of the Fishery Board for Scotland. Ji 
overboard as unmarketable, either because they belonged to species 
that are unsaleable, or, more commonly, because though edible they 
were too small to be taken to market. 
The number of fishes captured in the various hauls and the pro- 
portion of the marketable and unmarketable are given in the tables 
appended to Dr. Fulton’s report on the subject. The greater 
number of the marketable fishes consisted of plaice and haddocks, 
the former constituting 58 per cent. and the latter 25 per cent. of 
the total in this class ; the proportion of none of the others reached 
three per cent. Among the unmarketable fishes, common dabs 
formed 32 per cent. and haddocks 30 per cent. The total number 
of turbot obtained was 54, and there were 394 brill, nine halibut, 
and five goles, and all these were marketable. 40 catfish and 22 
hake were caught, all of which were marketable. 
The investigations in the Dornoch Firth at the end of March 
were of interest from the discovery of a shoal of spawning cod on 
the edge of the rough and rocky ground. Several scores of cod 
were taken in each haul of the net, the largest number in a four 
hours’ drag being 282. They were all spawning, eggs and milt 
flowing freely from them, and they were all of large size, the 
smallest females measuring from 33 to 35 inches and the smallest 
males from 29 to 80 inches. It was judged that the vessel was 
operating only on the fringe of the spawning shoal and that the 
greater bulk of the cod were on the rocky ground. Besides the 
cod, large numbers of spawning flounders were caught on this 
ground, where few of this species are obtained except in spring, and 
also spawning coalfish and plaice, in smaller numbers, and common 
dabs ; very few haddocks were obtained and none of them were 
spawning. 
It is probable that this area, lying about three miles from the 
shore in from 13 to 16 fathoms, is one of the important breeding- 
grounds for the food fishes in the Moray Firth. 
The experiments made with a small-meshed net fastened around 
and outside the cod-end of the trawl confirmed the conclusions 
come to previously, that, contrary to the general opinion of fisher- 
men, a very large proportion of the small fish, especially round fish, 
which enter the trawl as it is dragged along the bottom escape 
alive through the meshes, which appear to be distended by the 
resistance of the water. 
THE HATCHING AND REARING OF FOOD-FISHES. 
During last year the hatching of plaice was continued at the 
Marine Hatchery, Aberdeen, the number of eggs of that species 
collecte1 from the spawning pond amounting in the season to an 
aggregate of about 39,600,000. The number of plaice-fry that 
hatched out and were retained in the hatching apparatus until 
approaching the post-larval stage was approximately 34,780,000, 
or 88 per cent., and they were liberated off Aberdeen Bay at various 
times in March, April, and May. The number was considerably 
below the total in 1903, when it was estimated that 65,940,000 
eggs were collected, the fry obtained numbering 53,600,000. The 
