THE SMALL G AI\IE OF THE SEA 195 



but of these only the larval stages of the snails (gastropods) and 

 bivalves are taken freely while floating at the surface — and 

 chiefly by young herring and whiting. 



It is impossible to read Dr. Lebour's papers without reahzing 

 their immense interest to fishermen and the bearing of her 

 researches on the question of the ' vital statistics ' of the com- 

 mercial fish population. And the writer, for one, is hopeful 

 that she will recount her experiences in non-technical language 

 for the benefit of untrained people hke himself.^ 



As this is wTitten the Marine Biological Association is seeking 

 funds. Once let the work of Dr. Lebour and her colleagues 

 become known, and once let the Fishing Lidustry realize that 

 her discoveries tend, as they certainly do, to bring nearer the 

 time when scientists can forecast the fishing-harvest, and men 

 in the industry will most assuredly support the Association to 

 the best of their ability. At present too many of them are 

 under the impression that the Plymouth researches are intended 

 only to be understood by men of science — and it must be con- 

 fessed that the Association itself (composed as it is of some of 

 the most self-effacing investigators in the world) has done Httle 

 to dispel that misapprehension. 



To the writer — perhaps wrongly — it appears to be a matter 

 of regret that this vital inquiry into the diet of baby fishes 

 should be confined to a station where the numbers of young 

 commercial fishes are so restricted as they are at Plymouth. 

 Herrings, Mackerel, Pilchard, Sprats, Gurnards, Whiting, Ling, 

 Hake, Turbot, Brill, Plaice, Flounder, Dab, Lemon Soles, and 

 Soles pretty well exhaust the fist of Dr. Lebour's commercial 

 species, and many of these are rare in the Plymouth young- 

 fish nets. 



One w^onders w^hether she will ever be enabled to work at 

 collections from waters which cradle more of the young of such 

 fishes as are hunted by the big fleets, and more of the minute 

 ' northern ' forms which feed them. That would be one more 

 step towards that rapprodiement between Business and Science, 

 the promotion of which is the sole object of this book. 



' Practical ' Besearches 



The writer has frequently heard fellow laymen, both in 

 the industry and outside it, regret that naturalists were not 



* Her most important conclusions are : («) that babj^ fish eat solid food 

 while the yolk-sac is still present — e. g. herrings and brill : (h) that baby fish 

 iisually prefer a certain kind of food, and stick to it. Helpless as they appear 

 to be, they will select the particular crustacean or mollusc which their species 

 fancies from the midst of a mass of edible plants and animals floating all 

 round them. 



N 2 



