ARTIFICIAL HA TCHING OF MARINE FOOD-FISHES. 251 



tory for a short time ; at the fine establishment of the Marine 

 Biological Association at Plymouth, by the scientific mem- 

 bers of the staff of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 

 and by the recent expeditions of the Inspectors of 

 Fisheries, Ireland, and the Royal Irish Academy. These 

 united labours have not only made us acquainted with the 

 spawning and development, as well as the whole life- 

 histories of many of our most important marine food-fishes, 

 have given us more extensive and accurate experience of 

 the fisheries generally, but have stimulated practical energy 

 in various directions, e.g., in regard to shell-fishes and edible 

 crustaceans. Much yet remains to be done, but those who 

 had experience of the condition of our knowledge in 1883 

 will not be slow to accord due weight to the advances just 

 alluded to, and especially to the labours of E. E. Prince, 1 

 T. Wemyss Fulton, 2 J. T. Cunningham, 3 and E. W. L. 

 Holt. 4 



Such studies were absolutely necessary before proceed- 

 ing, for instance, to hatch marine food-fishes on an exten- 

 sive scale, and thus test the feasibility of increasing the 

 numbers of the more valuable kinds by artificial methods. 

 Moreover, they are equally important for purposes of legis- 

 lation, in connection with the rate of growth and the 

 attainment of maturity in fishes, the interdependence of the 

 inshore and offshore waters — for example, the wafting of the 

 eggs and larvae of certain fishes shorewards, and the return 

 of the young or adolescent fishes to the offshore waters ; 

 while the food and the enemies of fishes at their various 

 stages, the currents, temperatures, and the general physics 

 of the water are also in need of further elucidation. These 

 and many other problems are so closely interwoven with 

 more purely scientific marine work that dissociation is 

 impossible. Every nation with marine fisheries, indeed, is 



1 Now Commissioner of Fisheries in Canada. 



2 Superintendent of Scientific Investigations, Fishery Board for 

 Scotland. 



s Of the Marine Laboratory, Plymouth. 



4 Formerly of the St. Andrews Marine Laboratory, now at the Labora- 

 tory, Grimsby. 



