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Faunistic Notes at Plymouth during 1893–4.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Walter Garstang
Walter Garstang
Affiliation:
Fellow and Lecturer of Lincoln College, Oxford; late Naturalist to the Marine Biological Association.
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Extract

The year 1893 was one of exceptional interest to the marine zoologist. During the first two months Plymouth experienced a continuous succession of heavy gales, but towards the middle of March the winds became lighter, and the sea, which had been running remarkably high outside the breakwater, subsided. From that time onwards till the middle of September we enjoyed six months of the most delightful weather,—a period, with scarcely a break, of calm seas and almost cloudless skies. Under the influence of the great heat the temperature of the Channel waters rose continuously, until in August it had attained a point unprecedented for quarter of a century; and it was of the highest interest to observe the effect of this high temperature, and of the prolonged calmness of the sea, upon the floating population of the neighbouring portion of the Channel. Numbers of semi-oceanic forms which rarely reach our shores arrived in remarkable profusion. In June the tow-nets were crowded with Salps, while towards the latter end of August they were almost choked by masses of living Radiolaria.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , October 1894 , pp. 210 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1894

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References

Page 211 note * I showed some years ago that the smaller Nudibranchs are annuals, and require only a year to attain their full growth. The same thing is true of Hydroids and many other Invertebrates (this Journal, 1890, p. 450).

Page 211 note † Notes on the Marine Invertebrate Fauna of Plymouth for 1892, vol. ii, 1892, pp. 333 to 339.

Page 217 note * The nomenclature of Haddon‘s Revision of British Actiniæ (Trans. Hoy. Dublin Soc. vol. iv, 1891) is here followed.Google Scholar

Page 218 note * Good figures of this species are given by Malaquin (Mem. Soc. des Science et des Arts, Lille, 1893, p. 287, pi. i), who identifies the Myrianida maculata of Cluparède with the M. fasciata of Milne-Edwards.Google Scholar

Page 219 note * This is the Colpodaspis pusilla of Michael Sars, a very rare and interesting form, of which only two specimens have previously been obtained.

Page 220 note * Garstang, Notes on the Structure and Habits of Jorunna Jolinstoni, Cnncholngist, vol. ii, 1892.

Page 231 note * Since my paper was written I have found that my idea of a calendar of the floating fauna is not new, and that a very full and valuable summary of the periodic changes in the pelagic fauna of St. Andrews was published by Prof. Mclntosh in 1889 (Seventh Report, Scottish Fishery Board), part iii, pp. 259–301). The resemblances and differences between our records are of considerable interest.

Page 231 note † It is easily observable that various species of Copepods are also periodic in their occurrence, but I do not refer to them in these notes, as I have not yet familiarised myself with the different forms and names. Reference should be made on this point to Mr.Bourne‘s, G. C.Report on the Copepoda of Plymouth, this Journal, vol. I, 1889, pp. 144–152.Google Scholar It would appear from Mr. Bourne‘s report that Clausia elongata is characteristic of the three last and three first months of the year; Oithona spinifrons, Euterpe gracilis, and Corycæus anglicus of the spring (though the two latter species have been recorded for September by Mr. Bles); Paracelsus parvus of the summer; Temora longicornis of the early summer and autumn; Anomalocera Patersonii of the autumn. Cetochilus septentrionalis (= Calanus flnmarchicus) and Dias longiremis were obtained throughout the year; but the former most abundantly in the autumn, the latter in the spring.