Stanley Kemp, Sc.D., F.R.S., Secretary of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom and Director of the Plymouth Laboratory, died on 16 May 1945 at the age of 62. His death at the height of his power has come as a most grievous blow to both marine science and zoology in general.

Between March 1933 and June 19391 a series of vertical hauls with a plankton net has been made at a line of six stations 12 miles apart, the first lying off Flamborough Head and the last on the south-west patch of the Dogger Bank. This line was usually visited at monthly intervals, the net used being of the Hensen type fitted with bolting silk of 60 meshes to the inch and hauled to the surface by the counter-weight device introduced by Buchanan-Wollaston (1911). Hensen (1887) worked out a filtration coefficient for his net, and when this was applied to the dimensions of the one in use and the depth through which the vertical hauls were made, it was possible to express the catch in numbers per cubic metre of sea water. It was also possible to give the individual catches by weight, and it may not be without interest to observe, before passing on to deal with numbers, that the dry weights taken in 1936 varied between 0.2600 g. per m.3 in August and 0.0015 in February.

Although the net method of estimating plankton has often been decried as unreliable, Hensen net results have always given a consistent picture of relative plankton densities in the North Sea. Confidence arising from this consistency has not been lessened by a comparison of the net and sedimentation methods which has been made in respect of the May 1938 samples.

The sedimentation method consists in counting the entire deposit of microplankton which has settled on the floor of a glass cell containing a known volume of sea water.

1. In the pilchard (Sardtha pilchardus Walbaum) of Cornwall there is a substantial seasonal variation in the mean weight of a fish of given length. The weight is highest in late autumn and early winter, and least at the end of winter and the early spring.

2. These changes in weight are largely due to variations in the fat content of the fish, which are richest in fat at the beginning of the winter fast, and poorest at the end of it. But, especially among the larger fish, the 'residue', chiefly proteins, are drawn upon at the time of the exhaustion of the fat, and consequently at the time of minimum mean weight. The water and ash content show no seasonal variation, and therefore play no part in the observed seasonal variation in the mean weight of the entire fish.

3. The gonads have their lowest mean weight in August, increase in weight slowly throughout the winter, and are at their maximum state of development from April to July. The spawning season, as deduced from these samples, is from March to September.

4. The rate of feeding is greatest in the same months as the spawning months, namely, from April to July. From July to September the average weight of food per stomach decreases, probably not because the planktonic food is then less abundant, but because it is shared among a greater number offish. In October there is a rally in the rate of feeding, but from November to February or March is a period of fasting, when very little food is taken.

5. The food of the pilchard is exclusively planktonic. In the spring, and again in the autumn, diatoms are abundant or even dominant in the food; in the summer, copepods and Crustacea are the chief items of food.

1. The natural history in culture of the species of Nitzschia originally isolated from the sea by Allen & Nelson (1910) and grown at Plymouth and elsewhere ever since has been studied. It is shown that three main types of cell exist: normal with two arms (rostra), triradiate with three arms and ovals with none. Both normals and triradiates produce ovals by division, and the ovals so produced can multiply to form further ovals, or can grow either two or three arms, generally two, to form normal or triradiate cells.

2. Ovals are more readily produced under good lighting conditions than under weak illumination.

3. The cell wall is very lightly silicified, and the cells, unlike those of most diatoms, can elongate without auxospore formation. The maximum, and with it apparently the average, cell size of successive subcultures is variable.

4. When triradiates are present they may, and frequently do under good cultural conditions, multiply faster than normal cells and finally may almost completely dominate the cultures. Now and again a proportion of the triradiate cells shorten one arm and gradually pass, during successive divisions, into the normal condition. There is a greater tendency for this process to take place in the autumn than at any other time. There was a notable instance in November 1941 when several cultures at Plymouth and at Hull simultaneously produced normals by this method on an extensive scale.

5. There is evidence that under unfavourable cultural conditions triradiates tend to be eliminated.

6. A cruciform type of cell has appeared occasionally in several cultures, but it has not been possible to obtain pure cultures of it, for the type appears to be somewhat unstable and readily reverts to the other forms. It has, however, persisted for a long time and for very many generations.

7. It is shown that the triradiate type occurs in nature, and there is no reason to suppose that it is an abnormal form due to culturing.

8. The nomenclature is discussed and it has been decided for the time being to retain the name Allen and Nelson originally gave to it, although there is a possibility that it is a species separate from Nitzschia closterium (Ehr.) W. Smith.

Two species of Portumnus occur in the Plymouth area, P. biguttatus (Risso) and P. latipes (Pennant). P. biguttatus was the only species recorded when the old fauna list of Plymouth was published (1904), but since then it is known that P. latipes is very common in certain sandy areas (see Plymouth Marine Fauna, 1931), far commoner than P. biguttatus.

