who come from abroad ; provided, of course, that they get the 
necessary facilities and sympathy. Unfortunately, the material 
obtained can only be worked up with great difficulty owing to the 
serious lack of literature in Perth. There is one other difficulty, 
too, that I must touch on here — a hindrance to the research 
work of our University professors and lecturers. Probably 
there are no teachers in the world’s universities who are 
required to put in so much time at actual teaching — “spoon feeding” 
— as their Australian colleagues. Their value to the State is to 
a large extent lost. 
1 do not want it to be imagined that I have attempted above to 
give any more than an indication of the position of marine biology 
in our State. Let me now pass to a few more particular points. 
Plankton Investigations. 
The term “Plankton” was applied in the first case by that 
veteran physiologist of Kiel, Hensen, to indicate all those organisms 
floating in the sea which are at the mercy of currents and waves. 
When we have fully considered the organisms which creep about the 
sea bottom or are attached to it (the Benthos) ; those which roam 
at will through the waters as, for example, fishes, marine mammalia, 
some mollusca and Crustacea (the Nekton), we have not exhausted 
the life of the sea. The voyager sails over a “marine pasture” of 
microscopic organisms so rich that beneath his vessel is a wealth 
of life more abundant than perhaps in many a tropical forest. To 
capture the small organisms of the plankton we need the tow-net 
of silk, the centrifuge, and the water bottle. Since the development 
of the Kiel School of Plankton Workers, our knowledge of this 
branch of marine biology has progressed wonderfully and the mere 
enumeration of species has given way to a study of seasonal change 
and the relationship of the plankton to oceanographical conditions. 
This is bringing us to the study of the ultimate phenomena of life 
from another point of view altogether. The study of the plankton 
off the West Australian coasts will be of importance in connection 
with our Fisheries (many fish eggs are pelagic), and also in another 
commercial undertaking of great value, the cultivation of the Pearl 
Oyster. 
Up to the present time we have no knowledge of the seasonal 
changes in the plankton at any place South of the Equator. This 
is a subject we hope to take up at the University — as soon as we 
can find the necessary time. The few investigations already made 
have shown that every year about June there is a regular appearance 
of the Ephyrae of Aurelia in large numbers in the Swan River. 
Before this month (but variations have taken place probably owing 
to early or late rains and the consequent rush of fresh water into 
