of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



15 



Marine Diatoms. 



Mr George Murray, Keeper of the Department of Botany of the P . 212. 

 British Museum, conducted on board the 'Garland' during part of 

 the year an investigation into the distribution and reproduction of 

 diatoms and minute floating vegetation found in the sea, which 

 form an important constituent of the food of minute crustaceans 

 and of fishes in their very early stages. In the paper describing 

 the results it is pointed out that during the first months of the year 

 there is a remarkable prevalence of diatom life in the sea off both 

 the east and west coasts, the quantity diminishing towards the end 

 of March, and thereafter remaining at a fairly constant minimum. 

 The part taken by these minute vegetable forms in furnishing food 

 for Crustacea and young fishes is described, as well as the repro- 

 ductive processes of the diatoms, respecting which the observations 

 have been of great scientific importance. 



Professor Cleve, of Upsala, Sweden, the eminent authority on p. 297. 

 diatoms, also contributes a paper to the present report, describing 

 the characters and distribution of the diatoms and minute plant- 

 life collected by tow-nets in the Faroe-Shetland channel during the 

 expedition of H.M.S. ' Eesearch' to that region in August last year. 

 The chief object of the inquiry was to determine by comparison of 

 the abundance and distribution of minute floating organisms, the 

 movements of the water towards and from the North Sea, 



The Invertebrate Fauna. 



In the present Eeport will be found a paper by Mr Thomas P . 107. 

 Scott, F.L.S., describing the invertebrate fauna, as well as the fishes, 

 of Loch Fyne, and furnishing lists of all the species which have 

 been found in that loch, together with notes of their distribution. 

 The list is a very full one, comprising over eight hundred species, 

 of which 62 are fishes, 219 mollusks, 345 Crustacea, 55 foramini- 

 fera, and 52 worms. In an appendix several new and rare species 

 are described which have been observed during the past year in 

 the seaward part of the Clyde area, and an account is also given of 

 the parasites of the common copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, which 

 forms an important constituent of the food of fishes. In another 

 paper Mr Scott gives the results of his continued investigations on p . 316. 

 the invertebrate fauna of the inland waters of Scotland, including 

 that of several lochs in Cantyre, Bute, and Forfarshire, as well as 

 of Shetland, in the examination. of which he was assisted by Mr 

 Eobert Duthie. Through these investigations some important addi- 

 tions have been made to the fresh water fauna of Scotland. In a 

 third paper the invertebrate fauna, collected by tow-nets used on p. 305. 

 board H.M.S. ' Eesearch ' in the Faroe-Shetland Channel, in August, 

 is described, notes being furnished showing the distribution of 

 the various species obtained. 



