none of these factors-so long as the variations do not exceed certain limits have so much influence upon the fauna as the nature of the deposit has. It is therefore quite to be expected that the fauna should vary from place to place with the nature of the bottom, and that is what we have observed frequently in our work round the Isle of Man. In practically the same water, identical in temperature, salinity, and transparency, at the same depth, with, so far as one can see, all the other surrounding conditions the same, the fauna varies from place to place with changes in the bottom-mud, sand, nullipores, and shell beds, all have their characteristic assemblages of animals. As to the further, and very important, question of the origin of the deposits, that is partly a geological inquiry, and one which cannot, until we have accumulated a much larger series of observations, be fully discussed; but there are a few matters which may be briefly pointed out as giving some idea of the range and bearing of the question. 1. It is necessary to make a most careful examination of the deposits. For example, all muds are not the same in origin. A deposit of mud may be due to the presence of an eddy or a sheltered corner in which the finer particles suspended in the water are able to sink, or it may be due to the wearing away of a limestone beach, or to quantities of alluvium brought down by a stream from the land, or to the presence of a submerged bed of boulder clay, or, finally, in some places to the sewage and refuse from coast towns. 2. We have kept in view the possibility of some correlation between the geological formations along the beach and the submarine deposits lying off the shore. There is no doubt that the nature of the rock forming the shore has a great influence upon the marine fauna, and has sometimes some effect upon the neighbouring deposits. For example, the contrast between the deposits lying off the two prominent headlands, the Great Orme, in North Wales, and Bradda Head, in the Isle of Man, is well marked. The Great Orme is composed of mountain limestone, and the result of its weathering and erosion is that large blocks are found lying scattered outside its base on the fine sand; but there is no deposit of smaller stones, gravel, and resulting sand farther out, probably because in the wearing of the rock and the large detached blocks by the sea a great deal is removed in solution and the rest in suspension as very fine mudthis we have found to be the case round Puffin Island, which is also mountain limestone. Bradda Head, on the other hand, is a schistose metamorphic Silurian rock, which breaks up into large fragments, and these into smaller, and so forms deposits of dark slatey more or less angular gravel, and then very coarse sand, extending for some way out from the foot of the cliff. The influence of the shore rocks upon the littoral fauna is an important subject upon which we have accumulated some observations; but the matter requires further work and detailed discussion, and must be left over for a future report. 3. Probably the great bulk of the siliceous sand which forms so large a part of the floor of our sea is derived proximately-whatever may have been its ultimate source-from the great deposits of drift which were formed in the neighbourhood during the Glacial period, and large tracts of which may since have been broken up by the sea. 1 Probably, to a great extent, Triassic sandstones. 4. As examples of a few peculiar and specially noteworthy deposits which are not simply 'terrigenous' in their origin, the following may be mentioned: : South-east of the Calf Sound, about two miles out, at a depth of 20 fathoms, there is a white shelly sand which seems to be almost wholly composed of animal remains. There are broken fragments of the lamellibranchs Pecten, Anomia, Pectunculus, Mactra, Venus, and Mytilus, of the gastropods Cypræa, Buccinum, Emarginula, Purpura, and Trochus, of various calcareous polyzoa such as Cellaria fistulosa, Cellepora pumicosa, and lepralids, of Balanus and Serpula, and of various echinoderm plates and spines, and the whole shells of Echinocyamus pusillus. The deposit, when it comes up in the dredge, is of a gleaming whiteness, and has a very characteristic appearance. Such a deposit as this would form a rock almost wholly made up of fossils, and might compare well with some Tertiary fossiliferous deposits, such as the Coralline Crag. A little further north, along the east coast of the Isle of Man, at about a corresponding depth and distance from land, we meet with a purely vegetal deposit formed of the nullipores Lithothamnion and Melobesia. On the other side of the island, again, between Port Erin and the Calf, at a depth of 18 fathoms, there is a tract of sea-bottom which, when brought up on deck, looks at the first glance like a peculiarly fibrous sand, but a closer examination shows that it is entirely composed of the comminuted plates, and especially the spines of echinids, chiefly Spatangus. The variety that is noticed in submarine deposits round the Isle of Man, from depths of 15 to 35 fathoms, as brought up in the dredge is very striking. It is remarkable how differing proportions in the mixtures of sand, gravel, and shells give rise to very different colours and general appearance in the mass. As seen when tumbled out of the dredge on to the deck, some deposits are white, some yellow, some grey, some reddish, of various tints from pink to ruddy brown, and others darker, of all shades of brown and dark grey. It is curious how, even in a composite deposit made up of many different constituents, there