324 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
To this letter the following reply has been received :— 
Whitehall, July 12, 1878. 
“Sir,—I am directed by the Secretary of State to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of the 6th inst., submitting observations on behalf of 
the Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 
on the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the herring 
fisheries of Scotland, dated the lst March last. 
“T am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) Goprrey LusHINGTON. 
‘““H. E. Dresser, Esq., 
6, Tenterden Street, Hanoyer Square, W.” 
Your Committee conceives that the points at issue between it 
and the Scottish Herring Fishery Commissioners are thus fairly 
stated, and is confident that all unbiassed persons will admit that 
those Commissioners have overstated their case. Your Committee 
would further remark that, though the Sea-Birds Preservation Act 
contains a provision (in section 3) for varying the close time therein 
enacted on due application, no such application appears ever to 
have been made on the ground of detriment to the herring fisheries 
caused by sea-birds; while there can be no reasonable doubt that 
any application for shortening the close time on that ground, if 
duly made, would be granted—circumstances which would seem to 
show that the conclusions of the Commissioners were not generally 
shared by those interested in the fisheries. On the other hand, 
your Committee may refer to the fact, already mentioned in former 
Reports, that several applications have been made for prolonging 
the existence of the close time. 
With regard to the Wildfowl Preservation Act, your Committee 
has to report that the discontent caused by its establishing a close 
time different from that which was originally proposed by your 
Committee still exists in some quarters, but that the power of 
variation the Act contains has been put in force in many counties ; 
and your Committee trusts that when this power has been still 
further exercised, as it doubtless will be, and the Act practically 
brought into accordance with your Committee’s first proposal, of 
which there are many indications, dissatisfaction will be reduced 
to a minimum, or will altogether cease. 
A Bill for the Protection of Freshwater Fish has been introduced 
into Parliament during the present session, and will doubtless 