P. biguttatus is rare and has not been seen since 1906. It was first found by W. Garstang and R. Todd on Drake's Island in Plymouth Sound, burrowing in fine gravel (1905), and two specimens, and are recorded from a sandy patch from the north-east corner of Drake's Island. A female in berry was recorded from the same locality by R. Todd, and L. R. Crawshay dredged one in Cawsand Bay in 1906. Apparently the eggs were not hatched out and the zoea of this species is unknown. In August 1902 R. Gurney obtained a megalopa in the plankton and from it secured the first crab stage. He describes the megalopa as being intensely blue. The cast skin of the megalopa and the crab obtained from it (Fig. 3a-c), which he kindly handed to me, are described in my paper of 1928 (Lebour, 1928c, p. 518, pl. viii, figs. 1–3). There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the determination, especially because, as shown below, corresponding stages of P. latipes as well as the zoeae are now known and are very distinct, differing considerably from those of P. biguttatus.

The Pycnogonida of Plymouth have had very little attention and early records are few. Of the eight species recorded in the Plymouth Marine Invertebrate Fauna in 1904, two, Nymphon gallicum and N. gracile, are synonymous, and these two are also recorded in the 1931 edition which comprises only the same eight species. The scarcity of the records shows that little search was made for the members of this group, for on revising it at the present time it is found that thirteen species certainly occur, being five more than are shown in the Marine Invertebrate Fauna. Hodgson (1910) records thirteen species from Devonshire, but these are not all the same as the thirteen now recorded. He mentions eleven from Plymouth, three of which have not been found recently. These are Pallene spectrum, Nymphon brevirostre and Ammothea laevis.

Experiments were made with apparatus, largely of glass, specially designed to study the vertical movements of plankton animals under as natural conditions as possible at various depths in the sea. The animals were introduced in darkness into the apparatus which was kept covered with a black clothuntil it was lowered below the surface so that from the time they were caught, in the opaque tow-net bucket, to the time they were returned to the sea in the apparatus, they were never subjected to above-surface illumination. The experiments were begun and ended at the required depth by the dispatch of messenger weights down the suspending wire from above. The copepod Calanus finmarchicus (Gunn.) was used, but a few experiments were also made with another copepod, Euchaeta norvegica Boeck.

The apparatus is described in detail; it takes two forms. No. 1 consists of two vertical parallel glass cylinders AB and αβ closed at the top by a glass plate and at the bottom by a metal one, and having trapdoors at the middle of each which divide them into upper and lower compartments, A and B in one, and α and β in the other. They were filled with sea water and the copepods were introduced injo only one compartment of each cylinder, in standard experiments into A on one side and j3 on the other. The apparatus was now lowered to the required depth and the trapdoors opened so that the copepods were free to move up or down the whole length of the cylinders. At the end of an experiment the trapdoors were closed again so that the percentage proportions that have moved up or down under different conditions could be estimated. In experiments other than standard, one side was left normal as a control and in the other the conditions were altered for the purpose of the experiment, e.g. darkened or the pH of the water increased or decreased. Apparatus No. 2 is a modification, a long tube of seven compartments each separated by a controlled trapdoor.

1. Diameter measurements of Rhizosolenia styliformis from the Antarctic, the subtropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and from the North Sea and neighbouring waters have made it appear necessary to set up two varieties, oceanica and semispina, in addition to the type of the species R. styliformis. The type as I describe it has been called var. longispina by Hustedt, but elsewhere it has often been figured as the var. oceanica of this paper. Var. semispina is synonymous with the form represented by Karsten as R. semispina Hensen. It differs from R. semispina as drawn by Hensen and its synonym R. hebetata forma semispina Gran, but is thought likely to be linked by intermediates. If this is so R. hebetata may have to be extended to include and suppress R. styliformis, as var. semispina is linked to the type by intermediates. Var. oceanica has no intermediate forms and, if R. hebetata is to be extended, this variety should be established as a separate species.

2. Var. oceanica is absent from the southern North Sea and appears to be an indicator species related to oceanic inflow.

3. Auxospore formation was observed for the type in the southern North Sea in 1935 and biometric observations suggest that a period of 3-4 years elapsed between the production of auxospore generations in that area. Outside the southern North Sea for the type, measurements give no indication of auxospore generations occurring at intervals exceeding a year. While auxospore formation has been seen in var. oceanica from the Shetlands area samples of June 1935 and July 1938, this phenomenon has not been observed for var. semispina.

Most fishery biologists have heard from time to time of experiments on marking fish by tattooing identification marks on them. The present usual methods of marking fish by attaching marks externally to the gill-cover, caudal peduncle, or other part of the body, have the disadvantage that a certain number of the marks are lost, and this uncertainty bedevils all those marking experiments designed to show rates of mortality or rates of capture.