is usually a prevailing tint; for example, the bottom at Station 6 on May 27, although composed (see p. 321) of mud, sand, nullipores, shells, and stones, was distinctly of a rich ruddy brown tint. The importance of this presence of prevailing colours in the various submarine deposits is obvious in its bearing upon the colours and habits of animals. Another very remarkable sea-bottom is one which takes the form of irregular calcareous masses, cementing together the dead shells and sand grains which are lying on the bottom, and making lumps like 'clinkers.' Hence the spot where it is found is called by the trawlers the 'Blacksmith's Shop.' It is about 25 miles S.S.W. of the Calf of Man (see Pl. I.), in ordinary clear weather the Chicken Rock Lighthouse just dipping and the stack at Holyhead just rising above the water, and the depth is about 25 fathoms. We have also heard of a similar bottom of cemented shells between Ramsey and North Lancashire. Mr. Leicester has found the following shells in the concretions :-Pecten opercularis, Cyprina islandica, Venus lincta, Cardium echinatum, Nucula nucleus, Serobicularia alba, Lucina borealis, and Turritella terebra. There is a fine lump of this deposit in the Biological Station at Port Erin, and we have presented another piece to the Jermyn Street Museum in London. Mr. W. W. Watts, of the Geological Survey, has made a careful examination by thin sections of the latter specimen, and he has kindly sent the following notes in regard to it :The microscopic examination shows that it is practically a fine-grained grit made up of the usual constituents of fragmental rocks cemented together, the cement being in greater quantity than the grains. These grains are chiefly chips of quartz, but I have also seen microcline, orthoclase felspar, plagioclase felspar, brown mica, a tew grains of glauconite, and green and brown pseudomorphs, probably after grains of some ferro-magnesian mineral like augite, hornblende, or even possibly olivine-which it is impossible now to say, but I think most probably hornblende. There are one or two opaque grains, and several clear grains containing a good deal of minute magnetite. The grains vary in size within small limits; the largest I have measured is 0·02 inch and the smallest 0·002 inch, but the average size would be about 0·004-0·005 inch in longest diameter. They are therefore minute grains, and, as might be expected, extremely angular, not one in a hundred showing rounded outlines. They are chiefly such grains as would come from the denudation of granitic rocks or sediments derived from them. 'The cement is carbonate of lime, with a small impurity of carbonate of iron, present chiefly in certain layers, but not there in any considerable quantity. The cement is clearly crystalline in immediate contact with the grains, and also where lining cracks and cavities. Elsewhere it is more opaque, and less conspicuously crystalline. The section cuts across numerous shell fragments and a few polyzoa, and where there are any hollow structures, as in the inside of lamellibranchs or gastropods, they are filled up with a substance indistinguishable from the bulk of the concretion. 'The specimen shows no particular reason for the local deposit of cement, and the other constituents are doubtless the ordinary materials of the sea-bed. I cannot find any evidence that the cementing is due to any organic agency, and the thoroughly well-developed crystals of carbonate of lime quite agree with this. It may be that the Carboniferous limestone crops out on the sea-bottom under the deposit, and, if so, there would very likely be submarine springs laden with carbonate of lime which might be precipitated there under less pressure or local loss of carbonic acid. It may be added that Mr. Clement Reid could not see in the specimen any identifiable shells of other than recent age.' Another possible explanation is that the smaller calcareous particles on the bottom have been dissolved in the sea-water and then re-deposited so as to cement together the larger shells and the sand grains. As was mentioned earlier in the report, sample bags of all the more important submarine deposits we have come upon have been sent, at Sir Archibald Geikie's request, to the Museum of the Geological Survey in Jermyn Street. They are being examined there by Mr. Clement Reid, F.G.S., who writes the following preliminary note in regard to them : 'On comparing these samples with British deposits of Tertiary date one finds a marked difference in lithological character. Dredgings from the Irish Sea, and also from the North Sea, are characterised by a much coarser and more gravelly texture than one would expect at such depths-coarser, in fact, than one finds in Pliocene deposits, yielding a similar fauna, indicating similar or even smaller depths. A glance at these dredgings shows the reason of this, for they are largely composed of unworn or little-worn fragments of rock, often entirely encrusted by organic growth. The stones evidently have not been transported far by water, or they would be well rounded, like the pebbles found in our Eocene beds. The encrusting organisms show also that the fragments have lain undisturbed on the sea-bed, yet they have often been derived from far-distant sources. Though no Glacial striæ were observed, and no undoubted sub-fossil arctic shells have yet been found at these localities, yet there seems little doubt that the bulk of the material on the seabottom over this area has been derived from the breaking up of preexisting Glacial deposits. This may occur at a depth of several fathoms through the gradual washing away of the muddy and sandy matrix of a boulder clay or Glacial gravel. Coarse gravel is thus caused to accumulate at a spot where the currents may be too feeble to transport anything but sand. 