June 7, 1906] 



NA TURE 



13' 



End, one portion entered the Irish Sea, and by 

 September had reached as far north as the Cardigan 

 Bay and south Arklow light-ships. The other part 

 of the shoal passed along the south coast of Ireland, 

 and was observed in November as far along the west 

 coast of Ireland as Galway Bay. The disappearance 

 of the shoal from the Irish Sea in September is 

 attributed to the southerly flow of water from that 

 area into the Channel blocking its further northerly 

 migration. It is shown that the shoal must have 

 entered the Irish Sea from the south, for plankton 

 collections taken from the Bahama light-ship in the 

 north of that area did not contain the organism, which 

 could not, therefore, have passed through the north 

 channel. The paper is illustrated by charts which 

 show the distribution of Muggisea from month to 

 month during the year 1904. 



The volume of Rapports is noteworthy only beciuse 

 of a statement made by Mr. Archer, the English Chief 

 Inspector of Fisheries, at one of the " reunions," that 

 it is the wish of the British Government " that no 

 tasks should be undertaken or interests created the 

 conclusion of which could not be reasonably looked 

 for by July, 1907," since it is not the intention of the 

 Government to continue the large expenditure involved 

 beyond the five years originally contemplated. It is 

 very probable, then, that the British share of the 

 work will cease in the course of another year, and 

 that with the withdrawal of this country the inter- 

 national investigations will come to a close. 



It has, indeed, been apparent for some time past 

 that the International Organisation, as at present 

 constituted, could not continue on a permanent basis. 

 For the last five years it has been necessary to main- 

 tain, at a very great expense, the Bureau at Copen- 

 hagen, the Cetitral Laboratory at Christiania ; and a 

 complex system of " reunions " of the council, the 

 " commissions," the " special commissions," and 

 " sections." .\11 this organisation was no doubt neces- 

 sary, in the first instance, to bring together those 

 engaged in the work, and to secure the necessary 

 coordination in the hydrographical investigations. 

 But since this preliminary organisation must now have 

 been completed, it is desirable in any case that some 

 simpler and less expensive means of coordination 

 should have been evolved. It should be remembered 

 that the international scheme of investigations 

 originally included fishery research proper, hydro- 

 graphical investigations, and, though this has never 

 been stated in so many words, the promotion of inter- 

 national agreement with respect to the observance of 

 " closed areas," such as the Moray Firth, and the 

 regulation of fishing on the high seas. With regard 

 to the latter point one cannot speak at present, but 

 it may be pointed out that fisherv legislation on an 

 international scale has been notoriously difficult to 

 obtain in the past, and that the chances of securing 

 this at the present time ought not to be jeopardised 

 by the unconditional withdrawal of Great Britain from 

 the scheme of international work. Purelv fishery in- 

 vestigations need not be imperilled by any such action. 

 There does not appear to be any real advantage in the 

 prosecution of these on an international scale. No 

 amount of research carried out in another area than 

 our own will relieve us of the necessity of investi- 

 gating fishery questions locally with respect to the 

 special economic and legislative problems involved. 

 Fishery research with regard to such issues as the 

 protection of immature fishes, closed areas and closed 

 seasons, the regulation of fishing methods, and the 

 like, must be carried on if fishery restrictions are ever 

 to be more than an expensive and vexatious inter- 

 ference with the legitimate operations of our fisher- 

 men. If a fair proportion of the annual grant at 



NO. I9IO, VOL. 74] 



present made to the International Organisation is m 

 the future made to supplement the efforts of existing 

 fishery research institutions, with, of course, proper 

 Government inspection, then the withdrawal of our 

 Government from the international scheme need cause 

 no apprehensions. ■ • 1 



It is different with regard to the hydrographical 

 investigations. If these are to be carried on at all 

 it must be on an international scale, and with proper 

 coordination as regards methods and publication of 

 results. Ouite apart from the assistance which such 

 research i's likelv to afford meteorological science, it 

 seems now to be' certain that it is sure to throw light 

 on the ultimate causes which afl'ect the shoaling move- 

 ments and migrations of food fishes. There is really 

 no good reason why, even if the fishery investigations 

 of the International Organisation bo dropped, the 

 hydrographical work should not go on. The present 

 hydrographical cruises could be continued by the 

 national staffs; and methods having already been 

 worked out, the coordination of the work and the 

 publication', in a uniform style, of the results need 

 entail no great expense. The international con- 

 ferences which have become so marked a feature of 

 fishery affairs, both on the administrative and saien- 

 tific sides, might be dispensed with, and no really 

 useful object would be sacrificed. 



NOTES. 



The council of the Society of Arts has awarded the 

 Albert medal for the present year to Sir Joseph W. Swan, 

 F.R.S., " for the important part he took in the invention 

 of the 'incandescent electric lamp, and for his invention of 

 the carbon process of photographic printing." 



A LARGE physical laboratory is, the Pioneer Mail states, 

 to be built by the Punjab Education Department in Lahore 

 on the present camping-ground of the Public Works Depart- 

 ment, as soon as the new Public Works offices are con- 

 structed. 



The Britisft Medical Journal states that a general insti- 

 tute of psychology specially intended for the study of the 

 phenomena of subconsciousness, the investigation of the 

 causes of criminality, and the discovery of means of curing 

 social evils will shortly be formally constituted in Paris. 

 Among those to whom the initiation of the scheme^ is 

 mainly due are Profs. Brouardel, d'Arsonval, and Gariel, 

 and MM. Boutroux, Giard, and A. Picard. 



We notice with regret the announcement of the death, at 

 eighty-three years of age, of M. Raphael Bischoffsheim, 

 honorary member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. M. 

 Bischoffsheim was a generous benefactor to science. He 

 contributed largely to the Pic du Midi Observatory, bore 

 the expense of the great equatorial at Paris Observatory, 

 gave largely to the Montsouris Observatory, and founded 

 the fine observatory at Nice. He was elected a member of 

 the Institut de France in 1890 in succession to M. Cosson. 



A COMMITTEE has been formed with the object of establish- 

 ing a memorial of the late Sir William Wharton, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., whose death at Cape Town in September last was 

 a sad incident of the British Association meeting in South 

 .\frica. For a long period Sir William Wharton filled with 

 distinguished ability the important post of hydrographer 

 to the Navy, and the committee has decided that the most 

 appropriate testimonial would be such as would follow the 

 same lines and exist for the same purpose as the Beaufort 

 testimonial, which is awarded as a prize to the officer who 

 has distinguished himself as having passed the best ex- 



