A method, suitable for routine use, of determining total iron in sea water is described. The water is acidified to about o·13N with hydrochloric acid and is heated for 5 h in an autoclave at 140°C. Iron is determined absorptiometrically with 1:1 phenanthroline after reduction with hydroxylamine hydrochloride.

Tests of the method, collection and storage of samples and the variability of results are described.

Iron contents of water samples from the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay are reported.

Determinations of the concentration of fat and glycogen in the body wall, in different parts of the gut and in the coelomic cells are described in Amphitrite and Arenicola. It is suggested that the trephocyte system constitutes a store of fat and glycogen derived from a primary store in the absorptive parts of the gut itself. In Arenicola and Nereis surplus fat is removed from the gut itself through the blood or directly by amoebocytes; the fat deposited in the epidermis and the glycogen in the peritoneum. In these worms the coelomic trephocytes are solely concerned with the maturation of the gametes. No relationship can be established between these cells and the chloragocytes. In Amphitrite and Terebella fat is stored also in the coelomic trephocytes which may derive their contents directly from the gut or from the body wall. Glycogen is stored in the trephocytes in Amphitrite, and in Arenicola in the peritoneum. Thus while large amounts of fat and glycogen are found in the trephocytes in Amphitrite, the total amount present in the body is no more than in Arenicola which lacks a well-developed trephocyte system, and in this species a larger proportion of fat and glycogen is found in the body wall.

The intertidal zonation of the dominant algal species in Beer Bay, south-east Devon, was examined in relation to substratum by means of plane-table maps and transects. The dominance of Ulva lactuca on colonies of the reef-building worms Sabellaria alveolata was noted, but the distributions of Fucus vesiculosus, F. serratus, Gigartina stellata and Enteromorpha spp. showed no correlation with substratum.

In 1902 Ernst Vanhöffen drew attention to the occurrence of eight dark pigment spots in Atolla which he thought might be excretory organs.

It is shown that these spots are a specific character occurring only in some specimens, and medusae with this character have been named Atolla vanhöffeni n.sp. This species can now be distinguished from A. wyvillei by other characters.

A study has been made of the feeding activities and reproductive behaviour of the copepod Ascidicola rosea within one of its ascidian hosts, Corella parallelogramma.

Ascidicola rosea feeds on particles which it removes from the food string as the latter is passing through the oesophagus of the host. When active feeding is not taking place, the copepod remains quiescent in the oesophageal bend. An inverted position within the oesophagus is sometimes adopted; this is generally associated with a meagre development of the food string. Certain peculiar structural features—notably the spinous pad on the penultimate segment and the long endopodal setae—are considered to be adaptations which assist the copepod while clinging to the food string.

The eggs of A. rosea are deposited in the ascidian's stomach and the nauplii pass through the host's alimentary canal still enveloped by the inner egg membrane. On reaching the anus, hatching takes place and the nauplii are expelled from the atrial siphon. There are four naupliar and two copepodid stages. Free-swimming life lasts for about 6 days.

The spectral composition of the light of four species of polynoid worms has been measured, viz. Harmothoë longisetis, Gattyana cirrosa, Polynoë scolopendrina and Lagisca extenuata. The method involved the use of coloured spectral filters and two multiplier phototubes. The spectral emission curves of the four species are similar. They are asymmetrical in shape, prolonged towards longer wavelengths, with maxima at about 515 mμ (510–520 mμ.). Values for luminous efficiency are calculated (ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux); for human scotopic vision (λmax at 505 mμ), efficiency is 61%.

Several strains of Stichococcus bacillaris Naeg. and of the marine S. cylindricus Butcher were all found to fit morphologically in Naegeli's species. Both the marine and non-marine strains grow well in either fresh- or sea-water media. S. cylindricus must therefore be regarded as a synonym of S. bacillaris. Three marine Chlorella strains including C. ovalis Butcher and C. stigmatophora Butcher were also found to be quite unexacting about salinity. The significance of small differences, particularly of growth rate, is discussed with regard to non-sexual organisms. In general, widely based species are advocated for such organisms, with the clonal lines, where appropriate, designated by the reference number of a recognized culture collection.

Tigriopus fulvus can live normally within a salinity range of from 4·2 to 90%.

In waters of salinities above 90% it falls into a state of apparent death from which it can recover if transferred back to lower salinities.

The relation between immersion period and the recovery period is only slightly different at different salinities.

The lethal temperatures vary between 32·0 and 41·8°C depending on the salinity of the sea water, the lethal temperature being higher in higher salinities.

