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REPORTS 



corallina, on the left side the commoner yellowish-green one — 

 Corynactis viridis. Now all were gone. A similar change 

 was noticeable in some of the other caves. In the so-called 

 Grass Cave, the walls of which in summer are so closely 

 covered with Hydroid Zoophytes as to present the appearance 

 of being overgrown with grass ; they are commonly mistaken 

 by the ordinary visitor for a variety of seaweed. The walls 

 were now getting bare, only sparsely distributed masses 

 remaining. In another cave, remarkable in summer for the 

 large numbers of the beautiful little Orange-disced Anemone 

 — Sagartia venusta — which adorn its walls, one now had to 

 hunt to find any considerable number. 



Now the interesting points arise : (1) What becomes of 

 these animals in winter ? Do they leave the walls of the 

 cave and retreat into deeper water for warmth ? If so, how 

 do they get back again ? (2) How can we account for the 

 fact that on the return of warmer weather not only do they 

 return to the same cave as formerly, but the different kinds 

 appear on the same walls as in the previous summer ? Why 

 is one wall almost exclusively Corynactis corallina, another 

 Corynactis viridis, and in the Grass Cave zoophytes ? Also 

 how is it that some forms found almost exclusively in these 

 caves do not make their appearance in other sheltered spots in 

 the neighbourhood ? If they do not retreat into deeper water 

 on the approach of winter, what becomes of them ? 



I think that this opens up a most interesting question, 

 and one on which I can find no information in the writings of 

 the various authorities on Marine Zoology. Unfortunately 

 most of these writers do not live permanently at the sea-side, 

 but go down there in the summer for a longer or shorter time ; 

 consequently they always see things under very similar con- 

 ditions. This shows that useful work can be done even in the 

 winter by studying the different changes produced by varying 

 conditions. What place could be more advantageously situated 

 than Guernsey and the neighbouring islands for studying such 

 changes ! What we particularly want are a few intelligent 

 and systematic workers who will not merely work for a few 

 months in the summer when the weather is inviting, but who 

 will keep up their observations regularly during the winter 

 also. 



Mr. Eric Sharp reports as follows : — 



There is scarcely anything to report about Marine Zoo- 

 logy for the past year. 



Miss Mellish, the Principal of the Ladies' College, did 

 me the honour of asking me to take the College Nature Study 



