The importance of the extensive intertidal mud-flats to the energy budget of estuaries has frequently been stressed, but seldom quantified. Smidt (1951) has discussed the production of both macro- and meiofauna from the Danish Waddens in general terms but, because of the wide coverage, his information is not detailed enough to quantify annual production in terms of g/m2. The present study was designed to compare the productive importance of macrofauna and meiofauna in detail at a single site. This paper deals only with the first phase of this study, the macrofauna, which are retained on a 0.5 mm sieve for the major part of their productive life.

The principles and aims of numerical taxonomy were clearly stated by Sokal & Sneath (1963) and their procedures have since been adopted by many botanists working with numerous different groups of plants. Marine algal taxonomists, however, seem largely to have ignored these developments although Whitton (1969) has recommended that numerical techniques should be employed to help solve outstanding problems in the taxonomy of the Cyanophyta.

By the death of George Tatton Atkinson at Lowestoft on the 30th November, 1974, in his ninetieth year, the last link is broken with those famous pioneering days when the M.B.A. undertook, on behalf of the Government, the first official English fishery investigations by opening a special laboratory at Lowestoft in 1902 under the direction of Dr Walter Garstang. It is fitting that the life of George Atkinson should be recorded in our pages. Born in 1885 he came from a great sea-faring family and combined his love of the sea with an intense interest in marine natural history. As soon as he left school in 1904 he joined Garstang as an assistant working particularly on the biology of the plaice.

Ebenezer Ford was born on 22 September 1890 at Hove, Sussex, and died on 14 October 1974 at the age of 84. His father, George Horace Ford, was a man of insatiable intellectual curiosity and was a great stimulus to his sons. He took them on walks to ‘explore’ the countryside of Sussex, including the sea shore, which much interested ‘Ebb’, as he was known. Both sides of the family came from yeoman non-conformist stock, which instilled into him a keen sense of duty and desire to serve the public. Ebb was much involved in country affairs and had many opportunities of taking part in Wealden farm life. He was thus essentially an open-air boy with a growing interest in nature.

If newly released spores of red algae are placed in a suspension of Indian ink in sea water, a clear halo of mucilaginous material will be seen. A similar mucilage cover is also a well-known feature with certain phytoplankton organisms, in which cells of spiny appearance (e.g. freshwater desmids) assume a spherical form in Indian ink when the mucilage cover is also observed (Lund, 1959). The attachment of red algal spores is a process in which mucilage clearly plays some part (Suto, 1950; Nakazawa, 1958; Matsumoto, 1959; Boney, 1966; Linskens, 1966; Moorjani & Jones, 1972; Charters, Neushul & Coon, 1972; Chamberlain & Evans, 1973). Studies on the sinking rate and dispersal of red algal spores have been described (Suto, 1950; Boney, 1965, 1966; Coon, Neushul & Charters, 1972). There appears to be little information on the sizes of the spore mucilage sheaths, and on their likely significance in the planktonic phase of the spore's existence immediately after release. The present work gives the results of an investigation of the spore mucilage of fourteen species of red algae.

Since its original isolation and description by Droop in 1953, ‘Monochrysis’ lutheri has proved to be one of the most valuable of cultured phytoflagellates. It has been used by many workers, too numerous to cite, in laboratory studies on phytoplankton growth kinetics, nutrition and biochemistry, and also in mariculture and animal feeding experiments, particularly experiments on the raising of crustacean and molluscan larval stages.

The mining of china clay in Cornwall is an industry dating from the middle of the eighteenth century, and one which has grown to major prominence in the south-western peninsula, as illustrated by the historical accounts of Barton (1966) and Hudson (1969).

Present-day mining processes give rise to two main types of particulate waste. The coarser waste, or tip-sand, is deposited on land to form the massive white tips which characterize the scenery of the Cornish china clay mining areas, although small amounts may be used locally as a building aggregate. The finer-grained waste, known as micaceous residue, is produced in lesser quantities and is disposed of in a different manner.

