20 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XII, 



in aerating the tanks- Consequent largely upon the improvements 

 introduced and the greater variety of fishes exhibited, the attend- 

 ance returns increased wonderfully during the three months that 

 'Fisheries ' have had control. The attendance jumped from 21,354 

 in the months of April, May and June of 1918, to 35,422 for the 

 corresponding period of the present year; the receipts during 

 these months in 1918 were only Rs. 762-14-6 as against Rupees 

 1,540-11-6 for the same period this year. Rupees 21 were also 

 obtained from the sale of guides as against 13 annas only in 1918. 

 Still more gratifying perhaps is the fact that, whilst the takings 

 have not only been doubled, this has been done without increasing 

 expenditure. Indeed this has been materially reduced, the expend- 

 iture for the last three months of 1917-18 being Rs. 470-IO-6 as 

 against Rs. 405-13-7 in the present year. 



The statistics for the whole year compared with those for the 

 preceding year are as follows 



An entirely new handbook to the aquarium has been written 

 by the Director and this will be issued at an early date (G.O. Mis. 

 No. 1341, dated the I2th July 1919). 



37. With the cessation of the war, it has become possible to 

 revive the project of an enlarged aquarium with laboratories 

 attached, where zoological research may be prosecuted under 

 really favourable conditions. A committee is now engaged in 

 investigating the merits of the possible sites which have been 

 proposed. 



38. Research. — Lack of any adequate facilities for laboratory 

 work and still more the fact that the post of Marine Biologist has 

 not yet been filled up, have handicapped this section of work most 

 woefully. However the Director was able to complete a very 

 voluminous and important report upon the fishing craft of Indian 

 seas, a subject which has never received detailed attention until 

 the present time. The report is now in the press and will be 

 issued as one of the memoirs of the Royal Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal. A second, upon East African fishing craft, has appeared 



