i8 9 6. NOTES AND COMMENTS. g 



Govdylophova in Heigham Sounds, a few years ago, by Mr. Bidgood, 

 was, I believe, an event hitherto unrecorded for that district. This 

 organism is interesting, as Cordylophora is the only member [of its 

 family known to inhabit fresh water] . Mr. Geldart gave us an 

 account of its life-history at the time. I mention this as an instance 

 that the district is not by any means thoroughly explored. In 

 botany, Hickling Broad is the only known habitat in England of 

 Naias marina, according to Bentham and Hooker. I have searched 

 for it myself, but have not been successful in finding it. Again, 

 Tolypellopsis stelligera, found in the Hickling district, is specially 

 interesting, as, according to Mr. Bennett (Transactions, vol. iii.,p. 382), 

 up to 1882, it had been found nowhere else in Britain. There are 

 several points in its life-history yet to be explained. For the study 

 of the group of Characea:, Norfolk waters offer great inducements, as 

 they contain many species, several of which have not yet been 

 recorded for the county. For the whole of the aquatic flora, Norfolk 

 seems to offer special facilities for clearing up obscure points. To 

 mention only one of these obscure points, the economy of Stratiotes 

 aloides (Water Soldier) requires investigation, as, in spring, the plants 

 rise to the surface for flowering, and in autumn sink down into the 

 mud again for the winter, it is supposed for the purpose of ripening 

 its seeds. The cause of the rising and sinking of this plant has yet 

 to be discovered, though a theory to account for it has been pro- 

 pounded by M. Forel, of which mention is made in the " Bulletin of 

 the Society for the Protection of Alpine Plants " (Geneva, 1895). It is 

 a matter of doubt whether Stratiotes ever does ripen its seeds. Its 

 reproduction may be entirely vegetative." 



Biology in the Channel Islands. 



In the October number of his interesting Journal of Marine Zoology 

 and Microscopy, just received, James Hornell gives an account of the 

 work done at the Jersey Biological Station during 1895. No less than 

 fifteen workers have occupied tables at this station during the summer, 

 most of them for a month or more, while many others have visited it 

 for a shorter time. We note that the list given includes zoologists 

 from France, Germany, Switzerland, England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

 To afford working-place for all of these, an additional laboratory-table, 

 with gas and water supply, has been erected in the room used as 

 a museum. H. C. E. Zacharias, from Berlin University, intends to 

 occupy a table permanently in the future, and will assist the Director 

 of the Station in his morphological researches upon some of the rarer 

 representatives of the fauna. An account has already been published 

 in Natural Science (vol. vii., p. 416), of the experiments on formalin 

 as a preservative medium. Mr. Hornell has also pursued investiga- 

 tions upon the difficult bait-problem, for which, in the absence of any 

 subsidy, he deserves great credit. Under the care of the former co- 

 director, Mr. Sinel, the Oyster-parks recently constructed at Green 

 Island are now in a flourishing condition, and the shores of Jersey 

 have been proved so suitable for oyster-culture that other parks are 

 being formed. 



In the present number of the journal, Mr. Hornell continues his 



