54 



at the Liverpool Bar, on September 30th, was picked 

 up at Shiskin, Arran, about 165 miles off, on November 

 12th. On the other hand, a bottle (J. F. 34), set free on 

 November 7th, at the Kibble Estuary, was picked up on 

 November 12th, at St. Anne's, having gone only 4 miles. 

 It would be premature as yet — until many more dozens 

 or hundreds have been distributed and returned — to draw 

 any very definite conclusions. It is only by the evidence 

 of large numbers that the vitiating effect of exceptional 

 circumstances, such as an unusual gale, can be eliminated. 

 Prevailing winds, on the other hand, such as would usually 

 affect the drift of surface organisms are amongst the nor- 

 mally acting causes which we are trying to ascertain. We 

 may, however, state for what they are worth, the following 

 results obtained so far: — (1) Nearly 50 per cent, of the 

 bottles found have been carried across to Ireland, and 

 they are chiefly ones that had been set free in the southern 

 part of the district (between Liverpool and Holyhead) and 

 off the Isle of Man ; (2) the bottles set free along the 

 Lancashire coast and in Morecambe Bay seem chiefly to 

 have been carried to the South and West — to about 

 Mostyn and Douglas ; (3) it is apparently only a few that 

 have been carried out of the district through the North 

 Channel. Perhaps, the most interesting point so far is 

 that so many of the bottles have been stranded on the 

 Irish coast, although they were sent off for the most part 

 much nearer to the English and Welsh coasts, showing 

 probably the influence on the tidal currents of the spell of 

 Easterly winds in October. It is interesting to learn that 

 the Fishery Board for Scotland has also commenced a 

 similar inquiry to ours by the distribution of floating 

 bottles in the Scottish territorial waters. No account of 

 their experiment has yet appeared, but it will be of some 

 importance to compare results with them, say at the end 

 of the first year's work. 



