5 GEORGE V. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 39b A. 1915 



THE PLANKTON IN ST. ANDREW'S BAY. 

 By A. WiLLEY, D.Sc, F.R.S. 



Professor of Zoology, McGill University, Montreal. 



Few imagine, when crossing the ocean, that the prow of the ship is cleaving 

 its way through teeming myriads of foam-like creatures and that every turn of 

 the screw is a marine catastrophe, bringing sudden death to multitudes of sensitive 

 beings. 



That this is a fact is frequently demonstrated in the darkness of the night 

 when the swarm of life approaches nearer the surface which it illuminates by phos- 

 phorescent scintillations. 



An ingenious method of testing the vitality of the sea from the seemingly 

 unfavourable situation of a passenger on an ocean liner, has been adopted in 

 recent years by Professor Herdman of Liverpool, the founder of the successful 

 Marine Biological Station at Port Erin (Isle of Man) . The method simply consists 

 in straining the sea-water as it flows from a tap through a silk bag, at intervals 

 during a voyage. 



Even in the daytime, in calm weather, the presence of living matter may be 

 made manifest by the occurrence of smooth oily-looking streaks and patches in 

 the midst of the rippling water. The remarkable character of these so-called 

 animal currents was first recognized by Carl Vogt so long ago as 1848. A 

 graphic description of their appearance around Lanzarote, one of the Canary 

 Islands, was published by Professor Richard Greeff in 1868. Similar streaks may 

 be observed in the bay of St. Andrews; they are due in part to the tidal currents 

 and in part to the organisms which are contained in them. 



The floating fauna and flora of the oceanic and coastal waters constitute 

 what is known as the Plankton or drifting life of the sea. This technical term, 

 which is now universally employed at Biological Stations, was introduced by Pro- 

 fessor Victor Hensen of Kiel in 1887. The only single vernacular term, previously 

 in use, which conveyed the same meaning, was the German word 'Auftrieb', this 

 was commonly borrowed by other tongues, and the custom of using it continued 

 for several years after the more international expression 'Plankton' had been 

 happily suggested; but now it is seldom heard. 



The originator of the special study of the marine Plankton and, therefore, 

 the father of planktology, was the. greatest naturalist of the nineteenth century 

 in Europe during the period which intervened between the death of Cuvier (1832) 

 and the rise of Darwin (1858) , namely, Johannes Miiller of Berlin. It was he who 

 introduced the method of towing through the water a very fine-meshed gauze-net 

 of muslin or silk, which he used in furtherance of his researches on the free-swim- 



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