MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 31 
Erin on November 9th, 1909, when 400 specimens were 
found in one gathering; on November 13th about four 
times that quantity was present, and during the 
remainder of the year, to December 17th, numbers 
varying from 1,000 down to 100 or so were obtained. 
This year (November, 1910) it has again appeared, and 
Mr. Scott, who is at present examining the plankton 
collections made in the bay, writes to me _ that 
Biddulphia sinensis in the early November collections 
seems to be more abundant and in much better condition 
than when it first made its appearance in our district. 
He says that the cells are seen in active division, and 
that chains of two and four cells together are quite 
frequently found. It seems as if this Hastern species, 
accidentally introduced into European seas, has now 
established itself as a member of our local plankton. 
During a few weeks in the summer (July) of the last 
four years, in the course of short cruises amongst the 
islands and sea-lochs of the Hebrides, I have extended 
our plankton observations of the Irish Sea northwards 
by taking vertical hauls with the ‘“‘ Nansen ’’ closing net 
from many of the deepest holes we could discover. I 
have 33 of these gatherings from over 50 fathoms, and 
18 from over 100—the deepest is from 133 fathoms in 
the Sound of Raasay, N.E. of Skye (see fig. 7). 
A preliminary account of the results obtained from 
these Hebridean hauls, and a comparison with the results 
of similar work in the Irish Sea at the same time of the 
year, was given to the Linnean Society of London on 
November 3rd, 1910, and the detailed report on the 
organisms obtained in all these gatherings, will be given 
in the next Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Annual Report. 
When we examine these series of Scottish gatherings 
