THE VARIATIOX, RACES AND MIGRATIONS OF THE MACKEREL. 237 



Fisheries, who points to the similarity of the mackerel on both sides 

 of the Atlantic as evidence of probable intercommunication between 

 the American and European representatives of the species (Bull. U.S. 

 Fish. Com., xiii., 1893, p. 357), and the same view appears to have 

 been held, though reservedly, by Mr. Dunn Qoc. cit., p. 3 of reprint). 



Clearly the first thing to be settled at the outset of the investigation 

 was the relationship between the mackerel of different seas. In addition, 

 therefore, to consignments of fish from Irish and English ports, I have 

 endeavoured at different times to secure representative samples of 

 foreign fish. Of American fish I examined a number during my visit 

 to Canada and the United States in the autumn of 1897, both at 

 Toronto and in the Fulton Market at Xew York, and the Association is 

 indebted to the United States Fish Commission for the transmission, in 

 October, 1897, of an excellent sample of one hundred fish from Newport, 

 Ehode Island. To Mr. W. de C. Ravenel, Acting Commissioner at that 

 time, I desire to express my thanks, on behalf of the Association, for 

 his kind and courteous assistance in the matter. To the Directors of the 

 Hamburg-American Line we are also under a debt of gratitude for their 

 gratuitous conveyance of this box of fish in a refrigerator of one of 

 their express steamers direct from New York to Plymouth, an arrange- 

 ment which contributed largely to the excellent condition of the fish 

 on arrival after their long journey. From Brest I received a consignment 

 of one hundred fish, for which, as for many other services, I have to 

 thank Mr. W. S. Hoare, the British Consul at that port. Capt. W. 

 Arthur, of the s.s. Gipsy, who had rendered me much assistance on 

 an earlier occasion, by placing his boat at my disposal for securing some 

 temperature and other observations, kindly conveyed the box of fish 

 direct to Plymouth. I have also much pleasure in thanking Prof. 

 Marion, of Marseilles, for a sample of Mediterranean fish, though they 

 arrived too late to enable me to incorporate the results of their examina- 

 tion in the present report. Unfortunately, a consignment of fish which 

 I expected from Norway has not arrived, and I must postpone until 

 next spring any comparison between the British fish and those which 

 annually visit the Scandinavian coast. 



The sources of the English and Irish fish examined are given in 

 the tables, and in the list of particulars concerning the consignments. 

 It will suffice to say that I have received samples of several hundred 

 fish from each of the following regions : the West and South coasts of 

 Ireland, the English Channel, and the North Sea. Altogether I have 

 examined in detail some 1800 fish, and the total number included in 

 the tables of variation appended to this report amounts to 1649. The 

 omission of about 150 fish from the tables is due to the fact that about 

 100 Plymouth fish were used in a preliminary enquiry before the general 