This paper estimates the turbulent transport of heat, fresh water and nutrients through the seasonal thermocline. In order to obtain a representative estimate of the annual variation it is necessary to average data obtained at a single position over a number of years. The number of years of sampling required depends on the particular parameter being studied. This can be seen by comparing the annual variation with the standard deviation, σ, for a specific month. This is analogous to the signal to noise ratio. For example, the annual range of temperature (or signal) is about 8°C for the water of the western English Channel. The variability of temperature in the same area (or noise) is about o.6°C. This figure is the standard deviation for the temperature obtained in a specific month at a fixed depth when data from a large number of different years are available. This variability can be attributed to a number of causes, to list a few; horizontal patchiness, local weather, advection, long term climatic changes. Hence for temperature the signal to noise ratio is about 13 and the annual pattern of events will clearly be established on the basis of monthly values obtained at a position during a single year.

Studies on the distribution of epifaunal species on their host have concentrated on those of plants, particularly laminarian algae (Fowell, 1939; Ebling, Kitching, Purchon& Bassindale, 1948; Sloane, Ebling, Kitching & Lilly, 1957; Scarratt, 1961, Ph.D. Thesis, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; Norton, 1971), Sargassum algae (Kato et al., 1961; Nishihira, 1971; Ryland, 1974) and eel grasses (Nishihira, 1968; Nagle, 1968). Recently, however, the distributions of the animals living on ascidians Microcosmus sp. (Monniot, 1965) and the bryozoan Flustra foliacea (L.) (Stebbing, 1971) have been investigated.

In a previous paper, (Shelton, 1974) it was shown that the antennules and some other appendages of certain field and laboratory populations of the brown shrimp, Crangon crangon (L.), may become colonized by a filamentous organism tentatively identified as a blue-green alga. Other workers (Johnson et al., 1971) have described similar growths on benthic Crustacea, fish eggs and algae (Bland & Brock, 1973) and have identified the epizooic organism as Leucothrix mucor Oersted (Harold & Stanier, 1955), a filamentous, heterotrophic bacterium, common in the intertidal zone.

Twenty-six species of marine planktonic algae, belonging to 8 taxonomic divisions, were tested tinder axenic-culture conditions for their capacity to grow, under cool-white light, on nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea, glycine, D-glucosamine or hypoxanthine as sole nitrogen source. The culture medium was composed of Mediterranean oligotrophic sea water enriched with phosphate, silicate, trace-metal ions and vitamins, and buffered at pH 7.5–80. Each nitrogen compound was tested at a fixed concentration of 500 μg-at. N per litre.

The family Rissoidae comprises 24 British species, occurring, many in great profusion, in both littoral and sublittoral marine habitats. On rocky shores the most prolific species is Rissoa parva (da Costa), which occupies a number of microhabitats, algae in particular, centred on the infralittoral fringe but reaching as high as M.T.L., and may also be found sublittorally off these shores.

The marked pattern of vertical zonation in the nearshore distributions of benthic fauna in sea-lochs seems to be controlled by the degree of fluctuation and extent of depression in salinity (Gage, 1974). The different vertical patterns in the abundances of species can be related to their known tolerances to reduced and fluctuating salinity. An overall faunal discontinuity seems to occur at a depth which roughly corresponds to the maximum depth to which markedly brackish conditions are experienced.

The brown shrimp Crangon crangon (L.) is a burrowing caridean decapod, inhabiting sandy, sandy-mud and muddy substrata down to 90 m, but occurring mainly in shallow water and between tidemarks (Lloyd & Yonge, 1947; Allen, 1966b). The species also exhibits seasonal inshore and offshore migrations, reportedly in relation to salinity, temperature and availability of food (Ehrenbaum, 1890; Havinga, 1929, 1930; Meyer, 1935; Broekema, 1941, Academy Thesis, Groningen; Lloyd & Yonge, 1947; Allen, 1966a, b; Tiews, 1970). In addition Hartsuyker (1966) reported up and downshore migrations on each tidal rise and fall in the Wadden Sea. In contrast, Havinga (1929) stated that the species rests quietly buried in the substratum by day and feeds at night, and nocturnal emergence was confirmed by Lloyd & Yonge (1947) in aquarium observations. However the latter authors found no difference between field catches during day and night tides in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary. Tiews (1970) reported greatest activity at dusk and that C. crangon continued to swim during the night even after feeding. So far there is therefore evidence of nocturnal and tidal rhythms of emergence in C. crangon which deserves further experimental investigation.

