The first specimens of Rhabdopleura to be found were dredged by G.O. Sars from a depth of 120 fm (220 m) at Skraaven (Fig. 1) in the Lofoten Islands during 1866. They were mentioned in a fauna list by M. Sars (1868) as Halilophus mirabilis, and fully described by G.O. Sars (1872, 1874) as Rhabdopleura mirabilis. By that date AUman (1869 a-c) had described Rhabdopleura normani. His specimens had been dredged from 90 fm (165 m) off the Shetland Islands in 1868 by A. M. Norman and J. G. Jeffreys. Burdon-Jones (1954) gives the locality more precisely as:lsquo;… a depth of 93 fm at a point in the outer Haaf, some 40 miles east of Whalsey Skerries’ (Fig. 1). In 1880 Hincks described a third species which he named R. compacta because of its distinctive habit of growth. The habitat and locality were somewhat inadequately given as: ‘On shells from deep water; Coast of Antrim’ (Fig. 1). Hincks makes acknowledgement to Hyndman for dredging these shells (Hincks, 1880). From 1857 to 1859 Hyndman was serving on the Belfast Dredging Committee and it is possible that the specimens of R. compacta, which Hincks had discovered in material sent to him by Hyndman many years previously, were among the polyzoan collections known to have been made off the coast of Antrim. Hyndman (1858) included a list of polyzoa identified by Hincks, from deep water near the Maidens' Rocks. The following year Hyndman (1859) included a further list of polyzoa identified by Hincks, for which specific localities are not given.

The distribution of Pectenogammarus planicrurus Reid around the British coast appears to be restricted to a few scattered areas. As far as is known it has only been recorded in three localities.

The first of those is the ‘type locality’, described by Reid (1940), at Saltdean, Sussex. Here the upper region of the shore consists mainly of flint pebbles, the middle shore mainly of sand with patches of flint and chalk pebbles and the lower shore of boulders of chalk on a solid chalk base. Reid found it plentiful under stones near high water mark.

In a brief survey of the south coast beaches, from Brighton, Sussex, to Deal, Kent, in the summer of 1965, P. planicrurus was found in large numbers on the chalk and flint beaches associated with the coastal outcropping of the chalks of the North and South Downs. By far the largest populations were found at Seaford, Sussex, where, unlike Saltdean, the pebbles and gravel extend down to low water and P. planicrurus was not restricted to the upper part of the beach as it was at Saltdean. It appears that the ‘type locality’ described by Reid (1940) does not give a true picture of the vertical range of distribution of the species.

The second locality is at Port Erin, Isle of Man, where Jones (1948) observed P. planicrurus ‘under stones’ between H.W.N. and L.W.N. at Spaldrick on the north side of Port Erin Bay. Jones did not find this species in sufficient numbers to formulate a general idea of its habitat.

The view that bivalve molluscs are ideally adapted to fulfilling a mode of life in which the processes of feeding and digestion are continuous has long been accepted by most zoologists. An increasing amount of evidence, how ever, is being put forward to suggest that the opposite is true, that is, that bivalves are discontinuous in their feeding and digestive habits.

In Balanus balanoides (L.) several abrupt physiological changes occur after the breeding season in November. They include loss of gonads and associated organs, the acquisition of a high degree of cold tolerance (Crisp & Ritz, 1967), interruption of the regular sequence of moulting cycles (Crisp & Patel, 1960) and the reduction in feeding activity.

Fish are perhaps one of the most highly parasitized of animal groups, and the unnatural crowding which occurs in hatcheries and aquaria favours the greatly increased possibility of heavy infestation by some parasites. Such hazards have been recognised in freshwater fishes for some time (see, for example, Dogiel, Petrushevski & Polyanski, 1961), and diseases of marine fishes are now beginning to receive increasing attention (Sindermann, 1966).