Yet the only reference in the literature known to me is a very short paper by Gandolfi-Hornyold (1929). His most successful experiment consisted in marking six silver eels on the light ventral side withIndian ink (encre de Chine) introduced in the oriental fashion by a bundle of needles. Five of the six fish were alive some 6 weeks later with the marks as clearly legible as when first made. But I know of no further developments of this technique

In August 1939, I made some experiments at the Plymouth Laboratory, by the courtesy of the late Director, Dr Kemp, F.R.S., and with the help of the staff, to all of whom I would express my thanks. Some thirty-two plaice, two soles, and twenty-five rays were placed in one of the big outdoor tanks for the experiments, and were all in good condition, though they had not been fed and were certainly overcrowded

The electric tattooing needle used was bought from a professional tattooist, who also gave me a brief lesson on his art. In principle the needle is a small vibrator run from an ordinary torch battery.

During the years 1940–5 plankton samples were examined regularly from inside the Plymouth Breakwater, with the exception of a few months. Although it was not possible to do any quantitative work, special attention was given to larval forms, especially of the decapods, molluscs and annelids. The presence of these larvae gave a good idea of the breeding seasons of the various species. As it is only recently that many of these larvae have been identified, this is the first time that detailed specific notes have been made of their presence; and it is thought to be worth while to publish these results. To help those who wish to identify the larvae, a reference to a description of each species is given whenever possible, in square brackets after its name. It should be clearly understood that the absence of any species from these notes does not necessarily imply that it might not have been there, although all the samples were carefully examined. Most of the Coelenterates, the Cirripedia, Copepoda, and young fishes, are omitted here. Of the remaining ingredients of the plankton, various records were kept; and the occurrence of the more noteworthy of these forms, according to months, is shown in Table I.

Spadella cephaloptera

1. The oesophageal epithelium is composed of granular and vacuolated cells. The former produce a glutinous secretion which appears to immobilize and lubricate the prey. The function of the vacuolated cells remains undetermined.

2. The intestinal epithelium is composed of gland cells and absorptive cells. The gland cells contain large vacuoles which disrupt when food is taken, restitution taking several hours. The absorptive cells accumulate large concretions of fat and other material as digestion proceeds; later this gradually disappears.

3. The absorptive cells in the intestine are ciliated. The cilia may be concerned with respiration and excretion; there is no evidence that they are concerned with osmoregulation.

4. The rectum has a ciliated columnar epithelium.

5. The general course of feeding and digestion,is discussed.

6. It is stated in a footnote that the reproductive system of Spadella is similar to that of Sagitta.

Sagitta setosa

7. The oesophagus is divided histologically as follows: (i) a region of granular cells round the mouth; (ii) a region of vacuolated cells; (iii) a region of compound granular cells; (iv) a second region of granular cells. The granular cells produce a profuse secretion with probably the same function as the glutinous secretion in Spadella.

8. The intestinal epithelium is composed of compound granular cells and simple columnar cells. By comparison with the intestine of Spadella the former are regarded as enzyme-secreting cells and the latter as absorptive.

Large, common, tough, the lugworm is an outstandingly good object for anatomical and physiological work. Its mode of life has not yet been clearly worked out, and one must know how an animal lives if one wishes to understand its structural and functional peculiarities. Burrowing as it does in muddy sand, the lugworm cannot be watched under natural conditions (except on the rare-occasions when itshows itself on the surface). Existing accounts of its behaviour inthe field are therefore practically confined to the form of the burrow which it excavates. The present paper attempts to synthesize, partly from field observations and partly from laboratory studies ofthe worm's activities, a coherent picture of its daily life.

Cultural experiments were made with marine organisms in enriched crude sea water and in bacteria-free cultures with the phosphorus supplied in different forms. It was found that pyrophosphate cannot be utilized as a source of phosphorus as effectively as orthophosphate by the organisms cultured, i.e. Phaeocystis Pouchetii, Skeletonema costatum and Nitzschia closterium. Growth of Phaeocystis Pouchetii was a little better and lasted longer when phytin was supplied to natural sea water as a source of phosphorus than when orthophosphate was supplied. Phytin can also support a growth of Skeletonema costatum and Nitzschia closterium as good as, or a little better than, orthophosphate.

The organic phosphorus compounds used in these experiments were found to be broken down into orthophosphate in natural sea water. In bacteria-free cultures phytin and glycerophosphoric acid can be effectively used as such by Nitzschia closterium forma minutissima as a source of phosphorus, while sodium nucleinate and lecithin can not be effectively used as such. The organic phosphorus dissolved out from the blades of Laminaria can also be utilized by this diatom as effectively as orthophosphorus.

