1894- NOTES AND COMMENTS. 325 



benefit to the students as it is to themselves, and who naturally make 

 many observations of practical as well as scientific importance on 

 the marine fauna of France. 



It is not the first time that we have called attention to the desira- 

 bility of closer co-operation between the educational and scientific 

 establishments of our own country ; and this seems to us a field in which 

 a nearer union is not only perfectly feasible, but would prove to the great 

 advantage of all concerned. It has long seemed to us an astonishing 

 thing that our principal Universities do not insist on their biological 

 students spending at least one summer term at a marine laboratory. 

 There can hardly be any other country where the facilities are so 

 great and where so little advantage is taken of them. The 

 enlightened action of the French Government we have already 

 admired ; Professor Haeckel takes his students every year to 

 Heligoland; the Americans naturally are up-to-date with their 

 numerous stations and summer excursions for students ; even in 

 Japan, as readers of Mr. Bather's account in our February number 

 will remember, the biological students are required to pass at least 

 one term at the laboratory of Misaki. 



Perhaps if similar arrangements were made in England it would 

 be possible, and even as things now are we do not see that it would 

 be impossible, for the Marine Biological Association to offer a little 

 more encouragement to students. The man of science is rarely rich. 

 To do scientific work at all often means the loss of much money 

 to him. Surely such an Association should subsidise rather than tax 

 the struggling investigator. Inspection of the balance-sheets of the 

 Association shows that the amount of money which it yearly derives 

 from the fees or purchases of visiting zoologists forms a very small 

 proportion of its income. The slight pecuniary loss that might be 

 entailed by such reforms as we venture to suggest would be more 

 than compensated by the increased number of visitors and the 

 consequent increase in both value and amount of the scientific and 

 practical observations made at the Plymouth laboratory. By all 

 means let more money flow into the coffers of the Association ; but — 

 we put the question to the public, to the universities, and to the 

 Government of this country — is it logical to ask people to pay for the 

 privilege of doing useful work for which they themselves receive 

 no pay ? 



In the China Sea. 

 In the centre of the China Sea is a great bank about 80 miles 

 long and 30 miles broad, which is known as the Macclesfield Bank. 

 It rises rapidly out of deep water, and lies at an average depth of 

 40 fathoms. As it was frequently crossed by vessels, the Hydro- 

 graphic Department of the Admiralty undertook a more detailed 

 survey, a piece of work which has been accomplished by H.M.SS. 

 " Rambler," " Penguin," and " Egeria," in the springs of 1888, 1892, 



