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Without venturing to suggest any elaborate scheme for the 

 constitution of such a Society, I may in conclusion attempt 

 to enumerate the salient features of its work. 



First of all, the Society should be the repository of every 

 kind of information, practical and scientific, relating in any 

 way to fish and fisheries. In the archives of many of the 

 learned societies of the metropolis and of the provinces are 

 hidden away vast stores of useful knowledge concerning 

 the fisheries, which should be brought under one roof, where 

 all persons seeking information could depend on assistance 

 in making themselves acquainted with everything that 

 had already been done before them. Round the coasts, 

 on the banks of every stream, live hundreds of observers, 

 some of them skilled in recording facts bearing on a particular 

 branch of the subject, others only wanting such direction 

 and encouragement as the Society would afford to become 

 earnest and intelligent workers in the practical development 

 of the fishing industry. Fishermen and others should be en- 

 couraged by the offer of prizes to record their observa- 

 tions ; and, when they have proved themselves capable 

 and efficient workers, by small occasional or regular 

 grants, to work up special subjects. Systematic records 

 of the temperature of air and water, the state of wind 

 and sea, the nature of the bottom, the presence or absence 

 of particular weeds, the movements and abundance or 

 scarcity of fish, the contents of their stomachs, their 

 condition in regard to fatness and the development of 

 spawn, their growth, their enemies, their parasites, their 

 companions, and of many other points, should be made day 

 by day all round the coasts. Men of proved capacity, and 

 enjoying the confidence of their neighbours, should be 

 appointed for particular districts, to direct, encourage, and 

 assist the fishermen both to give- and to seek information 



