93 
was constructed has convinced me that the Association will 
in due time reap a rich harvest from its enterprise. Apart 
from the credit due to the Manchester Anglers’ Association 
for having thus utilised its opportunities for assisting in the 
work of replenishing our rivers with a most important 
food supply/ the experiment has considerable biological 
interest. A careful record of statistical and other facts is 
being kept by the Association^ and uch data will afford 
material for solving many interesting ichthyological prob- 
lems. Thus, the relations between the meteorological 
character of the • seasons, the time of spawning, and the 
relative abundance of the spawning and success of the 
hatchings are being observed. In his latest report as 
Inspector of Fisheries in England and Wales, Mr. A. D. 
Berrington comments on evidence of apparent changes 
in the spawning time of the salmonidae in different rivers 
which cannot be traced to any visible changes in the 
natural conditions of the rivers in question; and in a 
previous report Professor Huxley calls attention to remark- 
able changes in the productiveness of different rivers from 
year to year, extraordinary fallings-off and sudden revivals, 
which cannot be explained by any of the hypotheses 
advanced, such as pollution, rainfall, and so on, being 
witnessed. The question of spawning time and the effect 
of meteorological and other conditions upon it, and also 
upon the hatching, have an important bearing upon the close- 
time regulations, as it is obvious that with fixed dates tlie 
rivers may occasionally be closed and opened too early ; and 
it is just possible that it may eventually be found desirable 
to adapt close-time regulations to the special character of 
the season and other conditions of fish-life and maturity. 
I have to thank Mr. Robert Burn, who has taken an active 
part in the fish-breeding enterprise on behalf of the Associa- 
tion, for much of the information relating to the fish-house 
