PLEA FOR SYSTEMATIC ATTENTION TO AQUATIC BIOLOGY. 151
regard to them, and so perhaps lead to the recruiting of new
workers for their special study. But it would do more than this,
for it would incidentally sanction a longer delay at certain ponds,
etc., than is usually considered necessary, and it is just this extra
time at favourable places that is most needed by those who want
to take the study of aquatic organisms seriously.
Another very good way by which interest could be aroused
and good work accomplished in regard to the matter under
consideration would be for the Field Club to organize special
Field-days solely or primarily for aquatic biology. In order to
carry these through in proper scientific fashion it would be
necessary for the organizers to provide at some convenient
headquarters, tables, tanks, dishes, etc., as well as a few micro-
scopes, so that as the material collected was brought in it could
be suitably displayed. Many years ago, in 1909 in fact, this
Club organized such a Field-day at the East London Water
Works reservoirs at Walthamstow, and a most successful meeting
it proved to be. If a series of such meetings could be held, say,
in some of the private parks with lakes, in various parts of the
county, they could hardly fail to be very attractive and of much
scientific value.
There is a still more ambitious way by which a Field Club,
if it had the means, could promote aquatic biological research.
I am thinking of the maintenance of a biological laboratory or
station which, if it could be organized, would add lustre to the
society and undoubtedly yield valuable scientific results. It
is now more than twenty years since the idea of running a bio-
logical station was first entertained by this Club. In the
pamphlet entitled "The Essex Field Club : What it is ; what
it has done (1880-1906) ; and what it wishes to do" (usually
referred to as the "Red Book"), published in 1906, we read
that "Another enterprise on which the Club desires to embark
as soon as the necessary financial and other arrangements can
be made is the establishment of a small station for biological
research, preferably one which may be moved from one part of
the county to another. This would form a centre and workshop
for biological and faunistic research in connection with the Club's
museums. Mr. William Cole has suggested that such an enter-
prise might be—indeed ought to be—subsidized by the Local
Authorities, such as the County Council (preferably through the