SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 143 



environment in Liverpool be correct ? The observed 

 association of students with a professor, and of both with 

 a college, would be justifiable. It would be correct to 

 conclude that sailors, dock labourers and stevedores 

 frequent the docks, and that Aldermen have some con- 

 nection with a Town Hall ; but the fact that electric cars 

 are also abundant in front of the Town Hall is non- 

 essential, and any conclusion such as that Aldermen and 

 electric cars are usually associated with the same habitat, 

 and are in any way inter-dependent, would be erroneous. 



We can imagine many other cases of this kind where 

 appearances might at first be deceptive, and false 

 inferences might be drawn from observed facts. On the 

 other hand, some true conclusions would be clearly indi- 

 cated ; and I do not doubt that it is much the same in 

 our investigations as to the condition and population of 

 the sea-bottom. It is probable, moreover, that the false 

 inferences would be corrected by the accumulation of a 

 greater number of statistics. It might be made out from 

 further observations that electric cars are liable to become 

 massed in various parts of the town, and have no necessary 

 connection with Aldermen, and that policemen are widel} T 

 but sporadically distributed. The more numerous our 

 observations, the more our statistics accumulate, the less 

 chance is there of erroneous conclusions. 



My contention, then, is that such an investigation of 

 our seas must be made, that it is urgent and s'hould be 

 made now, and that the Irish Sea is favourably situated 

 and circumstanced at present to be made a test case before 

 undertaking the much wider and still more difficult 

 expanse of the Xorth Sea, complicated by international 

 questions. The Irish Sea is of moderate and manageable 

 dimensions (see fig. p. 144). It is all bounded by British 

 territory and by sea fisheries authorities who might agree 



