From 1922 until the outbreak of the 1939–45 war, the Association's Laboratory at Plymouth was well served by the research vessel Salpa—a converted Lowestoft steam drifter having an overall length of about 95 ft. In 1939 Salpa was taken over by the Admiralty for naval duties and was not put back into service by the Association on her release after hostilities ended. Her place was taken by a 90 ft. motor fishing vessel on charter from the Admiralty and named Sabella. This vessel was only partially converted for research work and was handed back to her owners when Sarsia came into service at the end of 1953

In previous papers (Southward, 1950, 1951 Southward & Crisp, 1952, 1954 a, b: see also Kitching, 1950 Moore & Kitching, 1939) it has been shown that the geographical distribution of several common intertidal animals in Britain is related to the temperatures prevailing in the different regions. Species of generally southern distribution in Europe are commonest on, or restricted to, the south and west coasts of Britain, where temperatures are higher, while those species of essentially northern character are commoner in the north and east where the temperatures are lower. Where species of northern and southern distribution occur side by side in the same habitat, and are in competition, it seems important to know the range of temperatures over which processes such as feeding and respiration can be carried out, as well as the often narrower range of temperatures within which breeding can take place (cf. Orton, 1920). For example, the two common intertidal barnacles of the European coasts, Chthamalus stellatus (Poli) and Balanus balanoides (L.), occur side by side only in Britain and Northern France, where they reach the northern and southern limits respectively of their distributions. From the distributions it can be inferred that the vital activities of the two species are keyed to different temperature ranges. This implies that for each species there is an optimum range of temperature, above or below which the species becomes less efficient at feeding, respiring or reproducing. Where the two species occur side by side, there may be periods of the year when one of them is living outside its optimum range, and is at a disadvantage compared with the other species.

During a study of the relation between temperature and cirral activity of barnacles, reported in Part I of this series (Southward, 1955), specimens for investigation were collected from those habitats and tide-levels where the particular species was most abundant. However, it is possible that some variation in behaviour may arise from local environmental factors such as tide-level and degree of exposure to wave action, and experiments were carried out to test this possibility.

One of the difficulties encountered in the use of fresh water organisms for the assay of vitamin B12 of marine origin is the elimination of salt from the extracts. This has suggested that a marine organism might be used with advantage. Indeed on several occasions marine or supra-littoral species have been proposed as possible assay subjects, but acceptable techniques await development (Lewin, 1954; Droop, 1954; Sweeney, 1954). Monochrysis lutheri, a supra-littoral euryhaline species, has advantages over others in being small, robust and giving heavy yields in synthetic media. The method employed in some Monochrysis assays carried out in the early spring of 1954 will be described.

Several cyphonautes larvae (Polyzoa Ectoprocta) have been distinguished and described (Lohmann, 1911; Marcus, 1940; Thorson, 1946), but few have been seen to metamorphose, thus Unking the late larva with the adult. Three, belonging to the suborder Cheilostomata, which have been observed to do so, are Cyphonautes compressus into Electra pilosa L. (Schneider, 1869; Barrois, 1877; Kupelwieser, 1905–6), Cyphonautes occidentalis into Membranipora villosa, (Robertson, 1908; O'Donoghue, 1927) and an unnamed cyphonautes into Nichtina ( = Membranipora) tuberculata (Hastings, 1929, pp. 706–7).

The cyphonautes larva found in certain ectoproct Polyzoa is considered to be most probably a primitive larval form, which has been lost in viviparous species, the larvae of which are degenerate in varying degree and settle within a short time. The cyphonautes is truly planktonic and has a free swimming Life of some length—of 2 months according to Marcus (1940, p. 334)—and unlike the other known larvae of the group, has a functional alimentary canal. It obtains its food by maintaining a continuous current of water through the mantle cavity or vestibule, its ciliary mechanism being organized on a plan somewhat resembling that of bivalve molluscs, with an inhalant and an exhalant chamber with interposed ciliary ridges bearing current-producing and food-conveying cilia. As in lamellibranchs the organ creating the water and food currents is separated by a considerable interval from the mouth. In lamellibranchs this interval is bridged by the palps and the oral grooves; in the cyphonautes by the ciliated tract of the funnel. The cyphonautes being a larval form of probably archaic character its method of feeding is of particular interest.

