XI THE MARINE LABORATORY 165 



that Professor Huxley was the pioneer in urging 

 support for the study of marine life, and regretting 

 the illness which caused his absence, he referred to 

 the enormous importance of the subject both to 

 science and economics in a country which has 2000 

 miles of coast, measuring the actual contact of land 

 and sea in its various windings and bays. He 

 explained the objects of the Laboratory, and 

 described in some detail what had been done 

 elsewhere, closing with an earnest hope that the 

 expectations entertained of its future usefulness 

 would not be disappointed. 1 



This hope has been more than realised. At the 

 time of writing, the new North Sea Marine 

 Laboratory, working in conjunction with experts 

 in Holland, has already made quite unexpected 

 discoveries as to the life and migrations of plaice 

 and other food fishes in the North Sea, and is 

 engaged in a form of " fiscal inquiry " devoid of 

 controversy and full of promise. The publications 

 of the Marine Biological Association at Plymouth 

 have steadily increased in interest and value ; and 

 the movement, which had and has among its chief 

 supporters Professor E. Ray Lankester, who was 

 Honorary Secretary to the Association in its early 

 stages, has more than justified the support given 

 to it. 



1 One of his last public functions was to open the Marine Laboratory at 

 St. Andrews, presided over by his friend Professor William M'Intosh, F.R.S. 



