146 beport— 1878. 



Report of the Committee, consisting of the Rev. H. F. Barnes- 

 Lawrence, C. Spence Bate, Esq., H. E. Dresser, Esq. (Sec), 

 Dr. A. Gtunther, J. E. Harting, Esq., Dr. G-wtn Jeffreys, Pro- 

 fessor Newton, and the Rev. Canon Tristram, appointed for the 

 purpose of inquiring into the possibility of establishing a " Close 

 Time " for Indigenous Animals. 



It is with regret that your Committee has to report that, for the first time 

 since its original appointment in August 1868, the work it has not unsuc- 

 cessfully had in hand has been brought in question, and this in a way 

 which requires serious attention on the part of all who wish to preserve 

 our indigenous animals from the extermination that, until the last few 

 years, was threatening so many of them. 



In July 1877, it having been reported to Her Majesty's Secretary of 

 State for the Home Department that " the Herring Fishery on the coast 

 of Scotland is in an unsatisfactory state, and that it is desirable that 

 inquiries should be made to ascertain whether any legislative regulations 

 would tend to promote the welfare of the fishermen engaged in the said 

 fishery, and to increase the supply of herrings for the benefit of the 

 public," that gentleman appointed Mr. Buckland, Mr. Spencer Walpole, 

 and Mr. Archibald Young to be Commissioners to make such inquiries 

 and to report to him the result thereof. 



In accordance therewith the Commissioners above named reported to 

 the Home Secretaiy, under date of March 1, 1878, and their ' Report,' 

 with ' Appendices,' was subsequently presented to both Houses of Par- 

 liament by command of Her Majesty. 



This ' Report,' containing certain conclusions arrived at by the Com- 

 missioners, naturally attracted the notice of your Committee ; and after 

 due consideration it was resolved that a letter should be addressed on 

 behalf of your Committee to the Home Secretary in regard to some of 

 those conclusions. 



The following is a copy of the letter thereupon sent : — 



" To the Right Honourable B. A. Cross, H.M. Principal Secretary of State 



for the Home Department. 



" 6 Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, W., 



" London, July 6, 1878. 



" Sir, — The Committee of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the possibility of 

 establishing a close time for indigenous animals, having had under their 

 consideration the ' Report on the Herring Fisheries of Scotland,' dated 

 March 1, 1878, and the conclusions at which the Commissioners have 

 arrived (pp. xxxv., xxxvi. of that Report), beg leave respectfully to sub- 

 mit to your consideration the following observations, viz. : — 



" I. That conclusions Nos. 2 and 3 of the Commissioners — viz., that 

 ' legislation in past periods has had no appreciable effect,' and that 

 * nothing that man has yet done, and nothing that man is likely to do, 



