MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 29 
microscopic investigation. During both the Easter and 
the Summer vacation Mr. W. Riddell, M.A., of Belfast, 
again gave me most valuable assistance in taking daily 
plankton observations from the yacht. Dr. W. J. 
Dakin during part of the time took charge of the 

Fia. 5. Set of plankton nets on S.Y. “ Ladybird.” 
[From a photo. by Edwin Thompson. 
corresponding Hydrographic work, and Mr. W. Gunn, 
from the Liverpool Laboratory, also gave efficient help. 
A detailed account of the results of these observations 
will be published in the spring in the Annual Report of 
the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Investigations. In the 
meantime, the following record of the spread of a minute, 
free, lowly plant through HKuropean seas from the far 
Kast may be of interest. 
Biddulphia sinensis is an Indo-Pacific Diatom which 
was probably introduced accidentally (e.g., by a ship 
from the East) into European waters near the mouth of 
the Elbe about September, 1903, and which has 
