56 
It is possible that when the invertebrata are studied some in- 
teresting species may be found, but it will be understood that the 
material I have been able to place in other hands is but a portion of 
that trawled, and, of course, a mere tithe of what could have been 
taken had suitable appliances been provided, and had the necessary 
assistance been available. 
I know of no other profession in which study and time are so freely 
and gratuitously rendered, for pure love of research, as that of the 
biologist, and my best thanks are due, and are hereby gratefully 
tendered, to those who have so kindly assisted me with reports on 
their respective subjects. 
The full list of contributors is as follows :— 
Algee—R. M. Laing, M.A., B.Sc. 
Annelida 
Siphunculoidea - Professor W. B. Benham, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S. 
Echinoderma 
Mollusca, &¢.—Henry Suter. 
Nudibranchia—Sir Charles Eliot, K.C.M.G., LL.D. 
Cephalopoda—W. E. Hoyle, M.A., D.Sc. 
Crustacea—Professor Charles Chilton, M.A., D.Sc., M.B., C.M., 
F.L.S. 
Pisces—Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S. 
OFFICIAL REPORT. 
On the 23rd April, 1908, after the foregoing had been passed in for 
publication, I received, by courtesy of Mr. Ayson, a copy of the official 
report, doubtless issued a few days previously.* 
This, though styled an “interim report,” is very detailed and 
exhaustive as far as trawling is concerned, and contains interesting 
data, some few particulars of which may be referred to here. 
The total weight of marketable fish brought to port by the trawler 
during the three-months cruise was 46,750 lb. 2,743 blue-cod (Para- 
percis colias) were taken at the Chatham Islands on hand-lnes. Mr. 
Anderton (who supplied the report on the operations at the Chatham 
Islands) writes, “It was a sight to see the boats returning after a 
couple of hours’ fishing, loaded to the gunwale with blue-cod. Four 
Pitt-Islanders caught 230 of the largest blue-cod I have ever seen in 
less than an hour and a half’s fishing off the north-west corner of Pitt 
Island. Six of the crew caught 606 blue-cod and 103 large hapuku 
(Polyprion prognathus) in seven hours off Whangaroa, and on another 
occasion caught 860 blue-cod in three hours and a half. Almost all 
the men were inexperienced in the art of blue-cod fishing, making the 
catch all the more remarkable. It is extremely probable that the 
Chatham Islands will in the near future become one of the most 
important sources of our fish-supply.” I fully agree with Mr. Ander- 
* Ayson. Interim Report, Experimental Trawling, 1907. 
