190 American Fisheries Society 



birds or quadrupeds. Furthermore, such laws are a dead 

 letter and always will be. But there is no reason why 

 men should have to violate the laws to obtain what they 

 are justly entitled to as well as are a favored few. 



The writer is neither a fish culturist nor an angler, and 

 is, of course, unable to comprehend the viewpoint of 

 either, but he believes that a liberal policy on their part 

 is necessary to a progressive development of their inter- 

 ests. Selfishness will not prevail in the future as it has 

 in the past. The writer is not a member of any aquari- 

 um society and his personal interest would be opposed to 

 a change in present conditions. 



It is, from the writer's viewpoint, unfortunate that 

 the great aquaria of the world would have not been 

 planned in accordance with such principles as would 

 render them of adequate value as aids to biological re- 

 search. As adjuncts to biological laboratories they have 

 value in the temporary holding of water life under con- 

 ditions that can never be wholly satisfactory. In the 

 matter of mechanical accessories they may be perfect, but 

 for the actual elucidation by observation of the life his- 

 tories of fishes they have not the necessary approxima- 

 tion of natural conditions and the results are meagre. 

 They probably afford abundant opportunity for the study 

 of the parasitic forms of life which are developed in 

 greatest profusion under conditions unfavorable to high- 

 er forms. But the reports of such institutions show that 

 the general results attained are not what are most de- 

 sired from an epigenetic viewpoint. The investigations 

 are more likely to be largely pathological than biological. 



There is an increased interest in the development of 

 public aquaria. It is, from the writer's viewpoint, unfor- 

 tunate that the great aquaria of the world have not been 

 planned with a view of making them of value as aids to 

 biological research.* That has been a secondary consid- 



*This is true only of such institutions in the United States. The 

 aquariums of Europe are almost without exception merely adjuncts to 

 biological laboratories. See Kofoid, Biological Stations of' Europe, 

 U. S .Bureau of Education, Bull. 4, 1910.— Editor. 



