4 
THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. 
Jan., 1890. 
Government. About £12,000 have been expended on build¬ 
ing and equipping the laboratory. The annual revenue which 
can at present be counted on is about £950, of which the sum 
of £500 for four years is granted by Her Majesty’s Treasury, 
on the express condition that the Association concerns itself 
with economic questions relating to our fisheries. The work 
which is being done by Mr. Cunningham on the develop¬ 
ment of food-fishes, and that by Mr. Weldon on the lobster, 
prawn, etc., fulfils this stipulation in a most admirable way. 
Investigations into fishery questions, however, can certainly 
not be exhaustively carried out until the Association possesses 
a steamboat of its own for dredging purposes. Such a boat, 
able to resist the heavy weather frequently experienced in the 
Channel, will cost at least £1,200, and of this sum only about 
£500 have been subscribed. 
It will be well to mention here a few facts about Dr. 
Dohrn’s Marine Laboratory at Naples. This magnificent 
establishment has cost £20,000 ; it is completely equipped 
with boats and dredging apparatus, etc., and maintains a 
large staff of fishermen and collectors. But, then, it has an 
income of £4,000, of which £1,500 is subscribed by the 
German Government, and the rest by various scientific bodies 
in Germany and elsewhere. 
Again, questions of economic interest, and they are many 
and difficult, need prolonged study on the part of experienced 
naturalists ; men capable of such investigations are, however, 
often unable to undertake the work owing to pecuniary con¬ 
siderations, and hence some fund is necessary out of which 
to maintain capable observers. Already one gentleman, Mr. 
Robert Bayly, of Plymouth, has furnished a noble example 
in this direction by giving £500 to the Association to be 
expended in investigating the means of improving the supply 
of bait for long-line fishermen. May he be followed in liis 
munificence by many others ! 
Another department of the laboratory which greatly needs 
assistance is the library. In pursuing any scientific investi¬ 
gation it is very necessary, first of all, to learn everything that 
is known on the subject; obviously, this is impossible without 
the aid of a good library. At present it is arranged that a 
sum of £100 a year is to be expended on books ; but this 
is a sum totally inadequate to the purpose ; for to purchase 
the current periodical literature alone of biology would 
swallow up a far larger sum, without considering works on 
British fauna and flora, monographs on important groups of 
animals and plants, and works on fisheries, many of which 
are very expensive. The nucleus of a good library has 
already been formed, partly by purchase, but more largely by 
