of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 226 



All these Dog-fishes were females. On the gills of several of them 

 Eudactylines were moderately frequent, while Tetrarhymhi were observed 

 in the stomachs and intestines of all but a few of those examined. 



Scylliorhinus canicula, Lin. 



The following three specimens of Lesser Spotted Dog-fishes were 

 obtained among the Picked Dog-fishes just referred to. The food observed 

 in their stomachs consisted entirely of fishes as under : — 





Size 



OP 



Fish. 



2 



2 

 2 



feet 4| 



inches. 



5» 



Contents of Stomach. 



A Herring 8| inches in length. 



Fragments of a Herring apparently of moderate size. 



Remains of fishes too imperfect to be determined. 



A number of other fishes have been examined, including the Greater 

 Fork-Beard Phycis blennoides (Brum), the Twaite Shad, Clupea finta, 

 Cuvier, and the Conger Eel, Conger niger (Risso), but as their stomachs did 

 not contain any matter that could be identified they are not specially 

 referred to in this paper. It may be remarked also that several fresh- 

 water Perch, Perca fluviatilis, Rondeletius, kindly sent to me by Dr. 

 Williamson from Marlee Loch, Forfarshire, and which were examined to 

 ascertain the nature of their food, were found to have been living almost 

 exclusively on insect larvae. No parasites were observed on the gills of 

 these fishes, but roundish sacs were frequent on the wall of the body 

 cavity and appeared to contain encysted Cestoids. 



Note on the Food observed in the Stomach of a Common 



Porpoise. 



The following description of the contents of the stomach of a Common 

 Porpoise captured in the Bay of Nigg in the vicinity of the Laboratory 

 may be of interest, as serving to show how destructive these Cetaceans 

 may be when they get among a shoal of fishes. 



The specimen referred to had become entangled in the nets of the 

 salmon fishers at the Bay of Nigg, and having in this way been prevented 

 from coming to the surface for respiration had been suffocated. It was 

 captured on the 18th of June 1902, and measured about 3 feet 9 inches 

 in length, and it appeared to be healthy and in good condition, except 

 that some of the passages of the liver were crowded with brownish- 

 coloured thread-worms ; what appeared to be the same kind of worms were 

 also found encysted in various parts of the liver, while many of them, in a 

 " free " condition, were found in the stomach. 



The only food found in the stomach consisted of the partly digested 

 remains of fishes which, for the most part, appeared to be Whitings. 

 Besides the remains of the soft parts of the fishes, no fewer than two 

 hundred and eighty earstones (or otoliths) were obtained ; fully two 

 hundred and forty of them were almost certainly those of Whitings, the 

 majority of which represented fishes of moderate size — probably about 

 eight inches or so in length. Twelve other otoliths were small and of an 

 oblong form, they were not so attenuated at the ends as the 

 typical Whiting earstone, and appeared to belong to the young of 

 some other Gadoid ; the remainder — about twenty-two in number — were 

 extremely small, and somewhat resembled the earstones of Sand-eels. 



