﻿252 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



The working of such a system is not a task for isolated 

 workers, but one which demands, for each part of the coast, 

 the co-operation of a number of observers, who shall collect, 

 record, and compare results. We may point out the 

 attractive nature of the work, the direct contact it affords 

 with the facts of animal life on the shore, and the added 

 interest and significance which it gives to the work of the 

 collector and systematist. 



Now as to the nature of the results which might be 

 expected, if the method were successfully applied to a 

 number of stations. We should be in possession of a 

 systematised body of fact which would be invaluable in 

 further study. We should have a clearer conception of 

 the actual complex of conditions to which animal life is 

 subjected on the shore. This conception would form a 

 setting for the results of other investigations. These might 

 be carried on upon the lines adopted by the authors of the 

 Cold Spring Harbor Monographs referred to above. Indeed, 

 the full value of such work upon the Ecology of single 

 species requires for its realisation some such general view 

 as ours. Or the investigations might be carried on in another 

 way. The analysis of the mass of facts directly suggests 

 certain problems, the solution of which demands experimental 

 inquiry. For instance, the " zoning " of the fauna suggests 

 many experiments to test the reasons for such distribution. 

 It would be a simple and interesting experiment to transfer 

 a small boulder, with its attached fauna, from one zone to 

 another, and observe the changes produced on the fauna. 

 The resistance of shore animals to fresh water might easily 

 be tested by direct experiment. The constant association 

 of two species (e.g., Hyale nilssoni with Gammarus marinus), 

 one of the facts revealed directly by a method such as ours, 

 presents a problem which is, on the face of it, not so simple. 

 But even this might yield to well-directed experiment. 



Perhaps the chief value of such a scheme as we have 

 worked out, and have endeavoured to explain, is that it 

 would lay a foundation for experimental work. 



In conclusion, we must thank those who have given us 

 such ready assistance in the identification of specimens : — 



