3IO The Field Natttralisfs Quarterly Nov. 



that the protoplasm has power to bar the entrance of some 

 substances and to encourage that of others, and it is probably 

 to this that plants owe the power of selecting food, and that 

 to all intents the ash of plants is of a constant composition. 

 It seems certain, also, that after entrance has been obtained 

 the protoplasm has, and exercises, powers of analysis, syn- 

 thesis, and reconstruction. 



Thus in toothwort we can study the action of the proto- 

 plasm in cells acting as organs of nutrition — firstly, in the 

 presence of highly organised matter ; secondly, of matter 

 in the process of organisation ; and thirdly, in the presence 

 of unorganised matter. The study is most interesting, 

 and affords an ample field for the investigations of the 

 physiologist. 



Some Deep=Sea Plunder. 



By A. E, Johnson. 



The piscatorially-minded naturalist suffers always from this 

 disadvantage as compared with his fellows of the field, that 

 his observation of species under natural, or semi -natural, 

 conditions must be constantly attended by great, if not 

 insuperable, difficulties. But awkward as are the obstacles 

 which beset the fresh -water naturalist, his plight is as 

 nothing to that of the would-be student of marine life. 

 It is true that certain species — the 'longshoremen, as one 

 might say, of the fishy world — can be observed with advan- 

 tage in the rock-pools left upon the shore by the retreating 

 tide ; but with the finny denizens of the deep seas, observa- 

 tion must perforce be confined to such as is rendered 

 possible by the net, the dissecting-room, or even the fish- 

 monger's slab. Consequently, it is hoped that these jottings 

 from the note -book of a lay brother, made in the course 

 of a voyage aboard a Grimsby steam-trawler to the fishing 

 grounds of Iceland, may be of some slight interest to those 

 unacquainted with the humble haddock or the plebeian plaice 

 as they appear when first dragged ruthlessly from their 

 native element. 



