130 NORTH SEA INVESTICxATIONS. -- 



In one of the plaice which I opened, the food was chiefly Pectinavia, 

 a worm which builds a pretty, smooth, conical tube out of grains of sand. 

 The invertebrates, as usual, included starfishes and hermit crabs, but there 

 were also numerous lumps of Alcyoninm, or dead man's fingers, and 

 one piece of Antennularia. Hydroids were absent from all the other 

 hauls. 



The trawl was not shot again until 12.30 p.m., the interval having 

 been spent in sailing to windward, i.e. to eastward. It was hauled at 

 10.15 p.m. There was a great mass of " moor-log " in the net, measuring 

 2 ft. by 18 in. by 8 in. It contained a number of specimens of a boring 

 mollusc, probably Pholas. The marketable fish were: — 2 trunks of 

 plaice ; f trunks of dabs ; 10 soles, 9| to 14^ in. ; 3 latchets, largest 

 17| in. ; f trunk grey gurnards, 7 to 12 in. long ; weevers many, 

 largest 13 in. long. The smallest plaice was 9^ in. long. The gurnards 

 and weevers were saved for market, as in consequence of the lack of 

 wind and scarcity of fish, they were expected to make Is. a box. 

 Among the worthless fish were some solenettes, one scaldback 

 (Arnoglossus latcrna), one tope (Galeus vulgaris), and a few dragonets. 

 In the stomach of one large weever which I opened were two sand-eels. 

 The invertebrates were large numbers of common starfishes and 

 Astropcden, and some anemones ( Actinoloba dianthus). 



The trawl was shot again immediately, and was hauled again for the 

 last time at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday, September 29th. On the net were a 

 piece of Halidrys siliquosa, two pieces of Tuhularia larynx, and swarms 

 of small Amphipods ; also some pieces of a branching Polyzoan. 



The marketable fish were : — 2 trunks plaice : 1 trunk dabs ; 2 trunks 

 gurnards, mostly rather small ; 8 pair soles ; 2 turbots ; 1 brill. One of 

 the turbots was 19^ in., male mature; one ISJin., female, apparently 

 mature. The brill was 17^ in., female mature. There was one lemon 

 sole. The smallest plaice was 9^ in. long. There were no whiting, 

 some larger weevers, but few of the smaller species. Of invertebrates 

 there was one living Natica, and there were several shells of this form 

 containing hermit crabs. 



After this we made sail for Lowestoft ; our latitude, at noon, after a 

 short run, was 52^ 19'. 



A comparison between the above observations and those made on the 

 ground off the German coast, north of Heligoland, at the beginning of 

 June, and recorded in the previous number of the Journal, shows com- 

 pletely the differences and resemblances between the two districts. The 

 difference in latitude is about 2°, the central part of one district being 

 52° 30'; of the other 54° 30'. The distance from the Dutch coast of the 

 southern ground is mostly between 30 and 50 miles, of the northern 

 from the German islands, between 10 and 25 miles. The depth on the 



