178 
upon estimates and hearsay. The lab- 
oratory will provide for the filing and the 
study of these records. 
Sut this statistical work is only a part 
of the program, and in formulating both 
this and the biological, which is in a way 
the more important, the Commission has 
had before it the several programs adopted 
during the last two decades in other 
countries, notably in those bordering the 
North Sea and our North Pacific, and 
from these programs and their results it 
has been possible to decide within some- 
what narrow limits what knowledge is 
necessary to competently legislate for our 
fisheries. The failures and successes of 
others during the recent great advances 
in fishery science have profited us. And 
in this fact is seen the reason why the 
program for the proposed laboratory will 
be a really vital one, dealing with questions 
which actually face the legislator and 
the men interested commercially. It will 
lack the vagueness of random natural 
history investigations, and it will avoid 
the limitation in value of technological 
research. In the future we may justifiably 
hope that the investigations carried on 
in the new laboratory will further define 
and clarify the many problems to be met 
with. 
And in thus reviewing the work in 
other fields perhaps the most obvious fact 
has been the absolute necessity of access 
to the vast store of specimens and data to 
be furnished by the commercial fisheries. 
No agency could afford to duplicate this 
store, despite its vital importance to any 
investigations. And this has, in fact, 
determined the location of the laboratory | 
and dominated in the construction of its 
plans. Another obvious conclusion to be 
drawn from the work of others has been 
the necessity of obtaining popular sup- 
port by exhibiting to those interested the 
purposes of the work, and its achieve- 
ments, as well as by showing graphically 
the necessity for it. Because of this there 
has been planned an exhibit room. 
The great scientific value of this work 
may not be immediately obvious to the 
scientist who is interested in some of the 
more basic laws of biology. It may ap- 
pear too practical. Yet this definition of 
aim, and practical trend actually heightens 
the value of the work from the stand- 
point of general science. The problems 
CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME, 
faced by the legislator are, in striking 
degree, the same as those in which the 
student of geographical distribution, and 
of evolution is or should be interested, 
and the material offered by the commercial 
fisheries far exceeds in extent that which 
can be obtained through other sources, 
The degree of isolation of different races 
and the extent to which it leaves its traces 
on the morphology or habits of the species 
is of great importance to one pondering the 
value of protection to a species over- 
fished in a particular loeality, just as it 
is to the man interested in the formation 
of races and species. The rapidity of 
growth, the distribution of pelagic ova or 
larve by currents, the response of the 
species to changes in surrounding condi- 
tions, all affect both the conclusions of 
the naturalist and those to whom the 
apparent abundance of fish is vitally im- 
portant. Above all, however, our pro- 
gram will be most vital to the progress 
of hydrographical science in its relation 
to the food supply of man, through what 
is in reality the most essential purpose of 
our work—the measurement of the actual 
abundance of fish in the ocean. The effect 
of hydrographical conditions on fish can 
not be measured without a knowledge of 
the real abundance of fish, of the rate of 
growth, and the habits. So, in addition 
to being dedicated to the service of com- 
petent legislation for conservation and 
utilization, the laboratory will be in a 
very real way an essential part in the 
progress of more general scientific knowl- 
edge. Wie: 
PROGRESS OF THE ALBACORE WORK. 
During the past summer Mr. Thompson 
has been pursuing in so far as possible 
the study of the albacore, with particular 
reference to its age and rate of growth. 
Mr. Rich and Mr. Sette have been sta- 
tioned since June at San Diego and San 
Pedro for the purpose of collecting for 
Mr. Thompson certain measurements and 
statistics bearing on the various problems. 
The study of the age has progressed to 
a point where the results are being pre- 
pared for publication. The age marks on 
the scales being illegible save in part, a 
special technique was necessary in order 
to decipher them. This was the more 
necessary in that serious questions have 
arisen in some quarters regarding the ac- 
