SKATES AND RAYS 133 



It is lamentable that wo should possess no well-equipped 

 laboratory on the west or north coast of Ireland in which the 

 Hfe-histories of these fishes, and all the great wanderers from 

 the Arctic and from the subtropics, could be worked out in 

 convenient proximitjrto the grounds which are their meeting- 

 places. Fortunately the Irish Sea and the Minch are each of 

 them by-roads used by bands of these nomads ; and if the 

 laboratories at Piel and Millport could advance no other claim 

 to generous pubhc support, which is very far from being the 

 case, it would still be the duty of the State to equip and man 

 them for the express purpose of filling in the very large gaps 

 which exist in our knowledge of the hfe-histories of the many 

 tribes of Baiidae. For many of these fish are, pace Dr. Paul 

 Gourret,^ among the most dehcious and most wholesome of 

 all the fishes which our trawlers catch. Sooner or later the 

 British pubhc, which has for so many years been left in subhme 

 ignorance of the Great Fisheries and their products, will 

 ' discover ' skates and rays, and appreciate them at their 

 proper value. Moreover, the skins of some species are easily 

 tanned into a Ught, durable, and non-porous leather. The 

 exploitation of the Baiidae will almost certainly develop on 

 intensive lines. 



It will be lamentable indeed if, when that time comes, 

 naturahsts remain unequipped with knowledge of the lives 

 and habits of this widespread and most interesting family. 

 For in that case exploitation is hkely to proceed on unsound 

 and un-economic lines. 



1 ^Vllo thinks that their food value is practically uil {Les Pecheries et Leu 

 Foissons de la Medilerranee, p. 328). 



