SUMMARY AND GENERAL REPORT. 



This Report does not give a full account of the activities of 

 the year. It will be noted that we have been able to carry on 

 some of the important investigations, but others have had to be 

 suspended owing to the continued absence of the Naturalist, 

 IVIr. B. Storrow. 



Herring fishing with drift nets took place from a number 

 of the ports of the north-east coast last summer, and we there- 

 fore had the opportunity of examining samples from different 

 parts of the district. The samples, which totalled over 3,000 

 herrings, and belonged to the Northumberland school, were 

 dealt with in the early part of the season by Mr. Storrow, and 

 the work was continued by Miss Stone. The results proved 

 to be very interesting. Hitherto the Northumberland herring 

 have consistently presented a predominance of the three-mnter 

 group. Last summer this group was predominant at the beginning 

 of the season, but gave place in July to the next year group, 

 and later the spawning shoal entered the northern part of the 

 district, and spawning took place in the Longstone area. A 

 sample of the Forth winter spawning herring was also examined, 

 and in connexion therewith a table is given showing the com- 

 parative analysis of the straight Hne relationship of the measure- 

 ments of this race with the Northumberland and the Dogger 

 Bank schools of summer herring. Many post-larval herring 

 were found to have been destroyed in the Tyne at Newcastle 

 in May, and it is highly probable that these young herring were 

 derived from the Firth of Forth. 



