September, 1906. 7 he I? ish Naturalist. 
197 
ADVANCES IN IRISH MARINE ZOOLOGY. 
BY PROFESSOR GEO. H. CARPENTER. 
The work of the naturalists attached to the Fisheries Branch 
of the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 
tion has resulted during the last few years in the accumulation 
of large and valuable collections of animals from the Irish 
marine area, especially from the deeper waters off our western 
coast. The scientific exploration of the Atlantic slope, so 
well begun twenty years ago by the Royal Irish Academy and 
the Royal Dublin Society, is now being systematically carried 
on under the auspices of the Government Department respon- 
sible for Irish fisheries. It must be particularh^ gratifying to 
Mr. W. S. Green, who was so zealous as a pioneer in this marine 
zoological research, to see the harvest of results that is now 
being reaped under his oversight, through the splendid work of 
Mr. Holt and his assistants. 
Several references have already been made in this magazine 
to the published results of the Fishery Branch's work. Farran's 
account of Nudibranch Mollusca and of Copepoda, Holt and 
Tattersall's monograph of Schizopoda from the Atlantic slope, 
Hoyle's notes on Cephalopoda, and Caiman's description of the 
Euphausid genus Nematobrachion, are among the vvorks that 
have thus been noticed. On the present occasion we propose 
to call attention to several important contributions that have 
been published during the last and the current year. 
Dr. W. T. Caiman's paper^ on the Cnmacea is of quite 
exceptional interest and value. Its fifty-two pages and five 
plates contain notes on fortj'-eiglit species, nine of which are 
described and figured as new to science. These are Leiicon 
siphonatus, Cumella gmcilliina^ Naimastacus brevicazidattcsi 
Cavipylaspis rostrata, Ptatyaspis orbicularis, Diastylis 
tubulicauda, Cumellopsis Helgcs^ Platyaima Holti^ and 
Ceratocuma horrida. The three last-named are referred to new 
genera, of which Platycuma " presents in its speciall3'-coiled 
alimentary canal an anatomical character which is unique 
among the Malacostraca,*' while Cumellopsis *'is in some 
^ W. T. Caiman. The Marine Fauna of the West Coast of Ireland. 
Part iv. Cumacea. Fisheries ^ IrelandySci. Invest., 1904, i., [1905]. 
A 
