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PREFACE 



The work which, as President of the Marine Biological 

 Association, I have the pleasure of introducing to the public 

 with a few lines of preface, has been prepared at the request of 

 the Council of the Association by Mr. J. T. Cunningham. The 

 author has for several years occupied the position of naturalist 

 at the Plymouth laboratory, being especially charged by the 

 Council with the investigation of the structure, habits, and 

 breeding of marine food-fishes. He had previously given a large 

 amount of study to this subject whilst in charge of the marine 

 laboratory at Granton near Edinburgh. Since many of Mr. 

 Cunningham's important observations on the "growth from the 

 egg " of marine fishes have been published in the strictly scientific 

 journals and transactions of societies, it seemed to be desirable 

 that the results of the recent study of the reproduction of the 

 fishes which form the material of our sea-fisheries, should be 

 brought together in a convenient and popular form. The marked 

 increase of attention to the natural history of these fishes which 

 is traceable to the great Fisheries Exhibition held in London in 

 1883, has led to a large increase of knowledge. On various 

 parts of our coasts, naturalists have been busy in the endeavour 

 to arrive at an accurate estimate of the causes which determine 

 the movements and the variations in abundance of the animals 

 which produce the " harvest of the sea." An immense amount 

 of work remains to be done before we shall be in a position to 

 control the operations of fishermen or to assist them by advice 



