788 REPORT—1899. 
indeed, the eggs ave fewer than in June. Moreover, spawning gurnards are 
common in the offshore waters during the same period, and while it is rare to find 
post-larval and very young gurnards in St. Andrews Bay or the Forth, they occur 
in numbers in the offshore waters. Again, as above mentioned, there are other 
fishes which show an increase in August, and though that of the larger sizes is 
not so pronounced, still such increase has to be taken into consideration. 
It is curious that the grey gurnard, though stated to be inshore spawned in the 
blue-book (just as the dab is also in error claimed as an inshore spawner), has not 
been used by the Fishery Board of Scotland to substantiate their large closures of 
areas against trawling. The following table may explain tke cause of the silence 
on this head : 
Grey Gurnard. Average per Haul, 1886-1895. 
“ St. Andrews | St. Andrews 
Year Bay Forth | Year Bay Forth 
1886 24 10 | 1891 13 15 
1887 52 20 1892 27 19 
1888 20 13 1893 13 15 
1889 18 13 1894 8 9 
1890 21 9 1895 44 14 
| 
Average 25 * 13 Average 20 | 15 
Considering the differences in the circumstances under which the work was 
carried on in the two quinquennial periods (viz. as regards warmer and colder 
months, inequality of hauls on stations, duration of haul, and other features), it is 
remarkable that the divergences were not more pronounced. No fish, indeed, ~ 
could more conclusively show that the position taken up in the ‘ Resources of 
the Sea’ is that which best agrees with the facts of the case. Such a fish to-day 
is very much in the position it has always held in the ocean. It is true the larger 
forms of some species become fewer under persistent fishing, and this occurs 
irrespective of trawling—as, for example, in former years off the coast of America 
and Australia. Increased wariness—for fishes, both marine and fresh-water, have 
much more intelligence than is usually supposed—must also be taken into account. 
There is no need to fear the serious decadence of our marine fisheries. When we 
doubt, let us remember the herring with its eggs deposited on the bottom, and 
think how much more likely it is to suffer by the operations of man than almost 
all the other marine food-fishes, with their transparent and minute floating or 
pelagic eggs—disseminated widely by tides and currents. 
4, On the Thames Estuary: its Physico-Biological Aspects as bearing 
upon its Fisheries. By Dr. J. Muniz. 
5. Interim Report on a Circulatory Apparatus for keeping Aquatic 
Organisms under definite Physical Conditions, See Reports, p. 431. 
6. Exhibition of Dr. Petersen's Closing Net for Quantitative Estimation 
of Plankton. By W. Garsrane, M.A. 
