8 
NA TORE 
. 
[Fune 24, 1886 
S1r,—I have laid before the Council of the Marine Biological 
Association your letter of the 7th inst., and I am instructed by 
the Council to say that they accept the four conditions mentioned 
in your letter as those upon which the Lords Commissioners of 
Her Majesty’s Treasury are prepared to propose to Parliament a 
grant of 5000/., and an annual grant of 500/. a year for five years, 
in aid of the building and of the current expenses of the 
Laboratory about to be erected by the Association on Plymouth 
Sound. 
The Council of the Association desire me to express, through 
you, to my Lords, the gratification which they experience in 
receiving this important assistance and mark of confidence from 
my Lords, and to offer at the same time their thanks to my 
Lords for the favourable consideration which has been accorded 
to the request of the Council. 
In regard to the term ‘‘a recognised authority ” used in the 
fourth condition proposed by my Lords and accepted by the 
Council, I am directed to say that the Council assumes that a 
“recognised” authority means a ‘‘STATE” recognised au- 
thority, such as the Scotch Fishery Board or Her Majesty’s 
Inspectors of Fisheries. 
On behalf of the Council of the Marine Biological Association 
I am accordingly empowered to state— 
(1) That the Council azrees to have its accounts formally 
audited each year, and to furnish a statement of income and 
expenditure to the Treasury. 
(2) That the Council undertakes to issue at regular intervals 
(probably half-yearly) a detailed report of the work done in the 
Plymouth Laboratory, and to furnish the Treasury with such 
report. 
(3) That the Council pledges itself definitely to aim at pro- 
curing practical results with regard to the breeding and manage- 
ment of food-fishes. 
(4) That the Council undertakes to place space in the Ply- 
mouth Laboratory at the disposal of any competent investigator 
deputed by a recognised authority to carry out any investigation 
into fish questions for which the Laboratory can give facilities. 
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, 
E. Ray LANKESTER, Hon, Sec. M.B.A. 
To Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart. 
III. The attention of the Council having been drawn to the 
statement made in the House of Commons by the President of 
the Board of Trade to the effect that it was the intention of the 
Government to constitute a Fisheries Department under that 
Board, the following letter was addressed on March 19 to the 
President of the Board of Trade :— 
April 7, 1886 
S1r,—I am desired by the Council of the Marine Biological 
Association to inform you that they have observed from an 
official statement in Parliament that it is the intention of Her 
Majesty’s Government to constitute a Fishery Department as a 
branch of the Board of Trade. With a view to the meeting of 
the Council of the Association on March 19 last, I took the 
liberty to inquire whether you would be disposed to receive a 
deputation from the Council in order that it might have an 
opportunity of placing before you some account of the origin of 
the Association and of its proposed operations with regard to 
the fisheries of the British seas. The Council having learned 
that you thought the reception of such a deputation inadvisable, 
have instructed me to communicate to you, in accordance with 
your invitation, a brief account of the position of the Associa- 
tion and of its relations to the Government. 
The Council have taken steps to erect on the Citadel Hill, at 
Plymouth, on a site granted by the War Office, a Laboratory, 
which will be equipped with all the appliances in the sbape of 
tanks and working rooms suited for the study and observation 
of fishes and other marine organisms. It will afford convenient 
accommodation for from sixteen to twenty scientific investigators 
qualified to engage in biological research. 
In view of the national utility of such a Laboratory in connec- 
tion with the fishing industry, the Lords Commissioners of Her 
Majesty’s Treasury have agreed to submit to Parliament a vote 
of 5coo/., in two annual instalments, towards the erection of the 
Laboratory, and to supplement this when the Laboratory has been 
completed by an annual subsidy of 5oo/. 
I am directed to annex for your information a copy of the 
letter from my Lords embodying these undertakings. You will 
observe that they have laid stress on the duty of the Association 
to investigate everything relating to the economy of food fishes, 
t 
» completed. 
and that they further desired that the Marine Biological Asso- 
ciation should work in harmony with the Scotch Fishery Board, 
which was, at that time, the only formally constituted body con- 
nected with the subject in Great Britain. 
