41 



ganisation to deal with a subject on which everybody was 

 agreed ; but there was no question under the sun which 

 seemed to him to have more sides than the fishery question. 

 If he miglit venture on a somewhat trite illustration, this 

 was shown by the fish themselves ; there were flat-fish 

 which had a top side, and a bottom side ; there were the 

 so-called round-fish which had a right side, and a left side : 

 then there were fish which were globular, or almost so, and 

 were either all sides or no sides at all ; and all the ques- 

 tions connected with fisheries were as many-sided as the 

 different fish themselves. In suggesting the formation of 

 this Society, he did not at all lose sight of the fact that the 

 National Fish Culture Association was already in existence, 

 for he had the honour of being a member of the council ; 

 but if he had suggested that society, as the foundation 

 upon which to build up the very much larger body which 

 he had proposed, he would have been taking an invidious 

 course, as there were others which could make an equally 

 good claim on the score of age, at any rate. Several 

 societies already existed dealing with fisheries from one 

 point of view or another — such as the Fisheries Preserva- 

 tion Society, a body which had existed for some time ; the 

 Scottish Fisheries Improvement Association ; the Rivers 

 Purification Association, and others of a similar kind, 

 besides the youngest and very hopeful one to which 

 reference had been made, but whose title, he thought, 

 limited its work. He should himself certainly hesitate to 

 belong to a society which proposed to take up the ques- 

 tion of the culture and breeding of fish by artificial means 

 if it did not intend, first of all, to fortify itself with informa- 

 tion as to the habits of those fish ; and, as for the other 

 points mentioned in the prospectus of the association and 

 quoted by Mr. Chambers and Dr. Day, he thought they 



