284 REPOHT OF THE COUNCIL. 



on each voyage, viz. from Plymouth to Ushant, with a station in mid- 

 Channel ; from Ushant to the westward about fifty miles (near Parson's 

 Bank) ; from the latter station northwards to Mount's Bay ; and from 

 the Mount's Bay station back to Plymouth. At each station systematic 

 observations were made for comparative purposes by identical methods 

 and instruments. They included serial temperature determinations 

 at all depths, filtration of a definite column of water from bottom to 

 surface with a "vertical net" (for estimating the varying abundance 

 of minute plant and animal life), and collections of the floating life at 

 surface, midwater, and bottom by means of a specially devised " closing 

 net," which worked with great precision. The collections brought 

 home on the different voyages are now under examination, and will 

 be reported upon in due course. The expense of steamboat hire (£140) 

 in connection with these experiments has been met by special grants 

 from the British Association at the Bristol and Dover meetings. 



Mr. Garstang has also carried out a series of preliminary experiments 

 on the rearing of sea-fish larvae under different conditions, with a view 

 to a solution of the difficulties hitherto encountered in regard to the 

 practical work of sea-fish culture. His experiments led to definite and 

 satisfactory conclusions, proving the necessity of agitated water to the 

 larvae in their early stages, and resulting in the healthy metamorphosis 

 and survival of an unprecedented proportion of the fry (above 50 

 per cent). Structural alterations, already described, have been made 

 in the Plymouth Laboratory, with a view to a repetition of these 

 experiments on a larger scale with the larvae of food-fishes. 



An independent examination of the experimental and statistical 

 evidence which bears on the alleged depletion of the trawling grounds 

 has also been made by Mr. Garstang, which leaves little, if any, room 

 for doubt that the fisheries for the more valuable flat-fish at any rate 

 (prime fish and plaice) are undergoing a process of exhaustion in con- 

 sequence of over-fishing. Mr. Garstang's report on this subject includes 

 the first elaborate attempt to measure the growth of catching power in 

 the English deep-sea trawl and line fisheries since the introduction 

 of steam in the fishing industry. A detailed report will shortly appear 

 in the Journal of the Association. 



The investigation of the fauna and bottom-deposits of the shallow- 

 water grounds in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, upon a plan similar to 

 that followed in the investigation of the grounds near the thirty-fathom 

 line between the Eddystone and Start Point, has made considerable 

 progress during the year. A large number of hauls of the trawl and 

 dredge have been taken upon the area under examination, and the 

 results have been systematically recorded. In these shallower waters 

 the conditions are more complicated and variable than those met with 



