TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 673 



rate, tlie weakness of our position in having so little encouragement to oEFer to 

 competent and well-trained men who wisli to devote their lives to the advancement 

 of Zoological Science. Moreover, I would point out that these institutions have 

 been built and are being maintained almost entirely by funds supplied by private 

 benefactors, or out of the inadequate resources of the Universities. 



The Treasury has made a provisional grant of 1,000/. per annum towards the 

 maintenance of the work done by the Marine Biological Association, and it may 

 be supposed that a small share of the annual government grant made to the 

 University Colleges and Scotch Universities goes to the support of the zoological 

 departments ; but, apart from this, there has been no increase in the support given 

 to us from public funds. 



If we were to compare our progress in the matter of the public appreciation of 

 our science during the past two years with that in other countries, we should find 

 that our position is by no means satisfactory. In Germany, France, Belgium, 

 Holland, and more particularly in the United States of America, progress has been 

 rapid and continuous. The number of persons in these countries who by the aid 

 of university or public endowments are able to devote themselves to original work 

 in zoology has considerably increased of late years, and the number of magnifi- 

 cently equipped institutions that have been built for their accommodation and 

 convenience makes our efforts in the same direction appear very small. 



It would not be difficult for me to bring facts and figures before you in support 

 of these general statements ; but my object is not so much to lament over the past 

 and to mourn for the present position of our science in this country, as to suggest 

 directions in which we may work together for its development and progress. 



Upon one matter, however, I think we may congratulate ourselves. If the 

 research done by English zoologists has not been as great in amount as it might 

 have been, I think it may be truly said that we have fully maintained its standard 

 as regards quality. 



The contributions that have been made to the Science of Zoology by our 

 countrymen during the past twenty years in general interest and in theoretical 

 importance are of such a nature that any civilised race might well be proud 

 of them, and I venture to say they compare favourably with those of any other 

 country. I may remind you that the discovery and description of the Okapi, 

 Caeuolestes, Nyctotherus Rhabdopleura, Cephalodiscus, Limnocodium, and Pelago- 

 hydra, the rediscovery of Lepidosiren and Ctenoplana, the most important 

 features of the development of Balanoglossus, Lepidosiren, Amphioxus, Peripatus 

 Hatteria, and some of the Marsupialia, and that the discovery of the important 

 character of the fauna of the deep seas involving the discovery of many new genera 

 and species, were the work of British zoologists. Moreover, that the prolonged 

 and painstaking investigations carried on in our laboratories have thrown much 

 light upon the character and relations of coelomic cavities, the homologies of the 

 nephridia and genital ducts, and many other important morphological problems. 



In the field of evolutionary theories we have done much important work in 

 the study of the facts of protective and aggressive mimicry in insects, in the 

 statistical estimation of variations, and in the experimental inquiry into the value 

 of current theories of heredity. 



The list is far from complete ; but with such a record of good work done 

 with the scanty means at our disposal there is no reason to suppose that the 

 science is on the decline in this country, or that our countrymen are not as capable 

 as any others of grasping the importance of biological problems and ultimately 

 wresting from Nature the secrets that are hidden. 



Whilst we may thus congratulate ourselves upon the achievements of the past 

 and upon our strength and ability to carry on good work in the future, I cannot 

 help feeling that the time has come for us to make a united effort to place before 

 the general public of this country, and more particularly the educated and 

 influential part of it, the disadvantages under which we suffer, and our need for 

 help in the further development of our subject. 



_We have all realised that in this country, more than in any other that is called 

 civilised, there prevails among all classes an extraordinary ignorance of the first 



1903.' [XX 



