The following list has been classified, so far as practicable, according to subjects, in order that it may be useful for purposes of reference. The list does not include publications recording the results of observations made on material supplied by the Association to workers in different parts of the country, of which a considerable amount is sent out each year.

No description of the young of this species seems to exist, with the exception of that given by Emery (1) of some examples from Naples.

The specimens here described were captured at Newquay, on the north coast of Cornwall, in September, 1898, and have been preserved in formol. They were caught in sandy pools surrounding or surrounded by rocks in the shelter of which they seemed to be fond of lying. When disturbed they darted with considerable rapidity from place to place, and in doing so were seemingly assisted by the large pectoral fins which were carried nearly at right angles to the body by the fish when at rest.

The facts and experiments recorded in the preceding sections lead to the following main conclusions:—

(1) Plaice below 8 inches in length are practically confined to the inshore waters of the bays at all seasons of the year. They are especially abundant in Teignmouth Bay and Torbay, where they are caught with the usual trawl-mesh in numbers at least as great as those of all the larger sizes of plaice taken together. In Start Bay, on the other hand, these small plaice are far less numerous than the larger fish, which out-number them by eighteen to one (Table II., p. 449).

The investigation of the trawling grounds in Start Bay, Torbay, and Teignmouth Bay, which had been previously investigated in 1895–8 by Messrs. Stead and Holt, was resumed by the Marine Biological Associaton in 1901. The new investigations were placed in the hands of Dr. H. M. Kyle, Assistant Naturalist to the Association, and were carried out by him at nearly regular monthly intervals from the end of July, 1901, to the beginning of September, 1902, by means of the Association's s.s. Oithona.

So far as I have been able to discover, there is no record of the presence of this or any other Squilla in the North Sea; to make sure I inquired of Dr. Hoek, whose experience is unrivalled, and he assures me that the only record is that of an Erichtheus stage, discovered on the Dogger Bank during the cruise of the Pommerania (1872). Early in May (1901) I received through the Director of the Natural History Museum a specimen of Squilla, as to the rarity of which in the Channel he called my attention.

There have been four ordinary meetings of the Council during the year, at which the average attendance has been 8. As in previous years, the meetings have been held at the rooms of the Royal Society, and the Council has again to express its thanks for the courtesy thus extended.

The Council has to record with regret the death of Professor G. J. Allman, F.R.S., who has been one of the Vice-Presidents of the Association since its foundation in 1884.

After the completion of the investigation of the fauna and bottom-deposits of the outlying grounds extending from the neighbourhood of the Eddystone to Start Point, a detailed account of which was given in the last number of the Journal of the Association, a systematic investigation upon a similar plan was undertaken of the inshore grounds. The general area originally contemplated for detailed charting may be roughly described as lying between the 30-fathom line and the shore, and extending from the neighbourhood of Bolt Tail to Looe. In such an area the conditions are necessarily much more complicated than those which were met with on the Eddystone to Start grounds, where the depths varied but little from 30 fathoms, and where any effect upon the bottom fauna due to wave action was very slight. A further unfortunate complication has been introduced by the fact that immense quantities of refuse have been deposited all over the grounds immediately to the south and west of Plymouth Sound, by barges working in connection with the harbour improvement schemes in the Hamoaze and at Keyham, as well as by the barges belonging to the Plymouth Corporation, which discharge the refuse from the town. To such an extent has this deposit taken place that many of the most fruitful dredging and trawling grounds in the immediate neighbourhood have been rendered practically unworkable, and we have been compelled to abandon any serious systematic investigation of a considerable portion of the area originally contemplated.

On the invitation of the Norwegian Government a second International Conference met at Christiania in May, 1901, to revise and complete the proposals formulated at the Stockholm Conference in 1899 for a combined hydrographical and biological exploration of the North Sea and adjoining waters in the interests of the sea-fisheries.

During the trawling work of the past year within and around the bays on the south coast of Devon, my attention was drawn to the peculiar phenomena displayed by the tides and currents in Start Bay, and a subsequent endeavour to trace their connections and consequences led to a wider survey of the region within the line from Start to Portland. The bottom samples brought up by the trawl and lead afforded excellent opportunities of ascertaining the nature and distribution of the different soils, and thus of tracing out their changes during the seasons. My own observations, moreover, were supplemented by those of the friendly Brixham fishermen, who had many years’ experiences behind them. Their theories, it is true, were somewhat numerous and divergent, as becomes such an energetic and independent race, but the phenomena were described with a wonderful definiteness and unanimity. Knowledge of the bottom-soil—its changes through the month and year—and of the tidal phenomena is absolutely essential to the fisherman because his living depends upon it, so that one need not be surprised at, though appreciating, the great accuracy with which they can tell where they are and what they should catch in their trawls from a brief examination of the soil brought up by the lead.

12 noon.—Opening of the Conference in the reception hall of the University of Christiania by His Excellency the Prime Minister of Norway, Mr. Steen.

On behalf of His Majesty the King of Norway, Mr. Steen extended a cordial welcome to the members of the Conference. He said that they were assembled, as all knew, to draw up their final proposals for an international investigation of the North and adjacent seas. Repeated attempts on an isolated footing had been made to solve the problems of the sea and of the manifold life beneath its surface, and only after ripe experience had the different nationalities come to recognise that cooperation in their labours was essential to success.

The following records are based on notes taken on board the Oithona when engaged in fishing in the bays. Whilst the primary object of the work was the distribution of fish, it was thought that something would be gained if the distribution of the invertebrates in the same area were known. The time at our disposal, however, did not allow of hauls with the dredge and shrimp trawl, so that the records are based, in all but one case, on the invertebrates caught in an otter trawl, the exception being on the Limpet Rocks off Torcross, where one haul with the dredge was taken. This is accountable for the fact that many of the smaller invertebrates were not caught at all, whilst some are only recorded because they were found in fish stomachs. The almost total absence in the records of Tunicata, Polyzoa, and small species of the other groups is due to the fact that only those were recorded which could be identified on board. The records themselves, however, incomplete as they are, are fairly representative of the distribution of the species recorded.

The increased attention which has been paid within recent years to fishery statistics has revealed, amongst other troublesome things, that the instruments employed play an important part both as to quantity and quality in the result. It is not necessary to discuss whether any of the instruments as now used give a fair sample of the contents of the water or ground, but it certainly is the case that different apparatus will give different samples. Let a beam-trawl and an otter-trawl work for a year over the same ground alongside drift-nets and fixed trammel-nets or gill-nets, and we can guarantee that the results will differ from one another. In the case of the drift-nets we should have a few forms probably in large quantity, in the others a great variety of forms, but in different proportions in each. And again, those obtained by the drift-nets would be practically absent from the trawls. It thus behoves the naturalist to make every kind of fishing apparatus subservient to his use, if he desires to obtain even an approximate measure of fish-life in the sea.

For the sake of argument I will suppose:

I. That in a biologically self-contained area, e.g. in the North Sea, statistics show that the value of the total yearly catch of a certain species of fish is decreasing year by year;

II. That the catching power and the prices are not reduced;

III. That the physical conditions have not changed in an unfavourable manner.