28 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



grant to the Scotch Board for scientific investigations, but an 

 additional ;^i,5oo is asked from the Treasury in order to 

 enclose creeks and convert them into sea-ponds. 



The work performed by the staff of the Marine Biological 

 Association in 1890, 1891, and 1892, is recorded in the numbers of 

 \}c\& Journal published in those years. It includes a comprehensive 

 account of the reproduction and development of the conger, 

 which contains the results of experiments and observations made 

 by means of the aquarium and extending over two years. These 

 researches brought to light or confirmed several important and 

 remarkable facts concerning the history of this fish, which will 

 be found detailed in their proper place in the present work. 

 The value of the aquarium is also shown in the results obtained 

 in the experimental investigation of the growth of fishes, 

 especially of the flounder, a number of specimens of which were 

 kept alive for three years, their size and condition with respect 

 to sexual maturity being examined from time to time. 



Another research of great interest was that of Mr. William 

 Bateson on the various modes in which different fishes seek their 

 food, and the possibility of inventing some cheap and effective 

 form of artificial bait for long liners. 



It should be borne in mind, in comparing the work of this 

 Association with that of the Scottish Fishery Board, that its 

 total annual revenue has been from i^ 1,000 to ^2,000, and that 

 it has not been possible to devote more than half of this to 

 fishery investigations or to employ the services of more than one 

 investigator in such work until 1891, when by means of a special 

 donation from Mr. J. P. Thomasson of ;^2 50 the services of Mr. E. 

 W. L. Holt were also secured. This naturalist, who did such good 

 work in the Irish survey, was stationed at Grimsby, where the local 

 Marine Fisheries Society placed their small but useful establish- 

 ment at his disposal. His first work consisted in the careful 

 collection of evidence as to the size at which the most valuable 

 species of flat fish in the North Sea became mature. Evidence 

 as to the same question with regard to fish of the same species 

 at Plymouth was collected by myself, and the results in the two 

 districts differ, a fact which constitutes one of the chief diffi- 

 culties in framing restrictive legislation in reference to the capture 

 of undersized fish. 



The possibility of establishing a fishery for anchovies engaged 



