This paper brings together from all available sources records of marine mollusca indigenous to Orkney, together with notes on their local distribution. Besides incorporating the results of recent research it includes a brief account of work done in the islands by earlier conchologists. For convenience of reference the list of species follows the nomenclature and systematic arrangement used by the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland in Winckworth's revised list of the British Marine Mollusca. The small section on local collecting grounds may prove useful to future workers. A commentary seeks to relate the molluscan fauna of the islands to a wider context of distribution and draws attention to the seemingly characteristic western influence present in Orkney waters. A brief note is added on the non-marine mollusca of the islands.

The larval tracheal system of Tabanus bisignatus is described and compared with the previous descriptions of Hœmatopota pluvialis by Cameron (1934) and of Tabanus, Chrysops and Hexatoma by Stammer (1924). Omissions in these descriptions are pointed out, and possible homologies of the tracheæ are discussed in terms of the generalized dipteran larval pattern deduced by the author from comparative studies of the tracheal system in certain larval Diptera (Whitten 1955). Attention is drawn to departures from this generalized pattern—departures which may be characteristic of family or of intra-familial segregates.

On the European continent, Uromyces punctatus is heterœcious and occurs on 35 species and 1 variety of Astragalus, 6 species of Oxytropis and 1 species of Onobrychis. There are 3 æcidial hosts recorded, the major one being Euphorbia cyparissias. At St Andrews, the uredo stage of the rust is confined to A. danicus and only uredospores and teleutospores have been found. Experiments conducted showed that the local population of the rust was capable of infecting 9 species of Astragalus and 1 species of Medicago, out of 27 species of Astragalus, 5 species of Medicago and 28 species of other legumes inoculated. No host specialization within the local population was evident. Attempts to germinate the teleutospores, using a variety of methods, failed, with the exception of a single spore. The major æcidial host, when inoculated with teleutospores, failed to show any signs of æcidial infection over a period of four years. Possible factors affecting the shortening of the life cycle of the rust are discussed.

Scotland's vital interest in the fisheries needs no stressing. Nor does her interest in marine research, for which reference to the pioneer work of Edward Forbes and the voyages of the Challenger and the Scotia alone are sufficient testimonial. Both in England and in Scotland many Commissions have been set up to try to deal with one fisheries problem or another. The setting up of the Board of British White Herring Fisheries in 1808 may be said to have been the beginning of a new phase; as a result Scotland has one of the best series of fishery statistics, those for the “cured” herring fishery, available to-day—and statistics are the foundation of fisheries research! Apart from this, perhaps Scottish fishery research, as distinct from marine research, may be said to have begun in 1836 when a Dr Knox “was asked, in order to solve a fishery problem in the Firth of Forth, to investigate whether the sprat and the herring were different species or not; and further, in 1842, Mr Henry Goodsir was employed to gain some definite information about the growth, food and habits of the herring. This was just one of many contemporary problems; a later one, of course, concerned the influence of the developing trawl fishery upon the conventional method of lining for demersal fish such as cod and haddock. The duties of this Board were the supervision of the fisheries (of which herring was the principal), the “branding” of herring and “cran” measures, securing the observation of the few international fisheries regulations of that time, guarding the territorial limits from the encroachment of foreign fishermen, and supplying to the Scottish Meteorological Society information about weather conditions in the fisheries.