570 Dr. Michael Grabham [May 5, 



may see a queen being groomed and tended by the workers, but for 

 the most part she is her own lady's maid in her simple toilet and 

 permanent widowhood. 



But my discourse will degenerate into a lecture if I pursue this 

 subject further. 



I now invite you to accompany me down to the profound dark 

 depths where the mountains we have been considering have their 

 sturdy roots, and I will try to give you just information enough of 

 the natural history of these southern seas to enable you to realize the 

 character of the ocean floor itself, and of the creatures which live 

 and thrive in those obscure cold regions under the extreme pressure 

 of their environment. 



But before we descend it is my duty, standing here — the duty of 

 everyone engaged in oceanic research — to urge you to support us in 

 our claim for further organized exploration of the ocean bed and its 

 biology, even if alone in consideration of unexplored food resources 

 and dormant supplies. Oceanic exploration belongs to us as a part 

 of our Imperial expansion and responsibility, and you cannot study 

 those forty-seven huge volumes which embody imperfectly the results 

 of the " Challenger " expedition of forty years ago without the 

 conviction of the need of further work. A second "Challenger" 

 is long overdue, and the forms of many unknown living beings, 

 their mode of life and their relations to other organisms, living and 

 extinct, together with the phenomena of their geographical distribu- 

 tion and economic value, are waiting to be brought to light ; and 

 many a fishery, with its untold wealth and reserve of food, has yet to 

 be discovered and applied to the needs of constant human expansion. 

 Our lavish national expenditure should surely extend to the tiny 

 cost of ministering to this aspect of the public welfare. The single- 

 minded, unselfish efforts of scientific workers are really a true 

 socialism, in which there is no more thought of personal advantage 

 or enrichment now than influenced him whose widely-revered memory 

 is still focused in this building — namely, Michael Faraday. But we 

 have no organization to urge our claims with due weight, neither 

 can we strike or otherwise coerce the Government. I will only add 

 now that the discoveries of the " Challenger" expedition fully repaid 

 the Government of the day for the cost of its equipment and main- 

 tenance. 



I now ask you to consider this somewhat ungainly-shaped creature 

 before me, which I have brought from the deep sub-tropical sea. 

 The fish, Polyprion Cemier, is now very properly regarded as a 

 typical example of the Serranidae, and is essentially sub-tropical, 

 though occasionally having a larger range. In the Madeira waters 

 it is a common fish, and its interesting life-history has prompted me 

 to bring it before you as a fair representative of our deep sea in- 

 habitants. The fish, rare so far north, has been taken in the mouth 

 of the British Channel, and is known as the wreck fish, from its 



