68 Part ITT.—Twenty-first Annual Report 
Date. | Place. Depth. No. | Size. 
| | 
10 January Cromarty Firth 63-7 27 | 61-117mm. 
15 ae Dog Hole (off Aberdeen) 57 14 - 
15 5 | Aberdeen Bay 7-16 1 | = 
13 May Firth of Forth—Station ITT. 568 | 52-134 ,, 
1 June Cromarty Firth 8 552 | 738-124 ,, | 
13S 5 Aberdeen Bay 5-12 58 | 86-116 ,, | 
2855, | Lunan Bay, Montrose 124 80 86-117 ,, 
2 July Dornoch Firth 10-12 2. ||. Sanit 
4 September . | Aberdeen Bay 10 1 | — 
18 October Do. 8-16 108 82-139 ,, | 
28 November... | Dog Hole ... 68 14 | 87-125 , | 
O95 Aberdeen Bay 11-18 ie W = 
17 December... Do. 9-15 26 66-132 
19 a Do. 6-84 74 67-111 ,, 
25 és Dornoch Firth 10 185 72-130 
25." .. | Burghead Bay 74-18 536 = 
MACKEREL (Scomber scombrus). 
Very rarely were mackerel taken in the trawl-net. In October, off 
Dunbeath, Caithness, one was caught in twenty-four fathoms. At 
certain times, however, they are taken in some numbers by the 
trawlers and landed at Aberdeen. Last year, for example, the quantities 
(in ewts.) landed, so far as ascertained, were as follows :— 
Jan. Feb. Mar. Sept. Nov. Dec...npliatals 
113 13 8 1 4 Lig 443 
Thus they were taken chiefly in December and January, and none 
were procured from March to September. With scarcely an exception 
they were caught north-east to east by north of Aberdeen at distances 
of from about forty-five to 130 miles from the nearest coast. Most 
were taken south-easterly of Fair Isle. It is noteworthy that those 
got in September and November were taken further south, in the 
region of the Great Fisher Bank, usually along with herrings; in 
December they were further north and west, on the edge of the deep water, 
and to the north-west in deep water, south-east of the Shetlands ; in 
January, further west opposite the mouth of the Moray Firth; in 
February, about fifty miles south-east of Fair Isle ; while in March the 
single quantity taken was got far north in about Lat. 60° 5°N., 
nearly midway between Norway and the Shetlands. The data are 
too slender to theorise upon; but the idea might be entertained, so 
far as these facts go, that the shoals were moving north and 
west as if making their way to the Atlantic, mostly between the 
Orkneys and the Shetlands. On the other hand, the mackerel may have 
been present in numbers at other times or other places, but in the 
