January 4, 1900] 



NATURE 



227 



Committee is intended ; but it is to be hoped it will adhere 

 to its original classification. J. Mark Baldwin. 



Oxford, December i8. 



The Stockholm Fisheries Conference and British 

 Fishery Investigations. 



From Mr. H. M. Kyle's letter in your issue of December 14, 

 it is clear that he is ignorant of the present position of the 

 British Government with regard to fishery investigations. The 

 great obstacle in the way of such investigations, as every one 

 who has taken any part whatever in their organisation is aware, 

 has always been the want of adequate funds to carry on the 

 researches. The investigations, if properly conducted, are very 

 expensive, involving not only the employment of highly-trained 

 naturalists, but also the equipment of laboratories on shore and 

 of sea-going ships capable of visiting the fishing grounds. The 

 latter item is so costly, that no vessel capable of keeping the sea 

 has yet been systematically employed for scientific fishery work 

 in British waters. 



On account of the expense, there is little likelihood of 

 investigations upon an adequate scale being attempted without 

 the use of public money. This is recognised by the Govern 

 ment, and money has been spent by H.M. Treasury for biological 

 and fishery researches in three different directions. In England 

 the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 

 which was started by private effort in order to promote 

 (to use Prof. Huxley's words) "researches leading to the 

 improvement of zoological and botanical science, and to an 

 increase of our knowledge as regards the food, life-conditions 

 and habits of British food-fishes and molluscs," received in 1885 

 a Government grant of 5000/. towards the cost of the erection 

 of the first laboratory at Plymouth, and has since received an 

 annual grant, which from 1892 has been 1000/. Altogether 

 some i3,CX)o/. of Government money has been spent, in addition 

 to an equal amount derived from private sources. 



In Scotland the Fishery Board receives from the public funds 

 a yearly sum for scientific investigations which amounts, I 

 believe, to about 3000/. ; whilst in Ireland a single sum of 

 2,500/. has recently been granted to assist the fishery investiga- 

 tions of the Royal Dublin Society. 



We may now examine in more detail the position of each of 

 the three bodies entrusted by the Government with the ex- 

 penditure of money for fishery work in England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland respectively. 



At the time of the foundation of the Marine Biological 

 Association, the Government, in making the first grant of money, 

 placed upon the Association the responsibility of doing for 

 England work of the kind done in Scotland by the scientific 

 department of the Fishery Board. Encouraged by the support 

 received from public and private sources, the Association pro- 

 ceeded to lay down the necessary machinery for carrying out 

 both scientific and economic work, and a sum of 12,000/. was 

 spent in building and equipping the Laboratory at Plymouth as 

 a first step in that direction. 



The foundations of the Association were laid upon a liberal 

 scale, involving the expenditure of a considerable capital, but 

 the superstructure remained to be built. The subsequent yearly 

 (inancial support was not on a scale commensurate with that 

 given to the Association on its foundation, and it has never been 

 possible to make full use of the machinery provided. By far 

 the greater portion of the income of the Association is neces- 

 sarily devoted to expenses of establishment and organisation, 

 and only a small sum remains for the employment of naturalists 

 to conduct investigations. The funds have never reached a 

 figure which would render the maintenance of a sea-going vessel 

 with which to reach the fishing grounds a question which could 

 J)e practically considered. Having regard to the money at its 

 disposal, the Association may fairly claim to have produced a 

 body of work which in quality will compare with that done by 

 any similar organisation elsewhere. It must not be supposed, 

 however, that one man can produce the work of six, and it has 

 never been possible to employ at Plymouth more than one 

 naturalist devoting his attention to fishery work. 



When, five years ago, the Council did me the honour of 

 appointing me to the executive office of the Association, I under- 

 took the duties of the post knowing that the justification for the 

 yearly expenditure in maintaining the Laboratory in a state of 

 efficiency lay, not in the amount of work which could be im- 



NO. 



