appendages, armed with a spine on each side and eight spines around the extremity. Deep water off Tynemouth. "Cyrianassa ciliata (Norman, n. sp.). Carapace hispid, truncate in front, and furnished with a toothed process on the antero-lateral margin. Lower antennæ longer than the body. Five segments of the thorax uncovered by the carapace. Abdominal legs, two pairs, attached to the first two segments. Telson short, one-third the length of the basal joint of the lateral appendages, with a rounded unarmed extremity. Caudal appendages furnished with plumose cilia, which are remarkably long. on the outer branch. Deep water off Tynemouth." Among the more interesting Amphipoda obtained were Montagua Alderii and pollexiana, Callisoma crenata, Anonyx denticulatus, Ampelisca Gaimardi and Belliana, Phoxus plumosus, Iphimedia obesa, Acanthonotus testudo, Atylus bispinosus, Microdeutopus anomalus, Caprella lobata, Dexamine Vedlomensis, Kröyera altamarina, and Melita proxima. Of the last three species only the type specimens were previously known. Two Entomostraca were dredged which are new to the British fauna, Cypridina globosa (Liljeborg) and Ichthyophorba hamata (Liljeborg), and a third, new to science, thus described by Mr. Norman: "Cythere limicola (Norman, n. sp.). "Carapace-valves slightly quadrilateral, front margins oblique, greatest height at the anterior third. Sculptured with two elevated, longitudinal, slightly curved parallel lines on the lower half of the valves, from the anterior extremity of which a transverse elevated line passes to the hinge-margin, where it terminates in a large tubercle. Two similar tubercles close together near the hinder extremity of the hinge-margin." Among the other Entomostraca were Nebalia bipes, Cythere quadridentata and acuta, and what is perhaps a variety of flavida, Cythereis fimbriata, Evadne Nordmanni, and Anomalocera Patersonii. Of Pycnogonoidea (which we only separate from the Crustacea because they have been on this occasion examined by different gentlemen, and not as expressing an opinion that they should be so separated) ten species were obtained, belonging to four genera, Pycnogonum, Phoxichilidium, Pallene, and Nymphon. Of these, two are new to Britain and two are new to science; the latter are thus described by Mr. George Hodge:"Pallene attenuata, n. sp., Hodge. "Rostrum thick, constricted at the base, swollen near the middle, and rounded at the apex. Legs long, sparingly hispid; first, second, and third joints short, the second the longer; fourth rather stout, and as long as the second and third united; fifth and sixth slender, and about the length of the fourth; seventh very short; eighth convex on the outer margin, straight on the inner, with a few short hairs scattered along both margins. A single claw at the extremity, which, when pressed against the limb, reaches to the junction of the seventh joint. Foot-jaws long and slender, projecting considerably beyond the end of the rostrum. Anterior portion of thorax attenuated, and advanced nearly in a line with the tip of the rostrum, where it slightly bulges and gives origin to foot-jaws, immediately behind which is seated the oculiferous tubercle, which is long and narrow. Abdomen long, rounded at apex, slightly tapering to base. At the origin of each leg on the dorsal aspect is a large wart-like protuberance. 66 Nymphon brevirostris, n. sp., Hodge. "Rostrum short and stout; foot-jaws thick, divergent, second joint or hand nearly as long as the first; palpi five-jointed, brush-like, first and second joints long and nearly of the same length, either of them equal to the three terminal joints, the last of which is the shortest. Thorax robust. Abdomen stout and conical. Oculiferous tubercle midway between the first pair of legs. Legs stout, sparingly furnished with stout spine-like hairs; first and third joints short; second slender at its origin, swelling upwards; fourth and fifth joints each as long as the first three; sixth much longer, and slender;` seventh short; eighth long, slightly bent, furnished along its inner margin with a few short spines, and terminating in one moderately large and two small claws." Two species of Nymphon new to Britain were also taken, viz. Nymphon hirtum, O. Fabr., and Ñ. brevitarse, Kröyer. The rarity of male Nymphons is singular; none were obtained during the expedition, although the number of females was considerable: on the contrary, the males of Pycnogonum were abundant, and the females rarely seen. This seems to be the usual experience of collectors. The researches of Mr. Hodge into the development and structure of the Pycnogonidæ have led him to place them with the Entomostraca, as an order of that subclass, Arachnopoda or Pycnogonoidea. A great number of Annelids were dredged, but these have not yet been catalogued; we trust, however, next year to present a satisfactory list of these animals. Sipunculus Bernhardus was one of the most abundant species, occupying every dead Dentalium which was brought up. It may be remarked also that in the deepest water dredged, that is, off Berwick, the dredge showed the bottom to consist almost entirely of fragments of the deserted tubes of these creatures. Few opportunities existed of obtaining Entozoa; those that did occur were not neglected, but the number was so meagre that no list has been attempted. Of Echinodermata we dredged twenty-seven species; amongst these is one species of Ophiura hitherto undescribed, of which Mr. G. Hodge, who had a short