30 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



Fulton. The hatching work was directed by Mr. Harald 

 Dannevig, son of the Captain Dannevig, of Arendal, who has 

 made the practical hatching of sea-fish his special study for so 

 many years. Over twenty-seven million plaice eggs were 

 obtained from the spawners, and over twenty-six million fry 

 were obtained and " planted " in the sea. The arrangements of 

 the Dunbar hatchery are interesting, and the chief features are 

 as follows : There is a spawning pond forty and a half feet 

 long, eighteen to twenty-six and a half feet broad, eleven 

 feet deep. This is on a higher level than the hatching 

 house. Water is supplied to it by means of steam pumps, 

 and the overflow passes through a filtering chamber, where 

 the floating eggs are retained, and then down a shoot on 

 to a water-wheel, which works certain simple machinery for 

 agitating the hatching boxes. The pumps supply also water 

 from the sea to the hatching boxes, the water being filtered on its 

 way. The fish are placed in the spawning pond when nearly 

 ripe, and allowed to spawn of their own accord. 



The remainder of the scientific part of the Twelfth Report, 

 although valuable and important, does not indicate any great 

 novelties in the operations of the Board. Prof. Mcintosh and 

 his pupils and assistants describe as usual the results of various 

 studies of problems connected with the life histories of the more 

 valuable fishes in their natural condition in the sea, and these 

 indicate steady progress in the investigations carried on at the 

 St. Andrews Laboratory. Dr. Fulton gives a report of some 

 definite and precise experiments on the effect of the size of the 

 mesh of the trawl on the sizes of the fish captured. These 

 experiments were carried out by the Garland^ and consisted in 

 fastening outside the trawl net, round its end, a net having 

 meshes of only half an inch square. The fish which escaped through 

 the trawl were retained by the outer net, and the comparison of 

 those found in the trawl and outside it is very interesting. 

 Trawls with meshes of various sizes were tested in this way. 



It will be seen from the above summary that the organisa- 

 tion of the scientific department of the Scottish Board in the 

 year 1894 consisted of (i) The Superintendent in Edinburgh and 

 the steamer Garland employed for special experimental inquiries 

 at sea, and for the examination of the closed and unclosed 

 trawling grounds ; (2) the hatchery at Dunbar under the control 



