175 



observable In the backwaters. These variations need 

 give Uttle anxiety, since the fish are habituated to them. 



11. We have, then, a much greater variety than in 

 Europe of fishes suitable for cultural work, at least 

 experimentally, and therefore very great chances of 

 successful fish-farming. But Mr. Hornell also points 

 out the regrettable fact that we know very little about 

 our food (or other) fishes as regards (a) breeding habits, 

 (/?) food, {c) ability to live in comparative confinement, and 

 that we require to experiment in the laboratory as well 

 as in small fish farms, before we can definitely say 

 which fish are the most suitable, both in their ability to 

 thrive in er^closures in the conditions and on the food 

 therein available or in the food which we can supply 

 with sufficient cheapness, and in their food value. I beg 

 to refer in this connection to my remarks in paragraphs 

 6 and lo of my No. 163, dated ist June last, on the 

 necessity for giving " Fisheries " a domicile with a small 

 biological laboratory and hatchery in the proposed new 

 aquarium, and the practical advantages arising there- 

 from. As Mr. Hornell says (page 82) "Observations 

 are urgently needed upon the breeding habits and the 

 nature of the food of the principal backwater and 

 estuarine fishes, and experiments in artificial impregna- 

 tion and hatching are needed before marine fish culture 

 can be carried on commercially with fair assurance 

 of eventual success." So also in page 74, he alludes to 

 the need for a small hatchery attached to an aquarium 

 and the opportunities which it would give for practical 

 work. Hence, though we know thai several of the most 

 important natural conditions are more favourable to 

 fish-farming in this country than in Europe, e.g., large 

 variety of suitable and valuable fish, abundance of fish 

 food, rapidity of growth, absence of rigorous winter, etc., 

 yet more data are required before fish-farming can be 

 coruiiiercially assured. 



12. Consequently we come to the methods suitable 

 to this country. Mr. Hornell (pages "]"] to ^i) shows 

 that there are vast areas suitable for both methods of 

 fish-farming, viz. (i) the so-called "natural" method in 

 vog^ue at Arcachon and Comacchio, to wit, the settino" 

 apart of large continuous areas of water and simply 

 enticing the young fish from the sea into these areas, 

 where they grow, without artificial food, till fit for 



