200 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Only slight variation in the composition of the neritic plankton was 
found, while the quantity varied greatly. Comparison is made with 
another series of samples taken on different days with plankton nets 
from the innermost part of the fjord to the water outside it. The outer 
fjord yielded a flora differing from the inner both in quantity and 
quality, explicable on the assumption of an inflowing and an outflowing 
current. Part III. treats of the species in the stomachs of fishes. 
Part IV. deals with the plankton of the Faeroe Bank, 50 miles to the 
south-west, rising from deep-water. The plankton above the Bank is 
partly neritic, and in quantity exceeds that in the deep-water around. 
And the greater coldness and freshness of the water above the Bank 
suggest that it has been brought up to the surface by vertical currents. 
On the coasts of the Faeroes, too, there are similar vertical currents ; 
hence the resemblance between the neritic plankton and the Bank 
plankton. E. S. Gepp. 
Phosphorescent Water and its Protection in Japan. — M. Miyoshi 
(. Bot . Mag. Tokyo , 1915, 29, 51-3, 1 pi.). An account of some examples 
of phosphorescence in fresh-water in Japan. The effect is due to the 
presence of Chromulina Rosanoffii, one of the Chrysomonadinse, long 
known in Europe. It imparts a golden gleam to the surface of the 
water, a phenomenon comparable with that afforded by the luminous 
moss, Schistostega osmundacea. A. Gepp. 
Coelastrum proboscideum Bohl. : A Study of Experimental Plank- 
tology, followed by a Revision of the Swiss Species of Coelastrum. — 
T. Rayss (Materiaux pour la flore cnjptog. suisse, 1915, 5, 2, 66, 20 pis., 
2 figs. ; see also Bot. Gentralbl ., 1918, 137, 265). The species in 
question was cultivated at Geneva. Its polymorphism is remarkable : 
coenobia, forms resembling G. sphsericum , botryoid compact forms with 
roundish or lobed cells, and isolated cells resembling Ghlorella or 
Polyedrium. These variations must be regarded as reactions to different 
media. Coelastrum occurs generally as a coenobium, which may, however, 
fall apart into separate rounded or polyhedral cells. This is often seen 
in media of increasing concentration, and apart from mechanical external 
influences. Coenobia occur principally in media of weak concentration, 
or in higher temperatures. Both these factors diminish the viscosity of 
the medium. This confirms experimentally the theories of Ostwaldt. 
Nutrition has the effect of enlarging isolated cells and bringing about 
an increase in the number of individuals. Respiration is another 
influential factor. In more or less completed anaerobiosis, isolated cells 
are mostly produced ; the presence of oxygen produces coenobia. The 
dismemberment of coenobia appears to provide a larger surface for 
respiration. Peptone works harmfully, in so far as it leads to a separa- 
tion of oil and the dismemberment of the coenobia ; but also usefully, 
in so far as the alga itself in the presence of sugar retains for a long 
time its chlorophyll. Calcium salts (a proportion of 0*25 to 1*75 p.c.) 
hasten the development of Goelastrum, and increase the dimensions of 
the isolated cells and of the coenobia. Potassium salts (0 * 5 to 1 • 75 p.c) 
hinder the formation of coenobia. KC1 alters the cell-contents more or 
less. Free acids are favourable : the coenobia, and the cells which form 
