than in the succeeding cruises. In September a marked gradient from surface to bottom was shown; this increase with depth was not so evident in the January and April surveys.

The bio-chemist has also been engaged in tracing the changes produced in the soluble phosphate content of untreated sea-water during storage; these changes have been correlated with the plankton originally present in the sample. It was found that storage in the dark invariably produced an increase in phosphate concentration, and samples from the upper layers of the sea gave greater increases than those from deeper waters. A paper on this subject was included in Vol. XIV, No. 4, of the Journal of the Marine Biological Association.

Pollution. The investigations into the pollution of the River Tyne have been continued during the year. Cbservations upon the dissolved oxygen content and the presence of toxic bodies derived from coal distillation processes in the river water have been made. Two complete surveys of the estuary with respect to the demarkation of the zones of pollution were done. Some particularly noxious effluents have been analysed with regard to tar acid and naphthalene contents.

The investigations into the changes with maturity in amino acid content of the proteins derived from herring tissues have been continued during the year. In both male and female an increase in di-amino nitrogen in the flesh tissue with increasing maturity has been observed, this increase being more marked in the females. The mono-amino nitrogen shows a decrease with maturity in the case of the females, while the males give little variation in this respect. The gonads from these fish have been treated in a similar manner, and considerable variations in di-amino nitrogen have been encountered according to the stage of development of these organs. A note giving a preliminary account of these investigations has been published in the Report of the Dove Marine Laboratory, 1926; and a more complete paper is to be issued in the near future.

Marine Station, Port Erin, Isle of Man : Department of Oceanography, Liverpool University. Director: Professor James Johnstone, D.Sc.

The staff of the Station is unaltered, and in other respects the position of the Institution has not materially changed. A good deal of work has been done by investigators attached to the University Departments of Zoology, Botany and Oceanography. An L.M.B.C. Memoir on the pelagic worm Sagitta is in process of publication. The ecological investigations on shore algae planned by Dr. Margery Knight have been interrupted, for a time only, it is hoped, but a considerable mass of data has been obtained and will be made use of later. A side issue from this work is a paper on certain cytological results which is being published presently by one of the investigators.

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A certain amount of routine fishery work is carried on, for the Insular Fisheries Board, by Mr. W. C. Smith, the Curator of the Station. Work on plaice and lobster rearing is still carried on for the Manx Government. The Station is very popular with visitors to the Island and this side of its activities (which is obligatory) requires a good deal of attention. There is an embarrassing demand for work places by senior biological students during the Easter vacation, and this has to be satisfied so far as resources permit.

In the last report from this laboratory a summary was given of the results of an investigation upon the gaseous metabolism of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis, L.), extending over a complete reproductive cycle. During the year covered by this report, the results of the investigation have been published, and have also been communicated, in modified form, to the Challenger Society, in a paper read before their Grimsby Meeting, 1926. The sphere of investigation is still necessarily limited to shore problems, but considerable progress is being made in this direction, especially in the study of the physical and chemical conditions associated with life in and upon the sandy beach. As the result of an attempt, begun two years ago, to work out the metabolism of the shore-living dinoflagellates, it was quickly realised that no real progress was possible without a more complete knowledge of the physical factors involved, and their variations in intensity and time of incidence, since little or no work in this direction appears to have been published. For the present, therefore, the more strictly physiological aspects of the problem have given place to purely physical determinations of such data as :

(1) the temperature, illuminations and relative times of emergence of the successive zones of the intertidal area;

(ii) the vertical and horizontal distribution upon the beach of the various grades of sand-grains, and the correlative variations in capillary and absorptive capacity for the sub-surface waters;

(iii) the salinity, hydrogen-ion, oxygen, nitrate, hydrogensulphide and organic matter concentration of the interstitial water, the conditions leading to the formation of the "black layer," and the possibilities of gaseous and aqueous circulation and exchange.

A considerable mass of data is already to hand, and will be communicated in the near future. Associated with this line of research is an investigation, foreshadowed in a former report, upon the contribution of algal spores to the total particulate organic matter content of inshore and pool waters. It had been intended to carry out this work in collaboration with Dr. Knight, of the University of Liverpool, but, owing to her illness, it has had to be deferred.

A quantitative knowledge of the physical environment and its changes is fundamental to any investigation upon the bionomics of the teeming fauna and surface flora of the beach, and, in view of the fact that our sandy coasts are the habitat of various young fishes and molluscs, such knowledge cannot fail to have direct economic significance.

THE FISHERIES ORGANISATION SOCIETY.

A grant of £1,140 was sanctioned in aid of the Society's work for the nine months ending 31st December, 1927. The annual basis on which this was calculated, as compared with the two previous years, is as follows :—

For the whole year 1927-28 there is a reduction of £250 in the estimated expenditure and the grant required. This saving is due to the reorganisation of staff effected in 1925.

