MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 2/ 



the bottom of the ship, and strained through the fine silk 

 nets, the mesh of which may be the three-hundredth of an 

 inch across, before passing out into the sea again. In 

 examining with a microscope such a series of gatherings 

 across an ocean, two facts are brought prominently before 

 the mind : 



Fig. 6. The I fensen Quanl itative Nei , 



(1) The constant presence of a certain amount of 

 minute living thii 



(2) The very greal variation in the quantity and in 

 the nature of i bese organism 



