172 INVESTIGATIONS IN FORTH, 1895, 



period the number of hauls in May was the highest in the whole 

 series of months in the ten years, viz. 14 in 1891 and 13 in 1892, 

 and producing respectively 597 gurnards in 1891 and 730 in 

 1892. These alone would make a considerable difference in the 

 average of the second period of five years; indeed, the figures 

 to be pitted against them during the whole of the first period 

 in May are just 181 and 139 respectively. The gurnard, 

 therefore, was under different circumstances in the second half 

 of the experiments. 



In glancing at the monthly aggregates during the ten years 

 in the Forth, the effect of the seasonal variations just alluded 

 to in the gurnard are striking. To have drawn conclusions from 

 a series of experiments carried out in January, February, March, 

 November and December would have given very erroneous 

 results, for the total of the gurnards captured in these months 

 amounted to only 93, not a fifth of those secured in April or in 

 October, while these five months give numbers only a twenty- 

 eighth of those secured in May, the month in which the 

 maximum occurred. As May is the month in which the 

 majority of the gurnards are ripe, this increase is apparently 

 associated with the function of reproduction. It may be 

 questioned also whether, in view of this natural consensus in 

 the warmer months, any efforts made by man to alter the 

 balance would have much effect, since the forces at work are 

 beyond his control. 



The total number of lemon-dabs in 1895 was 1018 or an 

 average of 13 per haul, a number less by three than in 1886, 

 when the experiments commenced, though one more than in 

 1894. The reviewer in the 14th Report of the Fishery Board 

 accordingly emphasises the fact that the average of this valuable 

 food-fish had fallen both in the closed and in the open areas 

 during the last period of five years, a result probably due to 

 depletion of the offshore grounds. The first period, however, 

 cannot be safely contrasted with the second in regard to this 

 species, the maximum captures of which occur in June, July, 

 August and September, since the numerous blanks in its colder 

 months exaggerate the captures during its warmer months, 

 more especially if these also are marked by unusually high 



