MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. 35 



ing many interesting contributions to tlie British Museum, 

 and also to the Royal, the Liunean, and other societies. 

 The proposal was also of great practical importance, and he 

 hardly knew whether the results were likely to be of greater 

 utility from a scientific or practical point of view. 



Dr. Albert Gijnthee, F.R.S., Keeper of the Zoological 

 Collections of the British Museum (Natural History), had 

 spoken to many friends, both scientific and non-scientific, 

 and had generally met with a great desire to assist an 

 undertaking like the present one, which promised such 

 great benefits for science, and such practical advantages for 

 the people. It was but human that most of them desired 

 to have the idea taken up by a society in the management 

 of which they might have a voice. In the successful man- 

 agement of the proposed zoological observatories a good 

 many different qualifications would be required. It was 

 not a zoological station alone, but a biological one, which it 

 was proposed to establish, and therefore for the interests 

 of botany as well as of zoology. A good deal of technical 

 knowledge of dredging, &c., would be required. All those 

 qualifications could in no way be better combined than on 

 such a basis as was promised by the council of a representa- 

 tive society, to which men of various qualifications would 

 be elected. Before he came to that meeting he did not 

 feel quite sure whether the proposal would meet with such 

 general approval as had been the case. He had now no 

 doubt about the success of the movement. It was much 

 better to establish these laboratories by means of a society 

 than by the isolated enterprise of a few individuals. 



In the absence of the Lord Mayor, who had expressed 

 his intention of being present, but was detained by a 

 meeting in the City, Sir Joseph Hooker, K. C.S.I,, F.R.S., 

 moved : — " That this meeting does hereby agree to consti- 

 tute itself such a Society under the title of ' The Society 

 for the Biological Investigation of the Coasts of the United 

 Kingdom.' " This was, he said, an effort which would have 

 the hearty appreciation and strong support of the scientific 

 bodies of the country. It was an important fact that the 

 British coast was the richest area in the world for seaweeds. 



