PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 
119 
the littoral fauna that are found in places where effective collecting 
can be done in the tide-pools of a rocky shore. Little has, 
however, been done in the way of dredging, although some 
information on this subject is contained in the scientific results 
of the German ship “ Pomraerania.”* It appears from these results 
that the North Sea off the Norfolk coast is poor in species, many 
of the northern forms extending no further south than the latitude 
of Scarborough, while certain southern species which occur in the 
English Channel do not extend so far north as Norfolk. Although 
the number of species does not compare favourably with that 
found on other parts of the coasts of the British Isles, some of 
the species which occur in our own waters are represented by 
enormous numbers of individuals. This is not merely a fact 
which has come under my own observation, but it could be 
inferred from the importance of the East Coast fisheries, since 
the abundance of fishes is necessarily associated with an adequate 
food-supply. We are, however, far from knowing the facts with 
regard to the distribution of marine life in the North Sea. 
Another direction in which observations are urgently required is 
the examination of the brackish and fresh waters of East Anglia. 
The salt marshes near Aldeburgh support a most interesting fauna, 
and I have little doubt that the same is true of other parts of the 
coast. The fauna of our rivers and broads has been but little 
explored, and it cannot be doubted that many discoveries remain 
to be made in these directions. 
One of the most interesting fresh-water forms, which has been 
recorded from Norfolk at Lynnf and in the Bure District,:}: is 
Oordylophora lacustrls. This species and several species of Hydra 
constitute almost the entire list of known fresh-water ITvdroids ; 
it is usually regarded as an introduced form, possibly imported 
on foreign timber.t It has been found in brackish water, as for 
* ‘ II. & III. Jahresberichte d. Commission zur wiss. Unt. d. deutschen 
Meere in Kiel,’ 1874. 
t Allman, “ Monograph of the Gymnoblastic or Tubularian Hydroids,” 
Ray Society, 1871, p. 253. 
J* Nature,’ vol. xliv., 1891, pp. 106, 445. 
