xxii 



Fourth Annual Report of the 



It is proposed to continue this series of investigations in order 

 to obtain more accurate information as to the number and variety 

 of these lower fungi in our rivers and their relation to the amount 

 of dead organic matter present in these waters. It is also pro- 

 posed to attempt to trace the relation between the conditions 

 under which these lower fungi exist, and those favourable to the 

 development of the salmon fungus. 

 Physical Ob- In the Board's Report for 1883 reference was made to the 

 niad?in^Mora Preliminary inquiries made during the autumn of that year in the 

 Firth/^ Moray Firth. Part of this work consisted in collecting samples of 

 water and in taking the surface and bottom temperatures of the 

 water at various parts of the firth. Considerable time was required 

 by Mr John Gibson, Ph.D. (who was good enough to undertake the 

 physical work of the expedition), to examine the samples of water 

 collected and to tabulate the results. A report of this work will be 

 found in the Appendix (p. 89). It contains a brief account of the 

 collection of the samples of sea-water, and tables of the specific 

 gravities of these samples as obtained by a method which gives 

 results of a higher degree of accuracy than has hitherto been 

 attained in similar work, and which results are all strictly and 

 directly comparable with each other, a point of the greatest 

 importance. The chief value of the report lies in the full 

 description of the method and in the proof of its special 

 advantages. The question as to the relation between the density 

 of sea-water and the amount of chlorine which it contains is also 

 discussed, and tables are given showing the relation actually 

 observed in the case of a number of the collected samples. 



These two data, viz., the density and the relation of chlorine to 

 density, lie at the root of our present knowledge of the chemistry 

 and physics of sea-water. The elaboration of the above mentioned 

 method has therefore paved the way for the future systematic 

 work necessary to the attainment of that accurate knowledge of 

 the various physical and chemical conditions obtaining in sea- 

 water generally, and in our coast and river waters in particular, 

 which is an indispensable preliminary to the clearing up of many 

 of the practical and scientific problems now pressing for solution. 

 St Andrews Professor M^Iutosh contributes an account of the work under- 

 station. taken at the St Andrews Marine Laboratory since the issue of 

 the last Eeport (see Appendix, p. 201). It includes notes on the 

 mode of capture of food-tishes by liners and of the injuries which 

 occur to baited hooks and to fishes on the lines. An account is 

 also given of two kinds of fishing (viz., shrimp trawling and sprat 

 fishing) in which many immature fish are captured. 



An examination has been made of a large number of important 

 fishes, including a fine specimen of the Tunny, captured by 

 the General Steam Trawling Company, in October last. Professor 

 Mcintosh also gives an account of the eggs and young of a num- 

 ber of fishes which have been studied during the past year. An 

 opportunity has also been afforded of studying the effect of storms 

 on the marine fauna in St Andrew's Bay. The report likewise 

 includes a note on the structure of the tail of Myxine glutinosa by 

 Professor Cleland, F.R.S., of Glasgow. 



Kecently considerable attention has been devoted by Mr Wilson 



