86 



a very small number of fish with five winter rings. In this respect 

 the sample differs from any of the North Sea samples, and is more 

 in keeping with those from the north-west of Ireland. Fairly 

 young fish with three and four winter rings were present in numbers, 

 but they were not so plentiful as older fish with seven and eight 

 winter rings. 



The samples from the north-west of Ireland were from the 

 spring spawning shoals, which give the fishery from Buncrana, 

 and from the shoals of Donegal Bay. The first sample contained 

 a large number of full fish nearly ready for spawning, and the two 

 later samples consisted of spents. Herrings with seven and eight 

 winter rings formed an important part of the samples, and there 

 was a fairly high percentage of fish with four winter rings. But 

 the chief point of interest is the small percentages of fish with both 

 five and six winter rings. This points to a difference from North 

 Sea shoals and a resemblance to the shoals off the north coast of 

 Sutherlandshire. The sample of 17th February differed from the 

 other two in that it contained a higher percentage of fish with six 

 winter rings and not so many older fish. 



Growth. — For all the samples the length of the fish has been 

 expressed in terms of the position of the winter rings of the scale. 

 The data thus obtained have been tabulated to the nearest centi- 

 metre, e.g., 8-6 to 9-5 cm. being counted as 9 cm. 



As many of the samples came from the same fishing grounds 

 and were taken at the same season as those reported upon in the 

 Report of last year, their growth data are not included in the 

 present paper. 



Two of the Lerwick samples differ from any previously 

 examined. That of 30th June, 1920, came from a shoal which, 

 from the maturity data, had spawned in June. Herrings spawning 

 so early in the season are worthy of recoid, and the growth data 

 of this sample will be found in Table III. The sample from east 

 of Bressay, 12th February, 1921, was from a spawning shoal. 

 The samples examined last year came from the grounds between 

 Flugga and the Ramna Stacks, and an examination of the growth 

 data given in Table III. and that given in the Report of last year 

 will show that these shoals differ somewhat as regards growth. 

 Fish with six winter rings were plentiful in the samples of 1920, 



