| OCR Text |
Show 1897.] ON THE PLANKTON OP THE FAEROE CHANNEL. 523 2. Contributions to our Knowledge of the Plankton of the Faeroe Channel.-No. II. By G. HERBERT FOWLER, B.A., Ph.Dv Assistant Professor of Zoology, University College, London. [Received Maroh 29, 1897.] The following notes form a continuation of the previous paper on this subject (see P. Z. S. 1896, p. 991) :- CONCHOSCIA MAXIMA (Brady & Norman). Twenty-five specimens, apparently referable to this Ostracod, were obtained in deep-water hauls. It occurred in three hauls at depths between 480 and 220 fathoms, and in three hauls which began at depths greater than 300 fathoms and were finished at the surface ; it did not occur in a single one of the twenty-two surface hauls (100 fathoms or less, to the surface). The only other occurrences of this species are recorded by Brady and Norman: as " off Greenland in lat. 74° 49' N., long. 11° 30' W., in a depth of 350 fathoms, and by H.M.S. 'Triton' in 1882, lat. 60° 20' N., long. 7° 23' W., in 200 fathoms, cold area, Faroe Channel." Mr. John Murray, who supplied these specimens to Mr. Brady and Canon Norman, has kindly informed me that the Greenland specimens " were brought home by Mr. Gray in a Peterhead whaler a few years ago." So far as the three records go, there can be little doubt that in Conchcecia maxima we have a true member of the cold Mesoplank-tonic fauna. The lowest depth and temperatures at which it was captured on the ' Besearch' were2:- Sta. 13#.-465 to 335 fathoms ; temp. 31° to 33° Fahr. Sta. 19 a.-480 to 350 fathoms ; temp. 46° to 47° Fahr. TOMOPTERIS ONISCIFORMIS, Eschscholtz. Vejdovsky 3 recognizes three European species of Tomopteris :- onisciformis (Eschscholtz 4), vitrina (Vejdovsky"3), and scolopenclra (Keferstein 5). His diagnostic characters, however, seem quite inadequate for sharp distinction, and fall in all probability wdthin the limits of individual variation, excepting in the case of the " Flossenaugen," the remarkable structures which have been variously interpreted as eyes or as phosphorescent organs. According to Vejdovsky' these are arranged as follows :- Vitrina, Vej.-One on the notopodium, one on the neuropodium; pigment yellow; one lens. 1 Sci. Trans. Roy. Dublin Society, (ii.) v. 687, pl. bd. figs. 1-8. s Cf. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1896, p. 993 note. 3 Zeitschrift wiss. Zoologie, xxxi. p. 81. 4 Isis, 1825, p. 735. 5 Arch. Anat. Physiol., 1861, p. 360. |