This paper aims at describing the external morphology of seven British species of Idotea from the functional and developmental aspects, thus revising earlier descriptions, such as those of Collinge (1917), which were based largely on adult specimens. Limitations of earlier descriptions are apparent, but some characters can be sifted from the older literature and combined with characters emphasized in this paper to give a schematic description of the seven species.

Apart from a few scattered observations (Hensen, 1887; Gran, 1902) the study of the food of Calanus began with Dakin (1908). He examined the remains present in the gut, and this was the method used also by Esterly (1916), Lebour (1922) and Marshall (1924). They all found that these remains consisted of a greenish mush containing the skeletons of numerous planktonic organisms, chiefly diatoms and dinoflagellates. Naked flagellates were, how-ever, occasionally seen, and it was realized that the food might in reality consist largely of organisms which had no skeleton and could leave no recognizable remains.

During the course of earlier work with larvae of Ophelia bicornis Savigny it became increasingly clear that a major factor in stimulating these larvae to settle and metamorphose is the presence, on sand grains of suitable size, of living micro-organisms such as bacteria, in numbers neither too many nor too few (Wilson, 1954). It had been shown that an acid-cleaned sand (which is neutral or almost so) kept in sea water becomes increasingly attractive to these larvae with time. It had been admitted, however (loc. cit., p. 366), that these results were derived from a comparison of experiments not designed to this end, and that further tests, planned for the purpose, were desirable.

The sampler to be described takes a small unstratified sample of the sea-bed, the sample being subject to a minimum of loss while being brought up. Such samples are of use in survey work, or for studies on grade size, mineralogical composition, chemical properties, or microfauna and flora of the deposits.

Although core-samples, in which the original stratification is retained, can be taken in soft muddy sediments without difficulty, it is not at all easy to take cores of sand or gravel. On such deposits an unstratified sample may be the best that can be obtained. Coarse sediments may be sampled by a dredge fitted with canvas bag, but when a small sample is required quickly, a light instrument which can be lowered vertically from the ship on a rope or hydro-graphic wire is needed. ‘Snapper’ samplers do not always take a satisfactory sample as the jaws may be prevented from closing by a pebble or shell wedged between them, much of the sample being lost while hauling up (cf. Stetson, 1938, p. 7). Stetson describes an instrument which takes a small semicircular core of sediment, the sample being sealed in the coring tube while being brought up, so preventing any loss of material. While no doubt taking good samples, the instrument is rather heavy (57 kg) and complicated in construction.

These notes arise from the difficulty met with in identifying a pinkish encrusting sponge which has been frequently collected by hand from rocks at 5–10 fathoms. The sponge was at first identified, by a process of elimination, with the deep water genus Inflatella. Fortunately some preparations were shown to Dr Lévi at Roscoff to whom the species was at once familiar as Stylotella columella (Bowerbank). It was then found that this species had been described originally by Bowerbank from an Exmouth specimen, and subsequendy by Topsent from both south and west coasts of France. Topsent found the unusual, if not unique, character of this sponge in possessing, besides siliceous spicules, a great abundance of calcareous granules. These granules are almost certainly the ‘gemmules’ described and figured by Bowerbank. De Laubenfels in 1928 collected one specimen from Plymouth Sound which he identified as Stylotella columella; but proposed (1932) that the species should be included in the genus Prianos Gray. Burton in 1934 renamed the species Hemimycale columella, figuring the spicules as styles. Arndt (1935) returned to Stylotella and retained Burton's figure of the spicules. As the styles have been found, so far, only as a small minority amongst the spicules, it has been thought worth while to provide a further description; and to discuss the differing views on the systematic position of the species.

