of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 
361 
' order that more time may be given to examine the grounds of alarm felt 
' as to the effect upon our fisheries by the taking and sale of immature 
' fish, to watch the operation of the Sea Fisheries Regulations Act, 1888, 
1 and the recent legislation in Denmark, and to enable the results of 
1 observations and experiments which are proceeding to be obtained. 
' Also, that a committee be appointed to consider and report on the subject 
' to the next conference, or earlier, at the discretion of the Executive 
1 Committee.' The association has arranged for an International Conference 
being held on this subject in Londou in July next (1890). 
The inspectors of Irish Fisheries issued last year a blue book, containing 
a report on their inquiry as to the desirability of passing a bye-law to 
prohibit beam trawling in Lough Swilly, County Donegal, together with 
the evidence brought before them at the various places visited. The 
inspectors point out that there are no statistics available as to the quantity 
of fish captured in Lough Swilly, and report as follows : — (1) There is 
no evidence to show that trawling destroys the spawn or spawning beds 
of any fish ; (2) there is evidence that immature fish are taken in the 
trawl-net ; but the quantity is, in their opinion, almost infinitesimal, and 
certainly inappreciable ' as affecting the supply ; (3) it is difficult to 
determine whether the action of the trawl through the water would have 
the effect of breaking up or scaring away the shoals or schools of herrings 
or mackerels coming into the bay; that such is the case was not proved 
in evidence ; (4) that they do not possess the means for a scientific in- 
vestigation of the effect of trawling in Irish waters, such as is possessed 
by the Scotch Fishery Board, in order to determine what might be the 
effect of the suspension of trawling, and that until such means are 
provided it would be unwise to interfere with beam trawling in the 
Lough. There can be little doubt that there would be much risk in 
applying the results or conclusions derived from experimental observations 
on the East Coast of Scotland to the coast of Ireland, where the fauna, 
physical conditions, &c. are so different. 
The Marine Fisheries Society, Great Grimsby, recently issued their 
first Annual Report.* This society was formed at Grimsby in 1888 to 
inquire into various questions related to the protection and promotion of 
English fisheries, and especially to establish a hatchery for the artificial 
culture of sea fish. The hatchery is situated at Cleethorpes, and the 
hatching room measures thirty-seven by twenty-one feet. The aquarium 
tanks are seventeen in number, forming a reservoir capable of storing 
about 4000 gallons of water. In each hatching tank there is room for 
twelve wooden boxes or trays, each 16 inches by 10 inches and 9 inches 
deep. Unfortunately, owing to the non-completion of the hatchery and 
the fixing of the engine and pump for circulating the water, no actual 
work could be commenced until the spawning season was over. 
Since our last report appeared two numbers of the Journal of the 
Marine Biological Association have been published. In the first of thesef 
the papers deal generally with subjects of scientific interest, such as 
certain points in the anatomy of Dinophilus, by Mr S. F. Harmer, the 
coelom and nephridia of Palxmon serratus, and the function of the spines 
of the crustacean zooea, by Mr W. F. R. Weldon j the structure of the 
thallus of Delesseria sanguinea, by Mr M. C. Potter ; and Tealia 
tuberadata, Cocks, a study in synonymy, by Mr J. T. Cunningham. 
There is also a report by Mr G. C. Bourne, the director, on the pelagic 
copepoda collected at Plymouth ; and one by Mr W. Garstang, on the 
nudibranchiate mollusca of Plymouth Sound. Of more general interest 
* First Ann. Hep. Marine Fisheries Soc. , Great Grimsby, Grimsby, 1S90. 
t New Ser., vol. 1, No. 2, October 1889. 
