1894. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 7 



as follows : — " The Plankton obtained in November was very- 

 different from that which we found at the same place and depths 

 six months before. Suffice it to say, that in quantity the winter 

 Plankton was far in excess of that of the summer ; that the vegetable 

 matter seems to predominate in the colder season ; and that abun- 

 dance of living organisms were brought up from a depth of 70 metres 

 in November, while no Plankton was found at the same depths in 

 August. In the middle of the Skagerack the character of the 

 Plankton at 30 and 40 metres is different from that at 10 metres, a 

 fact which could be predicted from the hydrographic conditions of the 

 central part of the Skagerack." 



The "Quarterly Review." 



The Swedish explorations of the ocean floor lead us naturally to 

 the ocean surface. The current number of the Quarterly Review has an 

 intelligent article entitled " Ocean Meadows," in which is given an 

 interesting popular account of surface flora and fauna. The account 

 is based largely upon the revision of those wide-spread algae, the 

 heterocystic Nostocaceas, by MM. Ed. Bornet and Ch. Flahault, 

 and on Maurice Gomont's monographs on the Oscillaria, The 

 writer points out the many problems of pelagic life still waiting 

 solution — problems that have not only a scientific but a great 

 economic interest. For without question the "unvintagable sea" 

 is one of the greatest food sources of the land. The fisheries 

 of the world are capable of almost indefinite extension : but this 

 extension can proceed only when we have sufficient knowledge of the 

 feeding and breeding of food-fish to allow us to take full benefit of 

 this supply of food without disturbing breeding grounds or driving 

 fish to remote inaccessible haunts. The writer urges that further work 

 be done. " No costly equipment is needed. The use of a cruiser (of 

 dignified speed only) would, no doubt, be furnished by the Admiralty 

 for a brief period, while the Government grant administered by the 

 Royal Society is often spent with less return than an investigation of 

 this kind, costing a small portion of its annual amount, would yield. 

 Let the fitting men come forward and demand it." 



Whether or no the precise method recommended by the 

 '■' Quarterly Reviewer " be the most excellent, we rejoice to see a 

 claim long advocated in scientific journals so ably enforced by a 

 journal of which none can say that it is prejudiced by too strong a 

 predilection for things scientific. The writer of the Quarterly Review 

 article might have strengthened his case by reference to two elaborate 

 monographs dealing with oceanic matters, and both recently noticed 

 in Natural Science. The results published by Dr. Brooks in his 

 Monograph on Salpa [see Natural Science, vol. iii., pp. 222-225, 

 and vol. iv., pp. 457-462) bear in many important ways upon 

 economic problems. Dr. Brooks was aided by his Government, for 



