PLEA FOR SYSTEMATIC ATTENTION TO AQUATIC BIOLOGY. 147
We must now pass on to the third reason advanced to account
for the comparatively little regard paid to aquatic biology by
Field Clubs and similar societies, and to a consideration of the
appliances required for such work and the various means by
which a Field Club could encourage more attention to the subject.
While it is true that the collection and observation of or-
ganisms living in water are, on the whole, more troublesome
than in the case of terrestrial forms, the difficulties are apt to,
be very much exaggerated. For a very large amount of the work
of collecting only simple apparatus is required, not in fact more
than is used, say, by a lepidopterist. There is, of course, in
addition what many people regard as the unpleasantness of
handling wet and often cold, and sometimes it must be confessed
slimy things. But this is only a psychological trouble and at
most a slight inconvenience which should not deter any naturalist
from taking up the study of aquatic life. For certain special
purposes the collecting apparatus no doubt becomes more com-
plicated, but the use of this will come naturally as the work
advances. The same is true with regard to the observation of
aquatic organisms. Except in connection with the higher plants,
not much can be done on the spot with the naked eye and without
apparatus of any sort. A certain number of appliances must be
employed, but a great deal of work can be done with quite simple
means, such as a few bottles, jars, troughs, dishes, etc., and simple
methods of magnification for the forms intermediate between the
macroscopic and the microscopic. More elaborate appliances are
of course also useful in special cases, but these again only become
necessary in advanced work. In order to show how simple
many of the appliances required may be, and also to give an
idea of the more elaborate pieces of apparatus, I have brought
specimens or illustrative lantern slides of a certain number and
will now proceed to make a few remarks about them.
The various pieces of collecting apparatus exhibited or referred
to included hand-nets of various materials and degrees of fine-
ness, tow-net, quantitative plankton-net, dredge, grapple, sieves,
centrifuge, etc. The advisability of using in most cases nets of two
or three sizes of mesh, together with the centrifuge for the smallest
organisms, was strongly advocated. As regards the apparatus
required for observation, attention was called more particularly
to those methods of magnification which could be used easily in
the field. For instance, the employment of field-glasses for
examining the objects on the surface and for looking into the water,