o 
The Laboratory, it must now be said, is becoming too small to 
accommodate the number of workers who apply for tables, and if 
the Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade, which has been 
considering how best researches iu relation to the fisheries of this 
country can be assisted, do not afford us the means of obtaining the 
extension which has become necessary, we must, for the first time, 
appeal to the district to help us. 
Natural History in general — not merely as applied to fisheries — 
suffers greatly from the sad lack of books of reference in Newcastle. 
The libraries of the College, the Natural History Society, the Literary 
and Philosophical Society, and the Free Library contain a few books 
of use, but the vast majority we have either to buy ourselves or have 
to procure from London. Should anyone wish to devote a sum of 
money to the advancement of Natural History in this district, there 
is no better purpose for which it could be given than to provide a 
library for the Zoological Department. 
Alexander Meek. 
