THE SCARCER FISHES IN ABERDEEN MARKET 



243 



the months. The bulk of the captures fall in the month of 

 May, and there is a distinct lack of them in the summer 

 months : all in direct contrast to what we have found on 

 the W. of Scotland. And I am inclined to put more 

 trust in this scanty evidence than I might otherwise do, 

 because, for the allied species C. mirabilis, the Irish records 

 show a similar, but in this case an opposite, periodicity 

 most of the captures of this latter fish having been made 

 during August and September. 1 This is shown in the 



With regard to the more numerous captures of C. 

 mirabilis in the autumn months, we might suspect that more 

 trawling had been done at that season than at others, in the 

 great depths where this species lives ; and that therefore 

 its seasonal increase was more apparent than real. But 

 while comparatively little deep-sea trawling seems to have 

 been done in February and November, yet (judging from 

 the published records) the amount done in May is not 

 incommensurate with that done in August and September. 2 

 I conclude that there is, at least, some provisional evidence 

 that C. mirabilis increases in abundance in this region 

 towards autumn, while C. monstrosa is most abundant in 



1 Three specimens of C. mirabilis were obtained by the Goldseeker, 

 together with the adult specimen of C. monstrosa already mentioned, in 

 August 1909, at 59 26' N., 8 24' W. (S.W. of the Faeroes), at a depth of 

 1257 metres. 



2 As far as I can make out from the Irish " Lists of Stations," the 

 number of hauls of beam and otter trawl in depths below (or very near 

 to) 500 fathoms, in the years 1901-12, was as follows : February, 2 ; May> 

 18 ; August, 26 ; September, 15 ; November, 2. 



