V THE INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION 217 



and the produce of a day's dredging or trawling would 

 liere be sifted and sorted. On the ground-floor and 

 first-floor would be s^^acious rooms, with large window^s 

 giving both north and south lights, and fitted with 

 tables suited to the requirements of the microscopist. 

 Small aquariums and pumping apparatus would also 

 be provided in these rooms. Accommodation for ten 

 workers, in addition to the director and his assistant, 

 would thus be provided. In another room a complete 

 zoological and piscicultural library would be estab- 

 lished, and the means for writing and making drawings 

 would be provided. 



The naturalists permanently and temporarily 

 working here would in the course of a few years pro- 

 vide us with much-needed knowledge. For instance, 

 some would study the reproduction of the sole, and 

 devise means for increasing its numbers in the market ; 

 others would ascertain how best to deal with oysters ; 

 others would find out the whole history of the mussel. 

 Bit by bit a new and thorough knowledge of fishery- 

 animals would be built up, and come into use as the 

 basis of new legislative enactments, and of new 

 methods of capture and culture. 



Such an institution would no doubt be costly. A 

 valuable laboratory of the kind might be set going 

 and carried on for a smaller sum ; but a really credit- 

 able and efficient laboratory of the kind, with a first- 

 rate man of science for its director, would cost £15,000 

 or £20,000 to establish, and some £3000 a year to 

 maintain. 



These figures and the whole suggestion may 



