142 KEPORT OF THE 



Report of the Resident Superintendent, 

 5th December, 1887. 



Tu the Council of the Marine Biological Association. 



Gentlemen_, — I beg to report to you that after finishing 

 in the middle of January, 1887, the "Preliminary Report on 

 the Fishing Industry of Plymouth, ^^ printed in the first 

 number of the Journal of the Association, my attention was 

 directed to the preparation of a series of Statistics connected 

 with the Fishing Industry. 



This work occupied me until the middle of March, from 

 which time, until the end of July, I was engaged in drawing 

 up a " Preliminary Report of the Fauna and Flora of the 

 Sound/' 



A short resume of these Reports is given below, vide 

 Reports No. 1, No. 4, and No. 14. 



During the early months of the year I examined various 

 salt-water ponds, situated either along the Hamoaze or the 

 Cattewater, in order to make arrangements to put live soles 

 into the one which appeared to me to be the most suitable. 



The first fortnight in May I spent in a trawling smack, 

 and obtained live soles, and placed them in a pond into 

 which the tide flows from the Cattewater. {Vide Report 

 No. 12.) Unfortunately the means of keeping the fish in 

 the pond, although it appeared satisfactory, was not so, and 

 the fish have escaped. 



Further, during May, June, and July, I examined soles 

 from time to time, recording the contents of their stomachs 

 and the condition of their sexual organs. 



From the limited number of fish examined by me I am 

 led to believe that the proportion of males to females is about 

 as 5 to 14 j but possibly the proportion is greater than this. 



