ADULT HEEKINGS 171 



at tlie end of their third year of growth ; only four were less 

 than 9| inches ; and 33 fish were over 9-8 inches. In March, 

 67 out of 85 fish examined were, at the end of their third year's 

 growth, over 9-8 inches in length, and only eleven fish were 

 under 9J inches. Mr. Storrow tells us that he has found no 

 herrings which grew at this rate anywhere south of the Firth of 

 Forth except a very few landed at North Shields, and for this 

 reason, and because the older fish examined are also much 

 larger for their age than herrings from southern waters, he pro- 

 pounds the hypothesis that most of them came to the spawning 

 grounds from northern waters, where the herrings grow more 

 rapidly than in the southern portions of the North Sea. He is, 

 he believes, in a fair way towards proving that the Firth of 

 Forth spawning grounds are visited by shoals from Northum- 

 brian and also from extreme northern waters. 



But this is only one, and by no means the most important, 

 part of Mr. Storrow's herring-work in 1920. He has, in fact, 

 tackled the problem which his chief. Professor Meek, as related 

 on p. 158 of this book, stated to be unsolved in 1916. In two 

 respects his investigations are remarkable. In the first place 

 they were conducted in close co-operation with men engaged 

 in the herring industry ; in the second place, and chiefly on 

 account of that co-operation, they were made without any 

 research vessel, and without any very great expenditure of 

 money. He had a most able coadjutor in Mrs. Cowan, and each 

 colleague managed to get through enough detailed and mono- 

 tonous work to stagger any layman. The whole year's opera- 

 tions are described in the reports of the Dove Marine Laboratory 

 (New Series, IX) for the year ending 30th June 1920. The 

 report bristles with technicalities which might well baulk the 

 ' lay ' student. For instance, Mr. Storrow tells us that some 

 herrings ' contranatated (sic) from the east coast to the waters 

 of the Orkney and Shetland Islands '. The astonishing verb 

 merely means that the fish swim against a current. But the 

 layman must remember that this paper is written not for him, 

 but for Mr. Storrow's brother naturahsts. It well repays 

 laborious study in its present form. It will be of great value 

 to the industry when it is translated, on the lines of Dr. Hjort's 

 ' popular ' papers, into language which fishermen can under- 

 stand. Space does not admit of more than a very brief notice 

 here. 



Mr. Storroiv's Methods in 1920 



Mr. Storrow decided in 1919 that he would obtain samples 

 from as many shoals of herrings as possible, in order to discover 



