SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 363 



Tellina — which, of course, have very delicate valves. Other 

 shells found in a more or less complete condition are Mactra, 

 several large Solen, several Mytilus, one Cardium edule. 



Besides quartz sand and shells, there is quite a fair amount 

 of mud present, which is in a finely divided state and takes a 

 long time to settle down. 



Food of Fishes. 



The fish I was enabled to dissect on the trawling expedi- 

 tions numbered 1,610, and were obtained from 31 different 

 hauls. As some of the localities trawled over do not correspond 

 with any of those from which the deposits described above 

 were obtained (both sets of samples being collected with the 

 intention that they should form part of a much larger series, 

 which would cover practically the whole district), it seems 

 probable, on inspection of the tables that have been prepared, 

 that no useful purpose would be served by publishing the 

 detailed data obtained from each haul at this early stage of 

 the enquiry. The data will be kept in the laboratory for the 

 use of those who may continue this investigation in the future, 

 but for the present only a summary of the results for each 

 kind of fish will be printed here. 



Ray (Raia clavata, Linn., and others). 



In all, 199 fish (several species of ray), ranging in size 

 from 8 to 84 cms. in length, were examined. They were 

 obtained from 9 hauls at 6 different localities, ranging from 

 Duddon, in the North of the District, down to Carnarvon Bay. 

 All these hauls were in April, May or June. 



An examination of the tabulated lists show that the chief 

 food of the various species of ray examined is undoubtedly 

 Crustacea. 



Of the 199 stomachs examined, 19 were empty, while all 

 the others contained recognisable food. In order that the 



