104 



;nti('le referred li», wliich shows the closest eorrespoudeiice 

 between the catches of this fish and the temperature of 

 the sea. I have tried to see if a siniihir correspondence 

 existed l)etween any food fish and the sea tenn)erature in 

 our own area, but we do not possess thita to enable sucli 

 a comparison to be made as it should lie. The shrimj) 

 lra"wl statistics taken by Mr. l^^-cles on the Liverpool 

 Shrimpinfj- Ground during the years l.S9-')-l<Sl)9 do, 

 Jiowever, yiehl a r(diable series of fig-ures. Most unforlu- 

 nately we have no o-ood records of sea temperatures. On 

 board the " -John Fell " the temperature of the sea at the 

 surface is always taken at tiie bcfj^inning' of a haul with 

 a trawl net, and the thermometer, whi(di is a reliable one, 

 is always (:orrectIy read to one-fifth of a de<j'r(>e centi- 

 grade. I'nfortunately the "John Fell" has a wide 

 district and the number of temperature observations in 

 Liverpool IJay are rather few for our purpose. 'I'he 

 average monthly temperatui'es are calculated from the 

 records of the " John Fell " and the jN'ew Brighton police 

 cutter. I think the latter temperature data are not quite 

 7-eliable but they are the best we can obtain. 



The figures shewing the variation in the abundance 

 of whiting from month to month during the year are, 

 I think, (juite reliable. All the figures for each month 

 dui'ing the period 189-")-f) have been grouped together and 

 averages have 'been calculated. Accidental fluctuations 

 are got rid of by the statistical device of taking three- 

 monthly averages for every month. That is, the average 

 for January is really the average tor the three months 

 Becember-January-February : that for February is the 

 average of the months Jauuary-February-March, and so 

 on. 



The figures s(» obtained are as follows: 



