258 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



interfere with them. A large Sahnon, though much more active 

 than the Pike, the right eye of which suffered from corneal 

 opacity, would have fallen a prey to poachers. 



Experiments at Messrs. Hill's Woollen Mills on the Liffey, 

 October 3rd, 1900. The water is brought from the Liffey, across 

 which a long oblique dam is placed below the bridge, the head- 

 race or "leat" conveying about a third of the water in the river. 

 A fish-pass exists at the end of the long dam nearest the bridge, 

 but the plan is somewhat old, the steps being short, so that 

 with one or two exceptions the fishes could not rest in their 

 progress upward. At the top of the weir a board about 8 in. 

 deep had been put into a groove in the concrete, so as to dam 

 up the water for the purposes of the mill. This appears to 

 require attention. The fall from the weir seems to be 10 ft. 

 or 12 ft. 



The turbine is an Alcott, 60 in. in diameter, and of seventy 

 horse -power, with seventy-four to seventy- six revolutions per 

 minute. It is placed in a pit 12 ft. deep and 12 ft. square, and is 

 with difficulty reached for observation. After clearing the hole 

 in the floor for fixing the net in the tail-race, a steam-vat formed 

 a step to the greasy beams. The wooden shoot used at Anna 

 Liffey Mills was courteously brought by Mr. Shackleton, who 

 yesterday and to-day exerted himself in many ways to aid the 

 Commission — for example, by bringing a skiff and boat, both of 

 which were of material service in the underground and expanded 

 tail-race. Without such aid the work would have been done 

 much less expeditiously, if it could have been accomplished at 

 all. The roof over the turbine-pit was so low that only one 

 length of the sweeper's brush could be manipulated at a given 

 time. It was intended to fix the net close to the edge of the 

 turbine-pit, but this was found, after persevering efforts by Mr. 

 Skackleton and others, to be unsuitable, since the strong current 

 and absence of points for fixation prevented the net closing the 

 space satisfactorily. It was therefore fixed across the stone 

 arch about five feet from the edge of the pit. The great strength 

 of the current probably sent the majority of the fishes which 

 passed the turbine into it, though a gap of a foot, due to irregu- 

 larities of the masonry, existed at each side. Every mill presents 

 certain difficulties of its own, and without the use of a boat the 



