= 
May 21, 1885] 
NATURE 
65 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 
WEEK, 1885, MAY 24-30 
(For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 
Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 
employed. ) 
At Greenwich on May 24 
Sun rises, 3h. 58m. ; souths, 11h. 56m. 36°3s.; sets, 19h. 55m. ; 
decl. on meridian, 20° 51’ N.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 
12h. 5m. 
Moon (Full May 28, 2th.) rises, 15h. 16m. ; souths, 20h. 59m. ; 
sets, 2h. 33m.*; decl. on meridian, 5° 55’ S. 
Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 
h. m. h. m. h. m. a, 
Mercury 3 21 IO 21 17 21 Dr SNe 
Venus 4 14 12 19 Zolz4y ce 2h a7 Ni 
Mars LOM. LOn29) ny) he Bak CoN IS 
apiece nrORONNe ety) SON er I) 4o 5 13,25 Ne 
Saturn Heute) oe ey 2a) Boo NS 22 21N. 
* Indicates that the setting is that of the following day. 
Occultation of Star by the Moon 
Corresponding 
angles from ver- 
May Star Mag. Disap. Reap. eR Oehere 
inverted image 
h, m. h. m. a 
BREeOeIbree! oss Ad se 2 TO. 3 5 148 253 
Phenomena of Fupiter’s Satellites 
May h. m. May h. m. 
26s)... 20) 10. Iil..tr.-ing: 29... 20 46 I. occ. disap. 
2376 list epr || 30 o 18 I. ecl. reap. 
27 ~... 21 57 III. occ. disap. 20 25 _ I. tr. egr. 
eee 20/39) LI ecl> reap: 20 56 IV. occ. reap. 
Bouse Leitr. tne: 
The Occultations of Stars and Phenomena of Jupiter's Satellites are such 
as are visible at Greenwich. 
May h. 
25 ... 13 ... Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun 
25° west. 
Mercury in conjunction with and 3° 15’ south 
of Mars. 
30) ag Oe 
THE VALUE OF A MARINE LABORATORY TO 
THE DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION 
OF OUR SEA FISHERIES} 
ie is a striking fact, to which attention has before now been 
drawn, that whilst the agriculturist, on whom we depend for 
a large part of our food supplies, has very largely availed himself 
of scientific knowledge in the treatment of crops and herds, the 
fisheries of our coasts, which provide an almost equally large 
amount of food to the people, have never been carried on with 
any regard to an accurate knowledge of the fishes on which they 
depend. 
Agriculture is, in this country, a refined branch of chemistry ; 
but there has been no demand for a knowledge of marine life 
which might enable the fisherman to pursue his calling to the 
greatest advantage. In fact, our fishery industries are still 
barbaric ; we recklessly seize the produce of the sea, regardless 
of the consequences of the method, the time, or the extent of 
our depredations. In the same ignorant fashion as the nomadic 
herdsmen of Asia descend upon a fertile valley, and after 
exhausting it, leave it to time and natural causes for its recupera- 
tion, so do we treat the fishing-banks of our coast. 
So long as fishing was-relatively small in amount this method 
was not altogether objectionable. But with the increase of 
population, and the introduction of steam fishing boats and 
more effective instruments of capture, there is reason to believe 
that some at least of our coast fisheries are being destroyed, and 
that others may follow in the same direction. 
Other civilised nations have perceived the necessity of attempt- 
ing to regulate the various kinds of sea-fisheries on rational 
principles—that is to say, on principles based on an exact 
knowledge of the life and habits of the fi hes which it is desired 
to capture. The French, the Norwegians, and above others, 
the Americans, have given attention to this matter. 
There is reason to believe that the Romans had gained a 
* Abstract of paper read at the Society of Arts, Wednesday, May 13, 
1885. By E. Ray Lankester, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Zoology 
in University College, London, and Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. 
special skill—now lost—in cultivating sea fish. Whatever that 
may have amounted to, it is certain that modern Europe has 
entirely neglected the cultivation, and even the care of sea 
fisheries. It has been the merit of the Fish Commission of the 
United States to make the first attempt in modern times to deal 
with sea fisheries in the spirit of civilisation, that is of men who 
are determined to understand and control, for the advantage of 
their race, the operations of nature, rather than to leave things 
to chance, the unknown development of physical causes. 
The direct efforts of the American Commission, and the 
knowledge which scientific men have accumulated with regard 
to fishes, without designing aid in the regulation and develop- 
ment of fisheries, do not enable us at present to answer many of 
the questions with regard to different sea fishes which we 
urgently require to know if we are to deal like reasonable, 
practical men with our fisheries, so as to improve them, or even 
so as to prevent their extermination. 
At the late Fisheries Exhibition Congresses, the universal 
cry, the one unanimous demand, was ‘‘more knowledge!” We 
cannot tell whether beam-trawling with steamboats is injurious 
or not to some of our most valuable sea fishes, until we have 
more knowledge. We have not sufficient knowledge to enable 
us to say that it would restore some herring grounds to their 
former richness, if the fishermen were kept off those grounds for 
a few years. 
We do not know why soles are getting scarcer every year ; we 
know nothing about soles, and so we can do nothing to remedy 
their constantly increasing diminution. 
We do not know why oysters are scarce, or how to make 
them more abundant. A few hap-hazard attempts to cultivate 
oysters are now and then made, but have resulted in an immense 
loss of money rather than in gain, because we do not know all 
about oysters in the same precise and detailed way in which we 
know all about wheat, or all about pigs or chickens. 
We do not know why some fishes swim in great shoals year 
after year at certain seasons near certain spots, and then to the 
dismay of the fishermen suddenly give up ever passing that way. 
We do not know whether we could hatch the young of soles, 
turbot, cod, and other valuable fishes, and stock the sea with 
them as we do our rivers with trout and salmon. 
We do not know whether we could favour the increase of such 
fishes by cultivating in the sea their favourite food. In many 
cases we do not know what their food is. 
We do not know whether we might increase these fishes by 
destroying their enemies. 
In fact, we know exceedingly little about the minute details of 
the life of marine animals, and if we wish to deal with sea 
fisheries like rational men, we must find out these minute details, 
and gradually apply the knowledge so gained. 
A laboratory on the sea-shore, provided with boats and fisher- 
men, and having within its walls tanks for hatching eggs and 
watching sea fish, and conyeniences for the work of naturalists 
trained in making such observations, is the way to meet the 
deficiency in our knowledge above noted. 
This was perceived many years ago in France, and more 
recently various laboratories have sprung into existence on the 
Mediterranean and on the American coast. 
There is not, as yet, any such place of investigation on the 
English coast, and it is this deficiency which the Marine Bio- 
logical Association, of which my honoured friend, Prof. Huxley, 
is President, and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales is patron, pro- 
poses to meet by building and maintaining a really efficient and 
thoroughly organised laboratory and experimental aquarium on 
the shore of Plymouth Sound. 
The Association does not propose merely to build this place, 
but to arrange for the carrying out there of most importan 
investigations on such questions as those I have a few minutes 
ago named. They have the hearty and earnest co-operation of 
all the naturalists in the United Kingdom, Scotch and Irish 
naturalists having united with their English brethren to form 
this institution. 
Naturalists are glad to take part in the study of these practical 
questions, because the arrangements and the studies which are 
necessary to answer the questions of the practical fisherman, are 
also just those which are necessary to advance the knowledge of 
the order of nature which forms the single object of truly scien- 
tific investigation. They will systematically and eagerly join 
with one another in the operations of the Plymouth laboratory, 
to obtain thorough knowledge with regard to the habits, food, 
breeding, and life-conditions of all kinds of marine fishes, such 
