80 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
action merely prohibits and punishes and is not 
constructive and productive. It is only the Sea- — 
Fisheries Authorities (Central or Local), so far, that 
have attempted constructive work in the interests 
of the industry, and all such work must be based 
upon detailed scientific local investigation. 
These are fair samples of research having a direct bearing 
upon administration: no doubt other examples from other 
parts of the coast could be given. 
(2). On the other hand there are many researches of less 
direct and immediate interest to the administrator 
but possibly of great value in the end, such as: 
(a) Purely oceanographic investigations such as the 
study of drifts and currents, the distribution and 
variation of salinities and temperatures and other 
seasonal and annual changes in the physical and 
chemical characters of the water. All such work 
has to be done partly at sea on research vessels 
(possibly the same vessels carrying on the work under 
1, a, 6, c, above), and partly in the University 
laboratory or at a well-equipped Biological Station. 
(b) Life-histories in the technical, zoological, sense— 
that is the study of embryonic and larval stages of 
marine edible or economically important animals, 
and also morphological studies of the adults. 
(c) Faunistic research, such as determining the 
associations of edible and inedible animals and 
plants on various grounds, and investigating their 
relations to one another as food, as enemies and as 
competitors in the struggle for existence. Also the 
determination of the amount of fish food at different 
localities and seasons. This is an example of a 
natural-history research which might easily lead 
