l6 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES ( „ai.. 



he created for luit^iancl at once ; and on it, as well as on the 

 Scotch Board, should be conferred the regulating powers alread}- 

 possessed b}' the Irish Board. The}- also thought that one 

 central authorit)' should be created for the United Kingdom, 

 but in the meantime the Scottish Board should have the 

 powers and funds it asked for. The latter recommendation has 

 been carried into effect, but the former has been neglected. The 

 Commission recommended that, as a temporar}' measure, the 

 large powers of a fishery authority in England should be con- 

 ferred upon the Secretar}' of State for the Home Department, 

 or on the President of the Board of Trade. 



On the 31st March, 1884, the Marine Biological Association 

 of the United Kingdom was founded and constituted at an 

 influential meeting held in the rooms of the Royal Society, at 

 Burlington House, London. Professor Huxley was its first 

 president, and Professor E. Ray Lankester, who initiated the 

 movement, became its honorary secretar}-. The Association 

 immediately set about choosing a site for a well-equipped and 

 permanent marine laboratory. The site chosen was one granted 

 to the Association by the War Office^ on the Citadel Hill, 

 Pl)-mouth, where the laboratory now stands. At the first 

 annual meeting of the Association in 1885, subscriptions to 

 the amount of i!!"8,ooo were announced ; in 1886 the amount 

 reached nearly ;6'i5,000 including i?5,ooo from H.M. Treasur)- ; 

 and in 1887 the laborator\' was almost finished, and active 

 work was commenced. 



In October, 1884, the sum of £1,000 was placed by the 

 Government from the Public Treasur}^ at the disposal of the 

 Scottish Fishery Board for scientific investigations. During the 

 previous summer the scientific work of the Board had been in 

 great part suspended. Nevertheless the Marine Station at St. 

 Andrews was completed in the autumn of 1884, and researches 

 into the natural history of food-fishes commenced there. In the 

 same autumn Professor Cossar Ewart was sent to the United 

 States to study the methods and operations of the Fish Com- 

 mission of that country. In January, 1885, Mr. George Brook 

 was appointed as a salaried naturalist to work under the instruc- 

 tions of the Board, and under his supervision a wooden marine 

 laboratory was erected at East Loch Tarbert, on the Firth of 

 Ch'de. The Board had also the use of the Rothcsa}' Aquarium 



