COUNCIL - APRIL 1912 - APPENDIX D — 80 — 



preyed on herrings, preferring, however, the Salmon and Coregonus, thus doing 

 greater damage. No decrease in the numbers of the Halichoerus had yet been 

 noted in Finland. 



Seventh Sitting: Friday 26th April 1912, 10 a.m. 

 Chairman: Dr. Hoek. 



(Agenda a). 



Dr. Hjort gave a report of his investigations of the Herring question, and 

 called the attention of the meeting to the extract of his letter to the Bureau, which 

 had been placed in the hands of the members. The material for investigation, 

 although extensive, was not yet complete. In particular, too little was known as 

 to the younger forms. It would also be desirable to render possible a continued 

 investigation of the changes which took place during a period of some years. 

 His assistant, Mr. Lea, would by a lecture demonstrate in what manner the large 

 amount of material already collected was dealt with and turned to account. 



Mr. Lea gave a lecture in which he described the methods employed in the 

 Norwegian investigation, at the same time laying before the meeting some of the 

 results obtained. Among other points, he mentioned that he had noticed a peculiar 

 arrangement of the annual rings on the scales of some herrings from the northern 

 part of Norway, and that he had later found fish with the same characteristic 

 scales in the Faroe waters. He was inclined to think that these facts pointed to 

 a migration of herrings from the north of Norway to the Faroe Islands. 



Prof. Heincke observed that the proper selection of the subjects for the 

 purposes of investigation was even more important than their number. The 

 specimens chosen should be representative. They should be in percentage nearly 

 of equal size, and well mixed. There was no doubt that it would be equally 

 possible to determine by means of certain morphological peculiarities the origin of 

 the herring as that of the plaice. It was, however, open to doubt how far the 

 annual growth, as denoted by the scales, could be regarded as sufficient basis upon 

 which to distinguish between the different races. It would be advisable to employ 

 further morphological peculiarities as means of distinction. Not all herrings bearing 

 the so-called "Ring mark" could be considered as necessarily having the same 

 place of origin, viz the. northern Norwegian waters. 



Mr. Lea stated that he had endeavoured to obtain the greatest possible 

 number of specimens from each year, but that this was not always easy, when 

 one particular year happened not to be very largely represented. 



