14 MARKKTAHLK T.RTTISH MARINE FISHES 



incurred, £^3S ^^^ ^t. Andrews, so that, the balance being very 

 small, scientific work was almost suspended in the summer of 

 1 884. 



In 1883 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into 

 the injuries alleged to be inflicted upon line and drift-net fisher- 

 men by the use of the trawl-net and beam trawl in the territorial 

 waters of the United Kingdom. A sum of ^^"200 was granted to 

 this Commission for the purpose of conducting scientific obser- 

 vations upon the results of the use of the beam trawl ; and in 

 January, 1884, Professor Mcintosh was appointed to make 

 these observations. The members of this Commission were : — 

 John William, Earl of Dalhousie ; Edward Marjoribanks, 

 M.P. ; Thomas Henry Huxley, F.R.S. ; William Sproston 

 Caine, M.P. ; Thomas Francis Brady. Ninety-three hauls of 

 the trawl on board an ordinary steam trawler were made under 

 the observation of Professor Mcintosh, who reported to the 

 Commission in November, 1884. His report was printed as 

 an appendix to the Report of the Commission, published 

 in 1885. 



Professor Mcintosh's cruises were made off the mouth of the 

 P"irth of P"orth and off Aberdeen. Three days were also spent 

 in trawling in a private steam yacht off Scarborough, and two 

 days in St. Andrews Bay, in the Mcditsa, belonging to the 

 Granton Marine Station. His report contains a deal of infor- 

 mation, though, as might be expected, it is by no means so 

 precise as that obtained by subsequent researches of a similar 

 kind. It contains tables showing the fish captured in the various 

 hauls under three heads — saleable fish, immature fish, and un- 

 saleable fish. The latter title applies only to those species of 

 fish which are entirely unmarketable, for which there is no 

 demand for any commercial purpose : they are the frog-fish 

 {^Lophins piscatorius), two kinds of dog-fish, and a few common 

 shore fishes of small size. The title " immature fish " is applied 

 to those individuals of marketable species which were so small 

 as to be useless for the market, and therefore has no reference 

 in this Report to the condition of the fish W'ith respect to spawn- 

 ing. 



Thus all that can be got from the tables is the proportional 

 numbers of the individuals thrown overboard after capture, and 

 of those kept for the market. On the fishing grounds where 



