86 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



are still unexplored. But oceanographic expeditions have their limitations, 

 for as a rule they are only able to remain for brief periods in any one 

 locality ; in consequence they have seldom been able to obtain data on 

 seasonal changes or fluctuations in hydrography, they cannot make any 

 but the briefest observations on living animals and they cannot follow 

 their life-histories. At marine stations, though only limited areas can be 

 dealt with, these and many other studies can be carried out, and such 

 work thus forms the counterpart to that of the expeditions. Once the 

 success of Dohrn's station at Naples was perceived other similar marine 

 biological laboratories were founded and in more recent times several 

 institutions have been established which confine themselves to the study 

 of hydrography. In Europe and in North America, though there is still 

 ample room for expansion, we may consider ourselves well supplied, at 

 least so far as biological stations are concerned, but in other parts of the 

 world the facilities are for the most part quite inadequate. In many 

 biological studies we are now reaching a point where observations on 

 other faunas are essential to further progress, and a well-equipped tropical 

 station in one of the richest areas of the Indo-Pacific region is rapidly 

 becoming an urgent necessity. 



There is, in this very brief outline, another and more recent develop- 

 ment to be recorded. In 1895, when Sir William Herdman presided over 

 this section at Cardiff^, he spoke of the results of the Challenger expedition 

 and urged that in the interests of the national fisheries an expedition 

 should be fitted out, to last two years, to make a systematic exploration of 

 the waters surrounding the British Isles. He evidently realised what is 

 sufficiently obvious to us to-day, that expeditions of brief duration cannot 

 supply all that we require and that for the study of the life history of almost 

 any marine animal at least a whole year is needed. Matters did not take 

 exactly the turn that Sir William Herdman advocated, the two-year pro- 

 gramme was never undertaken ; but a better course was adopted in the 

 creation of state fishery laboratories, most of them with their own research 

 ships. Though the activities of these departments are naturally restricted 

 to economic problems they have contributed most handsomely to the 

 study of oceanography. To marine zoology in particular they have 

 brought great benefit, for by their intensive studies they have given us 

 complete, or almost complete, accounts of the natural history of a number 

 of fish, with detailed information far beyond what we possess for any other 

 marine organism. To acquire this knowledge, which is clearly necessary 

 for the scientific study of fishery problems, is a long and arduous task and 

 as yet it is by no means finished. We are not yet able, and may never be 

 able to make two fishes grow where one grew before ; but the application 

 of scientific methods is showing the way in which stocks of fish can be 

 utilised to best advantage, and the success of fishery prediction must have 

 struck even the most casual observer. It is not too much to say that the 

 fundamental knowledge by which the major problem of the conservation 

 of the stock can be solved has already been obtained, and this is a matter 

 of vital importance to the fishing industry. 



The rapid progress which has been made in oceanography is thus, in 

 my estimation, due to these three agencies : to the expeditions, the marine 

 stations and the fishery departments. The expeditions can reach areas 



