of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 

 Table III. 



267 



List of organisms observed in the preceding notes with the localities 

 where the herrings were sent from. 



Note — The sign + indicates that the organism was generally not very plentiful in any 

 stomach examined. -I- + indicates that the organism occurred in at least some of 

 the stomachs in considerable quantity. 



It will be observed from this Table and from that in Brook and 

 Calderwood's paper in the Fourth Annual Report of the Fishery Board 

 for Scotland, that the food of herring captured off the coasts of Scotland 

 consists mainly of four or perhaps five groups or organisms, viz., (1st) 

 Post-larval fishes, (2nd) AmphipoJa, (3rd) Copepoda, (4th) Schizopoda, 

 and (5) Decapod larvae, and a few remarks on each of these groups may 

 not be out of place here. 



1st — Post-larval fishes. The post-larval fishes most frequently 

 mentioned by Brook and Calderwood are Clupeoids — chiefly young 

 herrings and sprats. Sand-eels are only recorded eleven times, from 

 places all on the East Coast, and were from herring taken at various 

 times during the year, from January to August. They occurred usually 

 in quantity. In the stomachs examined for this paper, sand-eels in 

 quantity were only observed in herrings from Stornoway, and a few 

 doubtful examples were noticed in Loch Fyne herrings. Clupeoids were 

 seldom observed in the fishes examined for this paper. 



2nd — Amphipoda. The only species of Amphipoda that appear to be 

 of much importance as herring food belong to the Hyperiidse, and those 

 that have been most frequently recorded are Hyperia galba and 

 Parathemisto oblivia. The first is the form commonly mentioned by 

 Brook and Calderwood, but it has been rarely met with in the stomachs 

 examined for this paper. Hyperiidfe have been met with in the 

 stomachs of herrings chiefly from the East Coast and during the first 

 three and the last months of the year, but they have also been occa- 

 sionally observed in June and July. The authors referred to above do 

 not appear to have obtained them in the stomachs of any herrings from 

 the West Coast. They occurred, however, in March in three stomachs of 



