MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
109 
been propounded by M. Forcl, of which mention is made in the 
‘ Bulletin of the Society for the Protection of Alpine Plants ’ 
(Geneva, 1895). It is a matter of doubt whether Stratiotes ever 
does ripen its seeds. Its reproduction may be entirely vegetative. 
The preceding are only one or two instances amongst hundreds 
on which observations are required. We hear a great deal 
nowadays of laboratory work with scalpel and microscope, all of 
which is, no doubt, very necessary ; but nature must be studied, 
also, in the open air. Those of us who went to Cambridge in 
1893 will remember the speech made by Dr. Hill, the Master of 
Downing, in which ho envied us the facilities we had for going, 
as it were, straight to nature, watching actual life at work, instead 
of being cooped up in a laboratory or museum, industriously 
examining or explaining, perhaps, the structure of the muscles 
of the eye-ball. In view of the preceding considerations, and 
though I am aware of many difficulties in the way, I venture to 
suggest, mainly with a view to obtaining an expression of opinion 
from members, the desirability of the establishment of a fresh- 
water biological station in Norfolk. The chief expense would 
be the purchase and maintenance of a wherry. It would be 
absolutely necessary to obtain the support of one or two of the 
leading scientific societies, and perhaps of the universities, to 
enable the scheme to succeed. As the interest in biology is yearly 
increasing, there may be some hope of success. A fresh-water 
biological station would be a complement to the Marine Biological 
Laboratory at Plymouth, though, I regret to say, the success of 
the latter hardly comes up to expectations. However, if such an 
idea is impracticable at present, there can be no harm done in 
suggesting it. Sir. H. B. Woodward, F.G.S., our President in 
1893, in his address, “hoped that some day Norwich might have 
a university college, where researches might be carried on, and 
where prominence would be given to the teaching of subjects of 
special practical importance in East Anglia." If such an institution 
were established in Norwich, then the fresh-water biological station 
would be a most valuable adjunct. — W. A. Nicholson, Hon. Sec. 
Brunnich’s Guillemot in Cambridgeshire. — I am pleased to 
be able to record the occurrence of this Arctic species, if not in 
the county of Norfolk, at least so near it as to make the cir- 