In their report on the Society's application for 1925-26, the Commissioners expressed the view that the continuance of the Society as a central advisory organisation on such business matters as accounting, markets, and sources of supply was necessary in the interests of the majority of fishermen's Societies, and that the need for such Societies had not diminished. For these reasons the Commissioners were prepared, in spite of the difficulty experienced in enlarging the Society's private income, to recommend further aid, provided that the Governors, for their part, would maintain their efforts to increase voluntary income. As a result of their review of the situation early in 1927, the Commissioners were satisfied that there is still useful work to be done in the formation of new societies (particularly on the North-East Coast) and in advising those recently established, and that, for the present, the work cannot be efficiently performed at a lower cost. The Society is striving to increase its income, but any substantial advance in this direction will depend largely on the success of the Fishing Vessels Co-operative Insurance Society. That Society at present pays to the Fisheries Organisation Society a fee of £100 for organising and secretarial services and it may be prepared, when its funds permit, to increase its contribution. Whilst, however, the Commissioners see no prospect of a rapid increase in voluntary income, they feel that, in present circumstances, an attempt must be made to bring such income into definite relationship with the expenditure of the Society and they have accordingly intimated to the Society that they consider it reasonable to expect that for the

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year 1929 the grant from the Development Fund, if then continued, should not exceed three-fourths of the approved expenditure.

During the year 1926 five new Societies were formed, and the total trade of the 61 Societies affiliated to the central body was £83,472, as compared with £81,949 in 1925. In addition to continuing co-operative propaganda work the Fisheries Organisation Society supplies information of a general character -such as ruling market prices, best available markets for particular kind of fish, sources of supply of gear, &c. It also assists the affiliated Societies in all the details of their business including the systematic keeping of books and accounts.

THE CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF

HARBOURS.

Among the harbour applications dealt with by the Commissioners during the year the following may be mentioned :

Port Isaac Harbour.

Port Isaac, on the north coast of Cornwall, is the home port of a small but vigorous fishing community, consisting of 150 men, with 60 boats, of which more than half are fitted with motors. The harbour is exposed to very heavy seas after gales from the south-west to the north-west, rendering it practically impossible, owing to the swell, for boats to lie afloat or take the ground inside the harbour. In sudden storms the boats have to be hauled up into the narrow streets of the town, and much fishing time is lost in waiting for suitable conditions to enable boats to leave the harbour. Given adequate harbour protection it is anticipated that a considerable fishery development would result, as the port is close to rich fishing-grounds, and these it is believed would be more intensively fished not only by Port Isaac boats but by boats from other ports. The improvement would therefore be of more than a merely local character.

The harbour before the war was selected by the Cornwall County Council and the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries as one of the Cornish harbours most urgently in need of improvement. A Harbour Commission was constituted under the Fishery Harbours Act, 1915, and in June, 1926, application was made for a grant from the Development Fund to carry out the plans, which had been more than once revised, and which were estimated to involve an expenditure of £33,940. The plans provide for two breakwaters, one at the entrance, designed to give calmer water within the cove, and the other of lighter construction placed about halfway up the cove with the object of sheltering the berthing ground.

The following local contributions have been secured :

(a) A sum of £1,516 in cash: an appreciable proportion of this sum had been given by the fishermen (each boat crew having agreed to contribute £4), or raised by a house to house collection from their wives.

(b) A loan from the Bodmin Rural District Council of £5,000 free of interest for the first 12 months.

(c) An annual payment by the fishermen, estimated at £500 per annum, of 5 per cent of the value of their catch as security for a loan. This should provide the service of a loan of £7,700, inclusive of the loan of £5,000 under (b).

(d) Free labour by the fishermen in removing the rocks and fetching material for concrete.

It was estimated that the local contribution in sight was not far short of one-third of the cost of the work, and the Commissioners in July, 1926, after visiting the harbour, recommended an advance of such sum not exceeding £22,627 as might be required to meet two-thirds of the cost, half as a grant and half as a deferred loan, the terms of repayment and interest to be considered in ten years. The Harbour Authority were left responsible for one-third of the cost, and in so far as this is not covered by the local contributions referred to above, they have been endeavouring to raise the necessary balance.

Tarbert (Loch Fyne) Harbour.

In December, 1925, the Harbour Trustees applied for a grant of £5,300 and a loan of £2,500 for the construction of works estimated to cost £7,800. The case was founded on the extent of the fishery during the two previous seasons. This had led to the use of the harbour as a centre for curing, and the quay space was found insufficient to allow of development. Formerly the practice had been for the catch of Loch Fyne herrings to be sold to carrier steamers from Glasgow and the amount of curing had been negligible. Competition with the carriers and curers was expected to be of marked advantage to the fishermen as tending to secure better prices. Apart from the lack of curing space the fishermen were inconvenienced in taking in oil and stores and could only berth in the harbour about an hour and a half before high water. As there was no room for extension of landing space on the quay, it was proposed to construct a concrete quay wall at a short distance from the present sea wall and to fill in the space for a curing ground.

The Fishery Board advised a grant of £3,500 from the Development Fund, and were willing to make a grant of £500 from their own funds. Having regard to the existing revenue of the harbour, which would be capable of securing a loan almost sufficient to meet the cost of the proposed works, the Commissioners were not prepared to recommend so large a grant as the Fishery Board advised, but they recommended a grant of £1,000 which they subsequently offered to increase to £2,000 on condition that the Fishery Board increased their contribution from £500 to £1,000. Having regard to the uncertainty of the Loch Fyne Fishery, and to the financial position of the harbour, they were not prepared to go beyond this amount and they made their grant conditional on the full scheme of improvement being carried out. The

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