NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 179 
at Whitby.”? Beyond this I find no record of its occurrence on the 
north-east coast of this country. I know that it occurs regularly on 
the Well Bank to the south, and it is mentioned by McIntosh as 
common at St. Andrews, while Edwards says that it occurs also on 
the coast of Banffshire. The present record points to the probable 
correctness of that from Whitby, and no doubt the species is 
generally distributed along the eastern coast. There is, however, no 
evidence of its occurrence in estuarine waters on this coast. 
Turning to round-fish, cod of any size were extremely scarce. One 
fine fish was taken, and on several occasions we got afew small ones, 
5 to 7 inches long. Haddock varied in number, but were compara- 
tively scarce except in two hauls, when we took a great number 
from 5 to 9 inches long. Very few on any occasion exceeded a 
length of 12 inches. Whiting were much more abundant as a rule, 
and varied in size from 3 to 14 inches. In one haul, when the cod 
end was enclosed in an outer bag of fine mesh, a considerable number 
less than 6 inches in length were caught, but when the outer bag 
was removed very few of these very small fish came aboard, I 
noticed also a decided improvement in the quality of the fish towards 
the end of our operations, since, while in the earlier hauls immature 
specimens (7. e. less than 9 inches long) were in the majority, the 
numbers were equalised later on, and sometimes the mature fish were 
actually the most numerous. It was evident that a movement was 
taking place amongst the larger fish, having the effect of driving 
the small ones elsewhere, since I have found that cannibalism is 
highly developed in this species. In reporting on the Humber 
fisheries in previous numbers of this Journal I have already adverted 
to the great sessional irregularity of the movements of whiting in 
inshore waters, and can only now repeat that the conditions at a 
given time in one year cannot be relied on to hold good for others, 
Gurnards were always fairly abundant, but the number of small 
always exceeded that of the large, except in the last haul but one, 
when the large fish were in a decided majority. These fish, there- 
fore, appeared to be undergoing a movement similar to that noticed 
among the whiting. Several very small herring and a few thorn- 
back rays were taken, completing the list of food-fishes, unless we 
include the monk or angler in this category. Several of the latter 
were taken, none of very large size. Unsaleable fishes were repre- 
" sented by a few “ hard-heads” (CO. scorpius), “ bull-routs’’ (A. cata- 
phractus), lesser weevers, and dragonets. 
To review the above results briefly, we may say that the investiga- 
tion showed that the fish forming the object of a legitimate trawl- 
fishery were confined to a few whiting, gurnards, and dabs, a very 
moderate quantity of soles, and an infinitely minute number of plaice 
