112 THE director's REPORT. 



is in full progress, but it will be some time before lie will be in a 

 position to publish on the subject. A few chance observations on 

 the habits of animals other than fishes which have come under Mr. 

 Bateson's notice are given in this number, but his observations on 

 food-fishes are withheld until the publication of his complete work. 



A contribution from Mr. Earle, of Jamaica, is published as showing 

 the primitive condition of the fisheries in one of our colonies, and in 

 future numbers similar contributions from other colonies will be 

 published. 



In order that the nature of the work carried on by the staff of 

 the Association may be understood, and the difficulties encountered 

 in attempts to cultivate and study sea-fish may be appreciated, a 

 short sketch is here given of the progress of the Laboratory since 

 the beginning of this year. 



In the first months of the present year, immediately after my last 

 report was written, the Laboratory was deserted by eveiybody 

 excepting the permanent staff of the Association, viz. Mr. Cunning- 

 ham, Mr. Garstang, and myself. Mr. Weldon, who had stayed at 

 Plymouth up to Chi'istmas, was obliged to return to Cambridge to 

 resume his duties as Lecturer on Zoology in the University, and 

 there were no gentlemen who could spare the time to continue their 

 observations through the winter months. 



In the months of December and January herrings visit the south 

 coast of England in large numbers and deposit their ova in bays and 

 estuaries. At this time large numbers are taken by small boats 

 working with two or three drift-nets in Plymouth Sound ; accordingly 

 the first practical investigation of the year was a renewed study of 

 the habits and development of the herring. The ova of the herring, as 

 is well known, differ from those of the majority of food-fishes in being 

 heavier than sea-water; they adhere in masses to rocks and weeds 

 at the bottom of the sea and can only be obtained by the dredge or, 

 of course, directly from the ripe fish. Mr. Cunningham obtained a 

 number of fertilized ova in the latter manner, and these were hatched 

 in the tanks in the Laboratory. The larvee lived and were apparently 

 very healthy up to the time of the absorption of the yolk-sac, but 

 after that they all perished, as it seems, from want of suitable nourish- 

 ment. Mr. Cunningham tried to feed them in many different ways, 

 but none of his experiments met with any success. In January, 

 Mr. Cunningham and I made several expeditions to Bigbury Bay, 

 Cawsand Bay, and the coast near Raeme Head, with the view of 

 obtaining the spawn of the herring by means of the dredge. Although 

 we dredged over a large area in which full and shotten herring were 

 being caught every night we did not succeed in hitting on the spot 

 where ova were deposited. At the same time we obtained numbers 



