69 
on the reefs at low tide during night, seeking by torch light for 
all sorts of edible animals, the light being reflected by the calm 
water. 
I may still mention an observation made in the vicinity of the 
Tajando Islands on some calm days in May 1922, viz. of extensive 
patches of Chlorophyceæ (two different forms, probably belonging 
to the genera Enteromorpha and Cladophora) covering the surface 
of the sea. I have no idea from where these algæ came; they 
all appeared to be thriving well, being beautifully green. I could 
not help being reminded thereby of the floating Sargasso, and I 
really would suggest it to be a corresponding phenomenon, only, 
of course, on a very much smaller scale. No animals were found 
to inhabit these floating masses, which might indicate that they 
had not been floating here for a longer period. On such calm 
days another interesting observation was made repeatedly, viz. that 
the water looked almost dirty, numbers of dirty-brownish, woollike 
masses floating everywhere, at the surface and so deep down as 
the eye could penetrate. On a microscopical examination of these 
masses they were found to consist of long threads of diatoms (espec- 
ially Skeletonena, so far as I remember). This observation has an 
important bearing on the question of the plankton-production in 
tropical seas, bearing witness of an exceedingly fast growth of the 
Diatoms; such Diatom masses were always observed after the sur¬ 
face had been lying calm only for some hours, and the chains 
evidently had been formed during that short interval; the movement 
of the waves break the chains very easily, which accounts for the 
faet that they are only observed during calm weather. I have no 
more exact observations regarding this phenomenon, becoming too 
late conscious of its importance. It would certainly be worth while 
to make more exact observations of this phenomenon. 
If we will now ask, how far the results of the investigations 
carried out in this region give a definite answer to the question 
whether the Kei Islands would represent a suitable place for the 
planned tropical marine laboratory, I cannot hesitate in stating that, 
in my opinion, this would be an ideal place for such a station, at 
least as far as the biological conditions are concerned. 
First of all, it has been definitely proved that a rich and varied 
fauna of genuine abyssal forms oceurs over the whole of the large 
