of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 13 
THE DISTRIBUTION, Foop, AND GROWTH OF THE ANGLER. 
In another paper Dr. Wemyss Fulton describes the results of an 
investigation of the distribution, rate of growth, and food of the 
angler or frog-fish (Lophius piscatorius), one of the principal 
enemies of the edible fishes. In the course of the trawling investi- 
gations conducted on board steam-trawlers fishing from Aberdeen, 
1956 specimens were taken, of which 1549 were caught in the 
Moray Firth. The proportional abundance of this fish was found 
to be greater in Aberdeen Bay and the Moray Firth than in the 
more distant grounds in deeper water off the Shetlands. As is the 
case with so many other fishes, the young forms were absent from 
the collections or only scantily represented, a circumstance believed 
to be mainly due to their preference for rocky and rough ground, 
where alge grow and furnish shelter and protection, and where the 
trawl cannot be used. The smallest described was five inches in 
length, which is among the smallest on record. 
The observations on the rate of growth were made by the com- 
parison of a series of measurements of specimens taken at different 
seasons, and indicate that at an approximate age of six months the 
angler has a mean length of about six inches and three-eighths, at 
one year and six months a mean length of about a foot, and at two 
years and six months an average length of about eighteen inches. 
The males probably reach maturity when four years of age, and the 
females a year later with a larger size. 
In determining the nature of the food the stomachs of 541 anglers 
were examined, and of these 261, or 48:2 per cent., were empty. 
Of the remainder, fish in some form or another were found in 269, 
cephalopods alone in ten, and a shore crab in one. The proportion 
of flat-fishes distinguished was 29°6 per cent., and of round-fishes 
70:3 per cent., and it was found that the principal fishes preyed 
upon were whitings, sand-eels, haddocks, common dabs, and herrings, 
but the proportions varied on different grounds and at different 
seasons. Very few of the anglers contained large fishes in their 
stomachs. Even the largest seem to live for the most part on small 
and young fishes ; some of the smallest of the anglers, however, had 
swallowed fishes almost as long as themselves. It is probable that 
the piscivorous habit is adopted at a very early stage. 
THE Foop oF FISHES. 
Dr. Thomas Scott contributes to this Report a paper giving the 
results of his continued investigations on the food of fishes as deter- 
mined by the examination of the contents of their stomachs. The 
food of twenty-two species of fishes is dealt with, including the cat- 
fish, the king-fish, the silver smelt, the Norway pout, skates, and 
dog-fishes. It is interesting to notice that the observations on the 
contents of the stomachs of the dog-fishes show that while these 
predaceous forms live toa large extent on the herring, they also 
prey upon round fishes and flat-fishes, the remains of whitings, coal- 
fish, dabs, and lemon soles being obtained in them. 
