of the Fisheri/ Board for ScoilancL 



487 



Gadus riven.", Lin. 

 ^ „ pollacliiu>i, Lin. 

 Molua nioira, Lin. 

 Ono^ must el a, Lin. 

 A mmod ijfes lanreo/atus, Le Sauvage. 

 J)re/)anoj»ti'ffa plcdfe-^.^/ddef (Fabr.). 

 Leiddorlwiidnis icliif (Walb.). 

 Plafojdiri/s laferna (Walb.). 

 Pleuronedes platessa, Lin. 



„ mirwce^dia/uf, Dono- 



van. 

 ,, limanda, Liu. 



,, Hesus, Lin. 



iSo/ea rulgan'x, Quensel. 

 An/etdma .^phyw'na, Lin. 

 Clupea hareni/iis, Lin. 

 ,, xj^rcdtux, Lin. 

 „ cdom.^ Lin. 

 ,, finfa, Cuv, 

 Auyidlla vid(jaris, Cuv. 

 Con(/er nvjer (Risso). 

 >Sijn(/nafhiix acu^ (Lin.). 

 Nerophix irquoreu^ (Lin.). 

 Raid Jicdif, Lin. 

 „ fullonira, Lin. 

 ,, riaccda, Rond. 

 ., radicda, Donovan. 

 „ (djriUari^, Couch. 

 Lmnna cormdnca, Cuv. 



The Saithe or Coal-fish. 



The Pollack or Lythe. 



The Ling. 



The Five-bearded Rockling. 



The Greater Sand Eel. 



The Long Rough Dab. 



The Sail-Fluke or Whiff. 



The Scald-fish. 



The Plaice. 



The Lemon Sole. 



The Common Dab. 



The Flounder. 



The Black Sole. 



The Hebridean Smelt. 



The Herring. 



The Sprat. 



The Allis Shad. 



The TwaitShad. 



The Common Eel. 



The Conger. 



The Great Pipe-fish. 



The Straight-nosed Pipe-fish. 



The Grey Skate. 



The Shagreen or Fuller's-ray. 



The Thornback-ray. 



Tlie Starry-ray. 



The Sandy-ray. 



The Porbeagle Shark. 



When the food present in the stomachs of fishes has been subjected for 

 a time to the strong solvent action of the gastric fluid it is often diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, especially in the case of annelids and other soft- 

 bodied animals, to determine Avith anything like precision the species or 

 even the genus to which the organisms belong. Sometimes the food may 

 consist partly or wholly of small fishes, and if the digestive processes have 

 not been too long at work it may be possible, by an examination of what 

 remains of the bony skeleton or of the ear-stones, if any be available, to 

 ascertain with some degree of certainty whether the food observed consists 

 of flat or round fishes, and in certain cases it may even be possible from 

 an examination of the ear-stones to arrive at a more definite knowledge of 

 the kind of fish which had been appropriated as an article of food. In 

 the Whiting, for example, the ear-stones are of such a characteristic form 

 that the observer may distinguish by these alone the kind of fish the 

 remains belong to. The ear-stones of the Whiting are narrow and 

 elongated, at one end they taper gradually to a sharp point, but the 

 opposite end is somewhat obliquely rounded ; they are also slightly curved 

 laterally, so that when placed on any plane surface they do not lie flat. 

 The young Pollack has ear-stones shaped somewhat like those of the 

 Whiting, but they are not so elongated, nor do the narrow ends taper so 

 much. The ear-stones of the Haddock do not taper so much at the 

 narrow end as do those of the Whiting, and they are also proportionally 

 shorter,' stouter, and more crenulated ; those of the Cod are of a 

 massive structure, and are broadly sub-cylindrical in shape, and have the 

 margins and concave surface usually more or less strongly rugose, 

 while on the convex side the surface is smooth or nearly so. The ear- 

 stones of large Pollack, Saithe, and Ling are also of a massive structure, 



