98 



Part III. — Twentieth Annual Bcport 



two sprats, and one gurnard. The small-meshed net itself contained 

 only one small dab, along with several bucketfuls of jelly-fishes. A 

 considerable quantity of weed was also found in the net after each haul. 

 After one of the four-hour drags sixty-eight small plaice and four dabs, 

 all living, were picked out from among the " slithers" and weed and 

 placed in a tub of sea-watei'. Twenty minutes later it was found that 

 all the dabs and one of the plaice were dead, and the sixty-seven living 

 plaice were returned to the sea. 



On the evening of the 3rd July the vessel left the Dornoch Firth and 

 returned to Burghead Bay, but as herring-drifters were at work, the 

 net was not shot, and we steamed for Kinnaird Head, and then to the 

 deep water about 8| miles off, shot the trawl with the small- meshed 

 net in 83 fathoms, and hauled it, fifty minutes later, in 85 fathoms. 

 The cod-end of the otter-trawl contained 396 fishes, of which 192 were 

 marketable, comprising three cod, two codling. 111 haddocks, 48 

 whitings, one catfish, two megrims, and twenty-five witches. The 

 unmarketable fishes consisted of one codling, 92 haddocks, 66 whitings, 

 four lemon soles, and 41 long rough dabs. The small-meshed net con- 

 tained 285 fishes which had passed though the meshes of the cod-end 

 of the otter-trawl, viz., 11 haddocks, eight whitings, one gurnard, 

 one lemon sole (5| inches), one common dab, 205 long rough dabs, eight 

 four-bearded rocklings, sixteen Norway pouts, and thirty-four L^mipenus. 

 As usual in short drags, the fish were alive when brought to deck, and 

 many specimens of L^impenus and of the Norway pout were put 

 into a tub of sea- water. The pouts soon died, but the former, which 

 were active, vigorous, and hardy, survived, and were landed living at 

 the laboratory on the 6th. Specimens of both were sent to the British 

 Museum of Natural History. 



The weather hitherto had been calm and clear, but a dense fog came 

 on which made it difiicult to find the land, and then the vessel returned 

 to Aberdeen Bay, where four hauls were taken in from 5 j to 20 fathoms 

 on 4th and 5th July with much better results than on the previous 

 occasion, and conti'asting also with the hauls in the Moray Firth. One 

 of the four-hour drags yielded 5829 fishes, of which 2735 were market- 

 able — or more than double the number obtained in the eight drags in 

 the Dornoch Firth a few days befoie — and in the four drags, repre- 

 senting twelve hours and fifty-five minutes' trawling, 14,075 fishes were 

 caught, of which 6818 were marketable and 7257 unmarketable. The 

 particulars are as follows : — 