time before taken it on the Durham coast, gives the following description: "Ophiura Normani (n. sp., George Hodge). "Disk either pentangular or round, the former pertaining to well-grown, the latter to young specimens. Upper surface of disk rotulated, under surface corresponding with that of the other members of the genus. Two clasping scales at the origin of each ray, each bearing about ten short spines. A crescent of eight or ten short blunt spines on the upper surface of the rays, close to the disk. Lateral ray-plates bearing five moderately long spines. Upper ray-scales nearly square, slightly tapering towards the disk. Rays about four times as long as the diameter of the disk, which in well-grown individuals measures about of an inch. Colour reddish yellow, occasionally of a pale sandy tint." The Rev. A. M. Norman has also taken a single specimen of this species in the Clyde, and three or four in the Shetlands. Bryssus lyrifer, a species previously considered to be of much rarity on the coast, was met with in great plenty and of unusual size; still more abundant were Spatangus purpureus and Amphidotus roseus. All the species of Ophiuroidea, Asteroidea, and Echinoidea were much more plentiful on the muddy ground which lies immediately within the Dogger Bank than elsewhere. Uraster rosea, a fine species not before met with on the east coast, was added to the local fauna. Among the Holothuridae, several specimens of a small Thyonidium were dredged in Berwick Bay, which appear to be the Holothuria pellucida of Müller, and not the Cucumaria hyalina of Forbes, the latter of which appears to belong to the genus Thyone. Should a further examination confirm this view, the species is new to Britain. Thyonidium commune was also added to our local fauna. No Zoophytes were obtained previously unrecorded in Mr. Joshua Alder's "Catalogue of the Zoophytes of Northumberland and Durham," published in the Transactions of the Tyneside Club;' nevertheless the list is a good one, containing as it does 77 species, viz.— Among the Polyzoa, Menipea ternata and Cellularia Peachii, two northern deep-water species rare on other parts of the English coast, were procured in considerable abundance. Of Bugula Murrayana and B. fastigiata, also northern forms, only two or three specimens were obtained. Sertularia Among the Hydrozoa the most noteworthy is Sertularia fusca, a species peculiar to the north-eastern coasts of England and to Scotland. pinaster was also met with, and S. tamarisca with female capsules. The Medusidæ are not included in Mr. Alder's Catalogue just referred to, and of these very few species were identified. A very fine and strikingly beautiful Medusa was, however, taken some seventy or eighty miles from the coast, which appears not to have been hitherto met with in our seas; nor, indeed, have we seen the description of any genus to which it would seem to be assignable. The Rev. A. M. Norman describes it as follows: "The hydrosoma is inverted cup-shaped, moderately convex, about 41 inches in diameter, tinged with deeper and paler shades of indigo-blue. "The margin is divided into eight major lobes, each of which is subdivided into four minor lobes, making thirty-two lobes in all. The disk of the hydrosoma is elevated into sixteen radiating ridges, alternating with as many intermediate furrows. A radiating canal, of an intenser blue than the rest of the hydrosoma, passes down each of the ridges; and these radiating canals terminate in the deeper sinuses of the margin and in the central sinuses of the major lobes, while each furrow is traversed by a white vessel whose distal extremity is situated at one of the intermediate sinuses of the major lobes. Numerous transverse branches proceed from the blue and elevated canals, and pass down the slopes of the ridges to the base of the furrows. These transverse vessels are recognized by the deeper tint of blue which marks their course. "There are no tentacles on the margin of the disk; but, situated a short distance within the margin, opposite each of the greater sinuses, there is seen a semicircle of about forty pale-yellow simple tentacles, which are so short that they scarcely hang below the margin of the disk. The horns of the semicircle of tentacles point outwards. "There are eight eyes, which are placed at the centre of the major lobes, on the blue canal, at a short distance from the margin. "The oral appendages are greatly developed in the form of four (?) large, many-folded, ochreous-yellow curtains, exquisitely margined with a short, finely-cut fringe. The length of the curtains, as they hang suspended in the hydrosoma, is somewhat greater than their united breadth, "The ovaries.