722 REPORT — 1895. 



and Mr. Holt, and the growtli in many cases followed to the adult condition. 

 This experience, especially at St. Andrews, lias demonstrated tlie comparative 

 ease with which immense numbers of the eggs of valuable food-fishes can be 

 artificially hatched and then placed in the sea. The Fishery Board's Marine 

 Hatchery at Dunbar has done this on a large scale. Last J'ear it was shown at 

 Oxford that about twenty-seven millions of larval plaice, besides cod and flounders, 

 were placed in the sea. This year about 38,615,000 larval plaice, 3,800,000 larval 

 turbot, 2,760,000 larval end, 2,-500,000 larval lemon-dabs (often sold as soles), 

 besides 600,000 larval dabs and flounders, and 450,000 larval haddock and 

 whiting were ' planted,' making a total for the year of 48,725,000 fishes. The 

 total for the two years is thus 75,285,000 fry placed in the sea, wliile the 

 mortality was very small. Comparing this result with the totals and the expendi- 

 ture on the other side of the Atlantic, it has been found that in two seasons the 

 economically managed Scotch establishment pressed closely on the grand totals of 

 twelve or thirteen years' work. The Americans, moreover, chiefly deal with the 

 cod, a fish more easily manipulated, and which produces a far greater number of 

 eggs than the plaice; and the same might be said of the Norwegians. The turbot 

 and lemon-dab, again, are valuable tishes I'or the first time artificially hatched on 

 a large scale. Dr. Fulton and the staft' under him have thus made great progress. 

 English soles liave been successfully transferred to Scottish waters, many having 

 been carried long distances, as from the Lancashire coast, where they were 

 obtained through the courtesy of Professor Herdman. The distribution of the food- 

 fishes has been carefully investigated at various stages, as well as their capture by 

 the diSerent instruments used in fishing, especially in connection with the variously 

 sized meshes and hooks. Experiments on the vitality of the fishes after capture 

 by trawl or by hook have also been made. Our knowledge with regard to the food 

 of fishes has been largely increased and grouped under two heads : (1) food which 

 is the product of the locality, and for the most part developed on the bottom ; 

 and (2) food which is floating or pelagic, and which might be brought consider- 

 able distances by currents. The food of fishes to a large extent primarily depended 

 on plant-life, a wonderful cycle passing from diatom or algoid through the lower 

 animal forms to fishes. Much information has also been ascertained on the subject 

 of close times, as applied both to the herring and white fishes, and is available 

 for legislative purposes. The majority of the mussel beds of Scotland, and some of 

 those in England, have been surve3'ed and reported on, and the whole question put 

 on a new footing — founded on an accurate knowledge of the reproductions of the 

 mussel, for which we are mainly indebted to Dr. J. Hardie Wilson. A series of 

 observations have likewise been made on oysters with a view to resuscitate 

 exhausted beds, e.g., those of the Forth, where careless administration has 

 reduced an income of 15,000^. or more a year to 148/., and this witbin less than a 

 generation. Various cockle and clam beds have been similarly surveyed, and 

 suggestions made for their conservation and improvement. Experiments in regard 

 to the hatchings of lobsters have been made at Brodielc, in Arran, and at Dunbar, 

 and their development is being studied by Dr. Fullerton. Otlier experiments 

 have been made on the preservation of hair after it was placed on the hooks, and 

 also on the preservation of herrings and white fishes. An important series of 

 physical observations has been carried out iu the North Sea as to temperatures, 

 currents, and other features of the water, the relations of these to the fishing 

 grounds and the migrations of fishes. Lastly, a commencement has been made in 

 determining the proportional number of the sexes of salmon entering the rivers at, 

 various periods, and their external diU'erences, the determination of when and 

 to what extent the muscles undergo chanpes during the growth of the roe and 

 milt, so as to clear up the subject of the deterioration of the fish as food. The 

 structure of the alimentary canal of the fish in connection witli its cessation to 

 feed and other points ai'e also being studied. These complex investigations 

 are in the hands of Mr. T. Tosh at Berwick-on-Tweed, Dr. Noel Paton, and the 

 staff of the College of Physicians' Laboratory, Edinburgh, and in those of Dr. 

 Alex. Brown, Aberdeen. Some persons think that the Universities, and not 

 the Government, shoul dcarry out such investigations ; but it need scarcely be said 



