Bottoms

Rewarp Ac Quipq'

When one thinks of the spread of pests across the world by travellers, one naturally thinks in terms of land. Rut two Australian scientists, lately, have

shown that similar things can happe the sea.

Two small Jap vessels were capl early in the war, and anchored Watsons Bay, Sydney. They remt there for years. Now the whoh Sydney’s harbour is more or less fouled by an encrustating growth that not there before the war, and wh!c well known in the Far East, doubtedly, the pest came from the on those ships.

Scientific inquiries show that this of thing has happened many times. ! marine growths on ship’s bottoms endure through a three months’ c in hot, temperate and cold water, festation does not happen readily ' the ships keep moving, or remain a : time. But a long wait simply n that the foreign marine growths time to take root in the waters of strange port.