It would seem, therefore, that not only the dissolved orthophosphate as generally assumed, but the dissolved organic phosphorus in the sea may also be absorbed and utilized by plants.

Previous methods of survey by American workers are described and the differences between the species of seaweed involved are emphasized. The small stature of the European kelps renders all methods of survey difficult and the results can only be described as the best approximations. The British survey was divided into (1) a preliminary survey in order to determine the regions with the biggest beds, and (2) a detailed survey, when some of these major beds were mapped in detail. The primary survey was a rapid affair and the results were based on information obtained from (a) use of boat and grapnel, (b) existence of cast weed, (c) lobster fishermen, (d) coastguards, fishery officers, borough surveyors, harbour-masters, (e) inspection from cliffs, (f) a study of Admiralty Charts.

In the section on the detailed survey the different types of grapnel employed and also the method of using the box sextant are described. The use of an echo-sounder to locate weed beds is discussed and the different types of record obtained over various types of bottom or weed are noted. The use of a viewbox and personal observation is also mentioned, and finally an account is given of aerial photography as a means of survey. The most suitable conditions for success are noted and also the technique of interpretation for both oblique and vertical photographs. The plotting of these two types of photograph is described in some detail.

On 2 February 1943, after some very fierce south-westerly storms, a curious object was found in the inshore plankton which proved to be the ‘float’ of a very young Velella in the Rataria stage. In order to be certain of its identity some small complete Velellas were compared. These were kindly sent by Miss Delap of Valencia, to whom I am much indebted. They ranged from 1.5 to 2 mm. across and were very similar to the young forms described and figured by Huxley (1858), who identified them with the Rataria of Eschscholz (1829). In this stage the float is growing and may already have the crest, a soft, much higher structure, projecting above it. In order to see the float clearly one of the Irish specimens, 2 mm. across, was macerated in 10% caustic potash, the float separating out and proving to be exactly similar to the Plymouth specimen.

The peculiar structure of this float and the fact that the available figures of the Rataria of similar size show only the external features make a short note desirable, for in the existing figures one cannot be certain of the exact extent and position of the float. So difficult was it to decipher that, although it seemed very probable that we had the float of a Velella, it was not possible at first to be certain.

A statistical study was made of the fertility of Evadne nordmanni, Podon intermedius, P. leuckarti and P. polyphemoides in the Clyde Sea-Area and of the former two species off Plymouth. The mean fertility of parthenogenetic females varies with different species. This is not correlated with the size of the species.

Within the species, Evadne nordmanni and Podon intermedius, there exists, in general, a positive correlation between the size and the fertility of parthenogenetic females.

The fertility of Evadne nordmanni is subject to seasonal variation. This is not correlated with fluctuations in the abundance of diatoms.

An inverse relationship was observed in Evadne nordmanni between the reproductive capacity of parthenogenetic females and the intensity of sexual reproduction.

A brief account was given of the formation of the resting egg in Evadne nordmanni and Podon intermedius.

There is a great demand for algal cultures in studying morphology, cytology, ecology, cellular pathology and physiology, identification of species, and biotic interaction, and also in feeding small animals in culture for various studies. It is hoped that the following note may be of some use to those who want to start making pure cultures of marine phytoplankton organisms.

The breathing, feeding, swimming, burrowing and cleaning habits of Cumopsis goodsiri are discussed.

Cumopsis has compact respiratory chambers. The inspiratory current enters each gill chamber posteriorly at the base of the third maxillipede, and the expiratory current leaves anteriorly through the siphons which pass through the pseudorostral chamber. The inspiratory current is filtered from all suspended particles by a sieve placed at the mouth of the respiratory funnel, which is formed by the depression of the third maxillipede away from the body. The size of the spaces in the mesh of this sieve probably determines the grade of the substratum in which the animal can live.

Cumopsis feeds on micro-organisms which it cleans off sand grains and other small objects. These are collected by the first peraeopods, held in position by the third maxillipedes, and cleaned by the first and second maxillipedes. The food is then passed on to the maxillae, maxillules and mandibles and finally enters the mouth. All these appendages are suitably armed to perform their respective functions.

Use is made of the last four pairs of peraeopods in burrowing and Cumopsis will only burrow into a sandy substratum. Swimming is accomplished in three different ways: (a) by flexures of the abdomen, (b) by paddle-like movements of the exopodite of the first peraeopod, and (c) in adult males by the abdominal pleopods.

The body is cleaned by the uropods. Their general rough surface and flexibility is very important. The uropod armature seems to add efficiency to the cleaning movements in the adult animals, particularly in the males.

The size of the soil particle is vitally important in the distribution of the Cumacea. It determines whether the animals breathe properly. There is also probably a close association between the soil grade and distribution of soil micro-organisms upon which they feed. As a result they refuse to burrow into a soil grade which is unfavourable.