-I take it that the brownish-pink masses which were seen suspended just outside the curtains in the living animal were the ovaries, but, not having had the opportunity of examining these bodies, I hesitate to state that they actually are the reproductive organs." The specimen described has been well preserved in a mixture of diluted spirit and creosote. In Actinozoa our list is not rich; Stomphia Churchia (Gosse), and a Phellia not yet ascertained, but probably the Phellia gausipata of Gosse (a species hitherto only taken at Wick), are among the rarer species obtained. The list of Foraminifera is a very rich one, considering the short time and the limited area over which the dredging extended. Of the 101 species and varieties enumerated in Prof. Williamson's monograph, our list contains 55; and besides these, several are reserved for further examination. Fully twenty of these had not previously been found on our coast by Mr. Joshua Alder or Mr. H. B. Brady, the only observers. The most noticeable facts respecting the Foraminifera obtained are, first, the extraordinary prevalence of the various forms of Dentalina in the Berwick Bay dredgings, occurring as they do in every gradation from the extreme form of Dentalina subarcuata to the extreme of D. legumen. No line of demarcation can be drawn between the hyaline shell constricted at the septa (the septal lines being oblique) and the more robust, much-curved form of D. legumen. On the same ground Polymorphina frequently assumes the more luxuriant form known as variety fistulosa. And secondly, the number and beauty of the Lagena, of which every British variety was taken, most of them abundantly. Of the Sponges no list has been attempted, the very few species obtained waiting further examination. Altogether, the results are, I trust, such as to justify further efforts on the same coast; and they are, at any rate, most interesting to our local naturalists, who are, through the medium of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, working out the fauna of the district with a completeness which few districts can equal. Report of the Committee appointed at Manchester to consider and report upon the best means of advancing Science through the agency of the Mercantile Marine. By CUTHBERT COLLINGWOOD, M.B., F.L.S. THE Committee appointed at the Manchester Meeting of the British Association consisted of the following gentlemen : Dr. Collingwood, Liverpool. J. Aspinall Turner, M.P., Manchester. Since that time much has been done in promoting the scheme suggested in the paper then read before Section D. That paper has been printed in the Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool,' and copies of it have been struck off, and very largely circulated among shipowners, merchants, and all the large and influential list of correspondents to whom the documents of the Mercantile Marine Association of Liverpool are usually forwarded. I have also forwarded copies to all whom I know to be interested in the subject, and, in the volume of Proceedings, it has passed to all the scientific societies in correspondence with the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society. Mr. Robert Patterson, of Belfast, has brought the subject under the notice of the shipping interest and the Natural History Society of that town; and many copies have been circulated in America through Captain Anderson (of the R.M.S.S. China'), Professor Agassiz, and Mr. Wm. Stimpson of the Smithsonian Institution. Among those to whom I forwarded copies of the paper was Mr. E. Newman, who reprinted it in the Zoologist' for July and August 1862. The subject has thus been brought fairly before the mercantile and scientific public, and the attention of a large number of persons has been directed towards it-the general opinion being decidedly in its favour, on the score of advantages to be derived at once by science and by philanthropy. In the autumn of 1861, in conversation with Earl Granville, Lord President of the Committee of Council on Education, I had an opportunity of bringing the subject under his Lordship's notice, and of explaining to him the advantages which we proposed to ourselves from this scheme, well knowing the important assistance which his Lordship might afford in case of its meeting with his approval. He expressed an interest in the matter, and desired to be further informed upon it. On the publication of the paper, therefore, at his Lordship's request, I sent him a copy, and shortly after received the following communication:- "Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, South Kensington, London, W., Jan. 30, 1862. "SIR,-I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education to request that you will be good enough to furnish me with twenty copies of your pamphlet On the Opportunities of Advancing Science enjoyed by the Mercantile Marine,' to send to all the Navigation Schools under this department. "I am, Sir, "Your obedient Servant, "NORMAN M'LEOD, "Assistant Secretary. "Dr. Collingwood, 15 Oxford Street, Liverpool." The next important advance was as follows:-It being considered of the last importance that the sanction and cooperation of shipowners should be obtained, a meeting was convened in the mayor's parlour, Town-hall, Liverpool, at which some of the most influential shipowners of that port, as well as the chairman and secretary of the Mercantile Marine Association, were present; Mr. T. M. Mackay (a gentleman ever ready to cooperate in every scheme for the good of seamen) occupying the chair. The meeting having been informed of the nature and progress of the movement, and the subject having been discussed, the gentlemen present promised their support, both nominal, and pecuniary if it were required. Believing that much might be effected by associating merchant-officers with existing scientific societies, in an honorary manner, the reporter, as Secretary to the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, brought the matter before the council and members. This Society, established in 1812, has just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and is the oldest scientific society in Liverpool. An addition to the laws was duly passed and confirmed, to the effect that the Society" be empowered to elect as Associates masters of vessels or |