-Ipril 2>, 1884] 



NA TURE 



533 



are immovable ; while in some there is a very marked 

 transparency of the integuments and a decided softness 

 of the muscular tissues, in others neither of these facts 

 is at all apparent. Some of the deep-sea Crustacea are 

 beautifully phosphorescent, and in certain species this 

 phosphorescence is not diffused but is limited to some 

 special areas of their bodies, and in a new species, Acan- 

 tephyra ptilinida (A. M. Edw.), the feet are adorned 

 with phosphorescent bands. We of necessity know so 

 little of the habits of these new, strange forms, that it 

 would be premature to draw scientific conclusions from 

 their structure. 



THE SOC/ETV FOR THE BIOLOGICAL IXVES- 

 TIGATION OF THE BRITISH COASTS 



THE meeting which we previously announced as about 

 to be held for the purpose of inaugurating a new 

 society having the above title, took place last Monday 

 in the rooms of the Royal Society, Prof. Huxley being 

 in the chair. The m.eeting was large and influential. 

 Among those present :were the Duke of Argyll, the 

 Earl of Dalhousie, Lord Arthur Russell, Sir Lyon Play- 

 fair, >LP., Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Sir Joseph Hooker, the 

 Hon. Edward Marjoribanks, ^LP., Sir John Lubbock, 

 M.P., President of the Linnean Society, Mr. J. Blake, 

 M.P., Sir George Nares, Dr. John Rae, Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer, Capt. Verney, R.N., Prof. Flower, Prof. Ewart, 

 Dr. John Evans, Prof. Bonney, Dr. Spencer Cobbold, 

 Mr. John Murray (of the Challettgcr Office), Dr. J. Gwyn 

 Jeffreys, Dr. Giinther, Prof. Moselev, Air. G. J. Romanes, 

 Mr. H. C. Sorby, Mr. Francis Galton, Mr. Brady, Prof. 

 Crofton, Mr. Dawson Williams, Prof. St. George Mivart, 

 Mr. I5usk, Dr. Sclater, Dr. Dodson (Netley), Mr. Thisel- 

 ton Dyer, Mr. H. C. Burdett, Prof. Donkin, Dr. John 

 Murie, librarian of the Linnean Society, Mr. W. H. Dal- 

 linger. Dr. .\. Geikie, Mr. E. Forbes Lankester, Mr. 

 Saville Kent, Mr. M'Lachlan, Dr. Herbert Carpenter (of 

 Eton), Prof. Jeffrey Bell, Mr. Frank Crisp, and Prof. Ray 

 Lankester. Letters regretting inability to attend were 

 read from Lord Derby, the Marquis of Hamilton, Sir 

 Thomas Dakin, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Burdett-Coutts, 

 Mr. R. W. Duff, M.P., and Dr. Dohrn. 



Prof. Huxley, in opening the proceedings, began by 

 observing that the object with which the meeting had to 

 deal was not in his hands, but in those of Prof. Lan- 

 kester, who had requested that the Royal Society should 

 foster an undertaking which promised well for the 

 progress of science. The establishment of marine bio- 

 logical stations had been undertaken during the last few 

 years by most of the civilised countries, and was, indeed, 

 a necessary result of the great change which had taken 

 place in the aims of biological science. The study of 

 development began about half a century ago, and the 

 ramifications of that inquiry, which had been extended 

 to the mode of becoming of all live things by Mr. Dar- 

 win, had caused a complete change in the methods of 

 biological research. In order to investigate the living 

 being it was now no longer deemed sufficient, as in the 

 days of our great-grandfathers, to observe its outside, or 

 even, in the days of our grandfathers, to examine its ana- 

 tomy. We have now to trace its developmental growth 

 from the egg, and we are able to do so with a thorough- 

 ness of which no one in his young days could have had 

 any conception. Such was one good reason for founding 

 an institution of this kind from a purely scientific point of 

 view. But there was another reason from another point 

 of view which was practical. We had great fisheries and 

 great fishery interests, and up to within the last thirty 

 years legislation with reference to them was almost entirely 

 haphazard, owing to our ignorance of the habits, modes 

 of life, reproduction, and so on, of marine animals which 

 were economically useful. If we are to have any con- 

 siderable improvement in our legislation in this respect. 



our arguments and reasonings with a view to it must rest 

 upon sound and exact observation. In conclusion, he 

 wished to say with special emphasis that there was no 

 possibility of any rivalry between the society %yhich it 

 was now proposed to found and another society the 

 formation of which was announced a few days ago by 

 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. That society was, in the 

 ordinary sense of the word, practical. He trusted that 

 when both societies were established, so far from there 

 being any conflict between their aims, they would work 

 in concurrence to a common end. 



The Duke of Argyll said the resolution which had been 

 placed in his hands was — " That in the opinion of this 

 meeting there is an urgent want of one or more labora- 

 tories on the British coast, similar to those existing in 

 France, Austria, Italy, ana America, where accurate 

 researches may be carried on, leading to the improve- 

 ment of zoological and botanical science, and to an in- 

 crease in our knowledge as regards the food, life, 

 conditions, and habits of British food fishes and moUusks 

 in particular, and the animal and vegetable resources of 

 the sea in general." The fact of their being called 

 together to form a voluntary society to carry out these 

 objects implied a discovery on the part of those who had 

 taken a leading part in this matter that the work w^as not 

 likely to be taken up by the Government. He was afraid 

 that in this respect the British Government had always 

 stood rather behind those of other countries, whether 

 monarchical or repubhcan. There were other agencies 

 by which facts about food fishes would be obtained, and 

 he instanced the researches of the President of the Royal 

 Society, and a valuable paper recently contributed by 

 Prof. Ewart upon one of the most important questions 

 connected with food fishes— the spawning of the herring. 

 When further researches of this kind should be forth- 

 coming, it can scarcely admit of doubt that, by making us 

 acquainted with the life-history and habits of the herring, 

 they will serve to improve the herring fisheries. He had 

 himself good reason to appreciate the importance of 

 acquiring information of this kind, for in the vicinity of 

 his own residence the fishing community was suffering 

 distress on account of the herring having abandoned Loch 

 Fyne without any one being able, in the present state of 

 our knowledge, to assign the cause. Moreover, the oppo- 

 sition which was raised to ground-trawling in Loch Fyne, 

 on the supposition that the practice is destructive of 

 herring spawn, has been shown by such researches to be 

 without any justification — the spawn having been found 

 to adhere closely to the sea-bottom. But great as would 

 be the probable economic nature of a marine biological 

 station in the improvement of our fisheries, he thought 

 that the chief object in promoting this society should be 

 that of promoting the interests of biological science. En- 

 larging upon the importance of this science, he concluded 

 by observing that the branches of it which would fall to 

 the lot of this society to cultivate would have the advan- 

 tage of avoidmg contact with the question of vivisection; 

 for he supposed that even the most susceptible of anti- 

 vivisectionists would scarcely have their feelings touched 

 by physiological experiments on jelly-fish. 



Sir Lyon Playfair, M.P., in seconding the resolution, 

 dwelt upon the anomaly that a country which depends so 

 much upon its fisheries as Great Britain should hitherto 

 have been the only Great Power which had not founded a 

 zoological station. He then proceeded to enumerate 

 some of the economic advantages which had been se- 

 cured by such institutions elsewhere, especially in 

 America. 



Lord Dalhousie and Prof. Flower also supported the 

 motion. 



Dr. W. B. Carpenter moved :— " That it is desirable to 

 found a society, having for its object the establishment 

 and maintenance of at least one such laboratory at a 

 suitable point on the coast, the resources of the laboratory ' 



