PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 5 



been met with. Of the number of marked plaice liberated, 

 no less than from 46 to 66 per cent, have been re-captured, 

 which shows that a considerable proportion of the fish at any 

 time on the fishing grounds are actually netted. The Marine 

 Biological station in the Isle of Man and other similar institu- 

 tions deal more generally with the marine fauna, and give 

 valuable results, perhaps all the more so in that they are not 

 limited in the object they have in view, which is the extension 

 of scientific knowledge generally, and not only the good of 

 the fisheries. An aquarium has lately been opened to the 

 public at Madras, being, I believe, the first large one in a 

 tropical country. Some very successful transportations 

 of salmon eggs to New Zealand have been made, but the 

 rearing of the young fish has hitherto been a failure. Some 

 tropical fish from the Bermudas and elsewhere have a chame- 

 leon-like power of changing their colours, and a plain leaden- 

 coloured fish will, under the influence of excitement, shew a 

 series of white bands or even become wholly whitish, the 

 descriptions which have been made of them as separate 

 species being thereby rendered valueless. Through examina- 

 tion of the contents of the crops of grouse it has been shewn 

 that, contrary to the common belief, they eat considerably 

 of caterpillars and other insect larvae, spiders and slugs. It is 

 interesting to read that certain New Zealand birds have the 

 same habits in snail-eating as our thrush, the ground round a 

 suitable stone being strewn with remains of large snail- 

 shells. Cuckoos in this country appear to have some dis- 

 crimination as to where they lay their eggs, but it has been 

 observed that Australian species are much more casual in 

 their selection, and that their eggs rarely resemble those 

 of the nest where they are laid, and besides this they will 

 sometimes lay in the nests of gramnivorous birds, so that 

 the young cuckoo starves, or in a nest already containing 

 a cuckoo's egg. A good deal of theory has been evolved 

 with regard to bird migration, but some remarkable results 

 have lately been obtained from the marking of storks and 

 other birds. A stork marked on the shore of the Baltic 



