INVESTIGATIONS IN ST ANDREWS BAY, 1886. 105 



cured within the limits of the bay, and so were the long-rough 

 dabs, but a few flounders appeared on the station (V.) beyond 

 the limits. The small cod were all got in November, and were 

 generally distributed ; and the small haddocks were procured in 

 September and November, probably on their passage shore- 

 wards. A single turbot and one whiting were obtained. A 

 few skate (17) and one or two frog-fishes and skulpins were in 

 the list. 



Calculated on the total hauls (17) the average of the 

 saleable was 105 fishes, and the unsaleable 69 or a total of 174. 



This therefore formed the basis for future observations in 

 St Andrews Bay, but it might well have been more exhaustive, 

 since the conditions immediately after the cessation of steam 

 and other trawling had to be determined. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, records made in 1884, either for purposes of trade or for 

 scientific experiment, are available. Thus four hauls of the 

 trawl (which was over fifty feet in length) were made by the 

 powerful iron ships of the General Steam Fishing Company, 

 Granton ; two by fishing-boats of the place with the ordinary 

 trawl of 30-foot beam ; and fourteen by the " Medusa," the 

 little steam vesseP, from the Granton Laboratory with a trawl- 

 beam of ten feet, and a net of small mesh. 



It has also to be remembered — in considering the work of 

 the " Garland " — that the results obtained by small trawls, even 

 with a net of the same mesh as the larger, deviate considerably 

 from those of a beam of fifty-six feet raised about 4 feet from 

 the bottom. Thus the large fishes, which often escape such a 

 trawl as that of the " Garland," are captured in numbers by the 

 large net of the trawlers from Granton. This will at once be 

 apparent by contrasting the captures of the more active round 

 fishes, such as the cod and haddock, in the respective ships ; 

 and further by the absence, as a rule, of such a fish as the herring 

 from the returns of the " Garland." Further, the work of the 

 "Garland" was for the most part carried on in daylight, 

 whereas the commercial ships utilized continuously night as 

 well as day, and their whole energies were concentrated in their 

 pursuit. As certain fishes are captured more readily at night, 

 1 Most courteously sent by Sir John Murray. 



