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Fish Hatching Work at Piel. 



(Andrew Scott.) 



At the beginning of December, 1897, 1 entered upon my 

 duties at Piel, and at once proceeded to place everything 

 in working order for the approaching spawning season. 

 Various little defects in the machinery and tanks were 

 discovered and put right. By far the most serious defect 

 was found in the large overhead store cisterns in the tank 

 room, where considerable leakage was taking place, making 

 the room uncomfortable to work in. However, with some 

 difficulty and expenditure of time, they were made fairly 

 water-tight, and at the end of twelve months are now 

 practically free from leaks. 



The wooden hatching tanks used in the previous season 

 were cleaned out, fresh sand put in the filtering compart- 

 ments, and a constant circulation of sea-water established. 

 All the apparatus was in satisfactory working order by the 

 end of January. 



On January 27th the steamer visited the spawning 

 grounds in the central part of the Irish Sea, between the 

 Isle of Man and Lancashire, where a few hauls with the fish 

 trawl and surface nets were taken. No mature fish were 

 obtained, but in the tow-net collections made at the " Top 

 end of the Hole " and " On the Shoals " a few fish eggs 

 were observed. The grounds were again visited during 

 February, and although no spawning fish were found, a 

 marked increase in the number of floating eggs was 

 noticed. A quantity of living tow-net material brought 

 into the Laboratory was found to contain three forms 

 of fish eggs, in various stages of development — in some 

 the larvae were quite lively. These eggs were carefully 

 picked out and placed in glass aquaria, with a constant 

 circulation of sea- water. In the course of the same even- 



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