of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



217 



myself to the reproduction of the lobworm, a species which is extensively 

 used as bait during the warmer months (April to August) for the capture 

 of the ordinary food fishes. It is stated (although this requires con- 

 firmation) to live longer on the hook than the mussels at this season, and 

 what perhaps is a more decided point, is that the swarms of young fish 

 do not so readily remove it from the hook before the latter is seized by a 

 marketable fish. Under such circumstances the hook is ordinarily deprived 

 of its covering of bait before it reaches the bottom. The remarkable spoon- 

 worm (one of the gephyreans), first found in this country on the west 

 sands of St Andrews, by Professor Edward Forbes in 1840, was procured 

 in large numbers during the storm in November, as on similar occasions 

 in former years, and living examples were forwarded to Professor Ptay 

 Lankester, who is specially interested in the group. A somewhat un- 

 usual inhabitant of waterlogged and softened wood was the little boring 

 annelid Polydora. This wood was of no commercial value ; indeed this 

 form has not hitherto been found attacking wood of the slightest 

 economical importance. A skate leech {Pontohdella) deposited several 

 eggs in the tank in December, and I have observed clusters of the 

 eggs inside the whorls of the great whelks tossed on the west sands 

 in October. 



Amongst the crustaceans examined have been a ^J'orway lobster with 

 ova in October, a common lobster also with ova, and various examples of 

 the smaller species. A very large common lobster caught by a hook is at 

 present in the tanks. Complaints have been made by the local fishermen 

 that their boats are seriously injured by a boring ' worm ' when in Zet- 

 landic waters at the herring fishing. Specimens of the wood thus 

 affected have not yet been brought to the Laboratory, but in all probability 

 the damage to the planks has been caused by the little burrowing crus- 

 tacean (a sessile-eyed form), Limnoria, sometimes called the 'Gribble,' 

 so well known as a source of trouble and danger during the works at the 

 Bell Rock, of constant inroads in the wood at Devonport, and indeed 

 all round our shores. The men state, however, that their boats are only 

 attacked off Shetland, never at St Andrews. 



In the group of the shell-fishes, the young of Natica catena have been 

 developed from the eggs which are deposited in ribbons of a single coil 

 ofi" the west sands, and are frequently thrown on shore. Professor Kay 

 Lankester has also worked at the anatomy of the adult, and he and Mr 

 A. G. Bourne have also examined Chiton. Living examples of the Hun- 

 garian cap-shell are at present under observation. The eggs of Mya 

 arena7ia, Cardium, Anomia, Pectunculus, Donax, Scrobicularia, Pecten, 

 Astarte, and others have also been examined by Mr Wilson. The repro- 

 ductive organs in Botyllus and in the rare Pelonaia have also been ex- 

 amined by the same gentleman, who furnishes a special report on the 

 reproduction of the common mussel and allied forms. The ova had to be 

 artificially hatched and studied under many difficulties, and I cannot too 

 highly commend the skill, patience, and perseverance of Mr Wilson in 

 conducting this inquiry. It is of the utmost importance, as the first step 

 towards improving and extending the cultivation of this valuable shell- 

 fish, to exhaust its development and life history. Mr Wilson furnishes 

 the remarks which follow this chapter. 



The shell-fishes especially interesting as bait are, besides the common 

 mussel, Mya arenaria, Mactra solida, Gyprina, and the razor-fishes. These 

 are gathered by the fishermen on the west sands after storms. The large 

 cockle {Cardium echinatum), on the other hand, is avoided, as of less 

 value. In February and March the limpets are collected for bait by 

 women who come from Auchmithie, but the local fishermen do not use 



