“Every legislative restriction means the creation of a new offence. In the case of fishery it means that a simple man of the people, earning a scanty livelihood by hard toil, shall be liable to fine or imprisonment for doing that which he and his fathers before him have, up to that time, been free to do.

“If the general interest clearly requires that this burden should be put upon the fisherman—well and good. But if it does not—if, indeed, there is any doubt about the matter—I think that the man who has made the unnecessary law deserves a heavier punishment than the man who breaks it.”—Huxley, Inaugural Address, Fisheries Exhibition, 1883.

I. The Florida Sponge Fishery .—History of the Fishery. Kinds of sponges taken. Relative value of sponges. Methods of procuring sponges. Curing the sponges. Sponge grounds reduced in value through over—fishing.

Sponge Culture Experiments.—historical.

Experiments of Buccicli. —Description of apparatus used, and manner in which the experiments were conducted. Buccich concluded that sponge cuttings would grow to marketable size in seven years.

Experiments in Florida.—Sponge cuttings said to grow more rapidly, increasing to from four to six times their original size in six months, when placed under favourable conditions.

Memorandum by Mr. Benedict, of U.S. National Museum,.—Sponge culture experiments do not appear to have been tried to any great extent. Fishermen opposed to anything of the kind as likely to lead to monopoly, and the cutting off their means of subsistence.

Would Sponge—Culture By Cuttings Be Profitable—Marenzeller points out that this would depend on whether pieces of a sponge would in a given time together attain a greater weight than the original sponge would have reached if left undisturbed.

Suggested Experiments.—Suggestions by Mr. Bidder {see below). Fishing by means of divers, or dredging, should be tried in deeper water.

In considering the experiments of Buccich (6) on propagation of sponges by cuttings, two main questions present themselves:—

(1) If a sponge be divided into many fragments, will the total increase of such fragments and their progeny be greater than the increase of the intact sponge and its progeny would have been in the same time; the conditions of water, &c., being identical?

(2) Are sponges, grown as recommended by Buccich, more or less favourably situated than those on the sea-bottom?

ArtificialHatching ofFishEggs.—The Scottish Report, whose title is given above, is stated to refer to the year 1894; but as a matter of fact, a great deal of the work recorded in it was carried out during the earlier portion of 1895. This is the case with the operations of the Dunbar Hatchery, described by Mr. Harald Dannevig, the Manager of that establishment. We find that 44,085,000 eggs of plaice were collected last spring, and from these 38,615,000 fry were obtained, and liberated in the sea. This shows a loss of only 12 per cent, in the process of hatching. But large as the numbers appear, it should not be forgotten that the above number of eggs represents the produce of only 220 female fish, reckoning 200,000 eggs to each, which is a low estimate, for it has been proved by Dr. Fulton that the larger female plaice produce each from 300,000 to 500,000 eggs in one season.

>The Plaice in Danish Waters.—The Fourth Report of the Danish Biological Station consists of a lengthy paper by Dr. C. G. J. Petersen “on the Biology of our Flat-fishes and on the Decrease of our Flat-fish Fisheries,” which was awarded a prize by Det Kongelige danske Videnskabernes Selskab, and which certainly deserves the careful attention of all who are interested in fishery questions. The first chapter gives a fairly complete account of some of the main features in the life history of the plaice in the Danish seas, together with shorter notes on other flat-fishes; the second and third are occupied by a discussion of the reasons for the deterioration of the fisheries, and of the remedial measures by which this evil may in the future be prevented. The paper is supplemented by five appendices, one of which, on the post-larval stages of flat-fishes, is of particular interest. For the full English translation with which we are provided English naturalists can but express their gratitude to the author.