PLEA FOR SYSTEMATIC ATTENTION TO AQUATIC BIOLOGY. 149
can be brought to bear on general questions, and this, I believe,
also furnishes an answer in the affirmative to the question whether
it is good for the individual himself to select one of the less familiar
groups for special study. For, if the specialist has the oppor-
tunity of mixing freely with specialists in many other directions,
he is much more likely to get the true perspective of his own line
of work than if he only associated with other specialists on his
own group. This will only be possible, however, if members of
a Field Club between them specialize on many different groups
of organisms. In my opinion also the discipline of working at
one of the less well-known groups of organisms has a value of
its own for the individual doing it, whether it is taken up as the
sole object of study or in addition to specialization on the more
familiar groups. And so I am encouraged to suggest that it
would be a good thing both for a Field Club and its individual
members if many more would take up for special study one or
other of the more or less neglected groups of plants and animals,
among which the aquatic forms are certainly most in want of
attention.
Apart from the identifying and recording of species, there
arc certain other directions in which good service to aquatic
biology can be rendered by members of a Field Club as individuals,
whether they are species-specialists or not. Some of the most
valuable observations on the habitats and habits of different
kinds of aquatic, as of other kinds of organisms, are very often
a matter of lucky chance, and it would be well if those having
the good fortune to notice anything at all peculiar would make
careful note of the details. If the observer is not sufficiently
familiar with the organisms involved or with the literature on
the subject, the matter should of course be referred to a specialist,
with specimens if possible. In every case where it appears at
all likely that the observation is new it should be put on record,
as it is only in this way that the materials for a complete under-
standing of the organisms and their relation to their environment
can be accumulated.
Individual members could also give extremely valuable help
in connection with the study of aquatic organisms by constantly
watching particular pieces of water in their immediate neighbour-
hood and reporting any special phenomenon which attracted their
attention. Very many important facts would in this way be