522 Transactions of the Society. 



this country. Because of the general public ignorance in these 

 matters, our politicians have had no difficulty or scruple in throw- 

 ing dust in the eyes of the people as regards the shortage of fish 

 supplies. Like many other matters, it has been readily and loudly 

 proclaimed that the fearful war we are engaged in is respousi le 

 for the almost total disappearance of this valuable food supply. 

 That the war is indirectly a cause I am prepared to admit, but the 

 real factor is the criminal neglect of our Government authorities 

 for years past to seriously consider the conservation and develop- 

 ment of our home fisheries, or to pay any attention to the repeated 

 warnings of our marine biologists as to the fearful wastage of 

 immature fish under existing conditions of commercial trawling, 

 and the inevitable depletion of what I may term our inshore 

 fisheries. But these are points upon which I must not dilate to- 

 night. I have touched upon them simply to emphasize the economic 

 importance of Marine Biology. 



We have a particularly rich sea-weed flora round our British 

 coasts, beautiful and varied in Ibrm, size, and colour ; and the 

 study of their morphology and life-histories may well attract the 

 attention of the microscopist. A single morning's ramble along the 

 seashore after a violent gale will, at certain seasons of the year, 

 supply him with sufficient material for many a long evening's work 

 with the microscope. In the preservation and preparation of the 

 material collected, the processes selected must depend upon the 

 point to be investigated, i.e. general morphology or the minute 

 structure of the cell-contents. For cytological work I have always 

 found Bouin's solution one of the best fixatives, giving a very 

 beautiful and life-like result, specimens treated with it retaining 

 •delicate detail, and staining readily. 



The solution is composed of: — Picric acid, saturated aqueous 

 sol., 75 parts ; forraol, 25 parts ; acetic acid, 5 parts. 



After fixation, the material may be washed out with alcohol of 

 increasing strength, starting with 50 p.c, 70 p.c, 90 p.c, and 

 absolute alcohol. 



For displaying in a natural manner the appearance of the 

 fruiting organs of sea-weeds, I have employed the following method 

 with considerable success for a number of years : — On my work- 

 table I have ready three deep half-plate size porcelain developing 

 dishes, such as are used for the development of photographic plates. 

 Into dishes No. 1 and 2 a supply of clean filtered sea-water is 

 placed, and into No. 3 either tap or filtered sea- water, according to 

 the character of the alga, for some of the red forms are apt to 

 change tint or discharge their colouring matter when placed in 

 tap-water. Into dish No. 1 is placed the whole specimen for a 

 preliminary wash and examination under a pocket lens having a 

 power of X 8 or x 10, which is quite sufficient for selecting purposes. 

 The selected branches bearing the reproductive organs are cut off 



