11 



tion at all unlikely that the mcrease in size is due to a segregation 

 even of the fish of a given year according to size and depth. 



The following notes will render the picture clear with reference 

 to the other bays. In May, the gurnards at Druridge were larger 

 than at Alnmouth, and at Blyth the few gurnards were all large. 

 In June and July the conditions were practically unchanged. In 

 August, the few gurnards at Druridge were medium and large, 

 and the young gurnards had arrived at Blyth. In September, 

 Druridge received a further accession of medium and large, and 

 only two small were captured at Blyth. 



The school of gurnards, the summer conditions of which have 

 been described, may be called the Northumberland school. The 

 next school to the north is one which may be styled the Forth school. 

 The trawhng investigations made with the " Garland," and the 

 later investigations made with the " Goldseeker " serve to indicate 

 that the summer inshore migration is practically the same as 

 that of the Northumberland. The following figures give the 

 " Garland " results for the years 1888-1893, and the " Goldseeker " 

 results for the period 1903-1909.* 



The region to the south of the Forth, including the northern 

 half of Northumberland, may be regarded as the southern distal 

 part of this school. Only small numbers of young gurnards reach 

 this part, the majority of the gurnards being large mature spent 

 fish which enter the region after spawning. 



There is a slight degree of evidence (from a visit to Blackball 

 Bay, Hartlepool, in August, 1897, when the gurnard catch per hour 

 was found to be 33) that another school visits the southern 

 Durham and northern Yorkshire coast. 



These schools therefore only occur inshore in the summer 

 from about May to September or October. But there are early 

 and late seasons. Not only so, the figures in Table I. serve to 

 show that the school may occupy a more southerly position in some 

 seasons as in 1904-1908, due evidently to seasonal variations in 

 the drift of the fry. 



* See also Fulton, 17th and 21st Ann. Reps. Fish. Bd. for Scot. (1899, 1906). 