The fluctuations in salinity and temperature in the pools where the animals were collected are well within their tolerance limits.

T. fulvus is well adapted to its habitat.

In many if not most species of crabs (but not quite all) there is a limit to growth, when no more moulting or ecdysis is possible in normal circumstances. This condition of permanent anecdysis is known as the terminal anecdysis. In the spider crab Maia squinado, the last moult is the moult of puberty, when the animal finally attains sexual maturity, and this moult has different biometrical characteristics from the others. In Carcinus maenas, in contrast, the moult of puberty takes place when the animal is quite small and may be succeeded by about ten further moults before the terminal anecdysis begins.

The immediate cause of the cessation of moulting in Maia squinado is shown to be the degeneration of the Y-organ, which secretes a moult-promoting hormone. In the absence of this gland and its secretion moulting can no longer continue. In Carcinus the Y-organ does not degenerate after the final ecdysis and the cause of the cessation of moulting is to be sought in the excessive production by the X-organ-sinus gland complex of the moultinhibiting hormone. This effectively prevents moulting from proceeding Removal of the X-organ-sinus gland complex in Carcinus allows ecdysis to continue, so that giant crabs can be produced in the laboratory by this means, and at the same time the life-span may be increased. The operation has no such effect on Maia. In either species injection of Y-organ extracts produces transiently the first signs of an approaching moult, in the form of a heightened blood-calcium level. In Carcinus repeated injection led to eventual ecdysis. The presence of the Y-organ is shown to be necessary for removal of the X-organ-sinus gland complex to stimulate moulting in Carcinus.

Two separate methods of producing terminal anecdysis exist in crabs, both involving the hormones which normally regulate the moult cycle, but no reason is known for the existence of the phenomenon.

In January and March, during the 1955 plaice spawning season, plankton samples were collected with a Heligoland larva net at stations on a grid around a floating radio buoy in the southern North Sea. There was a decided scarcity of suitable food for plaice larvae in the January patch, and this famine was reflected in the deteriorating physical condition of those larvae caught at the transition stage of development, when yolk reserves were becoming exhausted and an adequate external food supply essential. By March, the spring plankton outburst was in full swing. The condition of transitional larvae improved in this good food patch. Feeding started about the mid-yolk phase, mainly on plants. By the time most of the yolk had been resorbed, the appendicularians Oikopleura and Fritillaria had become the principal food items, and remained so throughout pelagic larval life.

The osmotic pressure of the blood of Scrobicularia plana has been measured when the animal is exposed to diluted sea water, and observations made on the behaviour of the animal when exposed to solutions of different osmotic pressure.

The blood osmotic pressure shows no significant difference to that of the external medium except in very low salinities. The external medium with which an animal in its natural habitat comes into equilibrium is represented by the water above the mud rather than the water contained in the mud. Open animals equilibrate to 80% sea water in 4–5 h and to 60% sea water in 5–6 h. The osmotic pressure of the blood of animals that remain closed in dilute media is decreased by as little as 1·5% per hour.

Patella vulgata gives a positive response to splashing with sea water or water of high salinity, and a negative response to fresh water or water of low salinity. The intensity of the positive response broadly corresponds with the salinity of the water used. There is a greater response to splash and a greater tolerance to reduced salinity in limpets from high-tide than in those from low-tide regions. A positive response is given to NaCl solutions of concentrations approximately equivalent to sea water, while a supra-normal response is given to concentrations somewhat above that of sea water. The perception of salinity is by receptors in the cephalic tentacles and mantle fringe.

The rate of filtering has been examined in a series of sabellids and serpulids of widely different size, using suspensions of colloidal graphite and algal cultures. The filtering rates have been expressed as individual rates, as the volume strained per unit fresh weight, and per unit weight of the crown. It may be concluded that the smaller fan worms filter at a relatively higher rate than the larger. This is achieved partly by the relatively larger crown. Free swimming algae escape through the crown; only inert particles down to 1–2 μA are retained, implying that fan worms depend on suspended detritus alone. The filtering rates are briefly compared with those of Chaetopterus and some other filter-feeding invertebrates.

The fishes harbouring parasites of the genus Lernaeocera can be divided, according to the presence or absence of contact with the coastal waters, into ‘inshore’ and ‘offshore’ groups. According to literature, only L. branchialis occurs commonly on hosts in both groups. The difference between this and the remaining species of the genus is explained by the existence of two different species covered by the name L. branchialis. One of these species is parasitic on cod and whiting, the other on haddock. The two species have also different intermediate hosts (flounder and lemon sole respectively) and differ in morphology of the adult male and female and in the mode of attachment to the final host.

