PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 5 



in uncontaminated waters. This appears also to be a very 

 profitable business, as well as a source of food supply. It 

 is found that the growth of plaice is much quicker upon 

 such parts as the Dogger bank than in shore, and if they could 

 be similarly transplanted, good results might be expected. An 

 interesting and successful feat is the rearing of a second 

 generation of plaice in captivity at the Port Erin Biological 

 Station. About 18 plaice were reared from eggs produced and 

 hatched in the tanks in 1914, and these, about lOJin. long, 

 have now spawned, the eggs being a little small, but 

 developing normal embryos and larvae. The catalogue of 

 African fresh water fish recently issued by the British Museum 

 of Natural History includes no less than 1,425 species, as well 

 as much general information on the subject. Some of these 

 fish are well protected by their appearance and form in their 

 larval stages. In one species (Hemiramphus caldbaricus] the 

 young fish resemble bits of weed and float about in a rigid 

 condition when alarmed. In many fish the young are very 

 transparent and inconspicuous. I suppose that this is the 

 proper place to mention the sea serpent observed on June 14th, 

 1916, by Major O. Smith and others near Stockholm. It had a 

 serpent like head, larger than a man's head, and a serpent -like 

 body about 25 metres in length, with 10 or more waves or 

 humps. It swam at a speed of about 2 knots and was visible 

 for more than a minute. Much evidence exists about sea 

 serpents which would, in connection with other things, 

 be looked upon as reliable, and it is therefore difficult to 

 regard them as altogether mythical, though we may be 

 uncertain as to their exact form. Turning to birds, a swallow 

 which was marked with a leg-ring in Lancashire on July 3, 

 1915, was captured in S.E. Africa near Grahamstown on 

 Feb. 6, 1916. This is the third swallow marked in England 

 in the summer which has been found in S. Africa in the 

 following winter, shewing that a certain number of English 

 swallows make this long migration. Whether in the 

 ordinary course they ever re-visit England remains to be 

 proved. A treaty has been entered into between the 



