Director's Report

TL;DR: The weather has been magnificent this summer, making shore-collecting, dredging, and tow-netting possible at all points in the neighbourhood. The fine weather has also influenced the pelagic fauna of the Channel, resulting in a continuance of unusually interesting surface forms and a total absence of certain creatures.

Abstract: The past summer has been a busy one at Plymouth, and the steady continuance of magnificent weather has made shore-collecting, as well as dredging and tow-netting from the boats, possible at all points in the neighbourhood. The fine weather, as compared to the weather of last summer, seems, moreover, to have had a distinct influence on the pelagic fauna of the Channel. There has been towards the end of the summer a continuance of unusually interesting surface forms, and at the same time almost a total absence of some of the creatures usually found in abundance. For instance, Aurelia has for some unaccountable reason not been found in the Sound this summer, although I have heard of its occurrence in usual numbers in the Solent. Last summer brought innumerable millions of Noctiluca, so that the sea for miles showed orangered tracks through the dense crowding of these infusorians. This summer has produced practically none.