224 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



concluding cruise of the Survey in 1891, by tlie Eev. W. S. Green, 

 will be found in the Report of the Council of the Royal Dublin 

 Society for 1891, Appendix 0. The following Reports by Mr. 

 Holt were also included in the same Appendix. 



It is hardly necessary to point out that, after all, the informa- 

 tion obtained by the Survey is necessarily extremely incomplete. 

 All we can claim for it is that it is accurate so far as it goes. 

 Still it is a matter of congratulation for the Society that no similar 

 work has yet been attempted in England. It is only in Scotland 

 that the Fisheries have been systematically and scientifically 

 treated, and there this has been accomplished by a State Depart- 

 ment. The work of a Fishery Board has, in Ireland, been inau- 

 gurated by the Society, and it is to be hoped that the work thus 

 commenced will not be allowed to drop. 



Owing to the great length of coast which it was deemed 

 advisable to cover, and to the comparatively short time for which 

 a steamer could be chartered, the Survey could only be cursory. 

 In but a few places it was thorough, and there only for a part of 

 the year. Before it can be possible to gain a thorough knowledge 

 of our Western Fisheries it will be necessary to have the undivided 

 use of a steamer in which observations can be made from place to 

 place during every month of the year. It will take many years 

 of hard work before the Irish Fisheries can be adequately inves- 

 tigated. The Society may now hand over the responsibility of this 

 undertaking to the Government — for it is clearly too heavy a 

 responsibility for a local Society, and moreover is a matter of 

 national importance. 



