70 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES 



owes its connexion with the local sea-fisheries authori- 

 ties. In the laboratories and museums of the Uni- 

 versity the scientific work of the local districts is 

 carried on by officials paid by the Fisheries Com- 

 mittee; and special rooms in the handsome new 

 zoological department have been assigned to these 

 two organizations. The connecting link between the 

 three bodies is the professor of zoology, Dr. Herdman, 

 who is honorary director of the scientific work, and 

 to whose untiring energy the University and the 

 district owe a large debt. With him work two trained 

 naturalists, Dr. Jenkins, the Superintendent of the 

 District Committee, and Mr. James Johnstone, whose 

 lucid and admirable work is mentioned at the head of 

 this article. From it many of our figures and facts 

 have been taken. 



The third and last body occupied with original 

 marine research is the Marine Biological Association 

 of the United Kingdom. It is the most important of 

 these institutions, and aims at a national rather than 

 a local activity. The fine laboratory which dominates 

 the eastern end of Plymouth Hoe was erected at a 

 cost of ;£'i2,ooo, and opened in 1888. The object of 

 the Association is to ' promote researches leading to 

 the improvement of zoological and botanical science, 

 and to an increase of our knowledge as regards the 

 food, life-conditions, and habits of British food-fishes 

 and molluscs.' Although a high average of scientific 

 work has been displayed in the published ' Memoirs ' 

 connected with the Plymouth laboratory, great atten- 

 tion has also been paid to matters of practical interest. 

 In a list of some 350 papers published, with the aid 

 or under the auspices of the Association, between 

 1886 and 1900, nearly one-half deal directly with 

 economic problems. From 1892 to 1895 the officers 

 of the Association carried on at Grimsby extensive 

 investigations into the destruction of immature fish ; 



