108 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 



cod and haddock are very scarce, but these species appear to be very 

 abundant on the Dogger Bank and on the grounds north and north- 

 east of it, where the prime fish are very rarely found and plaice are 

 comparatively scarce. 



The round fish appear on the inshore and southern grounds in the 

 autumn and winter only, at the time when the flat-fish appear there 

 in very small numbers, and they are almost entirely absent from 

 these same grounds in the late spring and summer, when soles and 

 turbot are numerous. 



The yearly fluctuations are variable in their trend, but show on 

 the whole a decline throughout the period for most of the species. 

 The investigation is complicated by the fact that the fluctuations 

 in some areas are complementary to those in others. Compared with 

 records of catches of fish taken ten and twenty-five years before these, 

 they show a very considerable diminution. 



An appendix dealing with the factors connecting the rates of fishing 

 per day's absence, per voyage, per haul and per hour, and another 

 giving a short analysis of 1908 records, complete the report. 



Section 1 1. —HYDROGRAPHY. 



During the latter half of the year 1909 the hydrographic programme 

 was the same as in February and May. The special observations 

 during the quarterly cruises were confined to the area lying to the 

 westward of the meridian of Plymouth, and surface samples were 

 collected every fortnight on board cross- channel steamers and a few 

 lightships. 



It was not possible to make a hydrographic cruise in February of 

 the present year, but the collection of surface samples was continued 

 up to March 31st, when the English share of the International In- 

 vestigations was transferred to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. 

 A report on tlie mean conditions in the English and Bristol channels 

 at the times of the quarterly cruises is in preparation. 



Published Memoirs. 



The following papers, either wholly or in part the outcome of work 

 done at the Laboratory, have been published elsewhere than in the 

 official publications of the Association : — 



Drew, G. H. — Some Notes on Parasitic and Other Diseases of Fish. Parasitology, 

 vol. 2, No. 3, 1909. Second Series, vol. 3, No. 1, 1910. 



Some Points in the Physiology of Lamellibranch Blood- Corjmscle^. Quart. 



Journ. Micr. Sci., vol. 54, 1910, pp. 605-21. 



The Reproduction and Early Development of Laminaria digitata and Laminaria 



saccharina. Annals of Botany, vol. 24, 1910, pjj. 177-90, 



