REVIEWS 519 



In conclusion one feels justified in congratulating Mr. Southwell on an interest- 

 ing resume of the past history, present position, and future prospects of fishery 

 investigation in the two provinces, and it is to be hoped that the Government will 

 have the courage to vote sufficient funds to enable future work to be conducted in 

 an efficient manner. At the same time it is to be feared that the real solution of 

 the difficulties in the way of the improvement of the fisheries of India is the 

 substitution of Imperial for provincial control. 



J. T. Jenkins. 



Thirty-third Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, being for 

 the year 1914. [Pp. lxviii -+- 303.] (Edinburgh : H.M. Stationery Office, 

 191 5. (Cd. 7976.) Price is. 8d.) 



The annual report of the Scottish Fishery Board is divisible into three parts : a 

 general statement of the condition of the sea fisheries, a similar statement as to the 

 salmon fisheries, and an account of the scientific investigations carried on with respect 

 to the fisheries. The report under review contains a summary only of the scientific 

 investigations ; for the detailed reports reference should be made to Fisheries, 

 Scotland, Scientific Investigations, 1914. The individual scientific papers are 

 now published separately when ready. The annual report of the Scottish Fishery 

 Board has long been recognised as the foremost in the world, and there is no 

 falling off in the present volume. The method of summarising and presenting the 

 statistical review of the fisheries is as near perfection as possible, and one notices 

 many important statistical returns {e.g. the statistics of cured fish and the cured 

 fish trade, and the valuation of the fishing fleet and gear) which are omitted from 

 the annual reports of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. The present report 

 is of greater interest than usual, since it shows the effect of the war on the fisheries 

 of Scotland up to the end of 1914. It is, however, only proposed to deal here 

 with the questions summarised under the heading of Part III., Scientific Investi- 

 gations, which were carried on in 1914, as in previous years, under the supervision 

 of Dr. T. Wemyss Fulton, Scientific Superintendent to the Scottish Fishery Board. 

 The plaice-hatching operations were carried on as usual at the Marine Laboratory 

 at the Bay of Nigg, Aberdeen, and as a result the number of fry liberated during 

 1914 amounted to iSf million ; the total from the year 1900 inclusive is now over 

 343 million. Considerable attention is now being devoted to the herring, and 

 there are two papers on this important fish, one by Dr. Williamson entitled "A 

 short Resume of the Researches into the European Races of Herrings and the 

 Method of Investigation," and an investigation into the herring fishery of Loch 

 Fyne. This famous herring fishery is now at its lowest ebb, and it is to be hoped 

 that the investigations will throw some light on the causes of the failure of this 

 fishery in recent years, together with some suggestions for its improvement in the 

 future. Other papers deal with fishery investigations in the North Sea, and these 

 are summarised under various headings, e.g. Trawling Investigations, the Migra- 

 tions and Growth of Fishes, and the Influence of Marine Currents. 



There is also an interesting paper by Prof. D'Arcy Thompson on the mean 

 level of the sea. This appears to us to be of more than passing interest, and since 

 it is published separately (price is.), as indicated above, it should be obtained by 

 all interested in hydrographic studies. 



Finally, there is a summary of a paper by Dr. Bowman on the spawning of the 

 plaice, and the distribution of the eggs in the northern parts of the North Sea. 

 The whole of the scientific work done under the auspices of the Scottish Fishery 



