148 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



experiments on the " Huxley " to determine 

 the vitality and the extent of injury inflicted 

 upon trawl-caught fish by the operations of 

 trawling. These experiments are still unfinished, 

 but we can at least say that trawling under 

 commercial conditions on the grounds where 

 the young flat fish lie is very fatal to young 

 plaice, which are so injured by the crushing in 

 the trawl that if returned to sea they do not 

 live, and that the beam trawl is not quite so 

 injurious as the otter trawl. 



(10) The hydrographic observations and the 

 investigations into the minute organisms which 

 crowd the surface of the waters, and which form 

 the ultimate food of fish, have been efficiently 

 carried on in accordance with the programme 

 laid down by the International Conferences. 

 In this work especially, the Plymouth steamer 

 the " Oithona " has supplemented and helped 

 the " Huxley " on the North Sea by making 

 systematic and periodic investigations into the 

 salinity, temperature, etc., of the waters of 

 the English Channel, and in conjunction with 

 the work of other countries we are now in a posi- 

 tion to speak very definitely as to the manner 

 in which the North Sea is supplied with ocean 