In a recent publication in this Journal I presented a set of seven equations effecting to describe from a single set of constants any chemostat steady state of the flagellate Monochrysis lutheri in terms of phosphorus and vitamin B12 without prejudice as to which was rate limiting, given only the input concentrations of the two nutrients and the dilution rate of the chemostat (Droop, 1974, equations 23–29). There was nothing inherent in this description to prevent its application to transient situations, and I felt that at least it should apply to the transitional phase of a batch culture. The aim of this paper, which is a continuation of the previous one, is to find out whether this is so and whether in fact the model can be adapted to describe the complete history of a batch culture, because if it can its value to predictive models for phytoplankton would be greatly enhanced.

Breeding and development have been studied in a number of sipunculans, including Golfingia elongata (Keferstein), G. vulgaris (de Blainville), G. minuta (Keferstein), G. pugettensis Fisher, Phascolosoma agassizi Keferstein, Phascolopsis gouldi (Pourtalès), Themiste pyroides (Chamberlin), Phascolion strombi (Montagu) and Sipunculus nudus L. (see Åkesson, 1958, 1961; Gerould, 1903, 1904, 1906; Hatschek, 1884; Rice, 1967; Selenka, 1875). However, the annual cycle of gametogenesis has been investigated in very few sipunculans, notably G. vulgaris (Gonse, 1956 a, b, 1957a, b) and P. agassizi (Towle & Giese, 1966, 1967).

Eulalia viridis is the most common littoral phyllodocid at Cullercoats Bay, where it occupies crevices and small holes in the well-sutured sandstone and limestone rocks. It is particularly common in rocks having a heavy encrustation of barnacles. The reproductive biology of this species in particular, and of phyllodocids in general, is poorly known. Meyer (1938) has described the development of larvae of Eulalia viridis both from artificial fertilizations and from egg cocoons said to belong to Eulalia viridis collected in January at Plymouth, U.K. The observations made during the present investigation differ in a number of important respects from those of Meyer and his conclusions cannot be considered appropriate to all populations of E. viridis.

It is now well established that natural phytoplankton populations may liberate a substantial proportion of the carbon fixed in photosynthesis directly into the external medium in the form of dissolved organic matter. Glycollate may be an important component of this extracellular organic fraction, both in culture (Hellebust, 1965) and in the natural environment (Watt, 1966). Nevertheless, it has been difficult to investigate the role of glycollate in the environment because of the lack of a convenient and reliable method for determining its concentration in natural waters. Shah & Fogg (1973) and Shah & Wright (1974), however, have developed a procedure for glycollate analysis in sea water, based on adsorption on to alumina and subsequent elution for determination by the Calkins colorimetric technique, which is both sensitive and not too laborious for routine analyses. Fogg (1966) suggested that glycollate excreted by phytoplankton acts as an extracellular reserve which may be utilized for survival under conditions unfavourable for photosynthesis. Wright & Hobbie (1965) showed that some fresh water bacteria take up glycollate at rates of the same order of magnitude as for acetate and glucose. Glycollate would therefore appear to be of importance in the energy flow between different trophic levels. In order to evaluate these hypotheses it seems important to determine the concentrations and turnover rates of glycollate occurring in natural waters.

In a short paper presented to the 12th International Congress of Zoology in Lisbon in 1935, L. Fage described a new species of polychaete, Lumbriconereis flabellicola, living on a coral of the genus Flabellum in 450–600 m off Morocco (Fage, 1936) (PI. VIII, c). The dissolution of the calcareous coral skeleton to form a groove beneath the tube of the worm was well described and figured by Fage, who noted a report of a similar scleractinianpolychaete association from 489 m, off Spanish Sahara by Marenzeller (1904). Subsequently, palaeontologists have shown interest in the association described by Fage, but it has remained largely unknown to biologists, though mentioned in check lists (Hartman, 1951, 1959; Amoureux, 1973b) and in Grasse's Traite de Zoologie (Fauvel, 1959). The generic name Lumbrineris Blainville, 1828, has priority over Lumbriconereis Grube, 1840, and is now in general use.

A study of the intertidal macro-invertebrate fauna of south east England was carried out as part of the investigations funded by the Department of the Environment of the likely ecological implications of the Maplin development proposals. The main aim of this study was to determine the potential food resource the invertebrate populations represent for the large numbers of wading birds which overwinter in this region. This article will concern itself solely with aspects of the invertebrate populations, the relationships between the waders and their invertebrate food supply will be presented separately (Kay, Blindell & Goss-Custard, in prep.).