96 TRAWLING EXPERIMENTS ON THE COAST OF DEVON. 



results show " that with an ordinary net of l|-inch mesh, the great 

 majority of the specimens at or below 6 inches escape." 



It must further be remembered that other factors may come in — of 

 which we know little or nothing — tending to create a discrepancy 

 between the apparent results as ascertained by trawling, and the 

 actual populations existing in the bays. But this fact, while it should 

 make us cautious in drawing inferences from the former to the latter, 

 does not invalidate any comparison we may institute between the 

 results obtained under like conditions in the two bays. 



It would be unwise at this juncture to attempt in any way to 

 forecast the results to which these investigations may lead us. 

 But apart from the practical object in view of which they were 

 begun, there are at least three subjects on which these experiments, 

 if systematically carried on, ought to throw light : (1) the rate of 

 growth of the more important fishes captured ; (2) the migrations which 

 may take place from the areas in question for the purposes of spawning, 

 or from other causes ; (3) the nature and influence of local conditions 

 as affecting variations. To what extent it may be possible to attain 

 these ends is uncertain ; but that the method of this investigation — 

 consisting, as it does, in an attempt to study the characteristic features 

 of particular localities — is a sound one, I have become more and more 

 convinced as the time has gone on. 



