MODERN INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SUBJECT 29 



the attention of the Council of the Association, and by means of 

 small meshed nets obtained for their capture, and by collecting 

 anchovies taken in the nets of the pilchard fishermen, an inquiry 

 \vas carried on concerning the abundance and the migrations of 

 these fish in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. The facts ascer- 

 tained compared with what is known concerning the annual 

 occurrence of the fish in the Zuyder Zee and other inlets on the 

 coasts of Holland, strongly suggest a regular migration of 

 anchovies between the latter district and the English Channel. 



In the Eleventh Report of the Scottish Fishery Board pub- 

 lished in 1893 it is stated that actual work at the Dunbar 

 hatchery had not commenced in 1892. Of the scientific in- 

 vestigations described perhaps the most striking are those of Dr. 

 Fulton on the movements and rate of growth of plaice and other 

 fishes in the Firth of Forth and St. Andrews Bay. The method 

 followed in this inquiry was to mark fish by attaching a 

 numbered label to each when captured, and then to set them free 

 again. The chief difficulty was to invent a mode of marking 

 which should be sufficiently permanent, and yet not interfere 

 with the health and growth of the fish. Dr. Fulton after many 

 trials obtained the most satisfactory results from using small 

 brass labels fastened by black silk cord round the root of the tail. 

 Of plaice the great majority marked were immature, and about 

 i in 10 were recaptured. An interesting result was obtained on 

 comparing the places of recapture with those where the fish were 

 liberated : the plaice were found to move in definite directions, 

 westwards on the south side of the Firth of Forth, eastwards on 

 the north side. Cod were found to move to much greater 

 distances than plaice. The information gained by the experi- 

 ments concerning the rate of growth though of some value, is 

 not perfectly satisfactory owing to the fact that the cord by 

 which the labels were attached caused injury to the tail and the 

 fish seemed usually to have suffered in health. 



The Report contains further contributions by Professor 

 Mclntosh to "the knowledge of the life-histories of the food- 

 fishes, and various other papers on the rate of growth of fishes 

 and the zoology of the sea. 



The Twelfth Report, published in 1894, contains the first 

 account of operations at the Dunbar hatchery, together with a 

 complete description of the establishment from the pen of Dr. 



