The late Dr E. J. Allen was the son of the Rev. Richard Allen, a Wesleyan minister and as such liable to change the sphere of his work every few years. For this reason E. J. Allen passed his childhood in Cornwall, went to school in Exeter, and lived during his late boyhood in the Worth Valley, going into Leeds to attend the Yorkshire College (now University of Leeds); his education was continued by the University of Berlin, an interval of teaching in Antigua, and University College, London, followed by a Royal Society research studentship at the Plymouth Laboratory. Excepting Antigua, every one of these epochs claimed in him its own loyalties: a few years ago he seriously considered going west to Cornwall to end his life where he first remembered it; he much admired Franz Eilhard Schulze, who taught him at Berlin, and W. F. R. Weldon, his Professor of Zoology at University College, yet kept a lively gratitude for what he had learned from Professor Miall at Leeds.

To this very varying environment during the first third of his life we may attribute through the next half-century much of his universal power of sympathy and contact with all sorts and conditions of men. Unselfish by nature, he had the example of a singularly wide-minded father; then bred as a boy in Cornwall, Devon, and West Riding, as a man among London University students and Berlin University students, with the West Indian interlude— there was no class or nation who could not feel an understanding with Allen.

Onchidella celtica lives in communities in intertidal rock crevices, emerging only when uncovered by the tide during the milder months (March- November). It feeds on young algae and diatoms, rasping them from the rock with the radula which is lubricated by a mucous saliva. The distensible crop and stomach afford ample storage space for the food. The stomach consists of three chambers (Fig. 2), and the dorsal (d) and ventral (v) chitinous plates of the posterior one, the gizzard, crush the contents and help to direct the soluble portion towards the ducts of the digestive gland. There are three of these the two anterior (Id, rd) are large and lead from the initial chamber of the stomach (ic), the third (pd) is small and joins the posterior wall of the gizzard (pzv). The digestive gland secretes into the stomach; no cellulase occurs. Feeding experiments suggest that the digestive cells of the gland absorb only fluid. Lime and excretory cells occur in the crypts of the digestive epithelium, the latter concerned with taking up excretory matter from the blood and elaborating it into spherical masses for evacuation with the faeces

Although the larva of Porcellana is one of the earliest known decapod larvae and at a later date the different stages of P. longicornis were well described by Sars (1889), there is yet much that is unknown. Few larvae have been actually hatched from the egg and in no case has the number of larval stages been definitely ascertained. In order to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge a detailed study of the two common Plymouth species was begun (P. longicornis and P. platycheles). Unfortunately, war conditions made it difficult to obtain material and many specimens were lost as the result of air-raids; it was therefore not until the summer of 1942 that the work could be finished.

It is now possible to distinguish between the two species in all stages. Both have been hatched from the egg, larvae from the plankton have moulted and the post-larvae have been obtained from the last larvae. A comparison with Gurney's (1938a) notes on the species from the Red Sea and his general comments on the larvae of the genus and its relatives (1942) is of much use. These, with the first larvae of Petrolisthes armatus hatched by myself at Bermuda and certain larvae described by other workers, have made it possible to make some progress in the elucidation of the relationships of the larvae.

Porcellana longicornis and P. platycheles are both common at Plymouth; but whereas the latter is confined to coastal waters and lives between tidemarks and down to about 3 fathoms, the former has a much wider range and although occurring withP. platycheles between tidemarks extends to well beyond the Eddystone grounds.

1. In order that the Harvey method shall estimate without avoidable error the concentration of marine or freshwater phytoplankton, it is essential, firstly

The Council and the Officers. During the year the Association has suffered a heavy loss in the death of Dr Guy Wood, who had been a Governor representing the Fishmongers' Company since 1931 and had been Honorary Treasurer for the past seven years. The Council also regret to note the death of Dr Cresswell Shearer, F.R.S., a Founder of the Association.

Major E. G. Christie-Miller has been nominated by the Fishmongers' Company to succeed Dr Guy Wood as a Governor, and at the meeting held in October he was elected Honorary Treasurer

Four ordinary meetings of the Council were held during the year. Three of these were held in the rooms of the Royal Society and the thanks of the Association are due to the Society for this privilege. One meeting, in April, was held at Plymouth: it took place in the Grand Hotel since there were at the time unexploded bombs in and near the laboratory premises. The average attendance at the four meetings was twelve.

Air Raid Damage to the Plymouth Laboratory. No additional damage of any consequence has been incurred during the year, though a few windows have been broken. The delayed action bombs which fell shortly before the April meeting were safely removed.

For the first three months of the year the staff of the Laboratory was largely engaged in repairing the damage occasioned in the March raids and though much will need to be done before the buildings are fully restored most of the laboratories have been made usable.