disappear. 



With a view of adding to our stock of adult plaice for 

 spawning purposes, and making the collection of fishes in 

 the Aquarium tanks more representative, a trammel net, 

 20 fathoms long, was purchased in July, and has been used 

 on almost every suitable day since. The result was so 

 satisfactory that a second net, 30 fathoms long, was pur- 

 chased in September. In addition to 118 plaice, many of 

 which ranged from 16 to 22 inches in length, various other 

 fish have been caught, including dog-fish, thornback ray, 

 cod, pollack, coal-fish, gurnard, mackerel, conger, angler, 

 wrasse, sole, lemon sole, and dab. The nets have not 

 only added materially to our stock of fish, but have 

 afforded a useful and interesting indication of the species 

 frequenting the bay and neighbourhood during the time 

 they have been in use. In this connection it may be 

 mentioned that a mackerel was caught on November 1st, 

 a late date for this fish in this part of the Irish Sea. 



During the first fortnight in August enormous num- 

 bers of young herrings, from 2 to 3 inches in length, were 

 left stranded by almost every receding tide on the Manx 

 coast. It was found that they were being pursued and 

 eaten by the shoals of pollack, coal-fish, and mackerel 



