The general condition of the Laboratory since the date of my report in the last number of the Journal calls for little mention. Some slight repointing of the walls and glazing has been necessary to keep out the winter rains, and the overhaul of one of the gas engines deemed desirable for the proper continuation of pumping without loss of gas. In other respects the entire building continues to render every satisfaction.

The work done by the various members of the Staff will be most readily estimated by the perusal of the several papers written by the members, and need not be mentioned in detail by me.

In my last report I made mention of the fishery investigations to be carried on by Mr. Holt in the North Sea, stating that in this Journal I would probably be in a position to state upon what lines the observations had been begun.

Since the issue of last number, another Fishery Conference has been held at Fishmongers’ Hall under the auspices of the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association. At this conference the capture and sale of undersized fish was again under discussion, and again a resolution was passed defining, to the satisfaction of most of those present, the sizes below which soles, plaice, turbot, &c., should not be captured and sold. The discussion, as well as the resolution, proved abundantly to anyone at all acquainted with the sizes at which the various food fishes first spawn, that the sizes were arrived at purely with a view to keeping undersized fish out of the market, and without any reference to the maturity or immaturity of these fish.