13 



also to take voyages on the boats. Mr. Brown, skipper of the 

 " Raider," saved me a basket of prawns wdienever I asked for 

 it, and it is from these samples, taken without any sorting, and 

 therefore being representative of the catch, that by far the 

 greater part of the observations has been made. 



The material which has been examined consisted of samples of 

 catches and of total catches, the latter being examined wdien at 

 sea with the trawder, and in three cases, at the fish quay at 

 North Shields. These three catches were small and allowed 

 the examination to be made in time for the catch to be sold 

 before the boat returned to sea. 



Samples have been examined from May, 1911, to April, 1912, 

 but no observations were made during March, 1912, as owing 

 to the coal strike fishing w^as very irregular, and it was impos- 

 sible to tell when any boat was going to land her catch. 



Three vo^^ages have been made to the prawn ground, two on 

 the "Raider" and one on the "Ranter." During these trips 

 a number of measurements was made, and material was collected 

 to show the nature of the life on the fishing ground. From 

 observations then made I feel sure that the samples examined 

 at the fish quay are true samples of the catches made. 



The length of each individual from the rostrum to the end 

 of the telson w^as measured to the nearest centimetre, that is, any 

 between 12'5 and 13'5 cm. were recorded as being 13 cm. Sex 

 w^as determined, and in the case of females it was noted whether 

 they were berried or non-berried. A record was also kept as 

 to the number and size of males and females w-hich were in a 

 soft condition or recovering from casting. It has also been 

 possible to obtain a number of records of males having sper- 

 matophores leaving the deferent ducts or in the penes. 



Size. — Table III. gives the size and number of males, non- 

 berried females and berried females found in each sample, and 

 these are summarised in Table IV. It will be observed that the 

 males may grow" to 22 cm., but that no female has been obtained 

 exceeding 17 cm. The smallest individuals which have been 

 found are a male of 6 cm. and a female of 5 cm. The mean 

 size for males and females is found to be 15" 6 and 12 '4 cm. 

 respectively. This difference in size is probably due to a differ- 

 ence in the intervals between casting, which in females will 



