17 



have noted opposite the bottles, from whose travels we 

 are drawing any conclusions, an approximate estimate of 

 the wind influences during the period when the bottle 

 may have been at sea. There have been a few rather 

 extraordinary journeys, e.g., one let off in the middle of 

 Port Erin Bay on April 23rd was found at Fleetwood on 

 July 6th ; another let off at Bradda Head on June 3rd 

 was found on Pilling Sands (near Fleetwood) on July 24th. 



It is important to notice that the bottles may support 

 one another's evidence, those set free about the same spot 

 often being found in the same locality, e.g., out of a batch 

 of 6 set free off New Brighton, on Oct. 9th, 1895, 5 have 

 come back and all were found at about the same place. 



Dr. Fulton, who has been conducting a similar inquiry 

 by means of drift bottles, in the North Sea, for the Scottish 

 Fishery Board, wrote to me some months ago that he 

 was then having large numbers of his bottles returned to 

 him from the Continent, chiefly Schleswig and Jutland. 

 And he draws the conclusion, " There is no doubt that 

 the current goes across, down as far as Norfolk — none of 

 the bottles have been found south of Lincoln and none in 

 Holland — and this will explain the presence of banks and 

 shallows m the south and east, and the immense nurseries 

 of immature fish there." Since then a detailed account* 

 of these experiments on the Scottish coast has appeared, 

 and it is interesting to compare our results with them. 



Their experiments commenced on Sept. 21st, and ours 

 on Sept. 30th, 1894. They report upon 729 bottles of 

 which 159, or nearly 22 % have been returned, while we 

 have distributed 1045 of which over 42 % have been found 

 and recorded. The general result of the Scottish investi- 

 gations is to show that most of the bottles are carried 

 southwards in the North Sea along the east coasts of 



* Thirteenth Ann. Report of Fishery Board for Scotland, Part III., p. 153. 



