A new species of porcelain crab, Megalobrachium lemaitrei n. sp., is described and illustrated from the Pacific coasts of Panama and Colombia. The new species is similar to its northern counterpart M. erosum (Glassell, 1936) in the general eroded appearance of the carapace and chelipeds, but is distinguished by the details of the carapace and cheliped ornamentation and pereopod setation. For comparison, Megalobrachium erosum is re-described on the basis of the type and other material.

The origins of the Marine Biological Station go back to 1885, when Professor, later Sir William, Herdman organized the Liverpool Marine Biological Committee. The Committee conducted dredging excursions in the Irish Sea, and also set up a very small shore laboratory on Puffin Island (off Anglesey) from 1887 to 1891. In 1892 activities were transferred to two small stone buildings (which still exist—see Pl. III) on Port Erin Bay. After nine years these buildings had become quite inadequate to accommodate the growing numbers both of visiting naturalists and of vacation classes which were started at Port Erin in 1897, so a further move was made to the present site at the south-west corner of Port Erin Bay in 1902.

In 1919 the control and ownership of the Marine Biological Station was transferred from the L.M.B.C. to the University of Liverpool; until 1939 the Station formed part of the Department of Oceanography, from 1939 to 1949 it was part of the Department of Zoology, and since 1950 it has formed a separate Department of the University.

The original building of 1902, whose whole seaward frontage still remains virtually unaltered (Pl. I), consisted of a central public aquarium (now room 5 on Text-fig. 1) flanked by a sea-fish hatchery (now 8, 9) and a few small research rooms (2,3,4,6,7), with two sizeable laboratories for student classes on the first floor (45–47 and 28, 30–32 on Text-fig. 2). A very valuable asset consisted of three large open-air ponds which still, after 65 years, perform their original function of maintaining a breeding stock of some 200 adult plaice.

Recent losses of seagrass beds have resulted in a decrease in seagrass-associated fishes, highlighting the need for the improved management of such habitats and resources. Analyses of feeding patterns of fish associated with seagrass habitats are useful for understanding their habitat dependence, which contributes to achieving their effective conservation. The gut contents of 61 fish species were examined to clarify the food habits of subtropical seagrass fishes in Nagura Bay, Ishigaki Island, southern Japan. A cluster analysis based on dietary overlaps showed that the seagrass fish assemblage comprised six trophic groups (small crustacean, large crustacean, detritus, plant, fish and zooplankton feeders). Small and large crustacean feeders were the most abundant, followed by detritus, plant and fish feeders. Zooplankton feeders were represented by only two species. Ontogenetic changes in food preference were recognized in four species, including Lutjanus fulviflamma, Ostorhinchus ishigakiensis, Gerres oyena and Siganus fuscescens. Small individuals of the four species generally fed on small crustaceans or detritus, subsequently switching to other larger prey items with growth (e.g. crabs, shrimps and seagrass fronds). The most important food items for the assemblage comprised harpacticoid copepods, shrimps, crabs and detritus, representing high cumulative gut volumes for all fishes. Some species showed diets remarkably different from those determined for fishes in other seagrass beds off a nearby neighbouring island, evidence of the food-use patterns of seagrass fishes varying on a small spatial scale. Such dietary flexibility may increase the adaptability of fishes to seagrass beds characterized by significant variations in available food resources.

