472 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



bait for tteir pots, but elsewhere Skate seem not even to be used for that purpose. 

 Skate command, of course, a ready sale in the English, market, and there is no doubt 

 that should the Fishing Company now being started prove a success, the Western 

 fishermen will find an unexpected mine of wealth in this hitherto despised fish. 

 Apart from their use as food, the liver contains a large quantity of oil which might 

 surely be turned to some useful purpose. 



Dogfish, including Topes, Picked Dogs, and Small-spotted Dogs, are only too 

 abundant on the "West Coast. They enjoy an evil reputation, not undeserved in the 

 case of the two first species, for destroying more valuable fish, whilst all three kinds 

 are a great nuisance to the line fisherman : they take greedily any bait that may be 

 offered, forestalling more valuable fish, and mutilate many of the latter which may 

 have been hooked, whilst, when captured themselves, they are not known, as a rule, 

 to be of any value to the fisherman. The Small-spotted Dog is probably of very little 

 value. It is sometimes used for cleaning woodwork, its skin making an excellent 

 substitute for sand-paper, and, according to Couch, its flesh is more or less palatable. 

 The liver, however, is small. The Picked Dog is more valuable. Whilst its flesh is 

 eaten in a dried condition by the Cornish fishermen, and, to some extent, as I am told 

 by Dr. Scharfi", also on the South-west Coast of Ireland, the liver is large, and yields a 

 supply of oil of a valuable nature. Mr. Cyril Allies, of Inishboffin, tells me that upon 

 his islands the oil is used in the preparation of wool for weaving, and also for lamps. 

 It appears to command a price which would at all events make it worth while for 

 the fishermen to save the livers of any of these fish that might be caught, while the 

 employment of improved methods of refining would materially increase the value of 

 the product. 



Doubtless the offensive odour of the Tope would deter most people from eating its 

 flesh. But the liver is very large, and is valued upon the Boffin Islands. I think 

 there is no doubt that the oil extracted from these two fish might be made to afford a 

 considerable set-off to the harm which may be done by them. 



The small deep-sea Shark, Centrophonis squamosus, which the Survey has been the 

 means of adding to the British Fauna, belongs to a genus of which this and other 

 members form the object of a regular deep-sea fishery at Setubal, on the coast of Por- 

 tugal (E. P. Wright, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ii., 1868, and Vaillant, Exp. Sci., 

 Talisman, Travailleur, Poiss. Paris, 1888). The gear in use resembles an ordinary 

 long-line, but only the end first shot is weighted ; no buoys are used, the end of what 

 corresponds to the second buoy-rope being retained in the boat. The bait is pilchard 

 or codling. The only saleable product is the skin, which is dried and sold for polish- 

 ing wood. A dried skin fetches about 1^ francs, except in the case of 0. granulosus, 

 the skin of which is more valuable, as it is suitable for manufacture into the " shark- 

 skin" of commerce. The flesh is dried and eaten, and the oil is used for lamps and 

 for lubricating wooden machinery. On the whole Vaillant is inclined to doubt whether 

 the industry is a paying one. 



EEMAEKS UPON MEASUEES FOR THE PEOTECTION OF IMMATURE 

 FISH, AND FOE THE INCEEASE OF THE FISH SUPPLY. 



So far as I know the only investigations that have hitherto been attt mpted in this 

 country with a view to determining the damage done to immature flsh by trawling 

 were those carried out in Galway Bay, in the years 1873 to 1876, under the direction 

 of Sir Thomas Brady. As a result of these experiments, it will be remembered that 

 the Inspectors of Fisheries came to the conclusion that no substantial injury was done 

 by trawling ; but it must be borne in mind that the distinction di-awn between fish of 



