launuil of tlje '^ame §ioIa3ical ^$$adatioit. 



The Director's Report.— No. 3. 



The present number of the Journal contains several memoirs of 

 considerable practical importance. Mr. Bateson's paper on The 

 8ense-organs of Fishes is the outcome of six months' work at Plymouth. 

 It will be seen that he has dealt with the subject in the broadest 

 possible manner ; and whilst he is able to oifer many practical 

 suggestions as to the course to be pursued in further experiments 

 with preserved and artificial baits^ he has prepared the way for 

 such experiments by his careful and interesting observations on the 

 manner in which various fishes hunt for their prey. These observa- 

 tions give a far more accurate and well-founded account of the habits 

 of food-fishes than anything that has been published before. 



Through the kindness of Lord Revelstoke the Association will be 

 able to institute a series of practical observations on the oyster in 

 the river Yealm this year. In anticipation of these experiments 

 Dr. G. Herbert Fowler and myself have studied literature of the 

 subject, and have paid visits to some of the chief oyster beds in 

 England for the purpose of obtaining information. Dr. Fowler has 

 also visited the famous Dutch oyster establishments on the Schelde, 

 and gives a very interesting account of what he learnt during his 

 visit. 



As I have found that Dr, Hoek's contributions to the natural 

 history of the oyster are but little known in England, probably 

 because they are published in a Dutch scientific periodical which 

 has not a large circulation, even amongst scientific students, in 

 .England, I have written an abstract of the two papers published by 

 him in 1883—84. In these abstracts I have confined myself to such 

 matter as is of practical importance. Those who wish to enter 

 more fully into the subject should consult his original papers, pub- 

 lished in the Dutch and French languages, in the Tijdschrift der 

 Nederlandsche Dierkundige Yereeniging. 



Lord Montagu, of Beaulieu, who as Lord Henry Scott made a 

 very complete exhibit of oyster culture at the International Fisheries 



NEW SERIES. VOL. I, NO. III. 17 



