Müller's design was modified by the Dublin naturalist Robert Ball in 1838 and at the Birmingham meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1839 a committee was appointed for dredging research with a view to the investigation of the marine zoology of Great Britain, the illustration of the geographical distribution of marine animals, and the more accurate determination of the fossils of the Pliocene period. The committee was led by Edward Forbes. Later annual reports of the British Association contained communications from the English, Scottish and Irish branches of the committee, and in 1850 Forbes submitted its first general report on British marine zoology. Ball's dredge was still in use in 1910.