1575, VOL. 61] 



mediately produced, but in the fact that a solid foundation had 

 been laid, which was capable, with an increased income, of 

 producing a very large amount of valuable work. Further 

 experience has confirmed this view, and I have also been forced 

 to admit, perhaps reluctantly, that the only practical method by 

 which the necessary increase of income can be obtained is by 

 the development, on the part of the Government, of the fishery 

 branch of the work. That the work of the Association was 

 never intended to be confined to what can be done at Plymouth 

 is shown not only by its name and the avowed objects of its 

 promoters, but also by the fact that for a number of years the 

 Association maintained a naturalist and kept open a laboratory 

 at Grimsby for the study of North Sea fisheries. The investiga- 

 tions made by Mr. Holt and Mr. Cunningham in this connection 

 will, in usefulness, rank with the best fishery work which has 

 been done in the North Sea, and it was due only to lack of 

 funds that these investigations could not be continued. 



Turning now to the Scottish Fishery Board, it will be ad- 

 mitted that, so far as its scientific investigations are concerned, 

 a similar condition of things exists, in a less pronounced degree. 

 For years an urgent appeal for a steamer capable of keeping the 

 sea has been a constantly recurring feature in the Reports of 

 the Board, and the scientific superintendent will be the first to 

 agree with me in saying that the scientific staff is by no means 

 numerically strong enough to carry out the investigations upon 

 the scale which their importance and difficulty demand. 



In Ireland, where the Royal Dublin Society is working in 

 close connection with the fishery inspectors, and is supported by 

 Government money, it has also been impossible to provide a 

 proper vessel, and Mr. Holt is working single-handed, except 

 for occasional volunteer help, although he has accommodation 

 for a number of naturalists. 



All past experience has shown that the British Government is 

 very reluctant to spend money upon scientific investigations of 

 any kind, and at the present time it is practically certain that 

 any increased expenditure in this direction will be limited in 

 amount. It is of the utmost importance that what money is 

 spent should be put to the best possible use. Under the cir- 

 cumstances described, and considering the amount of public 

 money which has already been expended on organisations and 

 establishments, all of which are awaiting development to pro- 

 duce their full return of work, I cannot see any justification for 

 asking the Government, as a next step, to provide a considerable 

 sum for a new organisation with a new laboratory, which to 

 judge by all that has happened in the past would soon find itself 

 as unable as its predecessors to adequately carry out its schemes, 

 from the want of proper financial support. 



The first demand should be for such a slight reorganisation of 

 existing bodies as will bring them into working contact, a re- 

 arrangement which could be brought about with little if any 

 increase of expenditure, and a proper provision of ships and 

 naturalists for carrying out the investigations. When this has 

 been obtained the co-ordination of British investigations with 

 those of neighbouring countries will be a matter of no great 

 difficulty, and one which, in my opinion, can be carried out 

 with no such expenditure for organisation as that suggested by 

 the Stockholm Conference. 



As Mr. Kyle has seen fit to introduce matters of a somewhat 

 personal nature into his letter, I may, perhaps, be permitted to 

 say that I make no pretence whatever of being a specialist in 

 fishery investigation, my scientific work having for the most 

 part lain in other directions, nor is it my intention to attempt to 

 alter this condition of things. Should the Government see fit to 

 largely develop the work of the Marine Biological Association 

 on the lines I have indicated, I fully realise that they will wish 

 to have in the executive post a specialist in fishery matters, and 

 this is an eventuality which I am prepared to meet. I should 

 also add that the opinions expressed in this letter are entirely of 

 a personal nature, and I am quite unaware whether or not they 

 would be shared by a majority of the members of the Council of 

 the Association. E. J. Ali.EN. 



The Laboratory, Plymouth, December 16, 1899. 



Dr. W. Kobelt and the Mediterranean Fauna. 

 The second part of Dr. W. Kobelt's "Studien zur Zoogeogra- 

 phie " has been in my hands since its issue, viz., about a year ago, 

 and I have had ample time to become fully acquainted with its 



