KEPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 349 



Dartmouth and Exmoutli, and to the westward to Fowey and Falmouth. 

 The sailing boat Anton Dohrn has also been used for collecting in 

 Plymouth Sound. 



The Staff. 



No change has taken place in the staff during the year. 



The Council would again draw attention to the fact that the equip- 

 ment of the Laboratory and boats is now sufficiently complete to allow 

 of a very much larger amount of scientific work being done, if the 

 services of more naturalists could be retained for lengthened periods. 

 It is in this direction that the Council looks forward to the develop- 

 ment of its work, although any such development is impossible without 

 an adequate increase in the income of the Association. 



The Library. 



The thanks of the Association are due to Mr. J. P. Thomasson for 

 a donation of £20 for the purchase of books for the Library and for 

 binding, and- to the Zoological Society of London for an almost 

 complete set of their publications from the year 1832. With the 

 help of Mr. Thomasson's donation Smitt's valuable work on Scandi- 

 navian fishes has been purchased, and the publications of the Zoological 

 Society have been bound. 



It has been necessary to fix a number of new shelves in the Library 

 in order to accommodate the increasing number of books. 



The Council has again to thank the Eoyal Society, the Zoological 

 Society, the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, the 

 Eoyal Microscopical and many other societies, for copies of their 

 current publications, as well as those authors who have presented 

 separate copies of their works. 



General Report. 



In compliance with the requirements of H.M. Treasury, mentioned 

 in last year's Ileport of Council, special attention has been given to 

 investi'^ations relatinj^ to the habits and miiirations of the mackerel. 

 In addition to the preparation of the report on the subject forwarded 

 to n.M. Inspectors of Irish Fisheries, which has since been published 

 in the Journal of the Association, Mr. Garstang has been specially 

 engaged in studying the characteristics of mackerel captured in various 

 localities and at different seasons of the year, in order to determine 

 whether distinct races of this fish can be recognised. Samples have 

 been obtained from the western portion of tiie English Channel, the 

 west coast of Ireland (through H.M. Inspectors of Irish Fisheries), 



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