420 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 



With a view to the arrangement of international co-operation in 

 scientific investigations dealing with sea fisheries, a second Conference 

 recently met at Christiania upon the invitation of the Norwegian 

 Government, and was presided over by Professor Nanseu. At this 

 Conference the Association was represented by Mr. Garstang, who 

 was appointed one of the delegates of the British Government. The 

 Conference has drawn up a detailed scheme for the hydrographical 

 and biological investigation of the northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean, 

 the North Sea, and the adjoining seas. The Council cf the Association 

 is taking steps to urge upon His Majesty's Government the great 

 importance which it attaches to the successful carrying out of the 

 programme of the Conference, and the desirability of Great Britain 

 taking its full and proper share in the conduct of the work. 



Since the commencement of the current year (1901), Mr. Stuart 

 Thompson has been engaged in a research on the periodic growth of 

 fish scales as an index of age. He has directed his attention more 

 especially to the families Gadidas and Pleuronectidie, and has been 

 successful in demonstrating that the periodic additions to the size 

 of the scales during growth vary in extent according to the season 

 of the year. The scales thus present a series of annual rings, which 

 can be used to determine the age of the fish with great precision. The 

 results of this inquiry will doubtless be of much value in various 

 branches of fishery investigation. 



The examination of the fish population in the estuarine waters of 

 the Hamoaze, which has now been carried on for several years, has been 

 continued regularly. 



During the summer of 1900 a detailed investigation was made of the 

 fauna of Salcombe Harbour. For the purposes of this work the labora- 

 tory-boat Dauii, which had been lent to the Association by Mr. J. W. 

 Woodall, was stationed at Salcombe, and the different shores and 

 channels of the harbour were carefully examined. The results of the 

 investigation were published in the Journal of the Association issued in 

 November. 



The systematic examination of the fauna on the grounds in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of Plymouth has been continued, and a large 

 number of records of the local distribution of the various species living 

 in the district have now been brought together in a form convenient for 

 reference. These records furnish the basis for a detailed history of the 

 distribution of the marine fauna of Plymouth. 



The Association continues to send out to the Universities, Colleges, 

 and Museums living and preserved specimens of marine animals and 

 plants, and during the present year a large part of the necessary ap- 

 paratus for dredging and trawling work required by several expeditions, 