In 1801 Vaucher discovered the oogonia of Vaucheria—or Ectosperma as he called it—but he described the antheridia in a very incomplete way without seeing the spermatozoids (Vaucher, 1801, 1803). These were first observed some fifty years later by Pringsheim (1855), who also saw fertilization, one of the first observations on fertilization to be made in the lower plants.

Two distinct forms of the megrim, Lepidorhombus whiff-iagonis (Walbaum), exist, a southern form which ranges from the Mediterranean to the British Isles and a northern form which ranges northwards from the north of Ireland and the North Sea (Richardson, 1860; Kyle, 1913; Furnstein, 1935; Dwivedi, 1964). Kyle and Richardson considered these forms to be separate species. The southern form of megrim extends into the English Channel with Start Point, 3° 40' W, the approximate eastern limit of its distribution (Cligny, 1905). However, this fish is common only at the western entrance of the Channel since it is abundant only in depths below loom (Dwivedi, 1964). Little is known of the separate megrim populations in the geographical range of the southern form. Studies of meristic characters indicate the existence of at least three populations, one in the Mediterranean and along the coast of Portugal, another in the Bay of Biscay and the third south of Ireland and in the entrance to the English Channel (Cligny, 1905; Dwivedi, 1964).

In a recent study (Butler, Corner & Marshall, 1969) it was found that the excretion of nitrogen and phosphorus in soluble form by Calanus finmarchicus caught at Garroch Head in the Clyde sea-area was significantly higher in spring when plant food was plentiful, than in autumn when plant food was in relatively short supply. The present survey has extended this earlier study to include more detailed data at all times of the year, particular attention being paid to the spring diatom increase of 1969 when plant food in the sea near Garroch Head rose above the level which Beklemishev (1962) regards as inducing superfluous feeding, a wasteful process partially involving the inefficient assimilation of foodstuffs (see ‘Discussion’, p. 549).

The cosmopolitan genus Orchestia is divisible into two ecological groups: littoral and terrestrial, as denned by Hurley (1959). Only littoral species are known from Britain and three which occur in the Medway estuary have been studied. O. gammarella (Pallas) and O. mediterranea A. Costa are marine or estuarine, the former being found above the recent high water mark under wrack or stones and the latter below this level under stones. O. cavimana Heller is a freshwater species, extending into the oligohalinicum of estuaries (Den Hartog, 1963), which is found near the wrack line. During a study of the biology of these species possible mechanisms which control the tidal levels occupied on the shore were investigated, including the temporal characteristics of locomotory activity.

Until recently there has been very little information on the quantities of phytoplankton nutrients in the Irish Sea. Slinn (1958–1966) has reported the weekly variations in the nutrient concentrations at a station off Port Erin, Isle of Man, and studies on the nutrient conditions in the Menai Straits have been carried out by Jones (unpublished) and Ewins & Spencer (1967). Liss (1969) has reported on the results of winter surveys of reactive silicate near the Irish coast, and from three stations near the Welsh coast (Anglesey, the Lleyn Peninsula and Fishguard). The present paper describes studies carried out in the inshore waters near Aberystwyth in Cardigan Bay during 1967 and 1968. This investigation formed part of a study of the seasonal occurrence of the phytoplankton and the growth conditions in this shallow, inshore region.

It has been known for a long time that the commonest British sea anemone, Actinia equina L., incubates its young in the gastric cavity (Dalyell, 1848).

In 1883 Romanes first demonstrated the capacity of starfish to detect the presence of food. He claimed to be able to lead them in any direction by holding a piece of crab an inch or two from the end of one of the arms. He concluded that if the food was not more than a few inches away the starfish could smell it and move towards it. Milligan (1915 a-c) observed that Asterias rubens moved towards a dead pipefish from distances of 1½ in to 2 ft., and emphasized that the determined movement left no doubt that the starfish could smell the fish. Regnart (1928) found that A. rubens could locate food hidden in a bait chamber, moving away from the aerator in the centre of the tank.