We studied the effects of four non-nutrient environmental factors (temperature, salinity, irradiance and pH) on the growth inhibition of the macroalgae Ulva pertusa (Chlorophyta) upon the microalgae Heterosigma akashiwo (Rhaphidophyta). Experiments were conducted in single-factor incubation and various two-factor combination experiments in which temperature (10, 15, 25 and 30°C), salinity (10, 20, 30 and 40 g kg−1 water), irradiance (20, 100, 200 and 400 μmol m−2 s−1), and pH (5.5, 7, 8.5 and 10) were varied systematically. The growth rates of U. pertusa and H. akashiwo and the rate of microalgal growth inhibition were altered significantly by changing some of the non-nutrient factors in both the single-factor and the two-factor experiments. The optimal growth conditions for U. pertusa were 20–25°C, salinity of 30 g kg−1, irradiance level of 200–400 μmol m−2 s−1, and pH 8.5–10; optimal conditions for H. akashiwo growth were 25°C, 30 g kg−1, 100 μmol m−2 s−1 and pH 8.5, respectively. The growth inhibitory influence of U. pertusa on H. akashiwo was strongest at 25°C with low salinity (10 g kg−1), high irradiance (400 μmol m−2 s−1) and high alkalinity (pH = 10). The results of this study may be helpful in the development of methods for using green macroalgae to control the proliferation of microalgae in harmful algal blooms (HABs). In particular, these findings provide guidance regarding optimum levels of non-nutrient environmental factors in confined areas, such as aquaculture factories.

Three species of Photis Krayer are recorded from British and Irish waters. P. pollex Walker is re-established as a distinct species, synonymous with P. macrocoxa Shoemaker which becomes a junior synonym. A key to the British and Irish species is given, together with figures and descriptions of P. pollex and P. reinhardi. P. tenuicornis which is doubtfully recorded from these waters is also figured.

The following notes on the collecting work carried out during the period from January to June, 1895, follow the lines of Mr. Garstang's notes for 1892 and 1893. In putting the observations on record, I should like to thank the various workers at the Laboratory during the period covered, for the help which they have given. My own part of the work has consisted chiefly in keeping the record, and in endeavouring to give a certain amount of continuity to the whole. At the same time the final responsibility for the names adopted must be my own.

A new species of the copepod genus Tortanus (Atortus) (Copepoda: Calanoida), T. (A.) insularis, is described from the coastal region of Rodrigues Island, Mauritius, an isolated island in the south-western Indian Ocean. This new species can be assigned to an Indian faunal element, the recticauda species group, in the Indo-West Pacific recticauda species complex. It exhibits the closest relationship to T. (A.) recticauda recorded from the southern Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, rather than the closer distributed T. (A.) capensis, recorded from off South Africa.

In the most recent monograph of the marine planarians Wilhelmi (1909) described only one new species, viz. Procerodes dohrni, which nevertheless was strikingly similar to P. lobata (Schmidt, 1861). More recently Den Hartog (1968) has described inadequately a rather similar species, P. ireneae, and the taxonomic status of these three species is now somewhat confused, making proper identification difficult. For the present paper the available material of these species has been re-examined with the view of elucidating their taxonomic status.

The phylogenetic relationships of Euthelepus (Polychaeta: Terebellidae: Thelepodinae) were studied by means of a parsimony analysis of 40 external characters. The ingroup terminals included four species of Euthelepus, and the outgroup included 14 species of eight Thelepodinae genera, three belonging to the subfamily Terebellinae, one species of Trichobranchinae, and one species of Polycirrinae. Only two most parsimonious cladograms were found. However, the analysis revealed a large number of homoplastic characters supporting the thelepodin branches. The monophyly of the genus Euthelepus was not supported, and the monophyly of the other thelepodin genera, as well as the entire subfamily, is questioned. The large number of homoplasies indicated by the analysis emphasizes the need to further evaluate these hypotheses by using additional characters. A re-classification based on phylogenetic results must be considered.

In a collection made with a 2 m stramin ring trawl at 47° 12′ N., 7° 40′ W. on 21 July 1955, with 450 fathoms of wire out, I have found two new species of medusae. These were each represented by a single specimen, one of which was an anthomedusa and the other a leptomedusa.

While examining collections of young fish taken with a 2 m stramin net on the west coast of Scotland in 1975 for the unstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory of the Scottish Marine Biological Association I found two postlarvae unlike any I have seen before.

These two specimens, both about 6.2 mm long, were taken on 31 July 1975 from the Tiree Passage between the Islands of Mull and Tiree, and from Bloody Bay on the south-west coast of Mull.