December 13. 1900] 



NATURE 



159 



inquire (a) into the customs and institutions of the natives 

 of those States, and {b) into the relations between the 

 natives and European settlers, with power to make re- 

 commendations for the purposes above referred to ; such 

 commission to consist, so far as possible, of persons 

 familiar with native life in South Africa, and, in addition, 

 of at least one person, unconnected with South Africa, of 

 recognised eminence in the study of savage customs and 

 superstitions in general. A. C. Haddon. 



ZOOLOGY IN THE WEST INDIES. 



■\ 1 rE called attention in our " Notes '' of November 29 

 * * (Nature, vol. Ixiii. p. 112) to a rumour that the 

 curator of the museum of the Institute of Jamaica, who 

 for close upon six years has laboured with marked suc- 

 cess, is about to relinquish his office in the spring ;* and 

 the receipt of confirmatory evidence forces upon us a 

 comment upon the situation. The gentleman in question 

 was originally appointed in 1896 for a period of three 

 years, which was renewed in 1899, and during the whole 

 time he has been most assiduous in both the ordinary 

 curatorial and the scientific duties of his office. Under 

 his charge the collections have grown, and by the renewal 

 of old exhibits, and the incorporation of new ones, with a 

 thorough rearrangement of the whole, they have become 

 so materially improved and attractive as to have merited 

 the cordial approval of expert visitors from the home 

 countries and the United States of America. In pure 

 science he has done more ; for, while his predecessors 

 were largely content with the mere superficial study of 

 insects, birds and molluscs, he, covering a wider field, 

 has done admirable work in both zoology and anthro- 

 pology — in the study of the resources of the surrounding 

 sea and of the aboriginal remains on land. He has pro- 

 duced a series of memoirs on the indigenous sea-anemones 

 and coral organisms, which rank high in contemporary 

 zoological literature, and which, as will be evident from 

 the brief resume of his results, which we published in 

 the afore-mentioned note, have done much to clear up a 

 great deal that is perplexing in the study of these 

 organisms. When it is added that the work has neces- 

 sitated his journeying afield, and that the climatic con- 

 ditions render research of the kind on modern lines 

 especially difficult, his threatened removal becomes still 

 more mysterious. 



Necessity for retrenchment is the alleged cause of it, 

 and by that we presume is meant desire for relief from 

 taxation. If so, the action does not tally with the fact 

 that but a few weeks ago we received, from an authori- 

 tative source, a request for advice upon a scheme based 

 on the belief that it mrght be possible ere long to obtain 

 laboratory accommodation for marine biological work 

 in the Island, in connection with the erection of some 

 hospital buildings in course of construction. The later 

 intelligence which reaches us indicates a sudden change 

 of front for which we desire explanation. To dispense 

 with the services of a curator would be to waste the 

 labours of years, and to bring into reproach an institution 

 now becoming universally recognised as a centre of 

 enlightenment and culture. 



From reports to hand, a suspicion arises that the 

 zoological work, as at present carried out under the 

 auspices of the Institute, is not deemed sufficiently 

 economic or adapted to the precise requirements of the 

 island ; and that the failure of a recent attempt, on the 

 part of the Caribbean Sea Fisheries' Development 

 Syndicate, to test the resources of certain shallows and 

 banks in the neighbouring seas by means of trawls and 

 long lines, may have had something to do with the 

 situation. If this be so, we can only express our sur- 



NO. 1624, VOL. 63] 



prise, for both the area explored and the methods em- 

 ployed were wholly inadequate. Assuming the economic 

 desire, we would point out that the curator of the 

 Jamaica Museum has been by no means neglectful of 

 that phase of his opportunities, and that haying recently 

 been commissioned to report upon the Edible Echinus 

 or " sea-egg " of the Barbadoes, in his reply — an interi7n 

 report, now in circulation — he wisely advocates the deter- 

 mmation of its life-history and recourse to artificial 

 propagation and restocking. 



Assuming that mere impecuniosity is the real cause of 

 the trouble, we would recommend an appeal to the 

 Home Government and the Colonial Secretary for 

 immediate relief ; and the advisability of an affiliation of 

 the establishment with either the recently founded 

 Imperial Agricultural Department, of which the head- 

 quarters are at the Barbadoes, or with some other exist- 

 ing institution of an authoritative kind. The time has 

 passed at which work in marine zoology can longer 

 be left to the caprice of mere local administration, and 

 persons content only with an immediate quid pro qua. 

 Experience shows that the scant success which has 

 attended some of the marine zoological work of the past 

 has been due to lack of coordination in observation. 

 What we require for the future, and to ensure that 

 success which even the economist desires, is more, and 

 not fewer, marine observatories, and that these shall be s» 

 placed that collective work, properly coordinated, shall 

 be possible over wide areas. Not until every colony 

 having a sea-board, and till at appropriate points round 

 every coast-line there shall be employed a marine 

 zoologist who is a fishery expert, and who shall be pro- 

 vided with a laboratory, a steamboat, a full set of 

 apparatus, and, if possible, a couple of trained assistants, 

 can the desired result be hoped for. We want, and 

 must have, marine stations at all desirable places, and to 

 discourage one already in the making and doing good 

 work is but to court failure and lessen the only chance 

 of success. 



As for the Colonies and their marine zoological and 

 museum work, we would fain see the several existing 

 establishments devoted to these placed under the advisor- 

 ship of the authorities of the British Museum of Natural 

 History, in the manner in which those in botany have so- 

 long been under the guidance of the officials at Kew, 

 subject to their power of appeal to the Home Govern- 

 ment ; and we feel assured that were this already the 

 case the action we herein deplore would never have 

 come about. 



Nearly eight years ago zoologists at home, headed by 

 Huxley, directed attention to the resources of the West 

 Indian seas and the pressing necessity for their inves- 

 tigation ; and the work which has emanated from the 

 museum of the Jamaica Institute has largely realised 

 their expectations. The curator of that museum, more- 

 over, during the period he has held office, has cultivated 

 a healthy alliance with the authorities of the Johns Hop- 

 kins University and the members of its Biological School,^ 

 foremost among marme zoologists of the North Atlantic, 

 and this has already been productive of mutual gain and 

 cooperative work m the intervening ocean. We now 

 know that materials of prime importance abound in the 

 Jamaica sea, and in the curator of the Jamaica Museum 

 there lives a man, now familiar with these, competent 

 to investigate with advantage both their scientific and 

 economic aspects. His work, upon which we have 

 commented, has been performed with the fullest sym- 

 pathy and support of the Board of Governors of the 

 mstitution. His retirement would be followed by their 

 resignation, and chaos would ensue. The proposal to 

 abandon the curatorship of the museum of the Jamaica 

 Institute is retrogade, and it must not be if we, the 

 proud colonisers of the world, are to retain our prestige. 



