492 Transactions. 



which is not reached until March, three months after midsummer. 

 The minimum is reached soon after midwinter, early in and 

 during the month of August, when 5° C. is recorded. The 

 range between the maximum and minimum is therefore only 

 5 '2° C. The daily variation even of the surface waters is very 

 slight. It M'ill also be noticed that, so far as has been learned, 

 the flat fishes all spawn during the period in which the water is 

 the coldest. 



The maximum temperature of the bay is reached in the 

 middle of January, when 13*2° C. was recorded, and the 

 minimum, 1° C, on the 17th July, the range between maximum 

 and minimum being 12-2° C, being 7° C. or 12-6° Fahr. in excess 

 of the range of the ocean waters. The range of the waters in 

 the spawning-ponds is slightly in excess of this, but was not 

 recorded this year during the warmest months, as the ponds 

 were empty and remained open. This table is most valuable 

 to us, as it enables us to compare the temperatures of the local 

 waters with those of Great Britain, from which the lobsters, 

 crabs, or any fishes may be brought for the purposes of accli- 

 matisation. I cannot at present find a complete annual record 

 taken at any of the stations in Great Britain, but from a report 

 of trawling investigations off the east coast of Scotland in the 

 twenty-second annual report of the Scottish Fishery Board, 

 the minimum temperature recorded during 1903 was 5° C, and 

 this was only recorded on one day. The usual midwinter tem- 

 perature appears to be about 7° C., and the maximum 13-2° C. 

 Although in considerably higher latitudes, the high temperature 

 is no doubt attributable to the efiects of the Gulf Stream. Many 

 species of deep-sea fishes appear very susceptible to any change 

 in temperature, but from our brief experience here it would 

 appear as if even a slight reduction is fatal to the incubation of 

 the eggs. I think, from the slight difference in the temperatures 

 of the British and local waters, we may conclude that any Euro- 

 pean fishes, once introduced, would not be injuriously affected 

 by the slight change in the ocean waters, but that the only 

 difficulty would be in keeping the adult fish in our ponds without 

 some means of raising the temperature through the winter 

 months, during which the temperature has at times fallen 

 below 0° C. 



Almost all the knowledge that has been gained up to the pre- 

 sent time, such as the collection of eggs, ocean tow-nettings, 

 temperatures, examination of stomach-contents, &c., has only 

 been made possible by the kindness and cordial co-operation of 

 Mr. F. G. Sullivan, of Dunedin. Fish that have been required 

 for the purposes of the station have been freely given, and 



