OFE THE EAST COAST OP SCOTLAND. 93 



One argument, adduced in order to disprove that the destruction 

 of fry inshore can do injury, has been that numbers of the young- 

 fish in our sandy bays and inshore grounds are possibly the off- 

 spring from some of the floating spawn shed at sea, and th.at it 

 seems most likely that all the ova produced by those fishes which 

 actually spawn in these bays are either washed ashore or drifted 

 away. Such a conclusion is opposed to what may be seen at any 

 time along our shores, where these minute fishes are destroyed 

 by millions in small-meshed nets. 



I would suggest, as worthy of consideration, a minute investi- 

 gation of how these garvie-fisheries are carried on, and that 

 such an examination should last through at least the whole of the 

 month of October and until the end of January : the proportion 

 of herrings captured to sprats, and what becomes of the cap- 

 tures, should be thoroughly elucidated. It would also be very 

 desirable that such an inquiry should extend to the question 

 of whether or not the cessation of the inshore herriag-fisheries 

 has been coincident with the extension of the garvie-fisheries. 



There are it appears two chief periods when herrings appear 

 off" the east coast of Scotland, while the winter, the June, and 

 the garvie-fisheries are partially or wholly new industries. 

 Whether they have or have not any bearing on the cessation of 

 the inshore herring-fisheries, I have not sufficient evidence to 

 adduce. Still it is by no means impossible that some fishes, 

 especially such as are gregarious, mostly return to the place 

 where they were reared. If, therefore, from any cause the 

 inshore race of herrings were being unduly destroyed, it does 

 not seem an unwarrantable conclusion to draw, that such may 

 have something to do with the deep-sea race being now the 

 most common along the east coast of Scotland. 



Dredging Operations, Sfc. — On June 30 we steamed from Mont- 

 rose ; and I must be allowed to express my thanks to Captain 

 Tizard and the officers of H.M.S. ' Triton ' for the assistance they 

 afii'orded me; also to Professor Jefirey Bell for having kindly 

 identified the Echinodermata, to Mr. Eidley for having done 

 the same for the Zoophytes and Sponges * (see Eeports, p. 102 

 and p. 105), and to Mr. J. Marshall for identifying the shells. 



* Dr. Malm, of Gothenburg, ht b kindly promised to describe the Entom- 

 ostraca and also the Annelids at a future date. 



