FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND. 83 



experimentally proved that artificially fertilized ova can be hatclied 

 in water 98 fathoms deep, althougli the process is slower tlian in 

 shallower water, and that the fry would have no difficulty in reaching 

 the surface waters. 



In the same Report there is a paper by Mr. Brook On the 

 Herring Fishery of Loch Fyne and the Adjacent Districts during 

 1885.* Many questions connected with this fishery are discussed, 

 — the migration of tlie herring, its food, spawning times and places, 

 &c. It is stated that there are probably at least two migratory 

 races of the herring in the Firth of Clyde. 



There are several papers dealing with the food of fishes. 

 In the Report of 1885 the result of the inquiries into the food of 

 the herring, haddock, and cod are given by Mr. Brook and Mr. W. 

 L. Calderwood,f and in the Report for 1886 the food of the whiting 

 is described by Mr. Duncan MatthewsJ and that of young Gadidse 

 by Mr. Brook. § In the Sixth Report there is a paper by Mr. 

 Thomas Scott on the Food of the Herring and HaddocJc.\\ In 

 regard to the herring the researches show (1) that the nature of the 

 food varies considerably in different districts and in diffei'ent seasons ; 

 (2) that although it is probable that during the spawning time very 

 little or no food is taken, such abstinence does not appear to be con- 

 fined to the spawning season ; (3) that on the east coast most food 

 is taken in winter and spring, and on the west coast in summer. 

 The food comprises almost all of the smaller pelagic organisms ; and 

 hence a study of the food of a widely distributed fish like the herring 

 may furnish a clue to the relative abundance and distribution of 

 the pelagic Fauna at different times of the year, on the assumption 

 that the fish does not exercise much selection. On the east coast 

 the chief food during winter and spring is furnished by Hyperia 

 galba (a rare species on the west coast), especially in the region 

 lying between the Firths of Forth and Cromarty. Two Schizopods 

 supply a large amount of the herring's food, namely, Nyctipha^ies 

 norvegica and Boreophausia Rnschii. On the east coast Nyctiphanes 

 gradually replaces Hyperia after February, and it is most abundant 

 in those areas where Hyperia is most scarce ; on the west coast it 

 is widely distributed, the Schizopods forming the main diet of the 

 herring during winter. Copepoda furnish the chief food during 

 summer, especially on the west coast, and notably in Loch Fyne, 

 but in autumn they are gradually replaced by Schizopods. Ostra- 



* Op. cit., pp. 47—61. 



t Fourth Report, pp. 100—147, 1886. 



X Fifth Report, pp. 317—325, 1887. 



§ Op. cit., pp. 326, 327. 



II Sixth Report, Part iii, p. 225, 1888. 



