66 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1307 



The physiographic investigations made during 

 this survey were published in the Transr 

 actions of the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh in 

 1892 and 1894 by Dr. H. E. Mill, but the 

 zoological results had never been assembled 

 for publication. 



The region surveyed has an area of 1,160 

 square miles and includes the Arran Basin, 

 the Great Plateau at its mouth, the Estuary 

 of the Clyde, and a series of narrow locks or 

 fiords of which Loch Tyne is the largest. 

 These locks have about 95 per cent, of normal 

 sea water and receive a mean tidal increment 

 of about 4 per cent, of their total volume so 

 that the habitat is typically marine in most 

 essential particulars, but modified by restric- 

 tions on circulation and the resulting condi- 

 tions in temperature typical of fiords. 



The seven typical regions are treated sep- 

 arately in the faunistic summaries in which 

 the species are arranged systematically from 

 Protozoa to Vertebrata, with notes on locali- 

 ties, depths and frequencies. All groups are 

 represented except parasitic ones and Protozoa 

 other than Foraminifera, but somewhat un- 

 evenly and in the older nomenclatures in some 

 instances. The records are based mainly 

 upon the catches of the dredge rather than 

 those of the plankton net. There are two 

 full bibliographies arranged chronologically 

 and systematically. A grand summary in- 

 cludes 806 species of which only 8 per cent, 

 are found in all of the seven subdivisions. 

 It is highly probable that further explorations 

 will greatly increase the elements of the faima 

 common to the several subdivisions. 



This faunistic study will be useful to 

 American investigators of the North Atlantic 

 faima as well as to those who will frequent 

 the newly established Bute Marine Laboratory 

 at Rothesay in the Clyde Sea Area, which for 

 research purposes replaces the Scottish Ma- 

 rine Laboratory at Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, 

 which is now in the possession of amateur 

 interests and in the service of more popular 

 aspects of the biological sciences. It is to be 

 hoped that the unparalleled service to marine 

 zoology rendered by Sir John Murray may in 

 time be recognized by a memorial on the 



shores of Scotland in the form of a marine 

 biological and oceanographical research sta- 

 tion whose equipment and work will be worthy 

 of the name it should bear. 



Charles A. Kofoid 

 UNivEKSirT OP California 



THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND ITS 

 OPPORTUNITY 



Perhaps no other scientific body in this 

 country has the opportunities for cooperation 

 possessed by the Ecological Society. Its mem- 

 bership is made up of workers in zoology, 

 botany and forestry; its field is no less than 

 the relation of all life to its environment. 

 Last summer five members of the Ecological 

 Society, representing zoology, botany and 

 forestry, camped together near the summit of 

 Mt. Marcy in the Adirondack mountains of 

 New Tork for the purpose of doing a con- 

 crete piece of cooperative research on the 

 plants and animals at timber line, and to 

 bring together into a list some of the prob- 

 lems in ecology. The persons and institu- 

 tions cooperating were: Barrington Moore, 

 president of the Ecological Society, Norman 

 Taylor, for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 

 George P. Burns for the Vermont Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station, Charles 0. Adams 

 and T. L. Hankinson for the New York State 

 College of Forestry at Syracuse. 



The results of the study at timber-line will 

 be published elsewhere. The list of problems 

 is given below. The list is by no means all 

 inclusive, nor does it attempt to be thor- 

 oughly logical. It states general problems, 

 with their subdivisions, and gives also a 

 number of specific problems which in reality 

 form parts of general problems. The pur- 

 pose of this list is threefold: (1) to show 

 gaps in our scientific knowledge, or subjects 

 in which the fundamental facts needed for 

 fxirther human progress are lacking; (2) to 

 show subjects in which cooperation is es- 

 sential, subjects which a given science can 

 carry only to a certain point and which must 

 be taken up by one or more other sciences 

 for solution; (3) to suggest specific problems 

 for research workers and students. 



