400 Eadie SAI EINe 
found in such profusion at both these spots, remains a classic. It was 
at Plymouth that Spence Bate first followed the remarkable transforma- 
tions that occur in the development of the common crab of our shores, 
and it was here that he procured a large part of the material upon which 
was based the monograph on British Sessile-eyed Crustacea, which he 
wrote in collaboration with Westwood. 
It was due to the wealth of marine life discovered by these and many 
other local naturalists, that when in 1884 an Association, chiefly under 
the influence of the biologists connected with the Universities of Oxford, 
Cambridge and London, was founded for the study of marine life and 
particularly for the study of marine fishes, the site of the first Laboratory 
was fixed at Plymouth. The researches which have been carried out at 
that Laboratory have fully confirmed the view that we possess off the 
Devon coast a fauna as extensive and as remarkable for the variety of its 
forms as is to be found anywhere in northern Europe. 
The sea fisheries of Devonshire occupy also a unique position in the 
history of British Fisheries, for it was the trawl fishermen of Brixham 
who, gradually pressing eastwards, extended their industry to Dover, 
Ramsgate and Yarmouth, until finally at Grimsby and Hull they laid the 
foundations of that immense trade, which with the coming of the steam 
trawler has taken toll of the most distant waters, from Iceland and the 
White Sea in the north to the coast of Morocco in the south. 
You will, I think, agree that it is fitting that I should here, in passing, 
pay a tribute to the sturdy character and indomitable courage of the men 
of our steam fishing fleets. The Brixham traditions have survived. 
Those of us who had known the men and had sailed with them in times 
of peace knew already something of their worth, but the cool daring and 
patient bravery of their work since the war began has surpassed all 
expectations. It is not too much to say that to them, as much as to any 
men, we owe the protection of our commerce from the ruthless warfare of 
mine and submarine. 
It is now many years since the first attempts were made to apply 
scientific methods to the study of problems connected with sea-fisheries, 
and the subject has developed into what is almost a distinct department 
of marine biology. Were I to attempt to deal even with all the many 
branches of modern fishery research, it would be impossible within the 
limits of a single address to give more than a very superficial account of 
each of them. It will, I think, be more useful and offer a better prospect 
of securing your interest in the subject, if I confine myself to one limited 
question which has received in recent years a considerable amount of 
attention from fishery naturalists. The subject about which I propose 
to speak is that of the age of fishes and the rate at which they grow. It 
