17 
Throughout the whole period the fish were in the tanks 
they were fed on lug worm (Arenicola), which is plentiful 
in the vicinity of the hatchery. Mussels with the shells 
removed were tried at first, but were not eaten by the fish, 
and were discontinued after a few days. 
The first fertilised eggs were collected on February 28th. 
From that date onwards the numbers gradually increased, 
until the maximum was reached in April. After that the 
numbers rapidly decreased, and the spawning was over by 
May 10th. During the spawning period nearly fifteen and 
a half millions of eggs were collected and placed in the 
boxes for incubation. T 
and a half millions of fry, which were set free about the 
hese eggs produced over thirteen 
centre of Morecambe Bay. The period of incubation varied 
from eleven days at the beginning to six days at the end of 
the season—a reduction of time entirely due to the in- 
creasing temperature of the sea water, which is shown by 
the table of temperatures and specific gravities given below. 
It will be noticed from the table that the specific gravity 
during the hatching was satisfactory, and never fell below 
1°026 till after the middle of May. ‘The loss of eggs during 
incubation from all causes averaged about 11°5 per cent., 
practically the same as last year. A number of attempts 
were made to rear flounder larve, but these experiments 
failed owing to the difficulty of getting minute natural food 
in the waters of the channel. 
The following tables show the numbers of eggs collected 
and fry set free, and also the specific gravity* and tempera- 
ture of the water during the spawning season. 
*The figures given are simply the uncorrected readings taken with the 
Kiel areometers. ; 
B 