Lernaeocera of whiting and cod is distributed mainly in the coastal area, while that from haddock extends over the whole of the North Sea. The former, but not the latter, is present outside the European continental shelf. All these differences lead to the conclusion that the two types represent two different species. The old name is retained for the parasite of cod and whiting. The parasite of haddock is the new species, to which the name Lernaeocera obtusa is given.

Temperatures and salinity, phosphate, total phosphorus and silicate analyses of water from the International Hydrographic Station E1 during 1955 are discussed. The seasonal variation is shown, and it appears that consumption of nutrients by plants in the spring was: phosphate 0·42 μg atom P/L, ‘total phosphorus’ 0·40 μg atom P/l., silicate 2·43 μg atom Si/1., these being means for the whole water column. Some irregularities are pointed out; they are probably attributable to changes in the water mass.

The chromosomes of nine species of gammarids have been studied in oocytes and embryos. There is no evidence that polyploidy has played a part in gammarid evolution. Three of the species which we have studied, Gammarus pulex (L.), Marinogammarus marinus (Leach) and M. pirloti (Sexton & Spooner) show chromosomal polymorphism. There is no evidence that this polymorphism depends on the existence of a Robertsonian ‘fragmentationfusion’ system; rather it appears to be due to the presence of supernumerary chromosomes.

From July 1955 to June 1956 a study of host-parasite relations between three species of marine fish and their Protozoa was made at Plymouth. Callionymus lyra, a bottom-dweller, tends to be more abundant during the summer months, consumes a wide variety of food, and was more heavily infected with Protozoa than were the other two species offish. Gadus merlangus is an active predator, feeding on small fish, and although it has about the same numbers of kinds of Protozoa as does C. lyra, it was less heavily parasitized. G. merlangus, however, was more heavily parasitized with worms than were the other two fish. Microstomus kitt is a sluggish bottom-dweller, feeding on annelids, and, although over 99% were infected with myxosporidia, the intensity of infection was generally low. Very few other parasites were found in M. kitt.

An active predatory habit combined with a taste for a wide variety of food appears to predispose to heavy parasitism. Some evidence for seasonal variations in intensities of protozoan infection in Callionymus lyra was obtained, but for conclusive results more precise methods of measuring numbers of parasites, and further studies carried on over a period of at least three consecutive years, must be made. The report is presented primarily to emphasize the importance of an ecological approach to the study of parasitology.

In the study of marine diatoms examination of fresh material (or of wet mounts in some suitable preservative such as formalin-sea water) is essential, in addition to ‘permanent’ mounts of ‘cleaned’ frustules, because the violent cleaning process destroys many of the more delicate forms (e.g. the genus Guinardia). Conversely, it is not possible to see the fine details of skeletal structure, upon which the taxonomy of so many diatoms is based, while the organic contents of the cells are still present.

The range of temperature over which the cirri were active, and the frequency of beating of the cirri at different temperatures were measured in a further five species of barnacles from a variety of habitats. In three of the species the temperature range and frequency of cirral beat were related to the geographical distribution of the species. The tropical and warm temperate species Balanus amphitrite was active at higher temperatures, and showed a greater frequency of beating than the northern species B. balanus; conversely, the latter was active to much lower temperatures than JB. amphitrite. The species with the widest geographical range, B. improvisus, showed cirral activity over the widest range of temperatures, although its behaviour at high temperatures was similar to that of the related species B. amphitrite. It is suggested that B. improvisus is a tropical species that has adapted itself to colder climates; its tolerance of a wide range of temperatures may be associated with its tolerance of low salinities.

The stalked barnacle Lepas anatifera showed too restricted a temperature range for its supposed world-wide distribution, and it is suggested that the species may contain physiological races adapted to different climates. The extremely restricted range of temperatures over which the cirri of the deepsea barnacle Hexelasma hirsutum were active can be correlated with the almost uniform temperature conditions at great depths.

In B. balanus age-groups can be clearly distinguished by growth rings on the shell, and the cirral frequency was found to be slower in the older specimens. Even slower cirral beating was found in some starved specimens.

A bio-assay of the nitrogen which was available to two phytoplankton species with their associated bacteria in an off-shore water is described.

The concentrations found by assay (11·5 and 13μg N/1.) were similar to the concentration of total inorganic nitrogen compounds found by analysis (10μg N/1.).

Of the organic nitrogen normally present in solution in sea water, an insignificant quantity appears to be available to the plant-bacteria community.