JAVA SEA PLANKTON AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION 
TO SPECIALISTS. 
The task of the Dutch East Indian Government Laboratory for Marine 
Investigations (Laboratorium voor het Onderzoek der Zee) at Batavia, Pasar 
Ikan, is to collect data concerning the natural history and the conditions 
of life of marine animals and especially of those which are of economic 
value. The ultimate aim is to arrive at a thorough knowledge of the nat- 
ural factors which influence or might influence the yield of the fisheries 
or, in other words, to establish a scientific basis for a rational exploitation 
of the sea, | : “ion 
For practical reasons the work of the laboratory has been confined to 
the Java Sea, or at least to the shallow, neritic seas of the western half of 
the Dutch East Indies, which, considered as fishing grounds, are of far more 
importance than the deep, more oceanic seas of the eastern half of the 
archipelago. 
Especially biological (i.e. ecological), but also physiological and onto- 
genetical studies concerning the fauna and flora of a given marine area are 
much facilitated by a previous thorough knowledge as to what species of 
animals and plants are to be found living in that area. 
Whereas the fish fauna of the Dutch East Indies is well known through 
the work of Dr. P. Bleeker and others, hardly anything is known on the 
contrary as to what species of animals and plants constitute the plankton 
of for example the Java Sea. 
Now there are in the Dutch East Indies no specialists able to undertake 
the systematic examination and description of the large collections of Java 
Sea plankton brought together on the cruises of the Dutch East Indian 
Government Investigation Steamer “Brak”. | 
Moreover it does not appear desirable that the members of the small 
scientific staff of the Batavia Laboratory for Marine Investigations should 
apply themselves to the examination and description of the different syste- 
matic groups of plankton organisms living in the Java Sea. 
Indeed the systematic examination and description of samples of Java 
Sea plankton can be undertaken in any part of the world where there are 
specialists who have at their disposal the necessary literature and collect- 
ions ‘ for comparison. On the other hand ecological, physiological 
and also ontogenetical investigations will generally have to be made 
at or close by the natural abode of the species of animals and plants to 
be studied. 