The Council apprehend, therefore, that the Marine Biological 
Association, receiving as it does liberal support and recognition 
of the importance of its aims from the Government, should — 
place at the disposal of the new Fishery Department any re- 
sources it may possess for the prosecution of such scientific 
investigations as the Department may wish to initiate. 
The Council further desire me to say that they will be glad to 
enter into such relations with the Department as may seem to 
you best calculated to effect the object. 
In making this offer the Council believe that they are carrying 
out the spirit of the conditions imposed upon them by my Lords 1 
in the letter of which a copy is inclosed. : 
Iam, Sir, your most obedient servant, 4 
E. Ray LaNnKESTER, Hon. Sec. M.B.A. 
The Right Honourable A. J. Mundella, M.P., 
Board of Trade 
To this letter the following answer was received :— \ 
Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens, S.W., 
April 8, 1886 
S1r,—I am directed by Mr. Mundella to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of April 7, and to request that you will be 
so good as to convey to the Council of the Marine Biological 
Association his best thanks for their kind offer which they have 
made to place at the disposal of the new Fishery Department 
the resources which they possess for the prosecution of such 
scientific investigations as the Department may wish to initiate. 
Mr. Mundella wishes me to add that the matter is now receiving 
his most careful consideration. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Prof. E. Ray Lankester T. W. P. BLOMEFIELD 
se 
4 
» 
IV. In reference to the building and aquarium fittings, which — 
have been approved, and are now in course of construction for } 
the Laboratory at Plymouth, the Council appointed, as stated — 
in the last Annual Report, a Committee consisting of the Trea- 
surer, the Secretary, Dr. John Evans, Prof. Moseley, and Mr. — 
Spence Sate. These gentlemen, assisted by Mr. Walter Heape, » 
Assistant Secretary, and by Mr. Inglis, civil engineer, of Ply- 
mouth, met on several occasions in order to consider the details — 
of the Laboratory building and its fittings. Information and 
advice was obtained from the directors of the existing labora- 
tories and aquariums in Europe and in the United States of 
America, as well as from engineering firms acquainted with the 
special kind of work required. The limitation of the funds at 
the disposal of the Council had to be strictly borne in mind by 
the Committee, and finally, after much deliberation, a plan of 
buildings and fittings was submitted by the Committee and 
approved by the Council. The approval of the War Office had 
to be obtained in regard to the design of the building which is 
to be erected on the site granted by that Department of State, 
and the Council has had the advantage in this connection of the 
advice and assistance of Mr. E. Bell, the architect to the War 
Office. The design, for which a contract has now been accepted 
by the Council, has the approval of the authorities of the War 
Office and of the Town Council of Plymouth, ; 
V. Shortly after the annual meeting in June 1885, Mr. St. 
Leger Bunnett, of New Stone Buildings, 60, Chancery Lane, 
was appointed Assistant Secretary with the special purpose of 
aiding the Secretary in obtaining subscriptions and donations. 
In January of the present year Mr. Walter Heape vacated 
his post of Assistant Secretary, and was appointed Resident 
Superintendent of the Plymouth Laboratory at a salary of 200/. 
ayear. Mr. Heape will be provided with a suite of apartments 
in the Laboratory building. Since his appointment Mr. Heape 
has visited the Zoological Laboratory at Naples for the purpose 
of acquiring information which may assist him in the manage- 
ment of the Plymouth Laboratory. He will at once procee 
to Plymouth and take up his residence there, in order to com 
mence an investigation of the natural history of Plymouth Sound 
and to enter into relations with the fishermen of the district, so 
as to prepare the way for the operations of the Laboratory when 
Mr. Heape will also watch the erection of th 
Laboratory building and report from time to time to the Counci 
of the Association at Plymouth. 
VI. The Council propose to make two alterations in 
