412 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



they were present was April 27th. They appeared nearly 

 a month earlier, March 4th, and disappeared after 

 April 29th in 1908. The eggs were slightly later in 

 making their appearance in 1909, and lasted a few days 

 longer than in 1908. The first record was obtained on 

 March 12th, and the last one on May 3rd. The year 1910 

 presented us with the earliest and latest records during 

 the whole of the six years since the intensive study was 

 initiated. The eggs were first noticed in plankton 

 collected with the surface net on February 25th. They 

 occurred frequently throughout March and April, and 

 finally disappeared from the plankton on May 12th. 

 The eggs of the cod were not observed in the plankton of 

 1911 until April 12th, and none were noted after the 

 end of that month. In 1912 the eggs occurred in the 

 plankton collected on March 4th. They were present 

 throughout the month and during the whole of April. 

 The last record was obtained on May 9th. 



Gadus aeglefinus, Linn. — Haddock. 



The pelagic eggs of the haddock were only observed 

 in the plankton collected during the first four years of 

 the intensive study investigations. None have been 

 obtained since 1910. This is due to the almost entire 

 disappearance of the fish from the centre of the Irish Sea 

 which took place about that time. The Fisheries steamer 

 was able to collect mature haddock from the fishing 

 grounds between Lancashire and the Isle of Man for 

 dissection in the fishermen's classes for some years after 

 their establishment at Piel, but the fish has been 

 unobtainable for three years, and whiting have to be 

 used instead. From the limited data available, we find 

 that the spawning period extends from the beginning of 

 March to about the middle of May. The eggs were first 



