WEST COAST FISHERIES. 135 



leisurely like the salmon, and extend the time with the decreas- 

 ing warmth. 



The fishing trade of this district has distinctly fallen off, 

 owing perhaps to some extent to general dissatisfaction and 

 land agitation, but also no doubt to the reduced prices for the 

 fish captured. Much might be done, however, at small cost 

 to develop an important industry in this quarter, the whole 

 region to the south-west, by Dhu Heartach, being undoubtedly 

 most abundantly provided for the supply of a fishing industry. 

 A considerable quantity of flat fish are still captured on the 

 spiller lines, and sent during the spring and summer to the 

 Oban market, along with the salmon taken in great numbers 

 off this coast. The flat fish include the sail fluke, which is 

 occasionally taken, and young halibut undeveloped, so far as 

 to have the eyes wide apart, were also found in the tow-net, 

 showing they were still in the position in which they were 

 developed from the floating ova, and had not yet descended to 

 the depths at which the mature fish is taken. 



A good deal of systematic work is still before the naturalist 

 ere he can positively claim to know the career from end to end 

 of the commercial fishes. But a great proportion of them have 

 been hatched out, and examined specifically in course of develop- 

 ment, so that ere long we trust to be able to declare with 

 certainty to what species each ovum, during any month, may 

 with reasonable certainty be allocated. There is no doubt a 

 danger in generalising from particular cases, and still more in 

 judging from analogy, and it may be necessary to carry the 

 ovum to a certain development ere reasonable certainty can be 

 assured ; but the possibilities are there, and from our observa- 

 tions and drawings, we have no doubt that sufficient distinction 

 is observable at an early stage to enable an accurate observer 

 to define the genus, if not the species, from the developing 

 ovum. There is a marked difference in the development of the 

 eye, of the pigment spots, of the colouring matter, or so-called 

 chromatopfiores, and various other points. 



Thus, without acceptiog the view that beam-trawling is not 

 a destructive mode of fishing, we are ready to admit that, so 

 far as the bulk of our commercial fishes are concerned — herring 

 specially excepted — it can do no direct injury to the spawn once 

 that has been deposited in the water, seeing that the ova are 

 not only by presumption, but by actual observation and investi- 

 gation, proved to be floating freely in the upper waters during 

 their development, although the ground fishes to which they 

 belong may throw them many fathoms deep. 



When the waters are rich in Entomostraca — and these go in 

 shoals just as fishes themselves do — the fish taken, such as 

 herring or "saithe" (young Gadus virens), are also found 