During investigations into the endocrinology of Leander ( =Palaemon) serratus (Pennant) several differences in physiology (which will be reported in this Journal at a later date) have been found between the prawns from Plymouth and those from Roscoff on the north coast of France. These experiments involved the repeated handling and the close examination of about a thousand prawns from Roscoff and many more from Plymouth. Increasing familiarity with these animals led to the realization that the two samples could readily be distinguished by eye. It was not always possible to determine the provenance of a single individual in this way, but any group of five or six could be told at a glance. A detailed examination of the external morphology showed that the characteristic differences by which the provenance of these animals could be determined lay not in any anatomical feature but in the disposition and arrangement of the chromatophores which form the pattern on the dorsal side of the cephalothoracic shield and the anterior part of the abdomen. Great individual variations were to be seen, but differing trends of development of the patterns were found in the two populations. There was some degree of overlap between the populations, but only about 15% of the prawns lay in this region of overlap and thus failed to bear the marks of their locality; the remaining 85% could be assigned to either Roscoff or Plymouth with little difficulty. Recently I have been able to examine about forty prawns from Concarneau, on the Atlantic coast of France, and these again are mostly different from either of the other two samples.

The name Codium tomentosum (or its nomenclatural synonym C. dichotomum) has been applied to dichotomous representatives of the genus in the British Isles ever since the genus was established by Stackhouse in 1797. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to show that three distinct species are involved; and to clarify the nomenclature.

I am grateful to the directors and curators of the following herbaria for the loan of specimens: British Museum (BM); Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (E); Farlow Herbarium, Harvard University (FH); University of Glasgow (GL); Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K); Rijksherbarium, Leiden (L); Linnean Society of London (LINN); University of Michigan (MICH); New York Botanical Garden (NY); University of Oxford (OXF); Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Cryptogamie, Paris (PC); Marine Bio-logical Association, Plymouth (PL); Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm (S); Trinity College, Dublin (TCD); University of California, Berkeley (UC); United States National Museum (US). Liquid-preserved and dried material, which has been placed in the Herbarium of the University of California, was kindly provided by Dr Sheila Lodge, Dr Betty Moss, Dr Mary Parke, Dr Mairfn de Valera, and Dr M. A. Wilson. Special thanks are due to Dr Mary Parke for her sustained interest, encouragement, and help in this study

The three new species to be described below are the first of a considerable series of related forms, recently isolated from marine plankton off the British coasts and possessing in common a number of rather unusual characters which make their classification difficult. They are all very small and extremely fragile unicellular flagellates, with the characteristic golden brown plastid colour and metabolic products found in the Chrysophyceae to which they undoubtedly belong. Within this group their placing is more difficult and it cannot even be adequately discussed until the whole range of new forms is available for comparison. The most that we can do on this occasion is to make some provisional generic comparisons in order to establish a system of nomenclature. Unfortunately, existing descriptions of relevant genera are both scanty and incomplete, a defect which is easily explained by the nature of the organisms and the need for special facilities for their adequate study.

It has been established that many substances can bring about a change in position of pigments in crustacean chromatophores (Florey, 1951). The extracts of certain animal tissues (pituitary, crustacean sinus-gland and post-commissure organs, insect brain and corpora cardiaca) are especially active (Brown, 1940; Knowles, 1953; Dupont-Raabe, 1952; Thomsen, 1943); there is evidence that these tissues intervene in the normal colour change of the animals which possess them and that their products may properly be considered as hormones. On the other hand, many species which do not themselves possess chromatophores (oligochaetes, molluscs, and many insects) have nevertheless been shown to contain substances in their tissues which will, after injection into crustaceans, initiate pigment movements (Scharrer, 1954). It has not yet been ascertained whether these pigment-activating substances chemically resemble normal colour-change hormones or whether the pigment movements they produce are pharmacodynamic effects irrelevant in the study of colour physiology.

From our previous publications (Brull & Nizet, 1953; Brull, Nizet & Verney, 1953; Brull & Cuypers, 1954), it appears that the power of concentration of the aglomerular kidney of Lophius is rather low, the density of the urine being usually less than that of the plasma concentration. Most individual urinary constituents do not reach concentrations that are more than once or twice those in the plasma, magnesium being an exception

In a recent paper (Bagenal, 1955) on the growth rate of the Long Rough Dab Hippoglossoides platessoides (Fabr.) in the Clyde Sea area, a serious mistake was made.

The ages of 1561 Long Rough Dabs, which were collected from October 1953 to September 1954, were determined from an examination of the otoliths, and from the age analysis each fish was allocated to a population f to a, de-pending on when it was supposed to have spawned. This procedure was designed to obviate the difficulty during the winter and spring when fish of the same year-class would be grouped differently according to the condition of the otolith edge.