'This submarine origin of angular gravel deposits should not be forgotten, for it affects the lithological character of the sea-bottom over most of the area which was formerly glaciated, even as far south as Cornwall. On the other hand, it does not affect, except to a small extent, the sea-bed beyond the former limit of the ice, and it does not affect pre-Glacial deposits. Thus we must always expect to find at similar depths the same fauna associated with deposits of finer texture as soon as we leave the glaciated area, or when we go back into Tertiary times. 'It is also worth noting that the occurrence of a stony bottom at twenty or thirty fathoms-where normally there would be no deposit coarser than sand-will probably lead to a disproportionate increase of all encrusting organisms, and of all organisms needing a solid base. This has certainly taken place, as anyone studying our shoal-water Tertiary deposits will have observed. They contain few stones, and though each stone or dead shell may be covered with encrusting organisms, yet the relative proportion of these to the free forms is far smaller than seems commonly to be the case in the seas that now wash our shores. The sole exception to this rule among the British Tertiary strata is found in the Coralline Crag, in which the contemporaneous consolidation of the limestone was sufficient to provide the necessary solid base for the encrusting and fixed organisms so abundant in that deposit.' In conclusion, it is clear that this investigation of our modern submarine deposits, their distribution, nature, origin, and associated fauna, has geological applications, and that our results may be of some importance to palæontologists in determining the conditions under which the fauna of a particular horizon existed in the past; but, from our point of view, the matter is a purely Biological one. We consider it of primary importance, in studying the distribution of the marine animals in our district, to investigate as minutely as possible their environment, and that not merely because it gives us some of the factors and possibly the explanation of the distribution, but also on account of the light it may throw upon the habits, variations, and other important characteristics of the species. The Committee apply to be reappointed, with a small grant to defray part of the expenses of the dredging expeditions. Occupation of a Table at the Zoological Station at Naples.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Dr. P. L. SCLATER, Professor E. RAY LANKESTER, Professor J. COSSAR EWART, Professor M. FOSTER, Mr. A. SEDGWICK, the late Professor A. M. MARSHALL, and Mr. PERCY SLADEN (Secretary). APPENDIX I.-On the Reduction Division' in the Cartilaginous Fishes. By J. E. S. II.A List of Naturalists who have worked at the Zoological Station from III-A List of Papers which have been published in the year 1893 by the PAGE 338 340 341 DURING the past year the table hired by the British Association in the Naples Zoological Station has been occupied by Mr. J. E. S. Moore, and your Committee have pleasure in directing attention to the important investigations carried on by him, and to the carefully worked-out results which are indicated in the accompanying report sent in by Mr. Moore. In the opinion of your Committee this report alone is sufficient to justify them in strongly recommending the renewal of the grant. An application for permission to use the table during the ensuing year for a period of six months, commencing at the end of September, has been received from Mr. M. D. Hill, who wishes to continue his researches on fertilisation in the eggs of Echinoderms, Mollusks, and Annelids. Your Committee hope that the Association, by continuing the hire of a table as in previous years, will enable them to afford to their applicant and to other British naturalists the chance of participating in the advantages of this justly predominant and well-managed institution. In further support of this expression the Committee beg to lay before the Council the cogent remarks of Professor Anton Dohrn contained in the following letter addressed to their Secretary. This letter furnishes at the same time a report by the one best qualified to give it-of the present position of the station, as well as a statement of its claims upon the naturalists of other countries, and especially upon all broad-minded scientific workers who advocate the importance of international co-operation : Naples: July 5, 1894. DEAR MR. SLADEN,-To give in a few words my report on the progress of the Naples Zoological Station, I may be permitted to say, Vivit, floret, crescit' in all its parts. In fact, this is the plain truth: the life of the station is best proved by the number of those who use its opportunities for research; its flourishing state by the quality and the quantity of scientific publications produced there in the course of one year; and its growth by the addition of new arrangements for library, laboratory, and administration. As figures speak for themselves, I may add that 8007. sterling have been spent this year for the latter purpose alone. All this is too well known by those who take an interest in the development of this institution to require a new or detailed explanation. What is less generally known, but often considered by the best and most confiding friends of the Zoological Station as the greatest drawback and |