- 31 - 



D'ARCY W. THOMPSON 



(1902 -03 Report, pp. 373, ..132) \vc sec that this is due to the large ciitch made by a 

 single vessel only in February of that year. 



In area XIX, though our statistics do not give us a very regular curve, we see on 

 the whole a tendency to increase in early spring, and for the average of the six years 

 under review the mean maximum would appear to be in March. In this case the catches 

 in the spring of 1905 were very high, and those in the spring of 1906 exceptionally low. 



The adjacent area XVIII shows a very similar period of maximum, and here again 

 the catches were great in the spring of 1905. 



Fig. 40. Small Haddock. Banff ■ 



Cromartv 



The same is in general true of areas XIV and XV immediately -to the northward. 



In area XXIV, over the Gut, immediately to the south of area XIX, there is a 

 distinct annual maximum about January, sometimes, as in 1906, a little later, and here, 

 as on our East Coast, the catches in the beginning of 1906 were small, while those of 

 1904 were very large. 



The adjacent area to the eastward, that of XXV, is closely similar. 



Passing to the north-west of Scotland (area C) we have here a maximum in late 

 autumn and winter, and especially about the month of November. The autumn of 1904 

 was an especially prolific season. 



