The Journal of our Association cannot be allowed to appear without a few words in memory of our first President, the great naturalist and leader of Science, whom we all mourn.

Huxley's studies in marine biology, and his position as a Government official, as well as his keen, practical common-sense, made his selection as a member of two Government Commissions on Fisheries (in 1863 and again in 1883) very appropriate. He did valuable work on those Commissions, and in 1881 was appointed, by Sir William Harcourt, to be Inspector of Salmon Fisheries. In 1883 he took an active part in the work of the International Fisheries Exhibition, and emphasized in an address given there, the fact that, whilst civilized man had brought all the resources of science to bear on the “harvest of the land,” little or nothing had been done in the same spirit for the “harvest of the sea.”

From April 3rd to May 17th of this year I occupied a table at the Plymouth Laboratory, to study the embryology of Teleosteans. As some of the fish in the flat-fish tank were known to be spawning, a net was fitted to the overflow channel into the adjoining tank. By the kind permission of the Director I examined this net daily, and, as a rule, a number of times a day, so that I obtained a pretty complete record of the spawning of the fish in this tank during the period mentioned.

In accordance with instructions from the Council of the Association, I arrived in Cleethorpes on February 4th last, and proceeded to make investigations into the biological questions presented by the fisheries in the North Sea. A large portion of my time was, however, absorbed by the work of preparing a summary of our knowledge of the natural history of marketable marine fishes, for publication in book form, and consequently the observations to be here recorded are not so extensive nor so complete as I should have otherwise been able to make them. It must also be noted that they are confined to a period of only three months—from the beginning of February to the end of April. The work has consisted only of observations in the fish market at Grimsby Docks, and of the examination of fish there procured in the Cleethorpes Hatchery; I have not been able to make any voyages on fishing boats. I have received from Mr. Holt, my predecessor at this post, all the assistance that information concerning persons and circumstances could afford me, and I have had the valuable services of Mr. Clark, the caretaker of the Hatchery.

The following notes on the collecting work carried out during the period from January to June, 1895, follow the lines of Mr. Garstang's notes for 1892 and 1893. In putting the observations on record, I should like to thank the various workers at the Laboratory during the period covered, for the help which they have given. My own part of the work has consisted chiefly in keeping the record, and in endeavouring to give a certain amount of continuity to the whole. At the same time the final responsibility for the names adopted must be my own.

In a communication to the Royal Society (Phil. Trans. vol. clxxxiv. 1894, and in this Journal, vol. ii. no. 1), I described a series of experiments in which light was directed upon the lower sides of flat fishes, by means of a tank with a glass bottom, and a mirror placed beneath it. I have now to record an observation which confirms my previous results in a most striking manner. Curiously enough, the effect I am about to describe, in some respects even more important as evidence than those obtained in my experiments, was observed accidentally, or at least incidentally, and was due to conditions which had been quite unintentionally produced.

Amongst the numerous subjects which have occupied the attention of the fishery authorities of the United States, that of the great decline in the productiveness of the lobster fishing industry has received much consideration, and several competent naturalists have, in consequence, devoted themselves to a scientific study of the habits and life-history of the American species. This species (Homarus Americanus) is so nearly allied to the European lobster (Homarus vulgaris), that the results arrived at for it, with regard to such questions as the time of year at which spawning takes place, the length of time during which the eggs are carried by the female attached to the under side of the abdomen, and the time of year at which the eggs are hatched, might be expected to apply, to some extent at least, to the latter. That this is so, appears to be abundantly proved by Dr. Ehrenbaum's study of the lobsters which frequent the shores of Heligoland, and certain observations which I have been able to make on lobsters taken in the neighbourhood of Plymouth during the last two years, in the course of my work on the nervous system of the embryo, also tend to confirm this view.

In Vol. III., No. 3, p. 208, of this Journal, a summary was given of certain observations made in the Plymouth Laboratory on the nerveelements of the embryonic lobster. A more detailed description of these elements, with figures, appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, vol. 36, 1894. The observations have since been extended, and the following summary of the additional results may not be without interest.