0)1 the Movements and Food of the Herring, etc. 395 



watched very closely for them, hence I was unable to make 

 any experiments with fertilisation. 



This work continued almost without intermission till the 

 12 th of July, when, owing to the inclemency of the weather, 

 we put into Scalloway, where I finally left the " Energy." 



Eemarks on the Food and Movements of Herring. 



A good deal of late has been written upon this subject, and 

 much valuable information has been collected, but no definite 

 conclusions seem to have been arrived at. Duringr the cruise 

 of the " Energy " round the Shetland Islands the herring nets 

 were worked, with one or two exceptions, every night. The 

 exact position where the nets were drawn will be seen by 

 reference to the accompanying chart. The position of the 

 ship, the surface and bottom temperature, were taken, and 

 when an opportunity occurred the nature of the bottom was 

 determined; collections of surface animals were also con- 

 tinuously made. All the herring caught were immediately 

 gutted, and their viscera thrown into a tub set aside for that 

 purpose, the stomachs being afterwards more carefully 

 examined. In this manner I was able to examine the 

 stomachs of most of those caught during the cruise, and the 

 most remarkable result of my observations has been the 

 record of their emptiness — fully 90 per cent, being devoid of 

 food material — so that it was only on rare occasions I found 

 one containing what may be termed a full meal. When this 

 was the case it consisted principally of young fish such as 

 AmmodyteSj Motella, and Gadus 2^ollachms, and in some cases 

 these were mixed with a few Copepods, tlie zooese stage of 

 Brachyura, Evadne, larvae of MoUusca, Eadiolaria, etc. Three 

 tubes, each containing some of the preserved contents of the 

 herring stomachs, have been carefully examined, and the 

 results are as follows : — 



Tube No. 1. 

 One specimen of a young fish presented the following 

 characters: — Length, 13 mm. ; colour, yellowish; shape, elon- 

 gated ; dorsal fin not prominent, but close to tail ; single anal 

 fin not prominent, close to tail, and opposite the dorsal fin ; 



