of the Fishery Board yor Scotland. 69 
surface waters—their usual habitat—the trawlers’ catches simply 
indicating that at the times and places described they were feeding at 
the bottom, having withdrawn in the winter to deeper water. The 
mackerel, which in summer and autumn are found along the coasts, then 
usually desert them, and probably move out into deeper water and 
frequent the bottom—that is to say, they seek the layers of 
water where the highest temperature prevails. In many cases the 
depths at the places where they were caught exceeded seventy 
fathoms. I think it improbable that they were taken in the surface 
waters while the net was being shot or hauled: first, because of 
the large numbers obtained in some instances; second, because the net 
in either process is not dragged rapidly through the water and the 
mackerel is a swift and agile fish; and third, because herrings have 
been taken from the bottom in similar depths, proved also by their 
presence in a semi-digested condition in the stomachs of anglers. None 
were got, as stated, in the early summer, when the spawning shoals 
are in the surface waters and near the coast. I append the particulars 
of each catch ; when the depth is inserted in brackets it means that it 
has been derived from the chart. Otherwise it is the depth stated by 
the trawler. The positions where they were taken are indicated in the 
chart (Plate I.) as M1, M 2, &c. 
No. Date. Place. Depth. |Quantity. 
i Fathoms. | Cwts. 
1 |14 Jan. -| 64 miles N.E. by E. ; about 25 miles E. by N. | [60-68] 1 
of Kinnard Head. 
2 117 ,, -{|100 miles £.N.E. ; about 60 miles E. by N. of [75] 2 
Kinnard Head. 
3 |21 ,, -|130 miles N.E. by E. ; about 100 miles E. by [70] 3 
N. of Kinnard Head. 
4 127 ,, -|90 miles N.E.; about 65 miles E. by N. of} [65-70] 4 
Kinnard Head. 
5 |27 ,, -|40 miles S.E, from Out Skerries - - - [70] 4 
6 |12 Feb. -|126 miles N.E. } N.; about 40 miles 8.E. of | [70-80] a 
Fair Isle. 
7 |24 ,, -|150 miles N.E. ; about 50 miles S.E. by E. of | [60-70] 1 
Fair Isle. | 
8 | 12 March | 230 miles N.E. by E.; about 80 miles W. of | [60-70] 8 
Norwegian coast, at Bergen. 
9 | 19 Sept.- | 180 miles E.S.E.; Great Fisher Bank - -| [34-38] 1 
10 |17 Nov. - | 210 5 as - -| [80-40] 4 
es | | TEO-1G0. o. . om - - 37-58 34 
12 | 5 Dec. -| 180 miles N.E. by E.; midway between Fair] 65-68 73 
Isle and Norway. 
13 |13 ,, -|150 miles E. by N.; midway between Aber- 45-50 2} 
deen coast and Norway. 
14/15 ,, -|150 miles E. by N.; midway between Aber- 45-50 1 
deen coast and Norway. 
15 |16 ,, -|105 miles E. from Aberdeen’ - : : -| 54-57 Es ee 
| | | 
16 |24 ,, -|150 miles N.E. by E. | 68 7 
| 
PiANoey 24 i hedinliles Woy Nas) ON OR ag | 1 
LessER WEEVER (Z’rachinus vipera). 
This species was very rarely taken in the small-meshed net on the 
East Coast, but on two occasions considerable numbers were secured. On 
5th July, in Aberdeen Bay, in ten fathoms, off Collieston, forty-seven 
