Nov. 29, 1883] 



NA TURE 



107 



fisheries is lamentably deficient, and that without further 

 knowledge any legislation or attempts to improve our 

 fisheries by better modes of fishing, or by protection or 

 culture, must be dangerous, and, indeed, unreason- 

 able." 



Further, your Committee feel that in order to make any 

 progress the work must be undertaken in a systematic 

 manner ; the investigations must not be carried on by fits 

 and starts, but continuously from month to month and 

 from year to jear, until all the facts have been collected 

 and all the experiments made that are likely to throw any 

 light on the difficult problems. 



It having been alleged that the food fishes were disap- 

 pearing from the eastern coasts of the United States, the 

 Central Government in 1871 appointed a commissioner of 

 fish and fisheries to inquire into the matter. The com- 

 missioner, instead of contenting himself with collecting 

 evidence from people who knew little or nothing about 

 the subject, proceeded to make careful and elaborate 

 investigations. As the result of these inquiries the 

 United States fisheries have been greatly improved, to 

 the benefit of both the general public and the fishermen, 

 and our knowledge of fi^h has been materially increased. 



In the same v\a)', and about the same time, a German 

 Commission >et to work, and although their results are 

 not so strikirg, they are extremely interesting, a fourth 

 section of their report, only published the other day, con- 

 taining a careful description, with an outline drawing, of 

 all the fish found in the Baltic. 



The example set by America, Germany, and other Con- 

 tinental States we must follow. We have as a nation 

 at last made a liberal acknowledgment of our ignorance, 

 and at the conferences of the International 1- isheries 

 Exhibition expressed regret. 



It is satisfactory that, while we are taking steps to 

 increase our knowledge, we shall at one and the same 

 time be improving our inshore fisheries. The measures 

 necessary, e.g. for enablmg us to discover for the first 

 time when herring fry become maties, and when maties 

 reach the stage of full herrings, are exactly the measures 

 required for the artificial cultivation of the herring. From 

 experience gained during the autumn we are now able to 

 hatch immense numbers of herring ; each herring pro- 

 duces from 30,000 to 50,000 eggs, but so small are they 

 that 20,000 one layer thick can be placed on a square foot 

 of glass, and from looo herrings it would be possible to 

 obtain about 30,000,000 fry, and this in from ten to fifteen 

 days. It is well known that where there is an abundance of 

 herring th.re is also an abundance of cod and other food 

 fish, hence the annual introduction of some millions of 

 young herring into our territorial waters might serve to 

 attract numerous large food fishes to our shores. And 

 what is true of the herring holds for many other useful 

 fishes, and some of them, such as the sole and turbot, 

 which are less migratory than the herring, might be 

 manipulated in much the same way as trout and salmon, 

 if we only knew more of their habits. 



In order to be able to carry on the work of investiga- 

 tion, the importance of which is now universally recog- 

 nised, the Committee recommend that an application be 

 made for sufficient funds to enable the Board to establish 

 a marine station, and further that a steam vessel take 

 the place of the VigiUiiit at present at the service of the 

 Board. 



The Vigilant is in every respect inadequate for the 

 ordinary work of the Board, and if there is added to that 

 work the acquiring of new knowledge as to the habits of 

 our food fishes, the nature of their food, their time and 

 place of spawning, and the way in which these may be 

 influenced by the various modes of fishing, a steam vessel 

 will be absolutely necessary. 



The Committee have much pleasure in stating that they 

 are deeply indebted to Lieut. Prickett, in command of 

 \{.'il\..S. Jackal, for the ready assistance rendered by him 



and his ofiicers, and for their unfailing courtesy and 

 kindness during the expedition. 



They have also to state that it was a source of great 

 satisfaction to them to find that the commander of the 

 Vigila/it was not only greatly interested in the work of 

 the Committee, but that, having a strong instinct for 

 scientific work, he will be able to render much assistance 

 in any further investigations that may be undertaken. 



To Mr. Romanes, F.R.S., the Committee are greatly 

 indebted for many valuable suggestions, and they are also 

 indebted for the use of the Marine Laboratory instituted 

 some years ago by Mr. Romanes and Prof. Ewart. 

 Without this laboratory much of the work which will 

 form the substance of the forthcoming Report could not 

 have been imdertaken. 



J. CossAR Ewart, Convener 

 J. R. Gibson-Maitland 

 A. Forbes Irvine 

 J. Maxtone Graham 

 Edinburgh, November 5 



THE ORIGIN OF CORAL-REEFS 



SO much additional information has in recent years 

 bten obtained regarding the physical and biological 

 conditions of the sea that such a problem as that pre- 

 sented by the coral-islands of mid-ocean may well be re- 

 considered. Several able naturalists have lately called 

 attention to this problem, and have insisted that the gene- 

 rally received solution of it is not satisfactory. Among 

 geologists there may not unreasonably be a good deal of 

 unwillingness to admit that this contention can be well- 

 founded. They have long been accustomed to regard 

 Darwin's theory of coral-formation with justifiable pride 

 as a masterpiece of exhaustive observation and brilliant 

 generalisation. It has played an important part in their 

 speculations regarding the larger movements of the 

 earth's crust, and they have been so deeply impressed 

 with its simplicity, and the grandeur of the conclusions to 

 which it leads, that they will naturally and rightly refuse 

 to surrender any portion of it save under the strongest 

 compulsion of evidence. Some, indeed, may be inclined 

 even to resent, almost with the warmth inspired by a 

 personal injury, any attempt to show that it can no longer 

 claim the general applicability which has been regarded 

 as one of the strongest arguments in its favour. But the 

 example of Danvin's own candour and overmastering love 

 of truth remams to assure us that no one would have 

 welcomed fresh discoveries more heartily than he, even 

 should they lead to the setting aside of some of his own 

 work. I propose to give here somewhat in detail the 

 more important data accumulated in recent years on this 

 subject, and to state the conclusions to which a careful 

 consideration of the evidence seems to me inevitably 

 to lead. 



Before the memorable voyage of the Beagle, the gener- 

 ally received opinion regarding the origin of the circular 

 coral-reefs or atolls of mid-ocean was that they had grown 

 up on the riins of submerged volcanic craters. The 

 enormous size of some of the atolls — thirty miles in 

 diameter — might have been thought a sufficiently formid- 

 able objection to this explanation. But it did not appear 

 insuperable even to so cautious a philosopher as Lyell, 

 who only noticed it to refer his readers to the great 

 dimensions reached by truncated volcanic cones, which 

 he thought might retain their forms more easily under a 

 deep sea than on land.' 



An earlier and better theory, as Darwin admitted, 

 had been started by Chamisso, who supposed that 

 the circular form of an atoll was due to the fact that, 

 as the more massive kinds of coral thrive most vigor- 

 ously in the play of the surf, they naturally keep to the 

 outside of the reef, and raise that portion to the surface 



' " Principles of Geology," 4th edil. (1835), vol. iii. p. 310. 



